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Derek Roberts

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2021

Stories (34)

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65 Followers

130 Following

34 Stories

755 karma pts

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The Magdeline

Submitted to Contest #310

FirstThe water won't sleep. It harasses the boats all night long. It slaps the sides of each of them. This I do not understand. It sounds like a strap to a bare arm or leg. My heart beats so much faster. I look at all of the boats in the darkness. They are empty but sleepless. I should be asleep, but I came here. I want something to make it quiet in my head. It's so noisy inside of me. It must be like this at the temple. All those voices. Everyone I know is dreaming, but I can't. I cannot dream because I can't stop the wilderness inside of m...

21 likes

A New Species

Hurry dear human! He’s naming all the beasts of the forest and the fish of the sea. Even the birds have been named, but he didn’t name me. I am yours (as you will see). You have slept entirely too long, and I will not wait for you to resurrect. No one has nailed you to the dusty floor. You were born already and given life without childhood, and you found your way through the splendor and the freshness of the first days.I was there for you in the sky, guiding your hand as you tried to stand up straight. I lifted you then when every tree was p...

7 likes

Sisters in Seven Stanzas

Submitted to Contest #309

Stanza 1I grew up in a house with nothing on the walls. No photographs. No mirrors. Not even a calendar. Bare. The walls had not been painted in fifty years. It's still there. The house is still there. My sister and I have both moved out, but my mother and father are still there. Still married. 44 years. Still arguing. The only things you’ll see on those walls is dirt: the stains we made with cheese curl fingers or the blood of a skinned knee. We weren't going to clean them and neither were they. My father is a writer. In a very small circle...

13 likes

Eurydice

Submitted to Contest #309

I felt the fangs pierce my skin and crack the bone… and then the venom. When I fell, my flesh turned to sap and leaked out of me. I soaked the earth, through the roots and the worms and every dead thing until I melted into a boat. I knew where I was. I knew where I was going. It happened fast but not too fast. I didn't have time for regret. There was a flash in my head. I saw the dark tunnels ahead of me, and then I thought of him. I thought of my husband.I remembered our wedding day. We should have seen this tragedy coming when Hyman sang o...

14 likes

Mark

Submitted to Contest #309

27.38 - 27.40I knew this would be our fate. Barbaras never lied to us. Our death was certain on the battlefield or up here on the crucifix.I don't want to die. I was willing to give my life for a cause until my life actually came in danger. I wish I had not followed him into that battle. I wish a sword had found me and not this awful thing. This is not a way for a man to die.I know we hang here as an example to others who might consider standing up to Rome, but I also think we are an inspiration. I don't mind being before them so that they a...

8 likes

Perpetua & Felicity

Submitted to Contest #308

PerpetuaMy father's fingers tremble. It is rare that he gets angry, but I could see that bit of wetness in his eyes that always comes when he is frustrated. He is watching lightning strike his house. He simply has to watch it burn. He is burning now. I have set him on fire.I look across the table at the pitcher made of clay that was half full of wine, and I say to him, "do you see that pitcher, father?" He does not want to break his stare, but he glances over and nods his head. "Yes." I square my jaw and speak quietly and clearly. "Can you c...

14 likes

Mark (Part 2)

Mark27.19 (Part 2)She's told me that she's had nightmares about Him. She believes these nightmares are proof that Jesus is innocent. Now my wife is no idiot and she understands the political situation. When the priests come to me and tell me they want Jesus to die, I don't have a choice but to let that happen. And I can put on the show of interrogating the man in front of the crowd, but his fate was sealed. She knows this. She's not asking me to free Him. She wants me to free myself of Him. She doesn't want me to be the one to sentence this ...

3 likes

Nearsighted

Submitted to Contest #308

I remember 14 Years OldI remember my mother's long arms, taking care of the plants that grew from every corner of our house. Her arms were vines with a rag and a spray bottle blooming from each hand. I don’t remember my mother’s hands ever being empty. Isn’t that odd? She was always holding something. A spatula. A mop. My lost glasses. A small spade. She loved planting and replanting flowers and plants from small pots to large pots. She was a first-rate gardener. Every room was teeming with healthy vegetation. She would wet their leaves, fee...

10 likes

Loving the Dead

Submitted to Contest #307

1I’m dead. I died long ago. I was a baby when it happened. I grew up unaware of my passing. Surprisingly, I don’t think anyone knew I was dead except for one amazing 9 year old girl I met when I was in the 2nd grade. She saw me and changed my "life" forever.I survived on other peoples’ love. I needed it all the time. 24/7. Babies need love and attention in order to survive. People are happy to give love to a baby. People are expected to be burdened with a baby's needs. Their love for that baby is unconditional. They give without complainingB...

12 likes

Three Crows (The Movie Version of the Altered Play)

Submitted to Contest #306

Thunder and lightning. The stage is dark. We can hear the witches speaking, but all we see are rough silhouettes of them. They shuffle on stage. Witch 1 When shall we three meet again?In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Witch 2 When the hurly-burly’s done,When the battle’s lost and won.Witch 3 That will be ere the set of sun.Witch 1 Where the place?Witch 2 Upon the heath.Director Cut! (angry) Barry? Barry! Where’s the damn smoke? Barry (from offstage) How the hell should I know? We ordered the machine, but it’s not here ye–Director Not her...

9 likes

Oh The Places You'll Go OR How the Dead Helped Me Ace High School

Submitted to Contest #306

Classmates, Parents and Family, Teachers and Honored Guests, I have been asked to deliver this speech on this day of our graduation. I have the highest GPA, so I get to speak. This speech will be more like a confession. (pause) I am number one in our class for a reason. (a longer pause with a dry cough cough) I cheated.(murmurs and mumbles with a hint of rage and disbelief)I cheated all of you for the past four years, and I did it with the help of my family. My dead family(the crowd buzzes and hums and snickers into silence.) (After the long...

13 likes

Mark

Submitted to Contest #306

Mark27.1 The sun was upset that day. It was difficult for the rest of the solar system to understand why. In general, the sun was a closed-mouth entity. He wasn't one to talk about his feelings or share the comings and goings of his mind. Being the center of everything, it was easy to sense that he was bothered by something. But they weren't about to ask what. If they could have seen into the sun without going blind, they might have realized that he was unhappy with the events on the third planet. A handful of humans were traipsing about in ...

5 likes

Lost

Submitted to Contest #305

This story contains sexual abuse that is implied but not described. The worst thing about being lost is worrying about the people who are worrying about you being lost. If I'm lost, I still have me. My small circle of family (my mother and her brother) don't know where I am when I am lost, but I am pretty sure I know where they are. They'll find me or I'll find them.. They are missing something that I'm not missing. They are missing me. And that's why I worry. Each one will react differently to the news, and that makes my palms sweat. I hav...

6 likes

Cuentos de la Novia

Submitted to Contest #305

1. Knocking on Doors I am unemployed, so I count the states. I lie in his bed in his apartment in his city while he goes to his job. I try to name all the states that I had to fly over in order to get here. It’s one way to deal with my broken heart. I'm 18 and 10 months. 18 and 3,000 miles from home. He's 9 years older. 27. I met him online. He’s a virtual poet, and I memorized every word. He was a way out of the church where I was trapped. My father works tirelessly, and so I would be alone with my mother. Her only protest to America was he...

7 likes

I Came with the House

Submitted to Contest #304

Show patience. You've got to let things come to you. You've got to put up with everything else and sit still long enough and keep your flashlight low until the thing that you're waiting to see starts to rustle. Then it will slowly sneak out into the middle, and it will come to you. I didn't always believe this. I wasn't raised to believe this. I lived in a house where everything should have happened yesterday. I lived in a house where people would yell. Where the volume for everything was always set at 10. If you didn't yell, you weren't goi...

10 likes