Derrick M Domican

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2023

Stories (28)

28 Stories

2024 karma pts

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“Frayed Edges” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #239

Monday, 6.50 p.m.Sitting hunched over the scratched, wooden surface of the desk in the corner of his room, Hideo Nakamura froze mid-brush stroke and stiffened, the hairs on the back of his neck rising up in response to the sudden, inexplicable certainty that he was being watched.He was home alone, had been for days, the house was deathly quiet and the night was still. He’d been buried so deep in silent concentration while he practiced his kanji that he could have heard a moth flap its wings or a spider scuttle acr...

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“Five Minutes to Midnight” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #232

January 1st, 202411.15pmI was five hours into a twelve hour drive from Edinburgh to Penzance, on my way down for Gran’s funeral. A gran I didn’t like and hadn’t seen since I was a kid but had still been harassed into showing up for. I was doing it under duress. It was New Year’s Day for God’s sake. Who has to travel on New Year’s Day for a funeral on the 2nd of January? Who dies on December 30th necessitating the need for said funeral? My inconsiderate, miserly, reclusive Gran on my mum’s side, who used to shut me...

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“Koi Under Ice” by Derrick M Domican

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #231

Inasaki primary was no more than ten minutes’ walk from my father-in-law's place, small, cramped quarters that were only meant to be our temporary home, but I still had the kids dressed and fed and out of the house by ten past seven. There was a tension in the air that morning, and for everyone’s sake, it was best we were gone before she woke. The kids didn’t need to witness another scene like the one the night before, and I didn’t need to be a part of one.“Do you have to go online and play that stupid game the second you get h...

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“Last Words” by Derrick M Domican

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #230

On the last day of my life, as I prepare to breathe my last, you summon me from my deathbed to once again write.But this time to write something different.Something I have never written before, composed of words that are my own, from my own heart and life, not from your head or your tongue.Which, if I’m honest, I’m finding difficult.For I am not used to this kind of freedom.It feels wrong, somehow, writing these words of my own volition, being allowed to record my own truth, rather than transcribing word...

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“The Anamnesis Before Christmas” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #229

“Hey, can we call it a night after Europe?” said one of the two who could speak in the party of ten, as they bumped and rocked and skittered across the sky. “That’s like 70% of the world and I’ve been reading about this 70-30 rule, which advocates allocating 70% of your time to taking action and leaving 30% aside for having fun. I’m really into this. I say we’ve worked hard enough and deserve a break. The Bahamas would be nice. It’s a straight run when we drop this load, what do you say?”“I say the same thing I always say when you ...

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“Aka” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #228

Oh. You’re awake. Bit sooner than expected but…oh well. Must have got the strength wrong. I’m not exactly experienced with using chloroform, only tried it twice so far, and once was on myself. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy but how else was I supposed to see if it worked? Amazed it did, to be honest. Thought it was just a movie thing. But it gave me the best sleep I’ve had in years. Kenji too. Doesn’t look like it did much for you, you were only out for about three hours. Your eyes look like shit. Crusty and bloodshot. Lucky for you, she ...

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“The Damsel and Diztrez” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #220

“Now, little Diz, I think we're set, but can you think of anything else your momma would like to sink her fangs into when she’s done giving birth?”Saying this, the elderly mouse spider, Gra’ma Occatoria, tip-tapped eight steps back on spindly legs, revealing the feast she’d laid out on a platform made of hundreds of layers of silk. In the banquet-hall, the lowermost chamber attached to the central shaft of the burrow, which was illuminated by fireflies and glowworms secured to the webbing on the walls, the young spiderling with the...

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“Resurgence ” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #219

TW Suggestion of domestic violence, general violence, and child abuse. May cause offense.In the darkness of oblivion, now and as forever, swathes and waves of misery wash over me.Disembodied, immutable, adrift, I should be at peace after all of this time on my own, but the sounds of suffering and pain continue to assault me, as they have done since I was delivered, from one prison to another, tethered by the constraints of many others.Breathless, urgent cries like the bleating of sheep being slau...

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“The Fix” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #216

The shorts and t-shirt clad exercisers of various shapes and fitness levels, sipping their beverages while panting, stretching, beads of sweat on their foreheads drying in the cool evening air, dark patches on their backs and stomachs glaring like mournful, weeping eyes, making you feel guilty about unused gym membership that's about to expire.The tap-tap-tapping keyboard pounders, lost in worlds of their own creation, focused, on the words appearing on their screens, working or creating, for themselves or others, lidded containers...

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“Fimbulwinter's End” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #214

To you, who is reading this, wherever you are, it saddens me to say this will be the last of my personal scribings, which you have presumably been perusing for some time, possibly out of curiosity for a civilisation lost, as I assume it must be, following the events of this eve. I am writing these words by candlelight, wrapped in my wolf hide cloak, attempting to fend off the cold and unbearable darkness that has descended on my mother’s Hall and lands, not to mention the world, following the death of the sun.Yes. That ...

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“Good Day, Doctor Easterbrook” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #213

For more years than he cared to remember, Stanley Easterbrook had been a doctor in the village of Newhall, driving every day through rain, mist, blinding sunshine or bone-chilling snow along back roads lined by wild privet hedges to the main street that led to his clinic. He’d served as GP for the small parish town for thirty-seven years and he knew the area inside out, as well as the people who lived there. To h...

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“Distort 3000” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #212

Hey. Testing testing. If you get this can you reply and tell me what time it is? -19.45Hi. Sorry, who is this, I don’t have your number saved? It’s 6.45. Your message is time-stamped 7.45, your phone time’s wrong. -18.45Holy shit.No way.I don’t believe this actually works. Sorry, just to be sure, is this Dave?-19.46Yeah, it’s Dave, who’s this?-18.46

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“Warren and Peace” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #211

TW: Suggestion of child abduction/murder.“Darling, I’m home! Sorry, I took so long. I picked up some veal steaks for dinner and had a wander around that flea market in town. You’ll never guess what I found…”Sitting in an armchair, close to the fire, working on a blanket she was crocheting for her granddaughter’s pending new arrival, Bethany Peace sighed, dropping her needles into her lap as her husband’s breathless words raced down the hall.“Let me guess, dear,” she called back, removing her spectacles and ...

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“Bedtime for Muriel” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #210

ANGELA“Cocoa! Warm not scalding! With pink marshmallows. And use a mug this time! I don’t need to lose any more porcelain by knocking it off the table in the middle of the night. Use your brain, for fuck’s sake.”“Yes, Muriel,” said Angela, nodding as she tucked the hummingbird-motif duvet around the octogenarian’s neck. “I’ll be right back, you just get comfy and listen to Barry.”“‘Listen to Barry’,” the old woman with the silver hair scoffed, shuffling under the covers as if in criticism of the way she’d b...

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“Magnifico” by Derrick M Domican

Submitted to Contest #209

Commute 5280 was going badly. Apart from the usual Monday morning traffic, bad weather, poor visibility and an announcement on the radio of an incident ahead causing delays, I’d had a run-in with an obnoxious driver, one that rattled me so much I’d been forced to pull over to catch my breath, at a badly maintained service station that nevertheless offered an oasis of calm. It was still pre 8-am when I pushed my way into the shop, leaving the rain for the brightly lit, muzak-droning interior, one I was far too familiar with aft...

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Author bio

I'm a writer from Ireland. My favourite genres are fantasy/sci-fi and horror. I like to create labyrinthine tales that lead you down a few different paths before you get to the secret in the middle. Lots of my stuff is inspired by quirky old TV shows like the The Prisoner/The Avengers/Dr Who. In the past I've written comic scripts for small press UK publishers. And I've been working on some children's novels. Favourite authors are Dean Koontz and Robert McCammon. Hopefully you will enjoy reading my tales.

Winning 1 story 🏆

Contest #207

Speed Fate – read story

Shortlisted 3 stories ⭐️

Contest #231

Koi Under Ice – read story

Contest #230

Last Words – read story

Contest #200

Gossapp_Girl – read story