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Dhruv Srivastava

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020

Stories (57)

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70 Followers

24 Following

57 Stories

1282 karma pts

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The Lunch That Changed Everything

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #321

“Hey, is this seat taken?” The voice came out of nowhere, cutting through the din of an otherwise hectic cafeteria. The subject to whom that voice had directed its line jumped in her seat. She looked up to see a tall boy with a slightly round face with brown skin, curly black hair, and soft, easy brown eyes. He looked athletic in a black sweat-suit. Her eyes widened. She stammered, “W-what did you say?” The boy smiled, revealing dimples and white teeth. “I just asked if this seat was taken. No worries, though; I can find somewhere else–” ...

1 like

It's Only Human

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #321

“Hello.” “Good day, sir.” “How are you doing?” “T’wouldn’t be a day without the sun rising in the east, and I wouldn’t be Alicia without being well.” “Haha. Well, I hope you’re doing well for real, and not just making it up so I feel better.” “I promise you, sir, I’m doing well.” “Can we dispense with the ‘sir’ stuff? It’s been… God, it’s been years; I wish you would just call me Marcus.” “…” “Okay, okay, you can call me ‘sir!’ Jesus.” “I don’t see what he has to do with this, but thank you, sir.” “You never asked me how I’m doing?...

1 like

A Fateful Carriage Ride in the Unknown

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #320

Sepia-hued sunlight filtered through the stubborn chartreuse leaves still clinging to dry bark. Two brothers walked along a well-trod path, the younger crunching pinecones underfoot and the other trying to load up the hiking trail app on his phone. The younger brother tripped over a gnarled root that poked defiantly out of the ground.“Jeez! Watch it, Will,” said the older brother as Will clung onto his sweatshirt for stability.Sheepishly, Will replied, “Sorry, sorry… are we almost there yet?”“What are you talking about, we just started!”“Oh…...

3 likes

A Helpless Witness

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #319

[TW: Drugging] I do not know the greater curse: my paralysis or my muteness. I stand every day in the same spot, watching… watching helplessly from the darkness. The sun lengthens shadows around the living room, casting dusty yellow and orange light through the dense leaves that shelter us from a view of the street. The trees… they loom outside and I wonder if they can sense what happens within this house, the terrible things to which I am privy. I wish desperately to talk with them, to reach out… to touch one of their branches. I wonder wh...

9 likes

The Master's Piece

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #225

On my life I swore to do this, and on my life shall it be done… no matter the cost.  My butler came into my chamber today.  “You have not eaten in three days, sir,” said he with a trace of British pompousness behind his lackluster concern, “and I can see the jug of water just filled yesterday is gathering dust. The only change in its liquid level seems to be of evaporation.”  “I’m fine, David,” I replied crossly. My left hand was gracefully tracing the outlines of a familiar shape on the canvas before me. My other hand was ...

7 likes

The Stranger's Thanksgiving

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #224

The orange and purple of the faintest glimpse of twilight had only just begun to creep over the eastern sky outside my window when I awoke. Truly, a magical thing. It’s as though God, the great painter of the world, has made a yellowish brushstroke just at the flat plain at the edge of the world, blending it in with the inky blackness of the pure night sky with a single masterful swipe.  You’d think I was weird, of course, if I told you that I awoke this early of my own volition, on Sunday of all days. In fact, I set my alarm this earl...

3 likes

Coach's Talk

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #222

“Ah, who am I kidding, you’re not listening anyway.” David Cross swung back the brown bag and felt some more cool courage flow down his throat. “Y’know,” he continued regardless, you always said you knew the best for me… what do you say now?”  You’ve done well, replied a voice, somewhat distant amongst the wind which whistled through the hibernating winter branches. David scoffed. “Well, yeah… Well enough to be sitting here on my ass, wondering how you are.”  I’m fine.  The bottle was done, this one at least. David put it ...

11 likes

The Celestials of Turing

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #205

Small towns like Turing are littered across the United States. Well, not exactly like Turing. There are any number of towns with a low populations and with just one set of shops in the town square, none of them having another branch. Many towns had just one elementary school which was also the middle school and high school. However, even though perhaps ten thousand such towns existed in quiet innocence around the continental US, there were none exactly like Turing. There were none that did things quite like they did. This little speech was e...

8 likes

One More Cowboy Ballad

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #204

Along the streets of Goslin, shops formed an even line of large façades. Their dark brown wood was long since encrusted with dust and pummeled by weather. If one entered Main Street from the east, the first set of shops would be the convenience store and the local paper store. Then they’d find a hat shop and a general clothing store. A horse supply store would be next, directly across from the local saloon. Most folks didn’t go much further than there on their first stop in Goslin, but if they did, they would find the sheriff’s office, a sma...

7 likes

Joy in Relent

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #188

Evan Locklear was having a fretful night of little sleep. As usual, he was in the only bedroom of his shabby house, moonlight revealing a spartan interior through broken blinds. His twin bed, far too short for his lanky frame, had a thin sheet which served as a blanket for him, and while it was perfect for the summer heat of North Carolina, the winter left him clammy and shivering. While that may have disturbed the peace of most people, Evan had grown used to it. What troubled him that night was not the weather, but the state of his life. He...

7 likes

Hear My Heart Burst, Again (This is the End)

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #186

This is the end. I know it in my heart, though I can hardly feel it beat within my chest. It murmurs softly against my ribcage, against soft folds of weathered skin. Where once vivacious strength and spirit had resided is now worn to destitution. Opening my eyes is hard; I remember a time when it was not - when the hues of the world were not so precious to me. I took it for granted, but of course that’s not too out of the ordinary, and now the colors I see in my mind's eye are tinged with yellowish decay. This is the end. “This is the e...

21 likes

A Closet Full of Chaos

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #185

If you had wandered into James Orton’s apartment, you may not have seen the clutter at first. His front door, an elegant, clean brown door, opened into a little foyer with just enough room for his three pairs of shoes and a coat rack which held two coats. He liked having a pair of winter boots, a pair of running shoes, and a pair of walking shoes. James never went to social functions, so he didn’t need anything more formal than that. His two coats were neatly hung exactly ten inches from one another so their sleeves did not touch at the bott...

13 likes

The Dragon and His Village

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #185

Somewhere within a distant mountain sat a dragon atop a pile of gold. This was not a scary dragon, with rows of razor sharp teeth and talons the size of full grown men. This dragon had claws which it could at best use to scratch the scales behind its pointy ears, and while it did have sharp teeth, it had developed a liking for vegetarian options, particularly bounties of fruits and steamed root vegetables. It liked to add in the occasional pot roast or succulent grilled chicken, but on the whole it preferred the colorful, leafy kind of food....

17 likes

Redemption in Pine Grove

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #164

There hadn’t been many long drives in the life of Marcus Bourne. In fact, prior to this day, he’d driven over an hour just once in his life. That one time had been to steal away in the middle of the night from his home. Then, there was no destination. Away was the operative word in his head. He’d stayed at four motels, witnessed a dozen drug deals at truck stops, and eaten over twenty meals and roadside fast food shops before feeling as though he had covered enough distance, five days and thousands of miles later. Now, Marcus was driving bac...

9 likes

Ghosts of the Night

Dhruv Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #161

With the strict brick walls of Winthrop manor, a slew of guests had most recently been chatting in the parlor, warm incandescent bulbs casting a yellow glow over Victorian furniture and through snifters of cognac. Laughs were sickeningly bright, following from comments such as, “Well of course John could’ve gone to Yale, but we thought it was best that he go to Harvard, like his father… Besides, we wanted him at a real Ivy League school.” Mr. Hainesworth was a Yale alumnus, so he began the hollow laughter which echoed around the room. It ha...

10 likes