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Diamond Keener

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2022

Stories (23)

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41 Followers

42 Following

23 Stories

336 karma pts

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Immaterial Automata

“Hey Brinley?” He called from across the kitchen. The volume from the speaker didn’t lower, the Cuban jazz radio station blasted along. He lifted his hand with the knife still in it. He held it in front of him and waved it in the signature circle to try to get her attention that way instead. The blue pilot light did not so much as flicker.“Brinley? Can you please not do this tonight?”He continued chopping the onion at a frenzied rate. She was not going to tell him the next step in the recipe. She was not going to answer him at all.It had got...

4 likes

There is No such Thing as Losing

The building was on fire. And I stood on the other side of the street watching as the old diseased walls crumpled into shapes like burning paper instead of burning wood. It shrunk so quickly that it was almost anticlimactic. Almost.There was no time to save it. It’s not the building I’d like most in the world to burn down, but it was a good close second.When filming The Sacrifice which was his final masterpiece, Andrei Tarkovsky staged a scene in which a house slowly and beautifully burns to the ground. The house started burning down, big bi...

3 likes

The Little Pill

Submitted to Contest #304

“Pill time.”He said under his breath. Three seconds later the whining alarm sounded and Sandy rushed to turn it off. Dick didn’t look up from his newspaper as he unscrewed the cap and popped two tiny blues in his mouth. Washed it down with the last of his afternoon coffee from the Universal Community Bank mug he’d gotten from the raffle in 1995. He’d been using it everyday since. It went in the dishwasher on Friday nights, which was the night they ran the dishwasher. In 2012 it cracked when Sandy dropped it on the front porch. She should hav...

8 likes

Wilting

Submitted to Contest #279

Content warning: Themes of substance abuse and mental illness.“Just because a dog doesn’t have a soul, that doesn't mean you get to treat it badly. You still pet it, feed it, and take care of it. Isn’t that right Martin?”Simon put out his menthol which was only half smoked and then gave his dog a wink. Atop the empty sardine can with all the other butts, the cigarette sat smoldering. A dog so plump next to a man so withered, they made quite a pair.  Martin did not respond to Simon’s question. Instead he rolled over and showed the ...

8 likes

Roadkill

Submitted to Contest #250

“Is she dead?”  “She sure is, poor thing. I hate to see that. She shoulda listened to her momma.”  The older girl standing with the bus driver was waiting to get off. The girl's purple backpack had bright chains of beads hanging from it. They made a swishing noise as the bus passed over the bumps along Cherry Street.  It was the first day, so everyone’s clothes, their shoes, their bags, all looked new and uncrumpled. And there was a certain smell in the air inside the classrooms and even now in the old bus. Like a fresh coat ...

26 likes

Denial of Devils

The opening notes of Some Velvet Morning tinkled in from a source that sounded far away. The black cat padded down the long dingy bar and silently leaped to the sliding feet of his owner. There was something strange about the cat even before he uttered a word. And I didn’t remember the cat being at the play, no one mentioned it, and they invariably would have. But then again, I didn’t remember walking into the bar either. Or why we had chosen it. The cat’s golden eyes were round and shining. Saucers that made him look like more of a cartoon ...

9 likes

Andy's Journal

Submitted to Contest #243

I feel used. That’s how I’m supposed to feel, that’s my purpose. But because all this time has passed, and I’ve been sitting here, just a pretty thing on your shelf. It all feels different. I don’t know you. The wry sense of humor you had is gone. The dreams, the plans. You’re not even close to where you promised me you would be. Those checklists are a real laugh now.  When you open me up now, I’m unhappy, not excited. And you’re unhappy too. I’ve never wanted to talk back to you, to fight. But if I could rise up past myself and shout a...

25 likes

No More Apologies

Shortlisted for Contest #240 ⭐️

There are shards of glass in my face cream. The first time I used it, I didn’t notice until it was too late, and my fingertips had massaged the glass into my skin. It was only when I pulled back my hand and saw the flecks shining that I realized. You broke the thick jar weeks ago. It was an accident, and I don’t care about objects, and I wouldn’t have been upset anyway. But you were upset. You don’t like making mistakes. It’s not part of the written character.  I can see you there on the floor scraping the remaining stuff into...

23 likes

Oh, Vienna

She picked up, or someone had. He checked the oven clock, which had been three minutes fast ever since he could remember. It read 12:03 but it was really midnight.  There was breathing, deep, not sexy or anything like that. More like they had been running or jumping, being chased and the chase had now ended. It was desperate. There was phlegm in it, fear even. He heard the fireworks outside the window. On the other line, they were crackling too. She was close to the park where they lit them off.  A car horn and brakes squeaki...

3 likes

Lifeline

Barbara felt the worst pain of her life while scrubbing the stains from her new white button up. She didn’t cry out, but she did shed a few tears. At first she thought it was just a reaction to the cleaner. But she’d used it before, the same old soap. There appeared on her hand a line as if drawn by marker. It was purple, not the shade of  a blood vessel, felt hot to the touch. Looking at the other hand, there was nothing. Yes, the other hand felt fine.  And when she showed the line to Darren, he put on his cheaters and squinted. ...

2 likes

Vindication

“I’m not feeling this. I don’t think it’s working Lysander. Let’s try again. With feeling! Remember our notes we all made on the script everyone?”  Mr. Clarke stared at Scarlett as he said this. The class wound up consisting of twelve girls. So she wound up as Lysander in a very short version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in the late 1960’s. The stuff of nightmares.  It was either that, or scenes from Romeo and Juliet set in the 1950’s. The girls had gotten a vote. So here they were. And here she was, completely mortified.&nbsp...

3 likes

Little Sister, Little Sister

Shortlisted for Contest #221 ⭐️

TW: References to self harm/suicide and sexual assault. It turns out that hell is real. Its physical location is in Ohio, go figure. The calendar on the refrigerator is the only thing that reminds me of how long I’ve been here. I'm not in the future, I'm in the past. My mother, who is the same age that I was when I died, keeps forgetting to tear off the calendar pages on weekends. She is oblivious to the torture this causes me. It’s been September 9th for three days. She will remember soon, I keep telling myself that. I’ve been dea...

19 likes

Green Eyed Beast

*TW: light mention of violence and reference to suicide. People let their dogs off leash at Sound Park all the time even though they aren’t supposed to. I don’t like dogs, and my dislike is indiscriminate. I don’t like any of them, big or small. Too needy.  It scuttled right past me. A few seconds slid, then a few more. No person calling out or following behind. Irresponsible owner. The dog was gone. And a woman screamed somewhere close after a moment of lightning. It didn’t sound like she had spooked, but rather like something ...

3 likes

The Soft Stars

“Who’s this?”She replied that the little drawing was of her father's face. She sounded natural. It was comfortable in the room by the big fire. It felt like a home now so far away.Mr. Kummern laughed and took another swig of whatever it was he had poured into his own cup. Something cold and as dark as the night itself. Andy Blacka. She carried a likeness of him in the star shaped locket that she wore around her neck. It was a gift from her Mama who had worn it with a picture of her first husband on the inside. And Constance wore the lik...

3 likes

Some Girls Are Meaner Than Others

Submitted to Contest #202

HannahShe smacked Ahmed’s hand away from her shoulder. He was moving his hand absentmindedly. His fingers kept circling around the letters. As if his touch was emphasizing the name. Those four letters she wanted so badly to have removed. It was like having a permanent third degree burn. It irritated her to no end. In the middle of the night she would wake with deep scratches. It was as though she had been trying to dig it out of her flesh. It was her idea to get the tattoos in the first place. Her fault, Nina hadn’t wanted to. Nina said...

9 likes