Doreen Shea

“Loose Ends” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #176

Loose Ends Happily-ever-afters never found their way to Amanda, Sherry, or Eli’s world.  They languished somewhere between neutral and destruction. On this particular day, the sun cast long, drawn-out afternoon rays.  Later, not unlike their lives, it would squeeze out the last of its glimmer before twilight. Sherry shoved the groceries in her car as she looked down the street for some other place to kill time. Kill time, kill herself, kill, kill, kill she thought.  She dodged two little girls running between some ou...

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“You Could Have Been A Hero” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #145

You Could Have Been A Hero Janey heard it long before she saw anything.  She managed to pull her face away from the steaming latte long enough to scan the cafe’.  They followed to a ticking canvas bag left next to a pair of designer shoes of a well-dressed woman.  She sat with commendable posture as she sipped, Janey gawked, and the bag ticked.   Two suited men competed at the counter for the longest possible named beverage.  A child with dark curls danced around her mother and friends, as they oblig...

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“Milk Money” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #138

Doreen Shea 3/2022 Milk Money The day seemed perfect, but we all know perfect can’t last forever.  It was a skin-sticking-to-skin type of hot summer day, but we didn’t mind.  Bugs hovered overhead but respectfully stayed away on this perfectly planned afternoon.  We basked like iguanas soaking in the needed warmth of the sun.  The rays that filtered through the leaves of the weeping willow tree, gave us the exact amount of heat to shade ratio.  We lingered over our picnic of juicy watermelon, sandwiches of...

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“Three By Three” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #135

Contains cancer-related words and emotional tolls. Three By Three The children walked down the cold tile squares, careful not to land in the “lava” or the odd gray ones.  They were still children, after all.  Some still played games, but mostly they were afraid, afraid of this building, afraid of tomorrow, and afraid of this new life. They were selected to be here by an unlucky spin on some unkind wheel of “unfortune”.  It did not care if you were five, twelve, or forty years old.  Today the youngest ones were...

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“Making Eye Contact” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #108

Making Eye Contact Her fingers danced along the wine glass stem, as she wondered how her life got to this point.  Claire sat at the dimly lit bar waiting for a stranger, wishing she ordered a whisky sour instead but didn’t want to give her age away with that choice. Her bra strap dug in, a foot wanted out of the heels, and a sticky spot on the bar stole her attention and glistened of drinks gone by.  She prayed, he wasn’t a serial killer.  She tapped other restless fingers on a black cloth headband resting on her thig...

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“Dining For Revenge” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #107

Dining For Revenge “These collard greens smell like five-day-old grass clippings after a raccoon urinated on them.   And I’m betting the only thing that’s free-range about your chicken is the bacteria. Medium rare is not an option!”   I held on to my composure for dear life, but he continued. No use; the coffee mixed with some swiss cheese concoction fermented his breath and soured my hopes as he volleyed more abuse four centimeters from my wilting face.  I stood like an obedient Marine and tried to keep my brea...

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“But still, I Wasn't Worrying” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #105

But Still, I Wasn’t Worrying There was a cold front that swept in from the mountain tops, it collected speed, then found her soul. It was not always there, it just appeared one day, more like an ugly smear on a counter that somehow your arm finds too late. It stole her reasoning, it stole her heart, as she stole her mom’s money. The rose drops from my hand as I leave it on the letters that make up her name.  My unanswered questions linger in the air long before I pivot, walk twenty-eight paces and kneel at our parent’s grave...

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“He Should Have Had a Beer” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #94

He Should Have Had a Beer Twenty-one years ago, my best friend dreamed up a little game and now there’s no turning back.  The simple little dare evolved, reshaped, got ugly and now walked out of the swamp as a nightmare.   Craig dared me to pull the best prank ever when we were eight.  Challenge accepted, but not played out on some unsuspecting idiot, but on Craig, himself.  Then, every year after, we pranked each other, and recounted the horror inflicted. One shining year I managed to steal his car, plant th...

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“Fairy Tale Meets Fabio” by Doreen Shea

Submitted to Contest #86

Fairy Tale Meets Fabio Long, long ago, and far, far, away from anywhere your mama might have told you about, a lone man walked the floor of the pine, needled earth.  It was a time so far back, you could smell the green, the dark richness of the soil and the worms within.  His senses were keen like the animals that surrounded him, often raising his head to the clean blue of the sky to smell what was about.  Sometimes, those skies would darken by the shadows of countless birds, while the land creatures loped by his side....

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“Your Table Is Reeady” by Doreen Shea

Your Table Is Ready HER She’s thrilled to be out to dinner with him. He dressed up. She smiles and tries to say all the right things. He seems okay. She talks about her sister’s party next weekend. He excuses himself from their little linen-covered table. She looks around at all the chatting couples. He takes too long. She looks at the food now left on the table. He does another shot with his new best friend at the bar. She apologizes to the waiter, again. He laughs as his new friend shares another story, his arm finding a sticky me...

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