Elizabeth Maxson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2021

Stories (27)

27 Stories

596 karma pts

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“A Conversation With Death” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #149

All of the house lights had just flickered again and my heart was racing like a washing machine on the spin cycle. The book I was reading was not particularly scary, but for the past twenty minutes, everything I read was happening outside. First, the wind picked up just as the storm was brewing on the page. Then, a loud banging noise proceeded for exactly fifteen seconds before dulling into the wind. Two cats fighting and screeching made me drop the book, and lastly the lights flickering caused me to stop reading altogether. &nbsp...

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“Apartment 5A and 5B” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #148

Apartment 5B was my first apartment. It was perfect, except the mold…and the gas stove which scared me…and the overly thick carpet that felt squishy and not soft. On the plus side, it had two doors. The one at the rear of the apartment had a set of stairs with a little mini patio beside where I parked my car. Most of the apartments in the complex only had a front door, while my apartment had two doors. I loved sitting out back with Benny, my black Jack Russel Terrier, and a good book. I never used the front door. Not because I...

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“Jacob's Triumph” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #135

It has been seven years. Actually, it had started before our daughter was born and continued after our son appeared years later. I vowed to change our lives when Lennon pointed to the blue aluminum cans and said, “Look it’s dad’s favorite drink.”            Gillian said almost the same comment five years earlier. She saw the cardboard Bud Light boxes at the store and said that dad had bunches of them in his truck. I realized I had failed on my promise that night to make Ja...

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“Shadowy Garnet” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #128

Oolong…Earl Grey…Black…the tea selection was daunting in the cabinet. Grandma Charlie always had boxes of tea although I never saw her drink any. Now, as I was sifting through her belongings it only seemed right to make myself a cup of tea. That and there was no coffee pot in the house and the nearest Starbucks was a twenty-minute drive into town. I had been the only visitor to Grandma Charlie’s since she refused to move into the nursing home last year. She threw my mother out of the house and never liked my father, so he didn’t e...

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“As You Wished” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #126

My feet ached from the silver stilettos I had been wearing for almost six hours on the concrete. They looked great, but I could feel the top straps starting to dig in to my feet.  The renovated theater looked incredible. There were gold streamers hung low like a lazy chandelier and the fabric streaming down the walls matched the metallic reflections from the lights coming from above. Everywhere I looked, my eyes dazzled with a million twinkling glitters that never stood still. I felt slightly ridiculous in my sequin tank top...

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“Goodbye Walter” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #110

The car had been giving us trouble for weeks, but we could not get rid of it. It was our only means of transportation. The vibrant blue of its youth had been riddled with rust holes, dents, and scratches over its fifteen years of ownership. It had been my parents’ car. A 1989 Dodge Omni that had seen more of the country than most people do in a lifetime. When I finally moved out after my third year of college, my parents gifted the car to me. It had always been a trusty ride and Walter, my affectionate name for him, always go...

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“Gone!” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #108

“It was right there!” “You say that every time you lose your phone, Celeste.” My mother’s grimace was growing on her face as I frantically started throwing the papers on the dining room table around searching for my phone. “I mean it this time,” I wailed and continued my desperate attempt to locate my Smartphone. “I would say retrace your steps, but we do not have time. We have to leave, now.” Her tone was final, and I let the last few teardrops that had been welling in my eyes escape down my cheeks. It was hopeless. All day w...

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“Five Years Later” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #107

“We didn’t start the fire…” the Billy Joel song faded out as I regained my focus on the door. I knew Simon would be here soon and I was going to hold my ground. We didn’t need to argue anymore. It had been five years, he still blamed me, and he was not getting Sammie. I was over this, and I wanted it to be finished. He told me he didn’t love me after one year of marriage. Actually, he said he didn’t love me as much as he thought he did. Either way, it wrecked every part of me. He said it was because I changed. It was...

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“Perceived Potentiality” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #106

“You do realize that is a superpower?” Milo said casually. I shook my head no and continued sipping my coffee.  “It is. Everyone has one and that is most certainly yours.” I rolled my eyes and relaxed back into the café chair. There were talented people all around me. The guitar guy, playing his instrument in the corner with no regard for anyone else, was strumming intently and seemed to be transported beyond his corner table to wherever his music was taking him. There was also the girl sitting two tables over who had been ...

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“Essence of Darkness” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #105

I am the essence of darkness. I never disappear even when the sunlight does. My world is silence or maybe it is just me. I’ve never been able to converse with Lugh, but we have grown together. I have followed him everywhere. I was on the water when he dove off the high dive for the first time. I was on the wall when he broke up with his first girlfriend. I even flash on the walls when he is sleeping as cars pass by his windows. We’ve been together through bunk beds, dorms, and now this apartment.I have tried to have friends.&n...

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“Fair Concerns” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #104

Are you coming tonight?The text had been sent twenty minutes ago and I was left on read.He had seen the text and not responded. What was worse was that he was already half an hour late, and I was extremely excited about this second date. We had been out once before, and we both seemed to have a genuinely good time. However, this date was to the fair. Walking side by side at the annual Shelby County Fair was like announcing your relationship on Facebook. Everyone and his mom, quite literally, would know who were dating in a mat...

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“The Modest Vixen of 1944” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #103

“You’ll have to ask your grandpa,” my grandmother said casually. It was a standard response in our family. My dad sent me two blocks to ask my grandmother what time we were meeting at Friendly’s for ice cream, and I was sent to my grandparents’ garage to get his answer. I walked into the two-car garage and instead of finding my grandpa, I saw two pictures of a mysterious woman in my grandfather’s chest-high, emerald-green tool chest. They were both wedged into the lid. The lid was exceptionally heavy, so he rarely kept it open. H...

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“Two Stories Down” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #102

“Boo Radley?”“Too isolated.”“Norman Bates?”“Too crazy.”“Miss Haversham?”“Too vengeful.”“Faulkner’s Emily?”“Wasn’t she a necrophiliac?”“Depends on your reading of the last scene in the attic.”“Then no.”“Gollum…the Grinch…Yoda…Willy Wonka?” My frustrations were starting to sarcastically seep into my responses. I had been thinking for about twenty minutes, but I couldn’t come up with a comparison to help Mira help identify the mysterious recluse who had moved in to the apartment below hers.”“Dina.” Mira’s agitation was palpable. She first ...

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“Lamenting an Onstage Jesus ” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #101

“Poor Jesus,” my friend Sean said quietly under his breath.           That was when the giggles started. Normally, I did not succumb to laughter during a theatrical performance unless it was warranted. However, Sean’s comment was totally lacking context, except that we were watching a Jesus onstage. The excerpt from Jesus Christ Superstar was nearing its climax and while the performers on the makeshift stage were doing a superior job with the choreography and the character repr...

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“Unexpected Music” by Elizabeth Maxson

Submitted to Contest #100

The coldness of the room had nothing to do with the temperature. My father and I had avoided each other for several years. Ever since I found out he had another life for most of my childhood, I couldn’t look at him the same way. He missed many of my events because he “had to work,” and it was clear those really were just excuses for him to spend time with Justina. Her name was ironic because everything about her was not justified. She spent time with a man who was already married with three kids and a life that needed him.&nbs...

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Author bio

Normally, I spend my days helping others write, but this amazing place allows me to open my mind, imagination, and stories. The community here is incredibly talented, gracious, and creative. Take care, be kind, and keep writing.