Fred Aiken

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2019

Stories (13)

13 Stories

132 karma pts

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

Aubrianna hated the rain. Her mom made her read whenever it rained. Everyone was forced to read whenever it rained. “I don’t have any more books to read,” Aubrianna said. “Can I draw?” “They didn’t assign you any reading to do in class?” ...

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“My Dog During Quarantine” by Fred Aiken

Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff. Bark bark bark ruff. Ruff ruff bark bark bark bark ruff. Ruff ruff ruff bark bark bark bark. Two hour nap. Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff r...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

Ryan received another wool sweater from Nanny Genevieve, or Genie as her grandchildren and children liked to refer to her because it felt uncomfortable whenever they mispronounced their grandmother’s name. Isabelle got another pair of hand-knitted mittens. Nanny Genie knew they both lived in Louisiana and would rarely need any warm clothing since the swamps did a good job of staving off any chilliness that might try to brave into the vines, mud, trenches of La Troya, Louisi...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

My life coach told me the best way to learn from mistakes is to hold on to them and never forget what they taught us. A week later, my roommate discovered the secret to time travel and founded his own company. I think it’s called Time is Money, Inc., though I’m not certain about that, so don’t quote me. Anyway, I decided to take advantage of my life coach’s advice with this new found discovery of time travel made by my roommate by reliving all my past failures. I know it do...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

After you hear my problem, you might not think it’s a problem. But I can assure you, it’s a problem. You see, whenever I go to do laundry at the local laundromat, I somehow get distracted and start having sex with strangers. At first I thought this might be good luck, and that somehow I had one the genetic lottery of being attractive enough for women to continuously sleep with me. But afte...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

For the past four nights Ryan had dessert for dinner, and he knew he shouldn’t do it again. Something about being an adult and on his own for the first time in his young life screamed poor impulse control, and he wanted to live out his childhood dreams of eating ice cream and cookies for the rest of his life. But he also wanted to be healthy, look attractive so that Sarah, his classmate in chemistry, would say ‘yes’ to his request to grab a cup of coffee. And most of all, R...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

His wife told him to get diapers. She gave him no other instruction. It seemed simple enough, and he had no qualms helping whenever he could, since he left his previous job a few months back and started a new job with more hours, more stress, and unfortunately no parental leave time off. He didn’t mind working twelve hour days and coming home to relieve his wife who already felt ill-equipped to handle a newborn by herself and so she went in and out of mood swings.

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

Paul’s music choice for his ride home from work was a religious experience. Whatever track he decided to play came as a direct result from his day of calling clients, listening to his coworkers tout the benefits of l-theanine, and a series of conference calls and meetings with men and women in overly starched clothing. Those first thirty seconds from when he left his office building to his car involved a series of prayers, meditations, and ultimate decisions about how his d...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

Bynx ended up in the washer when Yaelin went to do a load of darks and didn’t see her cat’s green eyes poking out of her green bra, and Bynx did not know she needed to panic and get out of the washer before it started up and the water and soap started to fill into the small compartment that got even more cramp by the second as the cat became more and more drenched from soap water covering the dirty clothes. No matter how many times Bynx screeched out for help, Yaelin couldn...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

The watch gave him the ability to glimpse into the future, though he typically could only see small bits and pieces, nothing world changing or any of that crap. Instead, he used his watch to see which sports team would win in the next couple of hours, or what stock price might go up or down the next market day. Typically, he could only use the watch in order to benefit himself. A couple of...

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“Untitled” by Fred Aiken

“I don’t think I like you.” “Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice about who your parents are.” “But that doesn’t mean I have to listen to you drone on about whatever it is you’re going on about.” “No, I think it does. It’s either listen...

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“Space Desert 101” by Fred Aiken

We crash landed about eight months ago. It’s only an approximation because I’ve lost count of the days. The crew split up the first time someone mentioned cannibalism casually as if were an option. None of wanted to become the next textbook Donner Party. Now I spend most days discovering new species to observe their main form of sustenance, and then I typically mimic them by eating wha...

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“Dessert First” by Fred Aiken

The first sentence I remembered about food from childhood was, “You can’t have dessert before you eat dinner.” It was a parental conspiracy to ensure I filled up on vegetables, grains, and protein ever before I took one look at any modified, baked, refrigerated, molten form of sugar. I resented the hell out of anyone that ever said I couldn’t have my cake and eat it too. So the plan was simple: ...

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Author bio

I write a lot of Untitled and Unread stuff.