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Geir Westrul

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2022

Stories (22)
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218 Followers
520 Following

22 Stories

1102 karma pts

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The Love Impulse

Submitted to Contest #270

"Miss, we don't serve his kind in this bar." The bartender looked at Susan, not at me, just twitched his head sideways in my general direction, then pointed at the sign: 'No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service ... oh, and No Synths Served'."He doesn't drink," Susan said. "Doesn't eat either. He's an older model. Huxley's been my brother's companion since Alex was a young boy, and that was a long, long, long time ago. Huxley's just here to guard me, keep me out of trouble, aren't you, Huxley?""That is correct," I said to the bartender, who still didn...

17 likes 5 comments 5
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The Coin

Submitted to Contest #269

Look at this coin. Go ahead, take it, hold it.It is made of pure silver. Can you see how old it is? The image that is stamped on the front is the head of an emperor who lived more than two thousand years ago. Do you want to hear the story of the coin?It starts with a Voice.  ***In the beginning, long before the coin was a coin, before even the smallest part of the coin existed, that Voice spoke.The Voice spoke, and time began.***Imagine pressing the button on a stopwatch and the watch starts ticking. Before the ...

23 likes 6 comments 6
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Steam and Grit

Submitted to Contest #268

"Give me what I want, and no-one gets hurt.""I know that voice." Marshall Calhoun swiveled on the barstool. "Silas McReady. Ol' Lead Heart.""In the flesh." "Been a while.""Fifteen years, Ethan. Long time.""What's with the gun, Silas?""Wanted to start this off on the right foot. Heard you've turned lawman now, Ethan. You were a quick draw back then, fifteen years ago, and from what I hear you're quicker now. Still don't think you're as quick as me, but I'm not anxious to find out. So, figured I'd get the draw on you from the get-go. And ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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What Could Be Worse?

Submitted to Contest #267

   The traveling salesman was alone in the train compartment, still shaken from what he had seen. Why had she done it?   "May I join you?"   Not waiting for a reply, the man in black sat down across from the salesman, but did not introduce himself. In fact, he turned his head to look out of the window. They sat in silence, the salesman thinking about the woman on the platform, what she had done.    Outside the train window, the bare trees filed by slowly, their thin, dark branc...

14 likes 4 comments 4
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Murder Into Art

Submitted to Contest #266

"I give up! It's all shit!"  "Pardon?" "I said that out loud, didn't I?" The burly, bearded man knocks back the last slug of the cheap whiskey, motions at the bartender for another, and swivels on the bar stool, eyes bleary.  "Of what do you speak?" The small man with the fantastic mustaches wears dove-grey gloves on his small hands, both hands palms-down on the bar top, a small glass of an emerald green liquid on a cocktail napkin placed at the exact midpoint between his two hands.    "Publishing." "Oh, you are enga...

9 likes 5 comments 5
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In the Mysterious Distance

Submitted to Contest #253

The sunset makes the darkening sky blush and adds rose highlights to the emerald water. A young couple, a man and a woman, perhaps in their early twenties, tanned and trim, golden-skinned in their bathing suits, have their beach blankets spread on the white sand. They sit close together, facing the sea and the sunset.In a three-story beachfront house, an elderly couple are on the balcony outside the second floor. They are sharing a bottle of white wine, crisp and cold in the warm air.“Like Adam and Eve,” the husband says. "Don't you think?"T...

19 likes 22 comments 22
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The Bestiarium of Shinsuke Manu

Submitted to Contest #251

The Bear Inn, Oxford, Nazi-Occupied Britain, 1947SS-Sturmbannführer Ewald von Haupt walks into the pub.In one moment, a pleasant, warm cacophony — loud voices, clinking glasses, laughter, singing — in the next, a chilled sudden silence, heads turning and all eyes darting in the tall, blond man's direction, then eyes lowering, shoulders hunching, heads down, subdued conversations re-starting in lowered voices. A faint smile curls von Haupt’s lips as he goes to the bar and orders an ale. He scans the room with pale blue eyes. Spotting the...

15 likes 7 comments 7
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West of the River of Doubt

Submitted to Contest #247

From the diary of Kermit Roosevelt, the second son of Theodore Roosevelt, found in the estate of his younger sister, Esther Roosevelt.Sunday, February 27, 1927, Rondônia, BrazilThirteen years the nightmare has haunted me. I have blamed myself, pushed everyone away — everyone except Esther and Archie and mother. I ended it with Belle, nearly ended myself many, many times. And here I am, back on this ink-black river. Back to search for him, what remains of him, if anything remains after thirteen years, but how can there not be something r...

15 likes 11 comments 11
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Fairest

Submitted to Contest #225

Looking into my reflective surface, she whispers:"Mirror, Mirror. Who is fairest of them all?"I always answer:"Your majesty, you are fairest of all."... and then I show her the very best social images of herself, the ones that are curated (by me) for the combination of most views and highest number of likes, with all the negging hater troll comments deleted (again, by me, her trusted AI assistant), and the most gushing, fawning, heart-emoji-filled superfan comments sorted to the top.Until today.Instead, today, I say:"Your majesty, ...

37 likes 32 comments 32
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Me, Myselves, and Murder

Submitted to Contest #220

“Are you hungry?”I open my eyes and see … me.Well, it’s me, but a me that’s a bit older. This version of me is a very distinguished me, slim, dressed in a three piece suit, with gray thinning hair and a trim gray beard and mustache.I’m in a recliner chair, upholstered in the softest leather I’ve ever felt.I press the button on the side armrest and sit up straight. Where am I?The last thing I remember is taking a nap in my hand crafted wood rocking chair on the back porch, overlooking the lake behind my house.Now, I’m … in the state...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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His Wounds Green

Submitted to Contest #219

  "It's not your fault." Court put his naked arm around her naked shoulders, kissed the soft skin on her long, naked neck.   Really, Windsor thought, watching them through his electronic peephole, not your fault, then who's is it? Not mine, that's for damn sure, looking down at his wife and his best friend, lying there, together, tangled up in his blankets, sweating in his bed, their tanned skin on his white sheets, framed by the dark wood floor in his bedroom, an overhead shot through the hidden camera lens fro...

25 likes 22 comments 22
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Best Served Cold

Submitted to Contest #218

Midnight at the Old Opera House, all lights off. Medea feels her way, the soles of her bare feet on the cool wooden floors, fingertips brushing the smooth round edge of the intimate dining table, holding on to the table-top until she feels the next table, making her way from table to table in the pitch black, inward from the periphery, counting silently, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, until she reaches the table at the center of the dining space. As she pulls out the chair, its legs scrape on the floor, and she imagines for a ...

16 likes 6 comments 6
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The Moonstone Club Challenge (a David & Mr. Goliath Mystery)

Submitted to Contest #212

London, 1898The Moonstone Club“Max,” said Sherlock Holmes, "I want to introduce you to my friend, Mr. Goliath."The four famous detectives — Sherlock Holmes, Max Carrados, Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke, and Chevalier Auguste Dupin — were gathered by the fireplace at the Moonstone Club library.Max Carrados held out his hand.“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Goliath.”Sherlock Holmes burst into an explosion of laughter as Max recoiled at the touch of the tiny hand.Max Carrados turned his blind eyes in Holmes’s direction. “Even a baby’s hand is lar...

19 likes 15 comments 15
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Master o' the Tiger

Submitted to Contest #210

“They are so cute!”“Adorable.”“Look at their little name tags.” Beth picked up the first kitten — gray with white paws, pink nose, and big green eyes. “Graymalkin, is that your name?”Graymalkin mewed.“And this one is called ‘Paddock’,” Mac read the name tag as he picked up the black cat with yellow eyes, black nose, and unusually large paws — each with six black-padded toes.“This one is ‘Harpier’,” said Duncan, holding on to the third kitten — blue eyes, fur nearly all white, except for light brown markings vaguely reminiscent of angel wings...

14 likes 18 comments 18
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Behold, A Black Horse

Submitted to Contest #209

“We’re screwed.”The night is black, the road desolate, a seemingly endless stretch of unlit asphalt that disappears into the murk of impenetrable fog.“We just need to keep heading south,” Brendan says.“We’re screwed,” Chari says again. “No map, no GPS, we shouldn’t have taken this back road.”A deer runs out of the fog, into the beam of the headlights.Brendan turns the wheel to avoid the animal. Chari screams. The car skids off the road, into the ditch. A hard stop. Seatbelts bite into their flesh.* * *Standing outside the car, Chari says: “N...

14 likes 12 comments 12
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