reedsymarketplace
Hire professionals for your project
reedsyblog
Advice, insights and news
reedsylearning
Online publishing courses
reedsylive
Free publishing webinars
reedsydiscovery
Launch your book in style
Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022
Submitted to Contest #230
THE LIST Pick up Instant coffee, bologne, bread Go to Temp Office Pay Cell Phone Bill Drug Store Kill Kenny I checked my list for the umpteenth time this morning. I probably memorized it by about the fifth time I read it, but yet I found myself rechecking it. It hadn’t changed, the same six items still were on the list that I had written down as I finished off my morning coffee, sitting in my dilapidated old van. I had hesitated over # 6. Not hesitation about completing the task, but I hesitated about actually writing it down...
Submitted to Contest #227
FIRST SNOW Luke stumbled out of his bedroom and shuffled down the hall to the kitchen wiping the sleep out of his eyes and yawning loudly. Last night had been a late night, a very late night; the party had continued on into the wee hours of the morning. His head felt like it was two sizes too big for his neck and shoulders and his tongue felt like it was wearing a little fur coat. He padded softly over to the window and slowly pulled back the curtains, letting his eyes adjust little by little to the light that started to filter in through...
Submitted to Contest #225
THE ANTIQUE MIRROR The elaborate sign read ‘Victorian Vintage Village.’ It was an old Victorian house on the main drag not far from the quaint country village of Victoria. There was a wide wrap-around porch and the house was flourishing in architectural design from the Victorian Architectural Revival Period that swept through the nation years ago. The roof was steeply pitched, boasted several gables, and was crowned by a small widow's walk at the very top. The widow's walk was ornately decorated with a wrought iron railing. White...
Submitted to Contest #224
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD I opened my eyes, it was still dark. I checked my watch. I lay in bed for a few minutes more. Not because I was reluctant to get up before the birds had even begun their morning songs, but because I wanted to plan my route one more time. To see the route in my head, to plan my timing, my pacing. To get my strategies fixed solidly in my head. To calculate the risks, the dangers, the obstacles; to map out Plan A and Plan B and just because that was the kind of person I was, Plan C as well. I was a...
Submitted to Contest #223
THE ROOM Ky walked into the University Library, past the main desk, and took a seat where he could have a good view of all the people entering the library. He picked up a magazine off the low table in front of the chair and flipped it open. Every now and then he flipped a page. But his main focus remained on the glass doors. He had been waiting for a good thirty minutes and had varied his glance between the big round clock behind the front desk, the magazine, and the front door. Finally, his diligence paid off. She walked int...
Submitted to Contest #222
The Hero’s Journey Daniel ran down the steep edge of the cement aqueduct to the bottom where it was flat. A small amount of water was starting to pool in the drainage crease at the bottom and he knew by the end of the day there could be a raging torrent of water but for now, it was not only the fastest route across town but also the safest. Unless they blew the dam. The city had been on high alert for the past twelve hours, the streets and highway leading out of the city were clogged with desperate families trying to evacuate the city. L...
Submitted to Contest #221
THE VISIT The sheets wrapped around me tightly and I felt like a mummy in an Egyptian tomb. The roof of the loft was only inches from my face. I started to hyperventilate. Breathing heavily. Breathing fast. I felt a tightness in my chest and a tingling in my arms. I felt like I was in an oven, no, trapped under the ice, no I don’t know how I felt, just get me out of here. I pulled roughly on the sheets tearing them from my body, hearing them rip, not caring about how much I had paid for the Egyptian cotton whatever thread count. Free a...
Submitted to Contest #220
The mourners, dressed in unrelieved black, shuffled slowly towards the casket. A deep silence enshrouded the cemetery. Each griever picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it into the open grave, symbolizing a last goodbye, the last act of kindness they could ever offer the loved one. The dearly departed returns to nature and the cycle of life is complete; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. A sad adieu to the deceased, supposedly a sign of respect although I never could figure out why flinging a clod of dirt on top of someone...
Submitted to Contest #219
THE CELL I sat on the floor and felt the rough stones at my back through my thin and ragged shirt. The room was small and cramped but it really didn’t matter, I had very few possessions anyway. It was a small attachment to the house and had once been used as some kind of accessory building or storage shed, perhaps a rudimental entrance way for there was a door that led into the main house. The low roof had at one time leaked causing watermarks on the walls and a strange funky smell that I knew must be mold. We moved into the hous...
Submitted to Contest #218
THE STREET FAIR The street fair was a potpourri of aromas. Tangy barbeque sauce and grilled meat cooking over the coals were the most pungent of the smells that assaulted the nostrils so deliciously. One could almost taste the meat without even taking a bite. The next smell to tickle one's nose was that of popcorn; it was like walking into a theater, rich melted butter, and mouth-watering hot kernels. Level three to hit one’s nasal passages was a little harder to assess, it was very …interesting, and it was slightly rem...
Submitted to Contest #217
CHASING THE DRAGON Evan slapped at the mosquitoes that thronged around his head, it wasn't so much the bites that bothered him, it was the endless droning of their frantic little wings creating that irritating noise that never ceased. They were his bete noir, his black beast, his nemesis, his curse, his plaque. There were few things that bothered Evan in life as much as the tiny mosquito. He couldn’t help himself, he had always had an intense hatred of the pesky creatures. He could walk through a herd of horned cattle with not a qualm in...
Submitted to Contest #215
THE CHASE Nolen stood in the doorway of the drycleaning shop. The light above the door had burnt out months earlier and had never been replaced. The darkness didn’t bother Nolen, he thrived in the gloom, did his best work in an inky atmosphere, and had always felt that the darkness mimicked the colour of his soul. He checked his watch, 1:45 pm. It was Last Call but the exodus from Grimball’s Bar had already started. Several customers had already begun staggering out the door and waving down the taxis that lined up waiting like duck...
Submitted to Contest #214
THE CALMING INFLUENCE OF TURQUOISE It was Labour Day, the last long weekend of the summer. All the kids would be back in school come Tuesday morning, dressed in their brand new back-to-school clothes and looking too cool for school. It was the last hurrah of the summer, time to break loose and have a wild time before buckling down to long months of hard labour. Is that why it's called Labour Day? Amy and I had gone up to the cottage for the weekend, three whole days of sitting in the sun, kicking back on the dock with the beverage of o...
Submitted to Contest #213
THE SLIP OF THE HAND Margaret carried her empty coffee mug over to the kitchen sink, at the last second it slipped from her hand and crashed into the bottom of the sink, shards of porcelain exploding like shrapnel. One of the shards dug into the back of her hand. She gave a sigh of frustration as she grabbed the shard and pulled it out leaving a tiny bloody trail. She stared regretfully into the sink, it was her favourite mug, isn’t that always the way she thought? It was the mug the children in her kindergarten class had designed for ...
Submitted to Contest #211
THE COZY ROOM The curtains were halfway drawn revealing an almost Christmas card photo of the great outdoors. The snow was deep and crisp and even and it was truly a winter wonderland. The pine trees were laden with a frosting of heavy white, their boughs bent under the weight of the snow. All that was lacking was the pitter-patter of eight tiny reindeer hooves on the roof and visions of sugarplums dancing in one's head to complete the scenario. Inside, the flickering fire in the fireplace turned the formal front parlour into a cozy d...
Oops, you need an account for that!
Log in with your social account:
Or enter your email:
5 likes
