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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020
Submitted to Contest #128
**TW: ED** Dappled sunlight spilled across Amy’s bedroom floor through her half-closed lace curtains, the shadows of tree limbs swaying in the breeze. Her window was cracked open just a slit to allow the refreshing air to overtake the stifling, stale air within the bedroom. Everything felt foreign to her still, the smells of her home–warm and inviting smells–somehow familiar and strange at the same time. She observed herself in the full-length mirror beside her dresser. Her reflection, at least, was beginning to look familiar again. Traces ...
***TW: Mention of SA, Abortion, and Miscarriage*** Steam rushed into the air as the boiling water poured from the kettle into Kit’s teacup, the teabag bobbing in the water as it filled to the brim, turning the water into an amber hue. Kit inhaled, relishing the smell of the Irish Breakfast tea. Anastasia’s home was quiet, peaceful, far removed from the noise of the French Quarter down below. Kit sat at a barstool at the island counter, peering through the window above the sink, from which she could see the Mississippi River glistening ben...
The union jack billowed in the breeze, heavy with humidity refusing to give way to rain. No matter how charming and quintessentially "English" the English Tea Room appeared, nothing could hide the glaringly obvious fact that they were situated in Covington, Louisiana. The 70-degree winter was enough to disabuse one of any delusions that they might be on a quiet little island country on the colder side of the Atlantic. Anastasia bemoaned the heat, wondering how she was meant to drink hot tea in such weather, wondering if this was all a huge m...
Submitted to Contest #115
TW: Alcoholism; references to sexual assault Anastasia’s eyes glazed over, her head throbbed, and her stomach was in knots. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had managed to get roughly ten hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours, or perhaps it was the fact that, in those last forty-eight hours, all she had consumed was about a handful of pistachios and roughly a gallon of whisky. Despite those factors, Anastasia blamed her current state on the litany of social media posts that she had stayed up all night reading. Peopl...
Submitted to Contest #76
The dirt road curved through tall trees, over a hill and then down, opening out to reveal the small home made of stone, smoke curling out of the chimney, which jutted out of the red brick roof, striking against the gray sky. Sarah cut the engine when she pulled into the drive and exhaled. In doing so, she realized she had been holding her breath, and wondered why. Her heartbeat rose at the sight of the house, a mixture of excitement and dread pulsing through her veins. All throughout the night, Sarah contemplated how this day would go. She c...
Submitted to Contest #68
The sun crept slowly above the horizon, bringing light to another day. Kyla tried in vain to remember the last time she had seen the sun, and she wondered when it would make its next appearance. Rain was in the forecast for the foreseeable future. A vast expanse of rain and fog, wind and chill. Enjoy this moment, she reminded herself, straightening her back and drawing a contented breath. After all, this moment is the only reality, and, in one way or another, their lives would alter by the time the night fell once more on their littl...
Submitted to Contest #66
“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat,” Caleb said, eyeing the practically suicidal move Liam made in the hearts game. Nearby, the dying fire cracked and popped, orange embers sparkling, then fading away. The smell of wood burning surrounded the campsite. “What’re you on about? Of course it counts,” Liam picked up the Queen of Spades he had just put down and slapped it on the table with greater...
Submitted to Contest #58
*I don't think this story actually fits any of these categories very neatly....but apparently they can't just be "general fiction" so...* --- The Thunderstorm had long since subsided, but the power remained obstinately off as it often did at the McKenzie household, nestled in a quiet valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Monika sat at the kitchen table with a headlamp strapped to her head and her toddler son, Milo, in her lap. Bowls containing the residue of their cereal dinner sat on the table in front of them, pushed toward the center...
Submitted to Contest #56
Inspired by Real EventsJuly 1910 Edwin Fitzpatrick anticipated a typical journey across the Atlantic. The Laurentic was the tenth ship aboard which he served as a steward, and he had made trans-Atlantic crossings almost as many times. The excitement had worn off, numbed long ago, along with the effects of nervousness and seasickness. He went through the motions, a subservient smile plastered to his face as he “yes, sir” and “yes, ma’am”ed his way through another day, waiting f...
Submitted to Contest #53
Emily sat on her apartment balcony, bare feet propped up on the iron railing, strawberry-blonde hair piled into a bun atop her head. She regarded the popsicle in her hand as if it were a complex math problem, eyes tracking the liquid sugar melting off of the stick as though it were a detail that must be committed to memory. The red liquid trickled down the stick then pooled on her hand, almost the same color as the polish on her nails. Emily tried to remember when she had applied that polish. Two weeks ago? Three? Two months ago? The last ei...
August 1910 The cottage came into view at the end of the road that curled through the Irish hillside. They had had to continually put off this trip as spring faded into summer, which was threatening to fade into autumn. What was meant to be an Easter time get-together turned into an early August gathering at Edwin Fitzpatrick’s grandparents’ old cottage, scarcely used now. Away from the bustle of Belfast, Edwin sighed contentedly. There was freedom in the air, a freedom he only otherwise felt at sea. He loved his work, and thought himself fo...
Submitted to Contest #52
Outside the store window, the Chicago sidewalks were scarcely visible behind the blinding white snow. Kit Keegan glanced down at her watch, clicking her tongue in disapproval at the amount of time remaining on her shift. She was alone, taking the graveyard shift at the store, wistfully remembering winters growing up in New Orleans, when temperatures scarcely dipped below fifty degrees. Ah, well, Kit thought as she opened up the cash register to count the day’s wages, there’s good and bad wherever you go. At least hurricane season is a prac...
Trastevere, Rome, bustled with life as another day gave way to another night. The lights on the Ponte Sisto Bridge reflected in the Tiber River below, bringing to mind romance and vitality. For Cassidy, it had all been intoxicating upon arrival, but now it was all as bland and familiar as home. She was spending a year teaching English as a second language, and had happily settled in Rome. As she was weaving her way home from dinner one evening, she saw him: Paul, her brother, who had gone missing fifteen years ago. She brushed it off, noting...
Submitted to Contest #51
Personal Constellations On the mountain, all was still. The Shining Rock Wilderness stretched for miles around them, the Blue Ridge Parkway a tiny snake in the grass, the occasional cars that passed by ants crawling along the snake’s back, winding its way down through the Pisgah Forest. Monika Chadha hugged her knees to her chest and sighed, slow and content, observing the blanket of stars twinkling at her from the heavens, the same as always. She leaned her head on Liam’s shou...
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