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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2023
Submitted to Contest #243
Nineteen minutes. That’s all the time left before she had to leave for her eight hour shift at the clinic. Nineteen minutes. She knew she would come home exhausted after the late shift only to go to sleep, get up early, and do the early shift in the morning. What did her coworker call it? Clopen. The close, open. Her next bit of freedom would be the following evening. Damn. Eighteen minutes. She still had to get her dinner together and pack her bag. She gazed at the TV, her laptop, her comfo...
Shortlisted for Contest #242 ⭐️
They were back. Clicking their hard nails on the wooden floor, panting as they grew closer. She assumed position covering herself with her coat and closed her eyes. She heard her mother’s voice as if in the darkened room with her. “Play dead, Shana.” Did she remember to lock the door? Not that it mattered, a small flimsy lock wouldn’t keep them out. She heard their footsteps approaching, knew the vicious dogs were leading those men in black boots straight to her. Angry German voices filtered into the...
Submitted to Contest #241
“Declined.”“What? That’s not possible.”The young cashier stared at me with blank eyes through the window. “Can you try again, please?” I watched as she swiped the card and then flicked her wrist to hand it back to me. “Declined.”Shoving the card into my bag, I drove off without my much anticipated caramel Frappuccino but instead a knot in my stomach.***“So, what did you do?” The voice came from the darkened backseat.“I thought it had to be a technical error, a glitch. I pulled over to check my app. Sure eno...
Submitted to Contest #240
Part One – Ida “Did you feel that?” Ida placed her hand on her cheek while turning away from the open window. “Feel what, love?” “That breeze.” “I wish. It’s hotter than blue blazes in here.” Ida knew that to be true. Her damp blouse sticking to her back was proof enough. But yet, there was that breeze she had felt on her cheek just for an instance. Then it was gone. “You’re right. Would you like some iced tea? We can sit for a while, watch the sun go down.” Moments later Ida brought out the o...
Submitted to Contest #239
Driving to the office I had to put on the windshield wipers as they were falling fast and furious. Why so many today?I’m not stopping, I decided. It’s tax season, and I have a growing pile of work on my desk. I can’t play. Not today, especially being Monday. I clicked my wipers to the fastest speed possible and leaned forward in my seat to see out. Last thing I needed was to crash my car. That would really put the icing on this rotten cake.Pulling into my parking spot, I glared out the window at the industr...
Submitted to Contest #238
Running through the woods, I was in a mad panic. Damn. Lydia was going to have my head for this, that’s for sure. I couldn’t believe I overslept on the morning of her weekly staff meeting. Get ready, girl, it’s about to hit the fan. I entered the staff building and ran down the steps two at a time saying a little prayer that I didn’t fall and break my neck.Entering the dark cramped room, I found the staff lined up in their uniforms with their hands behind their backs. Lydia, walking back and forth in front of t...
Submitted to Contest #237
Warm. So very warm. Thump, thump, thump plays the background rhythm, my only stimulation.I am suspended, floating in my new world, almost completely unaware.***Drifting around in the darkness I feel free. My arms and legs move randomly, herky jerky, before I slowly discover how to set myself in motion. One good kick spirals me around then tires me quickly. I have to stop and rest.Sudden noises and movements startle me. My arms and legs flail out, my own thump, thump, thump quickens until I can relax again, letti...
“Boss, we got a shipment of gowns!” The orderly approached me holding a box. “Gowns? That can’t be right. Let me see.” The young man handed me the box clearly labeled, but I knew the contents were not the rare surgical gowns as we hadn’t even attempted to order them in a while. Our small supply was washed and rewashed to the point of becoming tattered. The usable ones the patients wore, the others ripped into strips for bandages.Must be the personal order from my transport guy, I realized. What a dumba...
Submitted to Contest #236
I’ve never been a fan of time travel movies. They confuse me as I try to connect the dots of the back and forth events for them to make sense. I’m better off just relaxing and enjoying the ride rather than factchecking along the way to see if it all adds up.“I just don’t get it,” I groaned to my husband, a big sci-fi fan. I was attempting once again to watch a remake of a remake of an old classic movie. “How did he get back to his father’s childhood?” He looked at me almost disdainfully. “I explained it already....
“I remember your mom always had milk and cookies ready after school. I was so jealous of that.”“Oh yeah?” I mumbled on automatic as Carolann’s voice drifted away settling somewhere in the background. My thoughts were far from milk and cookies, but rather on the floor underneath the table. “My glasses, my glasses.” Clear as day I heard my brother’s cry after a fight with our father. I never left my room that day, so I didn’t know what had happened exactly, but I remember those words. “You broke my glasses.” ...
Submitted to Contest #235
“I’ve reached out to Marie several times with no response.”“I have as well. She’s gotten older, it isn’t easy for her anymore,” Liz explained to the women waiting patiently with her.“You think tonight will be different?”“I do. There’s strength in numbers, we’ll make ourselves heard. If anyone can take down that bastard it’s Marie.”***“You know this is a crock, right?”“Come on, don’t be like that. It will be fun.”“Fun? I doubt it. I won’t even know anyone there.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter, thinki...
Submitted to Contest #234
It was a bloodbath. All hands on deck trying to save my life as blood spilled out splashing in puddles on the floor. The pregnancy had been high risk; that was discovered during the first trip to the ER with bleeding even before my little baby bump was obvious. The months of bedrest at home almost got us to the finish line until the dreaded bleeding began again. “Three strikes you’re in,” I was told by the admitting nurse after showing up at the ER for the third time. The doctors explained the risks and comp...
She had barely made it through the day. The experience of training another new employee was still bitter in her throat, making it difficult to swallow. She procrastinated the start of dinner despite the growling hunger pains beginning to announce themselves. The girl was sweet, she couldn’t take out the mounting frustrations on her. Trying to keep herself detached from the situation, she had repeated the same instructions that she had over the years as the sea of new employees flowed past her. Would this one follo...
Submitted to Contest #233
“You are a miserable wretch. I am done.”He put on his sweats and went out for a run to clear his head. Dammit. Just halfway down the block and he already felt winded. How long had it been since he went running? He looked down at the gray sweatpants he was wearing, unwashed and picked out of the hamper outside the laundry room. What kind of person takes laundry out of the basket to wear? He had it ass backwards.It was her fault. Nicole. How did this happen to him again? She got under his skin,...
Submitted to Contest #232
“Who’s up next?”“We have someone new at station three.”“Stats?”“Fifty-nine year old female. Stress level 8, depression rising quickly threatening 10, suicide risk 2.”“You want to give this one a shot?”“Me?”“Why not you?”“I’m still in training.”“You’re ready. Start with observation.”***“I just can’t do this anymore, I really cannot do this anymore,” Ruth thought for the millionth time. She still heard her boss’s commands in her head. “Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.” Like a woodpecker tapping at her brain. It had taken ...
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