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Hollis Sienkiewicz

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2021

Stories (37)

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37 Stories

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Sprouting Wings

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“So…” I started cautiously and immediately regretted it.  “No.” The movement of Dad’s fork from the plate to his mouth didn’t even pause, hesitate or stutter as he said it. I stared down at my spaghetti to avoid further humiliation. To avoid any eye contact. My family never talked at dinner. Silence was the standard. Plenty of silverware clinking against plates. An occasional request to pass the rolls. But never any conversation. Most days, I just accepted it. This is how my family was. But other days, I craved the chaos I’d see...

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Otis Women’s Brew Bash

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“Oh boy, this won’t be good.” Mom had tugged me along at a brisk pace the whole way Aunt Margie’s house, excited for me to attend my first Otis women’s brew bash. Now her pace slowed, though her grip on my hand remained fierce. As we approached the gate leading to Aunt Margie’s backyard, we could see a huddle of women with twinkling strands of fairy lights and luminaries throughout the yard, adding a little brightness in the waning evening light. I tried to count the heads and guess who all was in attendance. Aunt Margie, of course, and ...

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Seeing the future

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“Hey everyone,” Marley said, approaching the microphone tentatively. Maybe not the most professional way to begin her major announcement, but what did they expect from a teenager? Marley’s eyes were closed tight as she shook the long brown bangs away from her face and took a deep breath. The breath involved her entire body: shoulders rising and falling dramatically, even her knees bending under what looked like a tremendous effort. Melville was a small town and not many of its residents had gathered in the town square. But Marley was ok ...

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A.P.P.

Hollis Sienkiewicz

I’m an App. Really, it’s A.P.P. - stands for aqua partum puero. It’s Latin for water delivery boy. Why Latin, I have no idea. I’m sure there’s a reason buried in our history. And nevermind that I’m a girl. Being an App, I’m barely noticed at all, so no one will notice I’m a girl. Still, that’s my job. I deliver water to the rich. But not for long. I have a plan. I’m going to leave. Well, run away, really. The whole thing is messed up though. Somehow, the rich people are really dumb. I’m not trying to be mean, it’s the truth. They aren’t ...

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Super Heroes Inc.

Hollis Sienkiewicz

Matthew Winters has a lot of money. He’s been seen around town with a huge grin on his face, literally skipping and tossing money into the air, free for anyone to grab. Every Saturday at 2 p.m., he strolls into Super Scooper ice cream shop and buys every kid there a cone, never buying any for himself as he just pats his trim waist and says he’s watching his weight. Even with these random acts of generosity, or possibly just acts of madness, he still has more money than he knows what to do with. He once started chatting with his mail carr...

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One Ring

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“Dad? Did you ever do anything dumb as a kid?” We had just picked Teddy up from school early because he had, in fact, done something done. “Hah!” My wife scoffs from the seat next to me. I know she wants to chime in with all the dumb things I’ve done that day or that week or since we’ve been married. But I don’t think that’s what our 8-year-old needs to hear about right now. “Yeah, Teddy,” I reply calmly, “of course I have. We all make bad decisions sometimes.” “I didn’t make a bad decision,” Teddy insists from the back seat, arms cr...

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Looking for Love

Hollis Sienkiewicz

Geoff’s shoulders slump and the smile slides off his face. That’s how we know the cameras are off. How we know we can relax, too. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. You’d think after four weeks of being followed by a camera, living with this group of women, with the group of men right next door, you’d think I’d be used to it. That I wouldn’t still have to calm my nerves every time I remembered I was being filmed. Our four weeks here will translate into four months of weekly shows for America to watch. Looking for Love. That’s t...

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Azalea

Hollis Sienkiewicz

Today, I woke up and I’m here. Tomorrow, I’ll wake up and be there. Here, I’m wealthy. A trust-fund kid living off the hard work of generations of Andertons before me. There, I’m a copy editor. I wouldn’t say I’m struggling, but it’s not much better than paycheck to paycheck. Here, it’s ok that my memory skips a day. Any confusion can be written off as a rich girl’s eccentricities. There, my life is planned around missing every other day of my life. Not being present, not remembering half of the days of my existence. There, I’m ess...

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Flight treatment

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“I have good news and bad news.” “Ugh. That’s so cliche. Do you actually have good news and bad news for me?” “I do.” “Because if you don’t, that’s just, like, really annoying that you would say that. You know?” “Well, I do.” “Right, but, a doctor saying they have good news and bad news for you, it’s just been played out. You know?” Dr. James nods, struggling to suppress an eye roll. She looks down at her clipboard, holding one page up to peer at the page underneath. “Wow. That whole clipboard thing you’re doing right now? Also...

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Peer Judge

Hollis Sienkiewicz

Every grade has a judge. Up until 6th grade, the judge is a teacher. But then it switches to a peer judge. Peer judges continue through high school. Then, you’re an adult and have to wait among the ever growing lists of people wanting to see the public judges. It’s a judge’s responsibility to decide. To settle any disagreement, no matter how large or small. The system is supposed to encourage agreement and cooperation. I think it breeds similarity. Because we all try so hard to get along, we’ve become so plain, so vanilla, with hardly an...

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No internet, no problem

Hollis Sienkiewicz

After I graduated, I didn’t have a plan. Lots of hobbies but no passion - that kind of thing. So I decided to backpack around the country. Visit spots I’d never seen. Try to find something, somewhere or someone that ignited an excitement in me and gave me some purpose. I found that in Hillsville, ID.  I get to help people. It’s a wonderful feeling. The people of Hillsville look to me to solve so many of their problems and I pretty much always come through. Though, I guess, if I’m being honest with myself, there are better ways I c...

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Potions Master

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“Hand me that Buchner, will you Ren?” Ren didn’t reply. Her dad snapped his fingers at her. “Hmm?” she said dreamily. “Phone down, Ren,” he said sharply, not even having to look at her to know she was once again distracted by her phone. He was trying to teach her real, actual magic over here and she couldn’t stop staring at that tiny screen. “Oh, right, sorry. I was just… it’s not important,” Ren said, cramming the phone into her pocket. She just stood then, staring at her dad. “The Buchner, Ren,” he reminded her. “Oh, sure. Got it...

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Truth detector

Hollis Sienkiewicz

I’m a tester. I’m essentially a human lab rat. But for tech, not medicine or skin products. I’ve been told I’m like a blue rat, which is actually a blueish silver in color, because those are a rarer color of rat. And that’s because I’m a kid tester.  Twelve is the youngest tester allowed by law and you need parent permission. Most parents would never allow their kids to be testers, fearing what the tech might do to their previous child’s still growing brain. My parents, however, don’t know and probably wouldn’t care if they did know. ...

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Lemonade stand

Hollis Sienkiewicz

“Did you see that?” Tom was the scaredy cat of our group. “Of course we saw it, Tommy,” Jonah’s response was dripping with eye-roll. He was the sarcastic, outgoing, loudmouth of the group.  “It’s fine,” I replied calmly. I’m Mal. The girl of the group. But also, generally, the most level-headed one. We were prepping our lemonade stand, so I went back to stirring the ingredients in the pitcher. “How can that be fine?” Tom was chewing on his cuticle, but crammed his hands in his pockets the second I looked his way. “The lights just ...

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Mr. Quigley's Weeds

Hollis Sienkiewicz

Mr. Quigley was old. Quite old, really. So old that little white hairs sprouted from his ears. His neighbor, Fiona, was decidedly not old. This did not bode well for Fiona in Mr. Quigley’s book. But worse still than Fiona being young, active and chipper was the fact that she had an even younger human living with her: her son, Rockwell. Fiona called him Rocky and this was among Mr. Quigley’s least favorite things about his neighbors. Fiona tried her best to be kind to everyone, especially the people she lived near. But Mr. Quigley did not...

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