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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020
Submitted to Contest #124
Cuba, December 1956: The look on Mr. Lansky’s face left me worried. “There’s some trouble brewing in Cobrero,” he told me.” A militant group is organizing out there and if given time, may become an obstacle for the local government. Fulgencio Batista’s hold over the people is already weak and we don’t want anything to upset it or our operations here. So, I want you to go down there and see if this is anything you can do to crush before it gets too big.” Of course, when he said operations, he meant the casinos he was overseeing in Havana....
Submitted to Contest #122
I cracked my eyes open to the rising sun. Turning towards the other side of the bed, I remembered what day it was. December third, the first anniversary of my dear Martha’s passing. The memory pressed against my heart, near to the point of breaking it. No, I said to myself. Life goes on. Forcing my sorrows to the back of my mind, I began my daily ritual. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I ventured downstairs, to be greeted by my cat. “Hello, Fido. You hungry?” Fido rubbed against my leg and began to purr. Then, ever so gently...
Submitted to Contest #121
“Thanks a lot for answering the door for me, Mrs. Drew.” When it came to Tom’s mother, I was always polite. “How are you this morning?”She smiled at him. “Goodness, Alex. How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Paige, not Mrs. Drew. You make me feel like an old woman.”Alex smiled back at her. She was a very warm person and easy to talk to. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Drew, I mean Paige. Please forgive me. Is Tom up yet?”“Hush, now Alex. There’s nothing to forgive. Anyways, why would you think Tom is up? It is seven in the morning, you know.”Alex ...
Submitted to Contest #120
Since the day he woke up in the morgue, Alex was haunted by the words Dr. Ben uttered to him. “I know this is a little confusing for you, so I’ll explain it in layman’s terms. Last night, after trying for twenty minutes to resuscitate you, you were pronounced dead. Your body was lifeless for well over an hour. All the cells in your body should have died, but they didn’t. There is no known scientific theory to explain what had happened. Yet here you are. If only Dr. Ben knew what Alex had experienced during the time between the car crash to...
Submitted to Contest #119
The sound of my snoring surprised me, when I was startled awake, but it wasn’t what disturbed my sleep. What caught my ear was a rapping sound, echoing from a distance. “Rap, rap, rap.” Then, it stopped.Filled with curiosity, I clicked the remote, turning off the TV and dragged myself out of the recliner. Standing motionlessly, with my mouth slightly opened, I wait for the sound to return. A minute passed, when I decided I must have dreamed it and gave up on my investigation.My stomach, aroused from its slumber, decided it wanted to be fed, ...
Submitted to Contest #118
Today’s the day I change. I’ve been letting Casey get away with murder her whole, and now I’m going to put my foot down. She absently wiped a tear away. What happened to my baby girl? Yes, she’s done some naughty things, when she was young, like stealing candy or teasing her younger brother, Paul. But when I caught her in her bedroom, half naked with that boy, it was too much. What was she thinking of? Yes, she was seventeen, still she should have had enough sense to say no to him. Nora Trigmore threw her hands up in the air. And now that “...
Submitted to Contest #117
Everything was ready for the ritual, or so Deborah thought. As the sun rose in the east, she began to clean her room from the previous night’s escapades. I can’t believe that drunk did so much damage in such a short time. She righted an upturned table in the center of the room. I need to be more careful next time. I don’t want to be caught cheating customers while conjuring spirits. If some drunken old fool could see the thread attached to my lamp, then who knows who else could have seen it? She placed the lamp back on the table and inspecte...
It felt as if I was dreaming, when I heard the news. Of all the ladies of the court, I was the one chosen to serve the king. Mother always told me I had more courage than my father and when they announced this position and though I was only sixteen, I didn’t hesitate to apply for it. Tears of joy poured down my mother’s face when I told her the news. “I’m so proud of you, Clare,” she cried. “Go and do our family proud.” Playfully, she brushed me to my room to pack my belongings. The next day, had I found myself standing in line for inspect...
Submitted to Contest #116
I closed my eyes, as I passed through the prison gates. Fear kept them shut, not daring to discover I was only dreaming. Three years behind prison walls had diminished my world to an eight by six jail cell and an open area surrounded by towering walls. To dream something bigger was almost sacrilegious. Not until I felt the cool, fresh breeze brush across my face did I dare to open them. When I did, I found myself facing a landscape stretching for miles ahead. Green carpet laid before me, to be touched at the seams by a brilliant blue sky. ...
The roar of applause thundered through the auditorium, as I stepped on the stage. Staring past the glow of the spotlights, I scanned the faces of the crowd. Blind, I thought to myself. They know not who they cheer for.At that moment, the President Bush placed the Medal of Freedom around my neck, shook my hand and blared in the microphone, “Let’s give our congratulations to Dr. Sickle. He’s certainly earned it.”Applause and cheers echoed, as I was escorted to the podium. The din died down and the nameless faces waited for my speech.As I peere...
Submitted to Contest #115
“What? I can’t believe your sister did that. What could be worse?”I waited for Terry to reply, but the phone went silent.“Hello? Terry? You there?”Still, no answer.After I checked my phone, saw it had four bars. So, I opened the Internet app and found it working normally. Then, I tried calling home. The phone icon flashed on my screen, then warned me there was no service available. This is so weird, I thought.Electronically defeated, I hopped on my bike and rode home. I sped up our driveway, jumped off the bike and charge into the living roo...
Submitted to Contest #84
Tara woke up in a dark room. “Where am I?” As she sat up on the side of the bed, a motion detector turned on the light. She looked around at the unfamiliar quarters. “Where am I?” she asked again. She looked at the clock on the bed stand. It was 7:30AM. What time did I go to sleep last night? It was all a blur, to her. The urge to pee was strong, so she found the bathroom to relieve herself. Afterwards, she came out and went to the front door and opened it. A long hallway met her. She looked up and down it, but couldn’t decide which way to...
Submitted to Contest #83
The steel bars encaging him were unforgiving. Realizing the door was his only way to escape, he tried to force the lock, but his attempts were in vain. He couldn’t understand why these humans treated him this way. He hasn’t done anything to them, not really. He looked through the dimly lit room around him. It was bare, except for empty cages next to his. He sat on the floor and felt it swaying, as the ship sailed out in unknown waters. He lost track of time since he was brought on board, but he can recount his last days before this voyage ...
Submitted to Contest #81
“Grandpa, how did you and Grandma meet?” As Sarah sat on my lap, she me and innocent smile, knowing I couldn’t resist it. “You know I told you this story a thousand times. Why do you want to hear it again?” Sarah bounced in my lap. “Because it’s so hard to believe. It’s almost like magic.” “It does seem like magic, doesn’t it? I’ll tell you Sarah, truth can be stranger than fiction.” I pulled her close to my chest. “Alright. Close your eyes, for I’m going to take you back to the beginning. It was February 1975…” I was living in West Eat...
Submitted to Contest #80
Bombs were bursting on the silver screen at the Texas Theater and the cigarette smoke in the theater added to the effects, but it was all oblivious to Lee. His mind was elsewhere. The phone call he was expecting never came and the aftermath of the noontime fiasco began to settle on his shoulders. They must have dialed the wrong number, he thought. The echoes of the gun shots reverberated in his memory. “Perhaps it’s all a coincidence.” In his heart, he knew better than that. Lee wasn’t much to look at. He was scrawny and his face was made f...
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