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Iona Cottle

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

Stories (101)
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626 Followers
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101 Stories

3086 karma pts

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The Empty Notepad

Submitted to Contest #67

The interview room was cold and dark. No; not actually dark, not with all the bright lights overhead, it just felt… like the wrong sort of light. No windows, Alice thought, no natural light. She’d never realised how much of a difference that could make until now, but then she couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent so long sat in a windowless room. The door buzzed as someone outside scanned their security pass, and Detective Inspector Hall came in, clutching two take-away coffees. “Here we are,” he said. “One coffee, with milk and tw...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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Always Improving

Submitted to Contest #66

“It doesn’t count if you’re already planning your defeat.” “I’m not assuming that I’ll win, but that’s a very different thing from ‘planning my defeat’. Geez, Aya, why do you have to be so melodramatic about everything?” Tyler tried to laugh it off, but Aya wasn’t buying it. “Because you do this all the time. You’re a really good artist, why can’t you see that?” “Can we not get into this discussion again? Fine, I’ll enter the stupid competition. Maybe I’ll win, but the odds are against me. I’m not going to go pinning my dreams on somet...

19 likes 0 comments 0
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On The Gray

Submitted to Contest #65

Though there were tall iron fences, the gateway was empty, hinges rusted up with nothing on them. In the dark of the October evening, it struck Zara as wrong, and the things she’d agreed to on the bus took a darker and damper turn. “Are you sure they won’t lock up?” she asked. “How? There’s nothing to lock. And besides, we could just climb over the fence if they did, or stay till morning.” Rose slipped up behind her and put her arms round Zara’s waist. “Come on, you said you would. Don’t you think that’s romantic? Watching the sunrise to...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Old Lessons

Submitted to Contest #64

The rain lashed at the windows and the wind howled through the trees. The curtains had been drawn hours ago, and yet a draft from somewhere kept blowing one of them open slightly, though nothing was visible in the grim night outside. “Worst. Summer holiday. Ever,” Katrina sighed. “Well be fair, we did come to Scotland. What did you expect?” her father said. She tried to glare at him, given it had been his idea after all, but he hadn’t even looked up from his newspaper. Since arriving two days ago he’d become as archaic as the house. Seri...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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That Day and Now

Submitted to Contest #63

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. I’d seen the leaves change colour every year, but that day they seemed brighter than ever. They weren’t just red and orange; there were still hints of green every now and then, which gave the fire more depth. “Are you all right?” Jason asked as I stared at the trees. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine. I mean… Are you all right?” “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll manage.” He took my hand, and his skin felt as hot as the fire flaming through the tree tops around us. “Come on, let’s go the scenic way home.”...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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Escape Trajectory

Submitted to Contest #62

“Some witness protection scheme this is,” Sheena muttered as she stared at her reflection in the glass of the unit. Automatically she tried to adjust her hair, only to realise that there wasn’t enough of it left to adjust. With her hand still halfway to her head she sighed and stared deep into her own eyes. “Is it worth it?” “What was that?” Yohan asked as he blundered into the room. “Nothing,” Sheena replied. Her words were lost in the thunderous crash as Yohan tipped the stack of boxes he was carrying to the floor. “Sorry?” Sheena ...

16 likes 1 comment 1
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Sickly Sweet

Submitted to Contest #61

The music was pounding, and Jason already had a headache. He kept the smile on his face, knowing that he couldn’t be seen to be grumpy, not today of all days. Everyone else in the room was grinning, a whole host of rictus skulls in various states of inebriation. The group bobbed along to the music, shaking the floor ever so slightly out of time with the bass from the speakers, as though the dancers were fighting the band.And there, no longer in the centre of the crowd but still orbited like the sun, was his sister Carol. The ridiculously lon...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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The Stash

Submitted to Contest #60

The wind whistled across the car park, rattling abandoned cars and tossing about the accumulated rubbish from the last six months, like a child discarding all the toys they were bored of. If the breeze carried a smell, Lizzie didn’t notice. After so many months, smells didn’t register like they used to. Now she panicked when the air smelt fresh, not when it didn’t. “Are you sure about this, Charles?” Rob asked. “Look, we’ve been over this enough,” Charles whispered back. “There’s a stash in there, and now’s the best chance to go and get...

18 likes 9 comments 9
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One Of Us Is Comfortable

Submitted to Contest #59

“You don’t have to come with us, you know?” Jack started, not having realised that Rowan was looking at him. “Nah, it’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be fine? It’s fine.” “D’aww, what’s this?” Alice said, leaning over Jack’s shoulder. “Is my little brother embarrassed?” That much was clear to anyone walking past them on the street. Jack’s cheeks were redder than the traffic lights, and despite the cool autumn air he had a thin trail of sweat down the side of his face. At being called out though he clenched his jaw and squared his shoulders, sh...

20 likes 3 comments 3
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The Silent Hum

Submitted to Contest #58

There was always a hum. Always had been, and always should be. So when Tobias woke up, and the world was quiet about him, he knew at once that something was wrong. It took him a few moments to work out what the problem was however. The background hum was so much a part of his world now, as it had been for the past two months, that normally he didn’t notice it. It was like actually noticing the sun was up, rather than just seeing that it was light. He wrestled out of the blankets, which were all tucked up under his legs to keep the chil...

25 likes 8 comments 8
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Et Tu?

Winner of Contest #57 🏆

The lights had been dimmed in the auditorium, and this was Melissa’s favourite time. Okay, perhaps auditorium was too grand a word for the little box room tucked into the middle of the exhibition, but with only the light from the projector she imagined it was her great stage. Then she could pretend she was presenting her stunning PhD thesis, rather than re-reading the script the museum provided. Sure the job was fun, but it hardly had the grandeur she’d been aiming for when she went into academia. As soon as that started paying properly, she...

370 likes 112 comments 112
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The Same Boat

Submitted to Contest #56

Melissa The court house is a dull building, exceedingly so given the dramas that unfold inside it. It’s imposing, but only in the same way that 1960s office buildings are, all sharp edges and bland colours that drain the personality out of you just by looking at them. Just the sort of place you want to spend a day’s holiday. Not. “You didn’t have to come you know,” Andrew says to me as he catches my expression. “I know.” He said it often enough last night after all. “But it’s not fair to make you turn up by yourself.” Besides, I don’t ...

22 likes 0 comments 0
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Abandoned?

Submitted to Contest #55

“Can you keep a secret?” he asks as we wait for the train. Of course I can, I think. I’ve never told anyone about my childhood crush, and how we used to make out behind his shed. I’ve never mentioned the night I came downstairs and saw my mum kissing my father’s brother – mostly because I’m not entirely convinced that was what I saw, but still. But this… I sigh as I take his hands again. “Yes, and I will if you want me to. But are you sure about this?” Once again there’s that stupid grin, half-scheming, half-proud, with a faint hint of...

30 likes 4 comments 4
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Month by Month

Submitted to Contest #54

Month One Ronan looked at the slip of paper in his hand, then up at the cafe, then back to the bit of paper. The letters all matched up, so there was no avoiding it. This was the place, and the time. All he had to do was walk in. Or he could walk away. No-one knew he was here, so no-one would know if he just left. He didn’t have to do this. That was what shops were for, as he always said. With a sigh Ronan headed inside, the clipping clutched in his hand like a safety blanket. It was old-fashioned he knew, checking out groups in the lo...

23 likes 5 comments 5
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Ice Lollies and Lifeguards

Submitted to Contest #53

The first thing Kaylee noticed was the sticky, mucky warmth across her forefinger, as the bottom of the ice lolly she was holding finally succumbed to the inferno of sunlight battering down on them all. The second was the scream. There was a name in the sound, but the woman’s desperation drowned out the syllables. She stood down at the water's edge, hands cupped around her mouth. Just in the surf there was some manic splashing, and Kaylee felt a flood of relief as she saw a gangly man wading forward. That's okay, Kaylee thought, the ma...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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