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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2024
Submitted to Contest #303
Grant had every right to ignore the shrilling phone. He steeled his will and shuffled in his seat, intentionally turning up the volume and bearing down on the television. The ringing didn’t stop. Every rattling bell of the old landline sounded more and more like the tear stained wails of a hurt or desperately upset little girl. One who needed her father. Tammy was the only one that used the line anymore. She was the only reason he had ever kept it. Who knew when or if she would have a cell phone, or if she would be able to remember any numbe...
Submitted to Contest #301
Ansa watched the flickering candlelight dance across the tan of Marid’s bare skin, held rapt by the hypnotic light show. She could have sworn he glowed with his own dark fire, one that pushed back against the solid shadows that encompassed them. Lit only by a few candles, they existed in a private haven of light amid the encroaching late hour. She suspected he went shirtless in an effort to distract her from the game that rested on the square table between them. It was frustratingly effective and she had to work to tear her eyes away from th...
Submitted to Contest #300
In my years, I have come to realise that a place can both remain unchanged and at the same time, cease to exist at all. It might sound like a nonsense statement, but if you have ever visited a derelict building you will understand my meaning. The walls are still there, the fixtures and fittings still work and all the plumbing and electrics sit waiting to be used. Before the vandals arrive there might even be windows to keep out the cold air and abandoned furniture still carefully positioned to make the most of the space. Yet it is silent, em...
Submitted to Contest #297
When opportunity arrives, it does so without warning and at incredible speed. Actions that span only a few minutes can direct a mans life onto a new path, diverting his destiny toward a new future. Roger wouldn’t know anything about that though. His existence had, for as long as he could remember, consisted of one identical day after another. As he dropped his ever growing waistline down into his ergonomic office chair, his screen lit up and displayed the same program windows, in the same positions and showing the same content, as every othe...
Submitted to Contest #296
Authors note: My beautiful partner suffers under the weight of ADHD and a 'touch of the 'tism', as she calls it. Yet somehow, she still manages to be the most intelligent, kind, supportive and witty person I have ever known. This one is for her, and I hope it makes her laugh, even though she will probably spot every error in it immediately and agree with Charlotte at every step! One day her name will be in the front-page dedication of a novel.“You can’t be serious…!?” Jenny asked. The look of contempt on her face was so obvious, that even Ch...
Trigger warning: Suicidal ideation, medical coma.Waking up from a coma, sucks. My eyes felt like they were stuck with tar and coated in sand. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a spoon of gravel, and my muscles were simply gone. Lifting my head was like supporting a bowling ball on a toothpick. Yet worse than all the pain that wracked my body was the disorientation. My vision blurred, the world spun, and my mind tried to make sense of the stark white room that settled into existence, grasping at some kind of recognition of where and who I was...
Submitted to Contest #295
Henry sat on his Grandfathers favourite bench amid the central city park. The sun was warm on his back and the wind chill against his face. It was the freshest of spring days, the kind that would normally have boosted Henry’s mood after the long, grey winter. Activity blossomed all around. Life everywhere emerging from the same dull hibernation of a colder than usual season. Cascading laughter, thrown Frisbee's and the zipping by of bikes and dogs busied the parklands as far as he could see. Whilst chattering birds, scurrying squirrels and t...
Submitted to Contest #294
Lemon climbed up the vertical bars, her powerful scaled toes gripping each one effortlessly and pulling her ever closer to her target. Her advance was silent. Not a rustle of a feather nor a click of her sharp talons betrayed her as she crept upward. When she had manoeuvred herself into the perfect position, she reached forward with her impressive beak, slotting it into the space between metal poles and gripped the tiny paper corner that peeked over the edge of her cage. In one swift motion, she flicked it away. Down the label floated, grace...
Submitted to Contest #292
“Good Morning, Derek”“Mornin’ Doc”“How are you feeling today? Any more thoughts of harming-”I had to interrupt her. Doctor Fuller was one of the better shrinks I’d had to deal with, but she was a real jobsworth about following the script. It would be the same old introductory questions. She couldn’t help but tick those boxes at the top of the day’s crisp white form, still warm off the copier, but would be terrified of doing so unless I actually said the words. I struggled to find the patience to verbalise my repeated and identical statements...
Submitted to Contest #291
A cascade of black dust blasted outward from the collapsing wall. The loud boom of its demise breaking the silence that pervaded deep within the Dinwald mines. Dark clouds billowed down the tunnels at speed, rushing to fill every gap where once there had been only stale air. It coated Lex in a single blast, filling his nostrils and assailing his pinched eyelids with tiny debris. He held his breath, waiting patiently in darkness, until the roar of the collapsing shale silenced. He had felt the soft barrage of broken material sweep against his...
Submitted to Contest #290
Dizziness threatened Scott, blindsided by the question that escaped her lips. Words that felt like an uppercut to the jaw and impacted his vision in the same way. How could she possibly query his devotion? Was it not plainly obvious? “Oh my god! You’re doing it again!” She screeched, “Focus Scott, please, be here with me! SPEAK to me! I’m not a mind reader. You need to answer the question out loud!” “I don’t know how to. It’s so ridiculous…” He said.Aria’s mouth hung open, hurt clear in the eyes that began to shed tears. “Ridiculous!? Just t...
Submitted to Contest #289
Trigger Warning - Threats of violence, extremism and survival. Micas was awakened by the stabbing glare of sunlight against his face. He fluttered his crystal-blue eyes open, only to trigger an avalanche of the sand that seemed to constantly coat his face. Using the heels of his hands, that were no less grit encrusted, he managed to rub into being a semblance of sight. He sighed at the view he found, it was no less dire than the day before. Closing the plastic shutters on the aeroplanes tiny windows had been a pathetically futile gesture. On...
Submitted to Contest #288
Pana relished the cool, soothing flow of heavy rainfall upon her waxy skin. The increased tempo of drops, growing from a constant misting to intense deluge over the course of the morning, was most welcome. Silky streams ran all over her body, releasing tension and calming her mind under its familiar, glistening comfort. It also sharpened the curtain of falling water that marked the edge of the known world. Time spent gazing across the border into an alien landscape, festered the lingering anxiety within her chest. No amount of rain could was...
Submitted to Contest #287
With steam billowing in my face, I asked myself, what kind of psychopath orders hot tea on a thirty-five degree summer day? How off your head do you need to be to also request seating in the garden!? Some people just defy all reason. I took a deep breath to try and calm my unsolicited rage, but it continued to brew as steadily as the tea upon my silver tray. I impatiently watched the leaves swirl and spread amber within the glass pot, until it was finally, just the right golden shade to serve.“That one’s for table nine, Luce. Might as well t...
Submitted to Contest #286
Wilder gripped the stern taffrail and stood firm in his decision. A stray wind caught the few strands of his black hair that had fallen free of the sailors braid, which tightly shackled the rest above the loose linen shirt that billowed over his bare chest. His knuckles were white and unyielding against the timber that rumbled under his grip; the railing undulating with every wave that cut around the impressive ship. Across the rising and falling seascape, he could still make out the shadowed line on the horizon that was his homeland. He had...
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