Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022

Stories (31)

31 Stories

1127 karma pts

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“The Catch” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

“So, what’s the catch.” I asked without the usual inflection at the end which would have given the impression I was asking the question when, frankly, I already knew the answer and didn’t have the energy to fake the uptick in tone in my voice. Full disclaimer: I was also asking myself this question as a means to ponder my current situation and not a real person. If it had, indeed, been a real person on the other end of t...

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“The Statue” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Sidney: Well, that's the last of it, except for the boxes there. Claire: Great! Yeah, these will be picked up tomorrow. I'm donating all of it to the second-hand store across town. Sidney: Oh. I can take them, drop them off on my way, if that works better for you. I mean, I hate for you to have to keep coming back here. After everything...you know. Claire: Uh, sure. Why not. That would be fantastic S...

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“Second Chances” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

TW: stalkingKayleigh tucked her long blonde hair into a black beanie, clicked off her mag flashlight, and stood pressed against the back side of Mason’s house. She watched through the window as the light came on and Mason walked sleepily down the stairs to the alarm keypad by the door. “Intruder… Intruder... Intruder...” The alarm was saying over and over in a calm husky female voice. “Fucking alarm!” She heard Mason yell over the voice of the alarm system. He punched a series of numbers into the keypad which stopped the...

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“What Happens in Vegas” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Dana could feel the morning light shining through her closed eyelids and it made her eyes ache. What a night. She must have left the blackout curtains opened before going to bed. Her head felt heavy and fuzzy from the night before. She laid there trying to decide whether to get up and close the curtains to get a few more hours of sleep or just pull the blankets over her head and call it good. As she scootched her ...

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“Welcome To the Farm” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Belinda’s feet hurt. She was barefoot and had been walking in the desert for the past four hours. According to her watch, it was only 10:30 am but the temperature had to be in the upper 80s already. This John was a regular so she didn’t question him when he said they had to go where no one would see them. He drove past the roadside motel they usually went to and into the expansive desert. She thought he might have a camp...

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“Katie's Christmas” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Katie stared at the steering wheel of her dark green 1980 BMW 320i contemplating whether she should continue with the annual Christmas charade of being happy and witty with family members she rarely saw or start the car and take off back to her apartment in the city, get into her pajamas, and watch movies and eat junk food all day. The answer was an easy one; however, she knew if she didn’t make an appearance, there woul...

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“Jamie's Got a Plan” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

“I’ve got a plan.” “Your plan is what got us into this mess!” I looked around the room looking for some way out of this. It was a mess. The chair next to the vanity was overturned, the mirror was smashed, and a naked man in his 40s sat slumped unconscious, but still breathing, on the floor between the bed and the wall with a large butcher knife in his chest semi covered with my bedspread. My origin...

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“Mystic's Mountain” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

The air was still and quiet. Fresh snowfall from the night before blanketed the grounds of the mountain resort like a winter wonderland seen on postcards begging someone to leave their footprints as proof they existed. The light from the full moon reflected off the new snow lighting Lucy’s way as she walked the path to the equipment shed. The new snow felt crunchy under Lucy’s feet. Perfect for building a snowma...

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“Finding Myself Among the Dough” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

As I stare out of my window seat, I’m trying to memorize the lines of cobblestone road leading up to the train’s platform. The blue sky, its bluest since I arrived here seven days ago under the pretense of finding myself. Every cloud a whisper of its self, promising to be something full and billowy but never materializing then slowly dissipating into thin whisps of white. I hear the noise of the city calling me a...

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“Yolo” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

“This was the greatest performance of my life. Every ounce of me was left on that stage tonight. The heart wrenching grief, the tearful monologue, the comedic timing in the second act. The standing ovation during final bows. They could not get enough. Bravo! Bravo to me! After tonight, this town will know my name. By tomorrow, the country; by the end of the week, the world. Accolades for my performance will come i...

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“True Story” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

This is all my fault. I mean, not really, unless praying with every fiber in my being that the worst, and yet best, case scenario of how this story would end is then, I guess, it is my fault. To be fair, he didn’t have to emotionally cheat on me with three other “women”. I use the term loosely because when you read the text messages, the woman are clearly cat-fishers only saying what they need to say to p...

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“Business As Usual” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

The clinking was driving me nuts. The sound of the silverware scratching at the plates felt like fingernails sliding down a chalkboard in my mind. People gulping their drinks making that “ah” sound like it’s the most refreshing drink they’ve ever had while others were making moaning noises like this was the most satisfying meal of their life. No one was speaking and yet I could hear everything they were thinking....

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“How Junior Mints Changed My Life” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

I was too hungry to decide and I knew it. I knew I should have said something earlier but I didn’t want to come off as high maintenance and yet here I was, dangerously close to blowing my top out of hangriness. There are too many freaking choices on menus nowadays and why don’t any of them have a special section of just a few items for people who are too hungry to choose? But instead of actual food items, they li...

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“The Consequences of Being Endangered” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

Not a whisper of a cloud could be seen in the big beautiful unforgiving blue of the towering and relentless clear open sky. The ground was so hard and dry, it felt like concrete underneath my feet. My attempts at scraping up some dust with the toe of my boot were unsuccessful and only managed to produce a few crumbs of dirt. My skin felt just as dry and taut under the heat of the sun as I stood in the once lush pasture o...

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“Dirty Laundry” by Jeannette Miller Mickenham

It might as well be a deal with the devil himself. The fallout was going to be torture for sure. Fred was going to hang this over my head for God knows how long but what choice did I have? “What’s it going to take for you to bury the evidence?” I say, knowing whatever it is, won’t be enough. “More than this, that’s for sure.” “It’s all I have right now. I can get more later.” He knows how hard it wa...

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Author bio

** Reedsy Judge *** Writer, producer, director, and performer in the Pacific Northwest. I'm new to the world of short story writing and love feedback! (Yes, even the hard to read feedback. It's how I get better.) www.akajeannette.com

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #153
The Thing About Ava – read story