Jed Cope

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2022

Stories (244)

244 Stories

5525 karma pts

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“Gone” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #163

You’ll never be content The note is there on my bedside table when I awake. I have awoken to an empty bed in a room that holds some familiarity, but little comfort, and I turn to see the note. The note is leaning casually against an untouched glass of water and I can read it from where I lay. You’ll never be content That is all that it says. There’s no greeting and there is no name to sign it off. I sigh as I stare at the note and will it to reveal at least some of its mysteries. It does not. Instead, it glowers at me baleful...

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“Dish of the Day” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #162

“I don’t know what to have,” said Laura. “Is that usual for you?” asked Brad, peering over his menu at her. Laura lowered her menu further and smiled, “none of this is usual, is it?” Brad smiled at her, “depends how you look at it doesn’t it?” “OK,” she said, “it’s usual for you.” Brad shrugged, she was wrong, but he didn’t want to dissuade her from this notion, “under other circumstances,” he said, “are you often indecisive?” Now it was Laura’s turn to shrug. Brad wondered whether she realised that she had mirrored his own movem...

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“Ten” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #161

I was ten when I knew for sure. I was ten when the world opened up to me and I saw it for what it was. That was a frightening moment. I can still feel that fear when I cast my mind back. This was one of those big moments in a person’s history which has a subtitle in large capitals… YOU CANNOT TAKE IT BACK Ten years old and I understood that I was on my own, and worse than on my own. That my life was my responsibility and mine alone. I suppose that’s a liberating moment in a life. There is a freedom in it and a sense of control comes to...

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“One Last Time” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

“I loved you, you know,” I said this quietly, I said it too quietly for her to hear. Or so I thought. She smiled at me and my heart lurched in my chest. It went for a leap, but then she spoke and then I knew she wasn’t smiling because of what I had said. It was only a smile. Not quite random, but it may as well have been. “Did you say something?” I returned the smile with a paper mâché version of a smile, “thanks for this,” I said to her. She shrugged awkwardly, “we always said that we would do it, didn’t we?” “We did,” I a...

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“Dry” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

The sun washes through the land from the moment it opens its uncaring eye, intensifying and flexing its might as the day goes on. For the goliath of fire, the day is barely the blink of an eye, for the tiny miracles on the surface of the planet who rely upon that ball of fire for their very existence, it is interminable. The magnifying glass of this endless Summer burns the land and the little boy holding the glass, under which all the living creatures scurry, cares nothing for the game he plays. It is as though he left some while ago, dis...

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“Drink” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

Screaming. A pitch so high it rattles my eyes and rabbit punches my brain. My hands are at my temples and I don’t know how they got there. Breathe. You’ve got to breathe. That’s it. My eyes settle and I can see again. I scan around the room and some of the panic leaks out of me. The kettle. It was the kettle. Not screaming after all. I turn the hob off and the steam dissipates, the pressure drops and what I thought was a scream has now gone away. There is a silence that isn’t a silence at all. There is a cacophony of ...

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“Fetch” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

Malsarry does not stir as I gaze upon her prone form. There is not a mark upon her, and yet she is grievously injured. I know this much, but beyond that my mind is in fog. She may as well be a statue of marble atop a sarcophagus. I clench my fists and ride out the storm of anger that has gripped me as I stand by my love. I will not allow this! There is something to be done, and I will be the one to do it. First I will save her, and then I will make the man responsible pay for this evil. “She does not breath,” I say to the attendant healer....

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“Respite” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #160

Ignorance is bliss, or so they say. The problem with that saying is that you don’t get to choose, not when your eyes have been open to your situation or your predicament. Once you know, there isn’t any going back. Would I want to go back? No, I wouldn’t go back and lose the one thing that counts in this gods forsaken place. She’s given me something I never knew existed, not for someone like me anyway. I stopped believing in fairy tales even as I read them. My mother made damn sure of that. My own particular fairy tale was...

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“Credits and Debits” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #159

Well blow me! Verner ended his visit and took the slow walk away. It struck him for the very first time in his mundane and miserable life that he did the self-same thing at communion when he was a boy. Head down and quiet. Strange thing to do when you were supposed to be communing with people, but that was how it was done back then, or if it wasn’t then no one batted an eyelid when he acted like that and he knew he’d gotten it from someone. So there it was. This time though he found a spot at what he considered a safe distance and watche...

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“Harmless” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #159

Harmless is the most dangerous word going. I know that now. The problem is that we don’t think! If an alien came down and examined one of us they would see all of our potential. They would marvel at the walking miracles that we undoubtedly are. Then they would conclude that we were a danger to ourselves and everything we encounter because we wilfully squander our potential and live a life of ignorance and instant gratification. We want it all and we want it now, regardless of how that pans out. Regardless of the cos...

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“The Judas Bird” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #159

The Judas bird is a fish. But you wouldn’t know that. Few people do. The only reason I know of the Judas bird is that I have more money than everyone else does. I have so much money that my money makes more money than almost anyone else has on the planet, so I get to know things that other people don’t and I get to do things that other people don’t. The natural question people have at this juncture is somewhere along the lines of why? All of the questions centre around why I have this money and underneath it all is greed, ...

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“Bash” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #158

They say it’s my fault. I don’t know about that. They say my not knowing means that I don’t care. How can I care about something that I am no longer aware of? I don’t say this. I don’t do anything. What’s the point? They say a lot of things, and I have learnt to zone out from what they are saying. It makes no sense to me, but then nothing much does these days. She comes to see me sometimes. It seems like she used to come visit more often. I’m surprised that she comes at all. I see hope in her eyes and I wonder how she can b...

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“Cuckoo” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #157

“Hi, Mrs Jackson!” Such enthusiasm contained in a short and simple greeting. Pure unalloyed joy in the moment. Something that only a child can bring to the party, and at this age life really is a party. The hundred watt smile and the sheer presence of the child helped land the greeting and Jackie couldn’t help but be charmed and return the smile. “Hi, Cheryl!” she said, barely noticing that she was attempting to match that same sing-song enthusiasm, “how you doin?” “I’m good! Really good!” said Cheryl, then she picked up a piece of lau...

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“The Conversation” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #156

“It hurts.” Good. That’s good. “Hurting is good?” Don’t you think so? “I hadn’t thought about it.” Well, why don’t you take the opportunity to think about it now? “I don’t want to.” And why do you think that is? “I told you. It hurts.” Maybe that feeling is trying to tell you something. “Yes, it is.” Good, this is progress, and you should allow yourself a little time to celebrate that moment. There is a pause in the conversation. Have you celebrated? “Not really, no.” Why is that? “Because it hurts.” Right. ...

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“Swing at The Roundabout Club” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #155

In the Mood was playing as I walked into the club that night. That tune isn’t exactly my favourite of Glenn Miller’s hits, but it did what it said on the tin and by the time I’d ordered my bourbon and had a taste of that amber nectar, my foot was tapping along to the music and I was looking around the room to see what I could see. Besides, Miller was on fire and about as popular as could be. Little did I know it at the time, but he’d have almost as many hits as The King and The Beatles combined, and in only a few years too. Now that’s b...

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Author bio

Author of over twenty novels. Please look me up on Amazon and Facebook. Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B08VJD4VBT?_encoding=UTF8&node=368165031&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=review-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jedcopeauthor

Shortlisted 2 stories ⭐️

Contest #230

A Different Perspective – read story

Contest #220

Disappearing Completely – read story