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Jed Cope

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2022

Stories (283)

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158 Followers

47 Following

283 Stories

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Fetch

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....

6 likes

Respite

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...

12 likes

Credits and Debits

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...

7 likes

Harmless

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...

6 likes

The Judas Bird

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, ...

9 likes

Bash

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...

14 likes

Cuckoo

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...

7 likes

The Conversation

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. ...

13 likes

Swing at The Roundabout Club

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...

7 likes

A Question of Time

Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #154

“We’re running out of time.” I say that under my breath as I read the latest news, a plume of steam billows out from my pursed lips and into the cold city air. I stand there and watch it rise and dissipate, just like my chances of making this work. If anyone hears me, they are too savvy to acknowledge my words. I’m on my own and I think I always will be. I slump into the seat of my car and slam the door shut, even then it doesn’t sit right. Nothing sits right, but that’s fine by me, or if it isn’t then I don’t care, not anymore. ...

8 likes

The Longest Battle

Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #153

And now she has won. At least I think she has won. Does that count? Does it matter anymore? It has to. After all this time, it has to. After everything that has happened and everything we’ve done. This is all either of us has left. Seaford sits in the dark, in the part of the house that is now his by default, but wasn’t for such a long time, and he scratches his head as he thinks his thoughts. The thoughts he thinks are different now. In the aftermath of the long awaited result he takes stock and tries to make sen...

15 likes

Ni

Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #152

“We want a shrubbery!” My eyes shot wide open at those words. My now wide open eyes were greeted with the sight of a forest canopy. Twas a beautiful sight, but one wasted on one such as I, at a moment such as this. Stop that, I told myself, you sound a tad pompous. I resolved to calm myself and my language down, but only to ratchet it down one whole tad. I knew no other way. I rubbed my head. The rubbing of my head was of little help. This action of mine was automatic and it was in response to a perceived hurting that seemed ce...

12 likes

Footsteps

Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #151

“It wasn’t me.” They all say that, or most of them anyways. When it gets to this stage of the game, the ones that admit it are just as much of a problem. Those ones enjoy themselves too much. Revel in it. I suppose the deniers do too. It’s all a game to them and they think they have already won by the time they are sitting here. I look into those baby blue eyes of hers and have to remind myself where we are. Who we are. At another time and in another place… Yeah right, Arnold! Who you kiddin’? She’s way, way outta your league. ...

12 likes