Jed Cope

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2022

Stories (244)

244 Stories

5525 karma pts

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“Thingummyjig” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #216

It was time. That time near the start. I didn’t have what I’d usually have. The stuff that I find that I need first thing. So I went out. I was dry once I was out, so the weather wasn’t a problem. I have a problem with the weather when it prevents me from being dry. I doubt anyone likes that. Not really they don’t. But I hate those storm clowns, I really do. After a bout of doubt that threatened to put the kibosh on the proceedings, I arrived at my intended destination. This was the place alright. The place itself wasn’t a pick-me-up, but ...

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“A Dance and a Deal” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #215

[This and the previous four stories are all linked…] An audience with the devil himself. My father uttered these unexpected words and they failed to land in the immediacy of my conscious mind. Despite that, I knew. Deep down I knew and perhaps I had always known. I was different and I had taken a path less trodden. I put this path down to my own priggish and stubborn nature. That way I could claim agency when it came to my life journey. I was never going to be comfortable with the notion of my being a pawn of destiny. That smacks...

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“The Dark Urge” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #215

I call it the Dark Urge. It seems like I’ve always called it the Dark Urge, but that cannot be the case. There was a time before those words, there was also a time before the Dark Urge came a-calling. Now time, a dimension I became so accustomed to, that I mistakenly and vainly believed was of no consequence, has caught up with me. Time will always catch up with a person, even if they have been cursed with something that approximates immortality. Immortality is a broken joke. In truth, we don’t even possess immortality. Once ag...

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“A Different Kind of Monster” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #215

He is the stuff of legends. But then they all are. By rights, they should not exist. That could be said about every species on this planet. Life is a precarious nonsense that fascinates me and appals me in equal measure. I’m a fan though. How could I not be? My master waxed lyrical about William, and my master was not one for praise. I should know. I was a constant disappointment to him and he was quick to tell me so. I was his Grand Mistake. After me, he avoided making another for fear that he might double down on the fo...

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“Ghost FM” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #215

Sometimes, it is said that there is no manual. The reference being to life. But this is disingenuous. In fact, this sort of thing is wilfully ignorant. One only has to look around at the world around us. Bees don’t have a manual either, yet they know exactly what it is that they must do with their lives. If they were to fail in the fulfilment of this purpose then the consequences would be felt right around the world. Bees do not make excuses, but people do. As the years have passed, I have attended to those things that I should always ha...

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“Choose Life” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #215

The sun abandons a city brim full of life. This overcrowded and noisy place buzzes with an electric vitality that heats the pavement beneath my feet and shines bright lights through my eyes and into my brain. There was a time when this cocoon of hyperactivity enlivened me. But tonight I am tired. Tired of this life. My bones ache and once again I am sinking below the surface of humanity, my breath caught inside my chest, making me feel sick to my stomach. I sink lower and lower until I am where I deserve to be. I find my level and the pres...

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“Through The Mirror Brightly” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #214

We are all made of stars. We really are, all of us are made from the same stuff as stars and that makes us truly remarkable. Each and every one of us. Our value is incalculable. We are priceless. It was only when I grew up, that I learned this. I grew up, and in growing up, I knew a great many things. Things that we should all know, if only we would see. Of course, as I began to open up and use my mind, I realised that I had not previously known as much as I thought I had. We build walls around ourselves and paint them as thoug...

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“A Lone Marriage” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #214

Make or break. That’s what it was. That’s what it was for me. Maybe it was for him too. I don’t know anymore. There’s a lot I don’t know, now that my eyes are wide open and I know more than I have ever known. How I wish I could take it all back, every last bit of it. Ignorance was bliss, but then it became difficult. I didn’t want difficult. I think I wanted easy. Easy was a big mistake, but not the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I’m still trying to define that one. I see its shadow, but still I can’t see it for what it is. Perhaps I do...

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“Never Fade Away” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #214

Few Summers are golden. Golden in the way that etches them onto your heart. There is a rare alchemy that occurs just once in every generation and everyone remembers that Summer. The Summer where the magic happened and happiness blossomed. The Summer where dreams came true and just for a while, everything was possible. Those Summers are where many-a Once Upon A Time resides, but never an ending is in sight, because you see, the Happily Ever After is a promise that rides on the Summer breeze and all is right in the world. I...

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“Uncomfortably Numb” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #213

We take so much for granted. I suppose we have to. We haven’t the time to be grateful for everything we have and all that we are. We’re a sad paradox and that inherent conflict of our existence shames us. I am closely observing my hands in the autumnal light, turning them this way and that, and I am thinking of all the time I have wasted. All the things that I could have done, but didn’t bother to do. I put so many things off and in deferring, I said no to them ever happening. I place my hand on my face and I savour the moment. Tea...

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“The Perfect Touch” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #213

I’d heard the stories, but then we all hear stories. There’s the one about the little old lady who just happened to work for some of the richest men in the world. She was there at the outset and she bought shares in companies that rose and rose until they cast a shadow over the world. But that little old lady never spent a conspicuous penny of her wealth, and it was only when she kicked the bucket that her investments came to light. Never any relatives. You have to wonder where all that money went. As I wonder at that big loose end...

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“Yours” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #212

It began on holiday, or rather the holiday was a beginning of sorts. That Summer was a hot one, almost too hot. Certainly too hot to be laying under canvas. The tents were ovens and setting them up had been more than a chore, the pegs reluctant to enter the scorched and baked earth and in return, the earth placing rocks inconveniently in their way. For Dan, the holiday was a cause of some discomfort. He was at that awkward age. This he had been told on occasion in a way that he would come to realise was confrontationally patron...

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“To Whom It May Not Concern” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #212

As soon as I saw the envelope I knew the letter was not intended for me. No one I know would send me a letter in such a fancy dancy envelope. The paper of that letter clothing was expensive and I don’t do expensive. Never have and never will. If I came into money, I’d invest it in a pension and then I’d die before I ever got to spend a penny of it. The stress of all that money would put me in an early grave. Some things we are not meant for. I know that only too well. Me and that slim and classy delivery had a moment together. The letter l...

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“The Gate” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #210

“What does it mean?” asked Trent. “How the hell should I know?!” growled Blaine. Trent looked at his friend, he wanted to say more, that much was clear. But he knew to do so would be folly. When Blaine was in this mood he was a dangerous sort. It was Blaine who had received the message though, so as far as Trent was concerned, it was up to Blaine to decipher it. “Tell me again what the message said,” Trent asked instead. You are the keeper of the gate. Trent had hoped that with a repetition of the words, all would become clear, but...

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“Flowers Bloom In Desolate Places” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #210

Then there is the legend of the Heaven Flower, the flower that blooms only in the desolation of the largest desert in the world. This rarest of all flowers blooms in the dead of night and for one hour of intense daylight it lives, and in living provides more beauty than a human mind can comprehend. The Heaven Flower is an intoxicating distillation of all that is good. No one is built to behold it in all its glory. No one is pure enough to withstand its truth. Legend has it that once every hundred years, the flower emerges from the desert s...

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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