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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2023
Submitted to Contest #286
Shawna pulled into a well-lit gas station at 1:45am, praying they wouldn’t notice her transition. Not yet. Obviously, she wanted people to notice, to acknowledge her…woman-ness, but not here, not in the middle of Nowhere, East Kentucky. She just needed to get home first, then she could sort out how to…do this. How to live. She kept her head down as she pumped the gas, using her credit card at the pump to reduce personal interaction. As she waited for the gas to finish, she realized she needed to use the bathroom. She felt her anxiety r...
Submitted to Contest #285
“Is anyone home?” The phone was ringing off the hook when Ashley slammed through the front door of her college apartment. She set down her grocery bags and purse on the kitchen counter, grabbing for the phone only to hear a dial tone as she pushed the “answer” button. “Ugh!” She immediately punched three buttons to return the call. She knew it must be Erika calling with a report. Sure enough, Erika answered on the second ring. “Hey I was just leaving you a message…” “I figured. Couldn’t wait–I knew it must be you so I just star s...
Submitted to Contest #284
Susan managed to keep the tears at bay until the drive home from Thanksgiving. All weekend she’d held it in, hoping to turn her emotions around. She hated that Emma and Katie were in the car with her. She might actually have to put these complicated feelings into words and she just wasn’t ready yet. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Susan and her two younger daughters had driven to her oldest daughter’s college campus to pick her up for Thanksgiving. Then they’d driven another hour to her mom’s house for the weekend. Her older daughter, Tenley...
Submitted to Contest #276
I’m finishing my last set of crunches at the gym, after a grueling training session, when one of my students, Courtney, texts me: “Well, we don’t have a way to shower tonight.” Damn. I don’t have time for this. I still have two miles to put in on the treadmill before I hit the steam room. The phone rings—incoming call from said student. Ignore. I only gave my fifth grade students my direct phone number because we lost a fellow teacher at school this year. The grief was abundant for all of us. I knew they would need an outlet. I didn’t expect...
Submitted to Contest #275
“Okay, when I say ‘go,’ I need both of you to follow me!” Betta hissed, her black tail swishing suspiciously as she sat on the window ledge of the screened porch. “Where are we going?” Frankie asked, wide, slightly crossed blue eyes staring up at Betta. “We can’t go anywhere besides the porch. Mommy has to open the door first,” Winston growled without lifting his head. “Winston, for the last time, she’s not your mommy. She’s your owner. You're a bulldog, she’s a human. And we can go somewhere. Look. I made a hole in this corner. ...
Submitted to Contest #274
It only takes a minute to get separated from my mom in the grocery store. I had stopped to peruse the boxes of cereal she wouldn’t buy for us. All the colors and cartoon characters drew me in. The next thing I know, I become aware of an unwelcome presence in the Winn Dixie. I look up and down the aisle, but there is no one. Mom is gone, the other shoppers have left this aisle. It’s just me, standing alone in front of the cereal. And he’s coming. I feel the painfully slow footsteps pounding from a nearby aisle. The shelves rattle. He mu...
Submitted to Contest #273
I am the second Mrs. Roberts. The new Mrs. Roberts. The first Mrs. Roberts had a hard time letting go, and not because I had anything to do with their divorce. In fact, I didn’t even know Mr. Roberts back when she was cheating on him and kicking him out of the house for “never noticing how much she did.” Her words. He left because she told him to go. So now I am the only real Mrs. Roberts. But I was also the new Mrs. Roberts because I was still considered new in town. Back in those days, in small, Southern towns like Geneva, Alabama, y...
Submitted to Contest #186
What’s Wrong? “What’s wrong?” “What do you mean?” “I mean, what’s wrong? I can tell something’s off…I don’t know. I just see it. And I have my own things to say, but just tell me.” “Your own things to say?” “Baby. What’s wrong?” “Do you really want to do this tonight? It’s been a long week.” “Yes! I want to know what I did.” “It’s nothing you did. I just feel…sad. Lately.” “Sad about what?” “I don’t know. How we used to be. I feel like we’re just going through the motions. I don’t feel heard, or valued, and it makes me sad.” “I’m working...
Submitted to Contest #185
Soul Singers “Aliana! We’re not allowed up there until after dark!” Janisa swam behind her sister, flicking her shimmering tail as fast as she could to catch up. “I know, but I thought I saw another one!” “Do they usually come to us this early?” “They can come anytime. We have to stay ready.” “Where did you see one?” “Up on the bridge, like always. Well, I thought he would’ve been here by now. Wait, yep. Here he comes, over there.” The two mermaids sprang into action, a streamlined movement through the warm, salty waters to the...
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