Jessie Laverton

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2023

Stories (8)

8 Stories

292 karma pts

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“Princess Amelia” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #242

14th September 1964Dear Diary,Angela put gum in my shoe today. She put it there during PE then I didn't see it. Then I put my foot in my shoe the gum made a hard lump against my heel and it got stuck to my sock. So I had to take my sock off I only had one sock then and Miss Wilson sent me to the corner.I think it was Angela because she was laffing a lot when I put my shoes on. And Angela does bad things. She hid Billy's maths book. Billy told me in the shed. Then I was sad after school so I went to see the mammoth on the way home. I think it...

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“Archangel” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #241

Leah lay next to Raph, her back pressed against his naked belly. His arm sprawled on top of the quilt. She pulled it underneath and guided his hand, holding it with her own so that it cupped her breast. But when she let her hand fall, so did his, limp, uninterested. Her breathing quickened then, and a tightness took hold of her chest and throat.Her thoughts began to dart back and forth between the past and the future. She thought of the not-so-distant past, when his hands used to travel over her skin as if they had hundreds of little eyes al...

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“Road to Hell” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #239

Condensation dripped down the window of the bus. Andi watched its slow trail. There was nothing to see outside, the fog only allowed a few feet of visibility.‘All change,’ said the driver, bringing the vehicle to a halt.‘This is as far as we go,’ he added, looking at Andi, the only remaining passenger, in the mirror.Hours of travel had made Andi stiff, but he obediently rose and heaved his pack onto his back. It weighed on his shoulders, but the other weight was heavier, the one he hoped to walk off, even if it meant ...

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“Sandra's Choice” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #230

For my mother, who has always supported even my wildest, most impractical dreams.Sandra the solitary sandpiper watched her chicks totter in and out of the shallow water, at the edge of the deep Amazon River. She looked down at her long scaly toes in the sand, then she closed her eyes, letting the sun soak into the feathers on her back. She let out a small sigh of contentment. Not a day went by when she wasn't thankful to have found this place, so different from the one she came from, yet which felt so...

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“An Eternity of Imperfection” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #218

It was the smell, or smells rather, that first captivated Eddie as he pushed the door open. He had been instructed to enter the apartment without knocking and without waiting to be shown in. The heady aromatic cocktail reached his nostrils before the door was open enough for him to see inside. He paused a moment to attempt to distinguish all the different fragrances that welcomed him, and concluded that the ingredients were the following: stewing vegetables, spices (particularly ginger and cumin), unvarnished wood, musty books, and incens...

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“Utopia” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #211

"Just the broth to start with," said Eddie, ladling steaming liquid from the pan on the wood stove into a tin cup. "No pieces, no fibre. You're going to have to ease your stomach back into action after all these years on the replacement pills. I remember my first portion of broth, Maud had just boiled some veg and herbs, she only let me have the water, but it seemed to me to be the most aromatically complex dish ever pr...

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“Where's the Catch? ” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #210

Three days ago, I arrived at a place where I don’t yet know what to feel. Before now, I had never journeyed away from my home and my family, although neither of those things were synonymous with safety and comfort. The exact composition of my clan was frequently modified, feebler members often failing to return home. That’s hard at first, and then you get used to the disappearances.My homeland is a bleak place. My people are tortured and oppressed. When the sun beats down on the arid earth, we are dragged from our crampe...

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“"Isn't this lovely?"” by Jessie Laverton

Submitted to Contest #208

The blood trickled down from my knee, in a dark red line, towards the top of my sock. It was about 1987, so it was a high lacey sock, pulled up nearly to the top of my shin. Instead of pushing the sock down to safety, I stared as the blood ran towards the white cotton. Then I looked up to find you. You were blurred through my tears, sitting on a bench on the other side of the playground, very far away beyond the roundabout and the seesaw. I bravely made my way towards you.“What is it, dear?” you said as I appr...

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Author bio

Hi! I'm on here to share my stories, read yours, and grow together through kind encouraging words but also constructive feedback, also worded kindly. If you give me feedback on mine I'll be more than happy to return the favour. I haven't been writing for very long, but I've been reading for as long as I can remember, that's the only writing training I have. I was quite a good girl when I was little, but I remember my mother getting angry with me for secretly switching my reading light back on after everyone had gone to bed. I'm guessing she knew she was lucky to have only that to get angry about. I'm a mum myself now and I wish I had to scold my son for reading too long. But as it happens I'm bringing up a skateboarding champion. Who would have thought? Everybody was expecting me to give the world a nerd (which would have been great too of course, but not how it turned out). If you want to reach out for any reason beyond what is possible in the usual exchange of comments about our stories then please do! jesslaverton@gmail.com