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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2021
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.Matthew 16:18 (King James Version)Audio Journal Entry, Day 45June 06, 20269 AMDeir ez-Zor GovernorateSyria-Iraq BorderThe Gate OpensI was an atheist. I used to be. How could I not be? I found the concept of God, ...
The sun rose early on the very first day of summer break and so did Dorian Peters. He freshened up, ate breakfast with his siblings and parents, brushed his teeth after the meal, and went straight to doing his chores. He was an obedient kid but he had an aversion to cleaning up. That’s why it was a surprise to his family to find him doing his chores with zeal and a tune on his lips. He was doing a better job at cleaning than his siblings. And whistling.“What’s with him?” Mr. Peters asked his wife.“He’s just excited,” Mrs. Pe...
Beep! Beepbeep! Beepbeepbeep! Beepbeepbeepbeep! Beepbeep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beepbeepbeepbeep! My alarm went off incessantly at ten minutes to midnight, increasing in both volume and frequency. I groaned and turned over to reach for my irritating phone so that I could throw it across the room (but I didn’t, no matter how tempted I was).Our family has a very unusual Christmas tradition called the Christmas feast. While some families opened their gifts on Christmas morning and have Christma...
Donnie, Herb, and Alexander spent the entire day moving their stuff into their new apartment and sprucing up the place. They started with their own rooms and decorated it according to their individual tastes. Donnie decorated his room in rich purple and deep greens. He hung faux vines all along the top and sides of his mahogany four poster bed. He made sure to create a tranquil oasis amidst the noise and chaos of the bustling city.Herb’s décor choice showcased his love of traveling. Above his platform bed was a giant world map with...
“I’ve got a plan,” Kayla said to her best friend Nathaniel as they sat on the sofa of his living room, about to watch a buddy cop comedy on a Friday night. Nate’s dad was in the bathroom, performing some emergency business before they could start watching the movie.“Oh, no,” Nate said with a sigh, running his hands over his face and through his hair. “Please don’t tell me this is another one of your harebrained schemes.”“Oh, come on!” Kayla said. “Look me straight in the eye and tell me you didn’t see the sparks between my m...
I hummed Moon River to myself as I put up the last of the Halloween decorations in the store. There was an empty corner that had been left untouched. We couldn’t decide what to put. Luckily, we had some leftover fake cobwebs. Perfect. Down below, I heard Chris calling out to me. Chris was my boss and the owner of Little Town Bookstore & Café (which he named as a tribute to Belle, the most endearing bookworm of all time).“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jodi!” Chris shouted. “You gonna lock up?”“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I call...
Heath Becker was very well-established in Rattlesnake Canyon, Texas. He owned a large mining operation with hundreds upon hundreds of miners and also owned a ranch with dozens of ranch hands, seven thousand sheep, five thousand goats, a thousand heads of cattle, one thousand five hundred llamas, one thousand five-hundred alpacas, five hundred donkeys, five hundred mules, and five hundred horses. His son Heath Jr. was set...
Author's Notes: Content/trigger warning. There is an accident scene in this story.The heart monitor beside Mike Castle’s hospital bed beeped steadily, letting doctors, nurses, and visitors know that he was at least alive and in stable condition. He was breathing with the help of a respirator. Peter Palmer sat down in a chair beside Mike’s bed and ran his hand over his face and unkempt hair with a heavy sigh. The past few days had been stressing him out and it felt like he had the physical weight of the w...
Content Warning/Trigger Warning: Contains mentions of drugs, alcohol, thoughts of suicide and self-harm, and there are scenes involving physical abuse.It was just the middle of the play and I already wanted out. I usually enjoy watching our yearly Christmas school productions, but that day, I had a pounding headache and I couldn’t stand it. I had to get out of there. I got up from my seat and asked to be let through, apologizing to the people sitting next to me. I silently crept through the side aisle in...
CONTENT WARNING/TRIGGER WARNING: There is a mention of an accident towards the end of this story. It had been years since I’d seen my home. After four years of university and two years earning a Master’s degree, I applied for a Doctorate in Oxford. After I had completed my Doctorate of Letters, I began teaching at the same college. I taught literature classes there like my hero, J.R.R. To...
Journalism was a cutthroat business. You had to be the first to get the scoop. People rarely do shared bylines. More often than not, the philosophy is “My story, my byline. Get your own damn scoop.” Everyone knew that, but Darcy “Scoop” Reese and Yvonne Jennings all the more so. They were among the Morning Telegraph’s best reporters and also the bitterest of rivals, always vying for the top spot as Reporter of the Year. Yvonne was a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense go-getter, and she was annoying. A lot of people hated her for that. Darcy hate...
The teapot whistled shrilly on the burning stove as the sun set below the horizon, letting Theodore Watkins know that the water was ready. He had a guest at the moment—a student by the name of David Andrews. Theodore Watkins was Brennan Hall’s very own resident director. A jolly, goofy big guy with terrible jokes and useless football trivia in his bag, Theodore (or as Brennan’s residents fondly called him, “Teddy”) was ve...
Author’s Note: Ceamor is pronounced Kay-more There was a reason the native Kashgarians named this desert the Desert of Ten Thousand Suns. Waves of shimmering heat rolled off the hot sands of Dragonsgrave, causing Sir Derek Brunaulf to squint behind his helmet’s visor. Far in the distance lay the Dragon Horn mountains. From where he was, the whole mountain range looked like a sleeping dragon, or a partially buried dragon that had died, its sharp spikes jutting out from the blazing desert sands and ominou...
TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING: There is a brief execution scene in this story.Earth, 2092. It had been three and a half years since the Disappearances, when millions of people simply vanished off the face of the Earth. Only those of us left untaken live to tell the tale. But I fear that may not be for long. Everyone was in a panic. Everyone was grieving. World economies collapsed, Wall Street crashed, and a second Great Depression reared its ugly head. Add to that the fact that four wars were going on...
CONTENT WARNING: This story includes a shooting!The sound of laughter, chatter from the other tables, the clinking of plates and utensils, and soft piano music filled the room as Sam, Lena, Tony, Lucy, Jeff, and Tristin ate, talked, and cracked stupid jokes. Sam and Lena had just gotten engaged, and in lieu of a lavish engagement party with dozens of guests, the two opted for an intimate evening with close friends. They invited Sam’s old college roommate Tony and his wife Lucy, along with Sam’s coworkers...
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