Jo Axolotl

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2020

Stories (21)

21 Stories

583 karma pts

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“Crusader” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #62

My capsule is not metallic white or plastic blue. My capsule is not made of synthesized materials, nor is it surrounded by a human facility full of expensive machinery and even more expensive brains.My capsule is to be leaf-green. It is to be filled with the purpose of the Sky.I was born to the Sky, born to its purpose. I was born to be a crusader-and I am sacrificing an eternity to this capsule, so I can become one.Because that’s how long I’ll be in there. An eternity.I’ve worked hard and traveled far to get here.But now that I have…I’m sca...

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“Screwy” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #60

When the end of the world panned out, I took my turn, burned the last corpse in the hospital driveway, and went to bed.I thought it was over.Today I wake up to the sound of my best friend bellowing at my bedroom door. Like he’s gone bonkers, batshit crazy, out of his overcooked mind.I thought it was over.Not by half.“YOU STUPID, CHICKENSHIT DEPRESSIVES, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE LOT OF YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE? YOU WANTED TO DIE, AND MAKE THE REST OF US DIE, AND THE STRAGGLERS KILL EACH OTHER? HUH? HUH?”I roll out of bed,...

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“Heartsmith” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #59

He schleps through the swamp, grateful he’s brought only a t-shirt and jeans, no backpack, no food, no nothing. He’s forgotten what it felt like to wear his own people’s clothes, forgotten how to take off the glamour. So he trudges to the alchemist’s smithy in human form. He remembers the day he decided to become the Heartsmith’s apprentice-she’d shown up to the city to ‘see the reckless boy’ who would succeed her when her own heart gave out. A small woman she was-her eyes had barely reached his chest. Wrinkles covered her, as if her skin we...

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“Hollow Fury” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #58

There is so much hollow fury inside me.Hollow because the lights are out. There used to be lights inside of me but I short-circuited, and they all went out.Nobody knows how much fury I contain because there is no way to express it.A year of my life has dripped down the drain before it even had a chance to start.It happens, during power outages. Things break. Things fall.I am still falling.I was going to spend a year in Germany. I was going to work, I was going to meet new people, I was going to gain independence and I was going to learn. So,...

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“For Love” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #57

My family has, for at least ten generations, directly, indirectly and invariably, always married for love.But now that I’m walking up to the altar, none of those lovely people bothered to show.So it’s seventeen-year-old Henry’s arm that I lean on as I walk in time to the hymn towards Mr. Daniel Grün, his affluent older cousin. My fiancé of about three or four weeks.Yikes.I have to admit: right now, in this ridiculous dress and killer heels, in front of all these people, it does seem like a terrible idea. That’s what my mam told me: when you ...

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“Salamander” by Jo Axolotl

Submitted to Contest #43

It started out between my fingers.I was down by the brook, swimming naked, because the bruises on my bones sang softer on water than land. I liked to swim. I liked the wet, so I didn’t think much of the moisture under my nails as I tugged on my shift. My toes squished in mud all the way up to the pens, so how was I to know that a thin, tender web of my own skin had sewed them together?There was already a bucket full of milk by the cow’s pen, and an empty milking stool by the cow. I jumped over the fence and untied the cow’s legs, then u...

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Author bio

Hello! The friendliest, leftiest writer in the vicinity salutes you. Questions, complaints, comments to gavanxvi@gmail.com Hola! La escritora más zurda y más amigable del condado te manda saludos! La versión en español de mis cuentos está debajo de la versión en inglés. Si no está ahí, está en mi lista de pendientes. Dudas, quejas comentarios a gavanxvi@gmail.com