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John Del Rio

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2020

Stories (56)
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134 Followers
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56 Stories

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What a Day

She looked over at him and gave a silent look of reproach. He saw the look; he always saw the look. He asked her, “what?” To be fair; this didn’t actually happen anywhere other than his head, but he could certainly see it taking place. He knew his wife at least as well as he knew himself, so he was incredibly accurate in predicting her behavior. To be fair once more, they almost never fought. Oh they disagreed all the time: quite a bit in fact, but there was never any animosity. And one of the best things about his wife was that she wa...

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Visit

She looked over at him and gave a slight gasp. It was a small sound; one she did not make voluntarily, nor would she remember making it. The sound was much less than the tinkle of the bell that sounded as the door to her shoppe had opened. One supposes that she could be forgiven the surprised outburst, small as it was. Considering the fact that she was seeing something that any sane person would agree was simply not possible. What she was seeing, was a man. Nothing at all unusual about that. He was a big man certainly: one hundred and nin...

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Rainy Day

She looked over at him and gave a silent look of reproach. He saw the look; he always saw the look. He asked her, “what?” “Give me the keys,” she demanded of her husband. He did not have to put on a look of confusion, because he actually was confused. “What do you mean?” he asked her, as he wondered what she meant. Shortly after they had started dating, years ago; his then -future mother-in-law, had made an off-hand comment to the effect that the man always drives. He had taken that sentiment to heart: so much so, that you could count th...

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DAY OFF

Day Off She looked over at him and gave a silent look of reproach. He saw the look; he always saw the look. He asked her, “what?” She asked her husband, “what are we doing here babe?” She watched; and followed him as he slowly walked his way around “Savory-Avery’s BBQ”. That was the name on the sign. They were right off the I-44 in mid-state, near the Six Flags amusement park. Of course, the amusement park was empty and dark. It had been famous for its’ roller coasters; and those metal monuments to excitement and motion sickness loo...

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DAY TRIP

Day Trip She looked over at him and gave a silent look of reproach. He saw the look; he always saw the look. He asked her, “what?” She asked her husband, “why would you keep this from me John?” He took a moment to study his feet, in their thousand-dollar sneakers, and said, in a stuttering voice; “I don’t know my love.” She looked sad; and it hurt him. He had told her on more than one occasion that she was his spinach, and his kryptonite. The statement made sense in its’ own nerdy way. Just as much as his assertion that she made him so ha...

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Dog Day Afternoon

She looked over at him and gave a silent look of reproach. He saw the look; he always saw the look. He asked her, “what?” “You smell like urine,” she said. He responded with, “you mean piss!” She shook her head, gave him a different look for a moment, and said, “I mean what I say.” “Well my love,” he told her, “that’s cause I got peed on.” She frowned in a mix of confusion and distaste. For his part, he broke out with a big grin, and said, “it was great!” “Couple of things,” she told him; “first off, Gross!” He continued to grin, and s...

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DENOUMENT

Submitted to Contest #105

Gerald had not seen Teague in such a state. He had seen the troubleshooter take more punishment than many a man, with nary a sign of discomfort: but the big troubleshooter now lay on Doc Morten’s exam table. Teague was unconscious and seemingly, covered in blood.  Like many of his medieval counterparts, the Doc was a true barber surgeon. There was even a red, white, and blue pole outside of his office. The big bruiser liked to joke that the Doc was there in Bethlehem to deliver the babe in the manger: he looked that old. Doc Morten ha...

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MELEE

Submitted to Contest #103

Gerald had not seen Teague in such a state. He had seen the troubleshooter beat on men before. In fact, the first time he had met Teague, his coworker had given the bruiser quite a beating. Gerald was standing in the hallway of a dockside warehouse, on the south west side of their city. He had just come from the dock after shoving off Teague’s own Mother in a skiff that she seemed quite capable of piloting. He had gone to the century old wooden dock that butted up against the building, with Teague’s mother after setting her free from a l...

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Door

Submitted to Contest #100

The door was a solid thing. Fitz estimated that it had to weigh close to fifty kilograms; and was likely two inches thick. Such a portal was a first rate barrier, and had the added advantage of dampening sound greatly once it was closed. Case in point: he could barely hear the men on the other side of the door even though there were half a dozen of them pounding on it, demanding to be let out. The three enterprise men had found themselves in this dockside warehouse thanks to intelligence gained through a meeting with the leader of the so...

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SKIFF

The skiff smelled strongly of fish. This was no surprise as the fifteen foot boat was a working fishing vessel. In fact, just this morning there had been a hundred kilograms of pilchards in the hold. Teague had obtained the boat from a long time friend. Hedrek had been a steadfast companion to Teague all through primary school and beyond. When they were boys, Hedrek had been rather a small boy, and he would often get bullied by larger and older boys. Teague would often make the comment to his friend that his spirit was much larger and do...

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WINDOW

Submitted to Contest #97

WINDOW She found herself looking out a window in the middle of the night. This was not where she would normally be at such a late hour. She is a respectable shop owner, and in truth, a pillar of the community. On any other day she would have been abed hours ago. Her days at Flowrys started early to exceptionally early if she were picking up the daily order for her thriving floral boutique. The evening had started with her abduction. There had been no violence involved; so that was fortunate. In truth, her kidnapper was quite handsome, an...

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MEETING

Submitted to Contest #96

MEETING Fitz had never seen Teague so full of fury. It was completely understandable. He himself would have been quite wroth if someone had abducted his own dear mother. The big man watched Teague as the enterprise trouble shooter paced restlessly back and forth, as though it was his intention to wear a hole in the expensive carpeting. He noted that the pacing man was dressed in a manner, very unlike his normal attire. He was wearing heavy canvas pants and a jacket made of the same durable material. The jacket had a very high collar...

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Breakfast

Submitted to Contest #94

BREAKFAST Gerald looked confident; it was a look that did not often cross his coarse features. Teague told him; “I told you before that I would handle Vittorio if needs be, and that’s exactly what I aim to do.” Gerald spoke to the troubled, troubleshooter; “I seem to recall that Mr. Penrose had certain thoughts about that.” The bruiser moved closer to Teague and said, “don’t get me wrong Teague, that Italian devil deserves whatever you dish out.” He looked the troubled man in the eye; held his gaze and said,”but I think you should wait...

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The Office

Submitted to Contest #93

The Office Nellie watched; from between the slats of the bin where she was hiding, as her aunt left with the killer. She waited a full minute before she left the bin. This was mainly due to the concern she had about the man seeing her emerge from her hiding place. She had been going about her business; helping her aunt close up the shoppe; then the knock on the door, followed by her aunt using her childhood signal for danger, had chilled her to the bone. Nellie knew her aunt to be one of the most stable and reasonable people in h...

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Fitz

Submitted to Contest #92

FITZ This was the second time tonight that he had walked into the room where Gerald had been killed. It didn’t matter that the murdered man was standing right next to him: it was just downright off-putting. He hadn’t actually seen the body; but he had seen a torn bloody sleeve on the floor in the midst of a pool of blood that no one man could survive losing. Strictly speaking; no man had. Fitz looked over to his right where Gerald was standing; looking at the spot on the floor, where he had died earlier that same evening. The ent...

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