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John Rutherford

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2023

Stories (17)
Comments
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308 Followers
656 Following

17 Stories

2887 karma pts

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Poisoned Pavlova

Submitted to Contest #303

It was like a silent grotesque scene from the Muppet show. Alas, there were no strings, and the characters were human victims of revenge, not cuddly stuffed soft toys. Lifeless; sitting around the small dining table, the food slowly becoming stale in the sweating hot summer night air. The scene and dining contents were perfect for the nightly invading insects, as all the lifeless figures were prostate, inactive and defenseless against the insects attracted by the dishes of food. But it was the fragrant sweet smell of the pavlova crown stuffe...

32 likes 25 comments 25
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The name for the boy!

Submitted to Contest #301

There was a spider spinning its web in a dusty corner of the ceiling of a hospital waiting room, somewhere, some place in the world one day. Not having the vision of a human being, let’s imagine the spider looks down, his arachnid attention would be drawn most certainly to the shiny bald head of Mr. McCreath, Walter Bannockburn Burns McCreath. A bald head from above looks entirely different, and this one shone like polished alabaster, a reddish peach alabaster. It shone like a beacon and reflected the ceiling’s neon lights; it was easy to se...

32 likes 17 comments 17
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A crate too big, too heavy, too far!

Submitted to Contest #286

It wasn’t a single suitcase containing my family’s worldly possessions that created the epiphanic moment in my life. It was a wooden crate, a homemade crate, made with love and consideration to handle with care, a miniature pedal car. A birthday present. It was symbolic of so many changes at that time in my life, changes in many lives. A time of upheaval, which would never ever return to the previous pattern of life for so many; ever again.The surrounding support, comfort and security of a close family would be sacrificed, for higher ideals ...

31 likes 16 comments 16
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The Conch

Submitted to Contest #284

Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK circa 1843“You’re dirty, you need a bath to wash away that colour. It looks like mud!” My cousin said, jerking away her outstretched arm in disdain. It was her idea, her request to compare our uncovered skin– side by side. Now the realization of the difference in skin colour, horrified and frightened her like being next to a diseased leper. Just the touch of my outstretched arms, my coffee-coloured arm, my dusty tan coloured skin, meant she might receive a tropical disease. Worst. Her alabaster white porcelain skin...

32 likes 16 comments 16
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AI or not AI that is interpretation

Submitted to Contest #280

“Hi Gemini – This is Randy Foakes from The Authors Forum; as the group’s administrator I've had an issue with your posting, and I’m giving you personally another warning due to you posting on the board an AI image. Your post has now been taken down from the group site. The post was titled – Having a Bad Day, and I’m just about to send a screenshot to your inbox. I kindly ask you not to send anymore posts with AI images. The group’s mantra is completely opposed to the use of AI in any creative form. If you continue to post AI images, we ...

44 likes 38 comments 38
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Caught in Time

Submitted to Contest #278

Have you ever had one of those déjà vu moments? It appears to us all at some moment in our lives. Sometimes it is so innocuous, we are caught in a fleeting and surprising moment, you can miss it so easily. There is recognition or pre-recognition of sorts. Now think again, have you ever thought about the worst possible nightmare situation that could ever befall you as a person. Well, ponder this as a possible living nightmare, being trapped in a time loop, a continuous déjà vu moment for breaking the laws of time, and simply because you were ...

32 likes 25 comments 25
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The Eidolon

Submitted to Contest #274

The Eidolon peered through the water reeds, which appeared like protective iron spikes preventing the early mists from climbing the banks of the lake, no breeze or gentle wind aided the soft wafts of water vapour to advance to the warmer land, the majestic globe of water hung back, sulking behind the dark mask of the day. The bullrushes increased the impression of a prison boundary, although their brown heads were disintegrating and eroding with age, devoured by the march of time. In the delicate milky half-light of the approaching dawn, the...

22 likes 9 comments 9
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My best friend

Submitted to Contest #273

“Remember at school, around second or third grade the teacher always prompted the class, with; I want you all to write an essay about your best friend. Title the story; My best friend!” He paused to reflect and visualize the small boy in the third-grade classroom, as the teacher announced the exercise. He continued. “The prompt by the teacher normally ignites excitement in the class. The children are eager, and proudly write and describe their declared friendship and devotion, perhaps to a classmate, and hope the same feeling is re...

27 likes 31 comments 31
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L’Homme au doigt

Submitted to Contest #269

BANG! The auctioneer’s gavel slammed into the block.“Sold! For one hundred and forty-one million US dollars.” The auctioneer announced.There was a sudden muffled noise as hushed voices reported the news to potential buyers, through cupped hands holding phones, or others whispering into the screens of laptops. The excitement in Christie’s auction room in London took some time to dissipate. There was only one item for auction that day in 2015, it was Alberto Giacometti’s famous object d’art, a six-foot-tall bronze sculpture named - L'homme au ...

27 likes 18 comments 18
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A conversation with Michael

Submitted to Contest #266

“Don’t erase that!” Michael said. “Damn it! Why don’t you ever listen to me!”“I wanted so much to kiss that girl, smell her perfume, your page thirty-four description was mesmerizing, it made me delirious, heady even, lost in the prose. I wanted to hold her in my arms, feel her warmth against my body.”“How can you feel anything? You are fictional character in a book.” The author said out loud.Michael’s rant continued.“How can Avan Jaragun, the hero of the story; how can you now consider he becomes a murderer, overcome with passionate jealous...

19 likes 16 comments 16
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Chiromancers

Submitted to Contest #244

Harry Fellows was a decent man. Normally, a law-abiding citizen, but when he discovered he could obtain his “chirophoto” (a photo image of his hand) illegally, he didn’t hesitate one second. In Harry’s world a “chirophoto” was the most important piece of identification, taken at birth, and again at twenty years old for every single citizen of earth. It was owned by the state, no citizen could possess this important piece of personal identification, and only highly trained Chiromancers were allowed to review and analyze the “chirophoto”, ther...

26 likes 22 comments 22
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De Nachtwacht

Submitted to Contest #242

Breaking News – Missing figures from RijksmuseumReporter Daan StampReporting for Amsterdam GazetteThe world and this reporter are shocked to the core, with the breaking news announcement that certain figures are missing from the Rijksmuseum world famous collection. The Director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s famous building and collection of precious masterpieces of art, Mevrouw Lembrandt, stood on the front steps of the building after calling upon the world’s press to make this groundbreaking news announcement today, this morning at 10:00,...

29 likes 21 comments 21
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Gloria

Submitted to Contest #241

They liked to share these idyllic quiet moments, in front of the mirrored dressing table, George combing Georgina’s hair. It was something soothing, calming, and therapeutic, a necessary and intimate ritual, an important part of their relationship, which they had been doing together since they couldn’t remember, certainly since childhood. In complete silence - never a word spoken, Georgina in a catatonic state of mind, completely immobile, a trance-like state. George slowly, softly, gently glides the brush through her long tresses of hair. T...

32 likes 24 comments 24
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Something in the Wind

Submitted to Contest #240

Sexual themes, crude language.“Skinny Cap, please!” I said to the overworked girl, trying to keep up with the long waiting queue of customers, each morning. She always struggled, sometimes alone, but always with a friendly smile, the whirlwind of arms and hands playing the barista coffee machine in perfect allegro time like a musical maestro, but without the rapturous watching awe of the listening audience, except, that is, until the cup of the frothy nectar was placed on the counter.“Here’s to my number one best follower, and customer, stal...

32 likes 15 comments 15
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Newton's cradle

Submitted to Contest #239

Something was wrong. Fatally wrong. He couldn’t grasp the reason for his anxiousness.As Clive stepped onto the platform at precisely 06:05 and 35 seconds waiting for his early morning commuter train, something was wrong, he thought. Something was not right. In those moments in his life, his mind concentrated on an image of Newton’s cradle, it was idle, motionless, the big brass orbs, dangling from the brass cradle, all were stationary, passive and still, but there was a sense of anticipation, the orbs were oscillating in anticipation of move...

26 likes 8 comments 8
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