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Josefin Björk

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (11)

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16 Followers

1 Following

11 Stories

253 karma pts

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The parable of the general and his daughter

Submitted to Contest #255

There was a general, long ago, far away, who had earned the trust and the respect of his emperor. The general was swift, merciless and above all competent, and thus he amassed both wealth and loyalty from the soldiers he commanded. He lived well and deserved every accolade that came his way. The general had a daughter, whom he doted upon. She was raised to be a beautiful, skilled and well-spoken young woman, and she was the greatest accomplishment of his life. His riches, his career, the men who fought for him, they were nothing compared to ...

9 likes

Prior Engagement

Submitted to Contest #253

21.13. Hey, are you coming? 21:26. Should I just wait here, or 21:45. Hey!! 18:04. Shoes, pants, dress shirt – not fully buttoned, they enjoyed projecting a slutty look – jacket. Black socks. Pops wouldn’t allow anything less. He still gave a little huff when Ezra flew around the house in their inappropriately buttoned shirt. But fine, he would relent, if only because it was important to give children space to explore and rebel. And of course, this meant that Ezra rarely had reason to rebel. It was perfectly symbiotic. They dashed into the...

11 likes

Can You Hold a Tiger's Paw?

Submitted to Contest #65

I haven’t been in many car crashes, but as far as car crashes go, mine was pretty uneventful. Truthfully, there’s not much I remember of it. A sharp break, a shout, the stench of burning rummer and the sound of glass shattering. And then nothing. There are worse ways to go, I suppose. It looked horrendous, though. I saw myself from above, floating in midair. I had been impaled on something, too covered in blood to make out. My head lolled uselessly from side to side. I felt nauseous then. I would never have guessed ghosts felt physiologica...

9 likes

Six Seeds

Submitted to Contest #61

Persephone was starving, and she had not known she could. For days, she had wandered the underworld, edge to edge. Nothing. No way out. She knew there was an entrance, she had passed it, following her new husband down. She remembered the smell of damp earth, of dog’s fur. A growl when Cerberos saw her, then silence when Hades raised a hand. She had come with him willingly, so long ago. He offered a way out, a reprieve from courting and proposals. No one knew he had taken her, he assured her. If they knew, they would consider her his ...

8 likes

My Love Lives in the Sewers

Submitted to Contest #60

My love lives in the sewers, where the drops fall from the ceiling and echo throughout the tunnels. I visit her as often as I can. I tie a scented cloth around my nose and mouth and then I descend. I can tell where she is from the glow she radiates, from around a corner. No one can know about her, for they wouldn’t understand. She is not cruel or vindictive, what she eats she eats to survive. I can hardly fault her for that. But the rest, they do. As if they consume concrete and sustain themselves on smog. Eating is intrinsically an ...

11 likes

Clean Break

Submitted to Contest #59

"We need to talk," Joshua said, sitting by the breakfast table. His belly pressed against it. It hadn't done that when we married. We need to talk. I didn't even look his way, my back was turned and my focus was on the coffee pot. "About what, honey?" A stray lock of my hair untangled from the curler. I had stopped trying to look good years ago. I thought we were at that point where appearances no longer mattered. The man had seen me split open when delivering our children, he already knew the worst of it. But he had, teary-eyed, exclaimed t...

9 likes

Light Pollution

Submitted to Contest #58

It’s been forty years since my last shipmate died. I know, because I keep track by etching a line into the metal wall. Or, rather, I estimate, because the days tend to blur together. It’s always dark outside, unless the ship passes by a star. For a couple of hours, I soak up the precious rays. When no star is in sight, I have D-vitamin supplements. They will eventually run out, but they don’t disappear that quickly now that only one of us is left. I was born on this ship. The first of us who had never known Earth. Once upon a time, we were...

13 likes

Fool's Gold

Submitted to Contest #57

Eighty years is not a bad feat. Dominic had filled those years with hard, hard work. He had come to this country some fifty years ago. Not all immigrants make it, but he had. He sat by his beautiful mahogany desk, in the west tower of his vast estate. A tower was a bit tacky, perhaps, but he had wanted one. Like the castles back home. Thirty years old, fresh-faced and strapping, he had marched off to the mines. Hatchet slung over his left shoulder, staring straight ahead. Dominic had never been afraid of hard work, and he had always known ...

7 likes

Hireath

Submitted to Contest #56

In my life, I have died three times. The first time, when I was seven, I drowned. For five long minutes, my heart refused to beat as my father tirelessly beat my chest. Three ribs cracked under his heavy hands. Finally, the water emerged from my bruised lungs and lined my throat with coarse, painful salt. For the rest of my life, I would feel the sharpness of it, how the crystals grinded against each other and left me raw as I spoke. The second time was in bed with the man I would marry, though neither of us knew that ye...

15 likes

My Love, My Margaret

Submitted to Contest #55

You had never seen rain quite like this.It smattered against the window, hard and unrelenting. The estate was old, but the windows were new. Previous storms had smashed their predecessors. When Alexis was only eight years old, there had been a storm, not exactly like the one tonight, but uncomfortably close. She had been cooped up inside, cranky and bored. She had stared out the window, thinking “Surely this is how I will perish”. Alexis had just discovered her older sister’s Victorian novels, and had quite taken to speaking like a frag...

9 likes

Chinese Proverbs

Submitted to Contest #54

I couldn’t sleep last night, with excitement, with terror. I haven’t felt like this since I was six and going to school for the first time. There was a Jenny Hopkins in my class. Dreadful little thing, she was. Funny how memory works. Sometimes I can’t remember my own children’s names, but Jenny Hopkins will never be forgotten. In some religions, I’ve been told, that means she will live forever in the afterlife. I hope she doesn’t. You must think me terribly petty, but she really was the most bratty little nuisance you could imagine. Oh, I h...

13 likes