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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019
Submitted to Contest #53
The old man spoke, pale blue gaze resolute. He ignored the barrel of the assault rifle that was aimed at his forehead. “We were neither prepared nor equipped to cooperate.” His voice was hoarse but powerful. He spoke into the bloodshot eyes of the kid who held the weapon. “I said shut up!” The muzzle wavered, the sweat dripped, the air rippled in the heat. The boy stood over him, rifle clutched in a white-knuckle grip. Undeterred, the bound man continued. “The demand outstripped the sustainable supplies.” “Stop talking!” The boy’s cra...
Submitted to Contest #52
The plasma glow from the television was the only source of light in the apartment. All the curtains were drawn — they always were, day or night. Al glanced towards the obscured window of the lounge and searched for a trace of sunshine that might indicate the current time, but his gaze was watery and pulsated from hours of screen time. Al returned his red eyes to the display.The air inside the flat was lifeless, he could smell it, could taste it, but he didn’t care. The odour was that of old food, sweat, gas that has been long-since...
Submitted to Contest #51
I just woke up in this place, and I don’t know how I got here. I’m not alone, but I don’t know any of the people that are with me. We’re all dressed rather formally, so perhaps there was a party or a ceremony of some sort?The thing that really puzzles me is why we’re all covered in dirt.And why we’re just walking around the same plot of land, over and over, going round in circles, going over our old footsteps, over and over. I’m just following those in front, and I have the sneaking suspicion that the ones behind are just following me. But w...
Submitted to Contest #50
They couldn’t climb, so she knew she was safe, even if only temporarily. Mary let the sunlight fall upon her face, closing her eyes in the warming glow. She knew she should be doing something, as opposed to the nothing she was currently doing, but did it really matter that much, in the grand scheme of things? It wasn’t as if there were many people left to judge her, any more.The rough square that had been sawn into the boards offered her a perfect view of the lush green trees swaying in the wind and the endless cobalt blue of the o...
Submitted to Contest #49
She stepped barefoot onto the grass, feeling the dampness of the night against her skin. She breathed in slowly, relishing the fresh air, feeling it cooling her throat and lungs — it was delicious. The aromas of the evening danced on her tongue. A chilly breeze, wet grass, darkness. It was strange to say that darkness had a taste, but it most certainly did. She would be the first to argue so, even if she couldn’t quite articulate what she meant. She sighed and craned her neck to look at the night sky. Far above, the stars glinted down at h...
Shortlisted for Contest #48 ⭐️
1We all knew there was something a little bit off about Hugh. He was a single man who collected comics, for a start. He called them his “research”. He also had black silvery skin, purple eyes which he kept perpetually hidden behind a pair of oversized pink glasses, a ridiculous fake white moustache and no nose. Oh, and the glasses he tried to hide his eyes behind? They were regular glasses — not sunglasses, not the kind with mirror lenses, just plain old glasses. Hugh didn’t seem to be aware of his error, however.I’m not quite sure exac...
Submitted to Contest #47
“It was supposed to be a sunny day,” you say to yourself, as the rain lashes against the window which has cracked into a spiderweb. Your voice barely sounds like your own, and you almost don’t recognise it at first — it also has a wavering, trembling quality to it that you don’t particularly like. You say these words to yourself because you are the only one in the room, and possibly the only one left in the whole facility. The precise fate of many of the others is unknown, but you know how a few of them went, oh yes…You feel a judder as the ...
Shortlisted for Contest #46 ⭐️
1Baldahr Seltro didn’t mean to cause The Great Undead Uprising of the third century (third century post-Reckoning, that was) but cause it he did.To understand how Mr Seltro caused this slight little mishap, one must first understand the difference between intelligence and wisdom. You see, Baldahr possessed plenty of the former — bucketloads, in fact — but almost none of the latter. Intelligence, they say, is knowing a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom, as the saying goes, is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad. (Not that it...
Submitted to Contest #45
1Don’t listen to me.I am a straight white male who was born in the United Kingdom in the early nineties. My parents worked in healthcare and banking. My sibling and I never wanted for much when we were growing up, and we both attended university. What do I know about sacrifice and selflessness? What could I possibly know about that? Sure, my life hasn’t been a perpetual picnic in the park (I’m working-middle class), but all in all, I’ve enjoyed my fair share of privilege. I admit that freely. Anyone who comes from my sort of background who s...
Submitted to Contest #44
Alan Alan found himself standing at the gate of a little cottage, completely oblivious to the fact that he’d been killed in a hit-and-run accident seven months prior. There was the sound of a van pulling away behind him, quickly and quietly. He glanced over his shoulder at it, but it was already halfway down the road. The brief glimpse he’d gotten of it revealed it was entirely black — windows and all. He turned back around, frowning. He looked at his hands, turning them this way and that. Alan looked around, up and down the street he...
Submitted to Contest #43
Listen closely, Little One, and I shall tell you a tale of a day long since passed.It was a day like any other, the sun was streaming in through the blinds, casting alternating rectangles of golden light — through which motes of dust floated, lethargically — and sepia-tinted shadow. Dave and Stella were out somewhere, and I was home alone.Where was I?My child, you hadn’t been born yet.Wow…It wasn’t unusual for me to be home alone, I often was. I didn’t mind, in fact, I was quite content to look after the house, lounging on the sofa or taking...
Submitted to Contest #42
“Because we’re here.”The words, which had not been casually proffered, hovered in the space between them for a moment; from the mind of one and into the ears and heart and soul of the other.The Questioner took the answer completely seriously. On the surface, it might have seemed like a flippant, even careless answer to what had been an honest, earnest question. But the Questioner knew better. The answer, although simple, contained a lifetime’s worth of wisdom, succinctly and simply presented in its most basic building blocks by the Answerer....
Submitted to Contest #41
1“Grrround Control, mission has successfully been completed, repeat, mission has been successfully completed, Grrround Control.”“Roger that, Major Rover, thank you for your hard work. Huzagudboi, huzagudboi, yoragudboi, yezyoragudboi.”“Huzagudboi yourself, Captain. Major Rover over and out.”Major Rover allowed himself to drift for a moment, taking in the sights. He never got tired of it — and doubted that he ever would. He sighed to himself, contentedly, as he floated through the pretty void, all manner of stars and planets lacing the cosmic...
Submitted to Contest #40
“Hey!”The shout startled her from her reverie. Jackie opened her eyes and squinted up at the sun. It was about midday, by her estimates.“Hey, you!”With a groan and a sigh, Jackie forced herself to sit upright. She glanced around at her surroundings, which had remained mostly unchanged in the past twelve hours or so that she’d been there. Jackie looked around, trying to see where the voice had come from. It wasn’t easy, considering how many people there were.They were all stood on the other side of the wire fence, staring at her, mouths slack...
Submitted to Contest #39
It’s looking up at the stars. Or is it looking down at them? It could be either one, I suppose. It’s also hard to say what, exactly, it is. It’s an alien, of course, we’ve already figured that out — but anything beyond the vague label of ‘alien’ is out of our current grasp.It has a thin, spindly body, hunched over, crouching. It’s bipedal and has a roughly humanoid shape — the sort of body we can recognise, more or less. It’s not completely dissimilar from us, but it’s different enough to be recognised as other. Its knees are bent, hands res...
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