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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2020
Submitted to Contest #321
Alex: Do you remember that night we ended up in jail for something we didn’t even do?Jordan: Don't remind me. I don’t think my back has ever forgiven me for those steel benches.Alex: And the smell. Like stale coffee and mildew had a baby.Jordan: You sure it wasn’t the undigested Brillat-Savarin?Alex: You know I can never pass up a French triple cream, but still, it wasn’t all bad.Jordan: You’re joking.Alex: No, really. It was… weirdly fun.Jordan: Fun? We were accused of grand larceny and interrogated for two hours.Alex: Accused wrongly, of c...
Submitted to Contest #320
William knew these woods, having hunted elk and deer since he was a kid, but the knowledge didn’t slow the pulse at his temple, the sweat crawling down his spine. Douglas fir, Hemlock, Ponderosa Pine. Every tree a repeating pattern. Every turn looping back.You’re not lost. It was a silent chant. Not lost, just turned around.It was as if the air had shrunk around him, and with each step, the forest grew a little louder. Sounds carrying the echo of something he had buried, something that clawed at the back of his throat whenever he was alone t...
Submitted to Contest #319
A brand new Seraph stood in the plaza above her, taller than any man, armor gilded and gleaming in the sunlight. Its eyes glowed white, face serene, as though suffering were a thing it had never known. The crowd fell to their knees. Priests burned incense in golden braziers in its honor, the smoke carrying a bitter scent of frankincense and crushed roses that made Iria’s throat tighten.“Behold the perfection of Calora,” the priest sang. "Behold our safety and salvation!"Iria stared at the Seraph’s hands. They were stitched together, faint wh...
The first time her mother locked her in the bathroom, Tara was nine.It wasn’t for long. “Just a few minutes,” her mother said afterward, voice tight, her hands trembling as though she were the one who had been trapped. But those minutes stretched deep inside Tara’s chest. She had sat on the cold tile, staring at the towel rack and breathing in the stink of bleach, her ears straining for her mother’s footsteps.Later, when the door opened, her mother’s arms had wrapped her close. She smelled of cigarettes and lavender lotion, her chest warm ag...
As the power coursed through her body, Arinya thought she had only imagined it. The soldier’s laugh still rang in her ears when his eyes met hers. He sneered, raising his hand to strike her again, but he froze. Lips parted on an unfinished word, his skin shimmered, veins hardening into quartz while his pupils fractured into a thousand facets of light right there on the temple floor.By the time she stumbled back, gagging on the taste of blood, he was no longer a man. He was a statue of blood-red garnet, veins webbed in glittering fire.It shou...
Submitted to Contest #318
“Oi, I’d been watchin’ him for time, innit. What he’s into, what gets his engine goin’. So I took my sweet time gettin’ dolled up. I knew he’d clock me. Tonight’s the night, babes. He’s gonna be mine, swear down.I went for summat soft on the lips, them cute little hoops, not too cheap, not too classy, y’know what I mean? Didn’t wanna look like a total slapper, but I ain’t tryna blend in like some sad little librarian neither. He’s not into the dead ones, trust me. He wants a proper case, bit odd, bit hot, not boring. Boom. That’s me.Being lo...
Submitted to Contest #53
Aggravated. Agitated. Annoyed. I named each drop of sweat as it raced down the small of my back, waiting for my wife in the doorway of this art deco monstrosity of a house she insisted was home because “it spoke to her soul.” Sitting comfortably in the middle of Pacific Beach’s grungy charm, our turquoise and glass house mocked me as I sizzled under the griddle-hot glare of another relentless summer sun. In response to my discomfort, the obnoxious collection of windows for walls glittered beneath the wispy shadows cast by...
Submitted to Contest #47
Here I am, smack dab in the middle of an ocean I can’t even name, and you've got me tied up tighter than a tiger shark. I know you're thinking I’m some lousy kid from the Rocks, but give me a chance! I can explain why it ain't my fault there's dead bodies all over your deck.After a week straight of the shiver-sweats, I was finally starting to feel myself yesterday afternoon, so I came up here, right to this spot. I like feeling the salt-spray on my face and watching how the blue waters sparkle. Back home, our water is grey and stank like rot...
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