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Karen Iseminger

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2019

Stories (10)

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10 Stories

153 karma pts

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The Suit Makes the Swimmer

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #299

The narrative to which you are currently privy is one fraught with personal horror the likes of which I hope never to experience again. On my word, I have tried to dispel the memory of that day by securing it tightly in the deepest vault of my mind, monikerless, as if to deny a handle with which to pull it from the catacombs. Alas, my efforts have been in vain; it is my hope that the mere action of chronicling the incident for you will allow it to fade away in the brightness of day as the darkness of burial has not yet proven effective.Sorry...

4 likes

The Diagnosis

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #40

“Listen… I know you’re sleeping with Tim.” Sharon’s matter of fact tone was fortified by her unblinking stare.Patty sat dazed, her calm exterior belying the tachycardia going on underneath her skin. She wanted to deny, defend, deflect but instead, chose to drop her gaze in admission.“Don’t…” Sharon reached across the table to her best friend. “I don’t care. Honestly. Our marriage was over years ago. I guess I AM a little shocked that you’d start a relationship with him, knowing what you know, but… it is what it is….”“Sharon…” tears made Patt...

5 likes

The Weird Kid

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #38

The day would not be remembered without first thinking of the morning fog that bestowed a certain dampness to the chilly air. Each breath taken was a sharp insult to the lungs and each exhale was but small, visible, proof of life, that easily, but not lazily, co-mingled with the atmospheric vapors. The late sunrise lent itself to the overall feel of a time and place “What in the hell did I just see?” Her fingers stayed rooted in place on the keyboard but her mind was leaving her novel behind to figure out what was happening in the...

6 likes

...our GIFs were stellar

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #34

Text thread: Amy, Julia, Holly, Karen Amy: what does Dave’s post mean?Julia: I wondered the sameKaren: I didn’t see it… Amy: he wrote – for those who know: good newsKaren: what DOES that mean?Amy: I’m going to contact Dave. I’ll get back to you********Amy: Dave said Sue has cervical cancer. She’s been undergoing treatment for 8 months and got a good report yesterday. She’s in remission. Holly: I had no idea about anythingJulia: me neitherKaren: I haven’t really spoken to them since J...

5 likes

If you'd have stayed home this wouldn't have happened...

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #21

It was a small town by all standards, but felt larger, I guess because it was a suburb of a fairly large metropolis. The recorded name of the town bears no significance to my story and therefore warrants no mention; more importantly, the town was known to its inhabitants simply as Transplant Village (ironically enough, the moniker had nothing to do with a resident’s liver surgery 6 years past).Transplant Village was home to the hundreds of contractors and laborers (and their respective families) who came to the area to rebuild after the...

4 likes

...and I do it all for free

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #20

“Babe…” She felt a hand on her hip, “mmmmm”.“Babe… Abby needs for you to read her essay. She won’t let me read it, only you.”“She is a momma’s girl… What time is it?”“Almost seven o’clock.”She sat straight up. “What? I looked at my phone at 5:02 and started to get up… what in the hell? I NEVER sleep this late!”“Well… if you weren’t out carousing every night this week maybe you wouldn’t be oversleeping.”She chuckled as best she could while leaning over to slide socks onto her feet, “…gotta say - ‘carousing’ has a dist...

4 likes

...and this is why we can't afford to have more babies

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #19

She reached for her phone… as if it mattered what time it was. Her hand touching everything on her bedside table except that blasted phone. Where in the hell was the damned phone and why in the hell had she decided her alarm clock was no longer necessary… there was a time she need only open one eye and glance at the time displayed in that garish red, disjointed, digital font. But not now.Now she had to blindly search for her phone and bring it to life just to know the time. Again… not that it mattered.She finally found it ne...

4 likes

On second thought, I don't...

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #17

“Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t even wanna cook for me and you. Now you’ve invited your parents?”“And my sister….”“Your sister, too? Well, Happy Thanks-Goddamn-giving to me.”“Listen, they invited themselves, what was I supposed to say?”“How about, ‘since you clearly and flagrantly despise my wife, perhaps asking her to SERVE.YOU.FOOD. might not be in your best interest’.”“Would you seriously poison them?” Brett chuckled but stopped abruptly when Beth leaned in with gritted teeth and asked, “Would you seriously BLAME me?”* * * * ...

4 likes

What this table holds....

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #16

“Well… as delightful as this has been…” Garis put his hands on the table and pushed himself up, “I have homework to do…” The table gave more than it should and answered back with a groan. The corners of Lynn’s mouth pulled upward, reluctantly; her eyes cast down at Garis’s hands, “I remember when you were so little… your chubby little hands on this table… and now you give it all it can handle…”“Oh no, mom’s crying again…” Grace was laughing at her mom without making fun of her. As much as Grace didn’t want to admit it, she was a lo...

2 likes

Here's a business model for ya...

Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #15

Sam searched her email trash folder, scrolling… scrolling… ‘dammit’ she thought, ‘I KNOW I saw it in here….’ As Sam stood hunched over her desk a technician offered her a finished order to be checked; it was a refill, an ‘easy’ verify. Sam checked the NDC number, the quantity and the patient’s name then ran through a list of mental checks that kept her from waking in a cold, dread-filled, sweat during the night.It had only happened twice in her career but waking in the middle of the night, wondering if she’d given a patient the wro...

3 likes