Karen Leidy

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2022

Stories (10)

10 Stories

206 karma pts

?

“Destiny's Sacrifice” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #157

Destiny’s Sacrifice The pain and despair she felt bleed from the deepest recess of her soul; a void that could not be filled, cleansed, erased, or eradicated; always consuming, growing, gnawing, overwhelming her. In a state of semiconsciousness, she bleakly, deliberately, sullenly, slipped into the kitchen and retrieved the sharpest carving knife from the culinary block. Filled with an unquenchable rage that welled up within her, dredged up from the black, near-mortal wound that had been permanently instilled from relentless years of abu...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Forewarned” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #153

Forewarned“I can’t believe we’re arguing about this!” Brad Sutton cried. “You said you understood and wouldn’t do it again!”He and his wife Margaret were standing in the kitchen. It was six-fifteen in the morning. He was wearing a robe, she in her pajamas. Coffee audibly dripped into the large glass pot.“Please, please, please don’t preset the coffee maker to switch on at 6 a.m.,” Brad vehemently added.“Give it a break. Will you give it a break?” Margaret wearily returned.As if not hearing her, Brad said, “I told you: I have the strangest no...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Ensuing Fortune” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #152

Ensuing Fortune Here we were at PPF (past, present, future) revelations. Okay, it was basically just another fortune teller’s parlor. Why and how did we end up here, you ask? Well... It was our night out. There are four of us. We’re all nurses, working at the same hospital. Once a month we enjoy one evening of freedom from our husbands, kids, responsibilities. We meet at a designated restaurant or diner, have a meal prepared by someone other than us, then whatever stirs our interest will be next on the agenda. I’m Freida. I’m middle-age...

0 comments 0
Read story

“Miracle Dead Ahead” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #152

Miracle Dead Ahead            He’d been driving for quite some time on a rural road that seemed to go on forever. Mature crops—corn, wheat, alfalfa, soybeans—covered the undulating valley on both sides of him. The resplendent sun was high in the sky. Elongated cumulus clouds hugged the horizon. Both of his front windows were open, and the scent of fresh-cut grass hung thickly in the air.            At last he perceived what he was ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Purging Pond” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #151

The Purging Pond: An Aquatic Odyssey I was profusely sweating. Severely dehydrated. Wholly depleted of energy. Hiking for over an hour in the southwestern desert at midday in August will do that. No, I am not a masochist. I do not enjoy pain and suffering. Just the opposite: I am a dyed-in-the-wool hedonist. So what was I doing in such a hellish place? many of you are wondering. Believe me, upon my awakening this morning, I didn’t plop my feet on the floor and yawn and stretch and say, “I think I’ll traipse through the desert today until I...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Schedule of Doom” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #150

Schedule of Doom           I sat down at my desktop computer at 6:10 a.m. with a mug of coffee, “woke” it up, scrolled down to the last thing I’d been working on—and saw something that made me gasp and fall back in my chair.           “Please don’t do it,” I heard myself say.           I shook my head to clear it from the fog that seemed to enswathe it.On the screen before me was...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Harrowing Path” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #149

The Harrowing Path Other than the peculiar, transitory, flickering amber light that I beheld prior to my bicycle ride (it danced in the air at the threshold of the trail), there was no warning, no foreboding, no premonition of the trials and tribulations in store for me on that crisp, blustery day. The spurious, minacious stygian clouds coursed across the skies with the appearance of cumulus stratus fingers that appeared to reach for me—digits that could have extricated me from my parlous, unremitting state of existence. Any second, I fe...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Notes of Conversion” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #148

Notes of Conversion Erwinn Metzger climbed out of his car on Central Avenue in Dothington this blustery March afternoon, stared plaintively at the empty rubicund brick high-rise in which he and his deceased mother used to live. Their flat had been situated on the top floor at the end of the hallway, one which had afforded them a picturesque, panoramic view of the once-bustling city. As a young boy, Erwinn sat on the window seat every night and gazed wistfully at the lights in the distance, envisioning being the headline trumpeter in major ...

0 comments 0
Read story

“S.A.D.” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #147

S.A.D.           Celeste and Koen Tazro sat placidly in the quiet darkness, waiting for the lights to return in the movie theatre as the credits slowly descended on the spacious screen.           “What did you think about it?” Koen asked.           “I really liked it,” Celeste answered. “What about you?”           Patrons pas...

0 comments 0
Read story

“The Onerous Journey” by Karen Leidy

Submitted to Contest #146

The Onerous Journey I had been peregrinating for four days through the western wilderness, and the weather remained unusually mild for this geographical location. This is a cleansing journey to wash away all remnants of my past and my miserable, innumerable failures. Literally everything I ever attempted to accomplish deteriorated—not just a tiny sample of personal inadequacies, but a total fiasco. I loathe every minute particle of my useless existence and abhorrent self, and have elected to stay clear of the human race for the remainder ...

4 comments 4
Read story

Author bio

D. Lite resides somewhere in the cosmos with her beloved pets. She enjoys writing, reading, animals, exercise, action movies and conversing with all life forms. She has been writing since the beginning of time, and she will continue until the end.