Kathryn D

“Your Wicked” by Kathryn D

The sky is red. Midnight is not always so crimson and ominous. The mid of a night that I am in a thick, thick dress especially. I think. Tonight is my first night in a dress of such milieu. Across the room, I meet your brown, brown, brown eyes. Under this spectating light they are like pools of dew. I try and tear my eyes away from the window, but the grass is so cool and inviting. I know just from seeing it that it is brisk and sweet, like an orchid, like a meadow. I would probably, if any other night, take off my shoes, shoes, shoes, ...

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“Honey And Smoke” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #76

"Don't move."“It’s just us, Francine. You can put down the gun.”“Can I?” “Of course, France. Gee, you’re skittish today. We're only coming to visit. Peter and I went to the movies, you know? Alright, you two, sit. I’ll get us some tea.”“You do that.” “Anything for you, Peter?”“I’m good, Elena.” ~“You still haven’t told her, Peter?” “Told her what? Why are you looking at me like that, Francine?” “You killed Gregory.” “What? How could you say that?” “Lower your voice, before she hears. And don’t forget. I’ve ...

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“The Hand That Feeds” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #70

“Swaddle her gently.” She tutted, moving across the room in swift, intrepid movements, stilling for only seconds at a time to click her teeth, and then she’d move again. “Gently,” she said again, voice growing impatient with every word like a ticking clock or perhaps a bomb. “Gently, I said.”  “I’m not sure I’m doing it correctly, ma’am,” the girl sighed, frustrated. “Will you show me how?” This erupted her very core, sending a bright sharp flame in her chest, sending the ticking faster and faster until the bomb, yes, it erupted her v...

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“The Pink Drink” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #69

Wind in my throat. It is fresh, it is clean. I sip the dew of a miserable drink, bright pink and fruity. I would kill for a shot of tequila right now. The pink, thick liquid glides down my throat. God, just as tasteless as Mother used to make it. I pull it from my chest and stare at it, shining under the bubble lights that string against the wall of the balcony. A smile tugs at my lips.  “Yo, Arie!” My brother’s voice shouts from inside. “Where the hell is she?” I hear him muttering, and then he pauses in the doorway. I hear my sister b...

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“From My Hands” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #58

The light was dim. The halls smelled like death. Perhaps the reason it was so foul, was because they’d tried to mask the scent of corpse with copious amounts of alcohol and fresh vanilla spray. It just made the corpses smell like chemicals. Or, so, perhaps they were masking the smell of the abundance of chemicals and pills they gave them with rotting flesh. He hated hospitals.He stood with balloons in his balled fist, an expression so mute on his face that he could’ve been in the mortuary and they would have started cutting. He didn’t e...

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“One-Way Mirror” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #57

Murderer. That’s what everyone called me. I’d see my face on news stories every now and then, and in my own little town, people would scowl. Though the police had no evidence, it wasn’t enough to turn the disgust in their eyes. Abhorrence came across people’s faces every time I walked down the street. It shouldn’t have been like that. They shouldn’t have been so disgusted with me. I grabbed an ice cream container off the shelf to drop into my basket, and closed the foggy freezer door. An old woman watched me with narrowed eyes. She was ...

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“On-Lookers” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #55

The waves were almost black, this night. His eyes shone against them, the shimmering water catching his eye only momentarily. He held the wad carefully in the sleeve of his coat and walked down the street, turning into an alley that seemed to be lit brightly by the moon, the white gleam like a spotlight between brick walls. There was a man standing there, in the light, but when he walked he seemed to have stepped out of the dark. His coat was black and leather, the sleeves flouncy and untamed, and over his eyes was a dark ribbon, two holes i...

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“Princess Of Dirt” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #52

I will always protect you, from every pain in the world, my darling. Her voice was salt and venom and left a dirty, swirling taste in your mouth. You loved your mother, but right now her words brought anger to your cheeks. You took a step down the hall. The wedding room was just through that door. Everyone was waiting for you. Your fists clenched in your tattered red veil. It was an achy brown at this point, but it looked white to him, or so he said. Your breath was stuttering, gorgeous hitches of breath, he said they were gorgeous, tha...

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“It Was Me” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #49

Dear Lord, up there above, if you’re listening. Please give him strength and power and everything you can. Please let me take him home tonight.  “What’re you in for?” The man beside me murmured. We were the only two left, standing in the otherwise empty police station. I sat in my chair, hands clasped to my chest to keep it from shaking with worry. I knew my face was still, perhaps looking even expressionless, but it said nothing of the rampaging emotions in my mind.  “I’m waiting for someone.” I responded in a raspy voice, rubbi...

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“Why We Leave ” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #47

The winds of the mountains always bring you home. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t grow up near mountains. The fresh air, the evening breeze, the way the world seems to hold you--it's a sense of freedom and it's a sense of peace. That is what home should be. Home is something you should miss. Maybe it’s just because nature is everyone’s first home. Or maybe, there used to be a story inside you that your heart still remembers. Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. Your mother calls out to you, smiling, eyes brimming with tears. You...

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“Out Of The Woods ” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #46

It should have mattered whether she was alive or not. It should have, but I didn’t see it that way. All I saw and all I felt was grateful, pleased, ecstatic; I was finally witnessing something that people only wrote about. I only wrote about. Then came the ideas, flooding into my head, little bursts of the blood spilling down her chin, and hand, pale and crooked. I was happy, and I was desperate to get out of the woods and back to my cabin before I forgot all of these beautiful scenes. I began to mutter to myself the little words I...

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“Pyrite ” by Kathryn D

Submitted to Contest #46

She could be breathing down my neck, claws dug into my shoulder, a threat close to my heart, ready to rip through. But I wouldn’t stop now.  The glow from my computer screen was the only light in my room, since I’d summoned and welcomed the darkness around me, happy to hide in it as I shamefully wrote and wrote, my nerves tingling with glee as I neared the end.  I clicked and clucked and clattered away, fingers angrily pounding every letter they could find, every word they could remember. They didn’t like when I wrote. They said ...

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