Kay Reed

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2023

Stories (6)

6 Stories

199 karma pts

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“The Flood” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #220

A serpent slithers through the desert. It drags its colossal body over the crunching bones of ancient victims, swishing torrents of sand in its wake.The earth trembles. Above, a dark cloud appears in the blue sky.The serpent pauses, swivels its head. It fixes a yellow eye on the cloud, watches it darken, broiling with fury, as if dragging in a long-winded breath, readying to strike.The snake doesn’t hesitate, moves fast through the desert, positions itself at the edge of the cloud’s li...

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“To Gut a Snake” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #215

My world has been cleaved in two, a knife wedged in the wood between my before, and my after – the two halves spinning recklessly close to an edge, ready to drop. In the before, everything made sense – my entire life straight lines leading me here: into the lair of a snake. I was gifted a magicked knife from the Queen herself, the blade soldered, tamped, and sharpened into a gleaming...

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“The Peacemaker” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #209

Somewhere in the middle of 2007 I swallowed Rage whole. I can’t recall the hour or the day, only the place – among white brick barracks sitting on the easternmost edge of Ukraine, the ones we turned into a makeshift summer camp for orphans.This was well before I knew my enneagram number: Nine, Peacemaker. The easygoing, self-effacing type. Complacent. Receptive and reassuringly agreeable. A fellow Nine from church asked how I dealt with my anger. I turned on him quick. “I’m not an angry person.”

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“World at Knife’s Point” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #204

Naya holds a dying man in her arms.It was reckless to save him.More than reckless – unlawful, punishable by death. Or worse, expulsion.She pulls at the collar at her neck, presses a shaking hand to the man’s throat. His pulse picks up, flutters like moth wings against the light pressure of her fingers.No one has ever entered her world before. It is sealed shut with magic – a great domed barrier that swirls like a vast oil slick against a desert sky, a bowl clapped dow...

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“The Other Side of Water” by Kay Reed

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #196

Panic is a hand at Leven’s throat.He’s been ignoring the sun ghost for days now, dismissing it as a mere sunspot in the periphery of his vision, a black stain from staring into the sun too long. But the shadow has only grown larger and more defined, slick obsidian flames climbing up its body, giving the impression of a billowing cloak in the stagnant heat of the desert.Leven swallows, quickens his pace to catch up to his father. “Any sign?”His father doesn’t turn, merely clicks his com...

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“Back to Square One” by Kay Reed

Submitted to Contest #194

Today I did the thing I was never supposed to have done: I quit writing.Written a million ways, in a million advice columns, said by a million authors to aspiring writers: Whatever you do, KEEP WRITING.That’s what I have been doing, mind you, for nearly twenty years, since I first decided I wanted to be a writer in the prepubescent halls of middle school. My dad taught me the meaning of hard work and dedication to the cause, a loyal employee at his company for nearly thirty years. The work is hard and t...

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Author bio

I enjoy writing across genres, dabbling in creative non-fic and poetry as a form of therapy, but tend to have the most uninhibited fun with MG and YA fantasy- the genre of books in which I first fell in love with reading as a child. It’s very hard for me to keep pace with a weekly prompt amid the busyness of life and the curse of perfectionism, but trying to jump in when I can and exercise the very atrophied muscle of letting go. 💪 I welcome feedback and critique!

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #196

The Other Side of Water – read story