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Keba Ghardt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (11)

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93 Followers

26 Following

11 Stories

1706 karma pts

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The Experience

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #303

“Go! Gogogogogogogogo!”Fredrick sprang up, seized the side arm on the nightstand, and fired twice as his knee slammed into the ground. He heard the shots bite drywall, the retreating figure vanishing down the hall, and Fredrick dove over the bedframe in pursuit, his shoulder thudding into the doorway as another shot went wide.Footsteps thundered down the stairs, and Fredrick plowed into the landing, heart hammering as his left hand cupped the right. He sighted down the barrel, remembered to exhale, and emptied his clip into the human shape t...

7 likes

Water Under the Bridge

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #302

Stanton got the idea during the annual disaster meeting at the Pluck and Ducker.“Flooding is rare,” said the general manager, Kirk, who had just sweat through the procedures for mass shooting events and chemical terrorist attacks. “But it does happen, and it can happen fast. We had a hurricane knock out the whole of downtown in 2018, and a fatberg in a storm drain backed up every sewer between the hill and the bay in 2002. So, if a flood warning comes in during your shift, the customers get evacuated, power and gas get turned off, and hourly...

10 likes

Holy Smoke

Keba Ghardt

Beneath his woolen cloak, Aethelstan, son of Aethelred, was burning with a high sanguine fervor, not daring to stop as the night air chilled his sweat. Clutching the precious bundle to his chest, Aethelstan spared a glance at the gathering storm clouds, dreading the potential for divine retribution before his purpose could be fulfilled. Stealing through the neat furrows of a walled garden, the breathless pilgrim pounded on the sanctuary door.It was not long before footsteps approached, and a light bled through the stoic timber. The door’s ru...

8 likes

Elves vs Vampires

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #300

Christmas Eve at the North Pole. Jingle bells in the air. Gingerbread in the oven. An improbable architecture overwhelmingly inspired by peppermint. Santa's sleigh has just departed, and the elves are wrapping up production before the end of a successful year.CC, the elf in charge of candy cane development, said, "Merry Christmas," and put his pants back on.Noelle, a lollipop parked between her teeth, squeezed back into her stripey tights. "You're not allowed to pay me in candy anymore.""What?" CC hissed. "Of all the bureaucratic...I mean, I...

23 likes

In the Dark

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #298

When the lights turned on, a slow drip dropped down into a spreading pool of melted ice cream. Pastel confetti in pinks, yellows, and blues cheerily swirled across a lazy river of French vanilla and chocolate sauce. Whorls of whipped cream deflated in a weary sigh, subsiding from the ruptures in the crumbling Oreo frame. The still face resting in the soft-serve pillow could have been dreaming in sugar-spun sleep, except for the splash of hot red slashed across the pressed confection letters, the blue-tipped fingers scattered across the table...

12 likes

Seen and Not Heard

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #296

Only sweet-voiced birds are imprisoned. Owls are not kept in cages. --RumiIt was possible that I would be stopped. The forest had always been my home; I was merely a guest at the palace. The emperor was as vindictive as he was insecure, as paranoid as he was petty, and it was well within the realm of my imagination that I would be shot on sight.Instead, as I crept in over the garden wall, I simply failed to be noticed. Reminding me why I left.The last time I was welcome here, all hours of the night were filled with music, games, recreational...

21 likes

More With Honey

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #295

Officer Hale shook his head at the dust and weeds all over his recently washed squad car, and waved away a curious bee. Half a mile before entering the More With Honey summer camp, the road had crumbled from smooth pavement to an overgrown dirt track. As the officer waited, he watched a line of children, little knees hiking in theatrical march after their willowy counselor as she led a buoyant call and response.There was a treeThere was a treeThe prettiest treeThe prettiest treeThat you ever did seeThat you ever did seeThe tree in the hole a...

21 likes

Drown the Devil

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #294

References to sexual assault and suicide.When Arnold was younger, his folks had taken him to see the crypt of John Paul Jones. The haunted tomb was quiet, and vigilantly guarded, with dim lights washing over the stone walls like moonlight on a restless sea.The war hero died alone, after a life of ceaseless fighting, an ocean away from American shores. For a hundred years, he was lost, buried by an unmarked grave, but unmistakable when he was found. The casket that held his pickled corpse was a cask brimming with high proof alcohol.“That’s ho...

17 likes

A Colorful Past

Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #292

Hallie gasped when she walked through the front door. The foyer was glowing in fiery red, blending seamlessly into a vibrant orange, then melding into a luscious turquoise. Daniel frowned at her expression. “Problem?”“No, I—” the young painter had to get her breath back. “I just…it’s such a gorgeous palette; are you sure you want to cover it up?”Daniel nodded. “That’s what I’m paying you for. Just white is fine.”Drifting after him into the living room, Hallie breathed in the glorious canary yellows and lime greens offset by a delicate mauve....

19 likes

The Staff

Keba Ghardt

Shortlisted for Contest #280 ⭐️

There you are. Hello, sir. Busy day, soldier? Not especially, sir. Awful lot of people here. That’s not unusual, sir. That’s true, that’s true. Lots of people come here, feels like every day, to gather out past that balcony, just to get a look at his excellency the pope, and receive his blessing. That they do, sir. Incredibly powerful spiritual experience that people travel miles for, to actually behold God’s avatar on Earth, and you and I are tasked with the protection of his holiness, to preserve the authority of the Catholic church. I tak...

31 likes

Your Animal Side

Keba Ghardt

Winner of Contest #257 🏆

Eddie was sweating. He'd been told, before putting on the suit, to drink a ton of water, so much your stomach hurts, and he bet there was an extra ten pounds of perspiration in the cheap costume fur. It certainly smelled like it, but rule one of wearing the suit: never take off the head. "That's an automatic write up," said Rob. "If you do it, and Faye finds out you subbed in without approval, you are off weekend hours, my friend. Good luck sucking up Tuesday tips." "I get it, I get it," Eddie had insisted. "I'll stay away from French revolu...

91 likes