Keba Ghardt

“Up in Smoke” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #286

“You have to let go!”Abner squinted through the smoke, his own voice dying in the roar of the blaze, but a faint cry came back to him.“No!”Lurching forward, Abner dodged a falling beam, covering his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and childish hope. “Yule!” he called. “We have to go!”“Eat a dick!”“It’s not worth it!”“Eat a bag of dicks!”Shouldering through a scalding door, Abner found him, still clinging to his damn fool construction, dangling from where the attic floor fell through. “Damnit, Yule, you’re gonna get crushed!” Abne...

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“Object d'Arson” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #282

TW: violence against a minor“Hey,” said Justin. “I’m sorry about the clown.”Julia’s eyes flicked toward the mantlepiece. The clown was blown glass (Italian! her mother claimed) and the artist had chosen to stick cartoonish appendages onto a transparent sphere. The white glass face, with a neon red lipstick grin stuck in collagen horror beneath an eyeless void, was at just the right angle to provide a recurring jump scare every time Julia stepped out of her bedroom. “It’s not your fault. I’d’ve done the same if I were you.”“Yeah, but at my pl...

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“The Staff” by 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...

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“Radiant” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #279

The garden used to smell like lavender, indulgent milkweed and succulent coneflower, good, tilled earth and slick, glittering snail trails warming in the morning sun. The air would hum as erect irises seduced buzzing bees into their silky, nectar-flooded cups. I would lie between azaleas, marbling my feather scales with violet, fuchsia, and immortalizing green.Back before the Storm, all humans were essentially color-blind, only able to see a reduced spectrum from three little optic cones to our sixteen. We found safety in stillness, conceale...

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“Run! Run! Run!” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #277

Mildred shuffled through the front room when she heard the bell, and then a heavy thud. Turning back the bolt, dropping the chain, and twisting the lock, she opened the big red door and saw the delivery man already halfway down the walk. “Excuse me!” she called. “Coo-ee! I think there’s been a mistake!”The delivery man stopped. He hesitated, and for a moment it seemed like he wasn’t going to turn around, but he did, taking a few halting steps back up the path. “A mistake?”“Yes,” said Mildred, beckoning him closer. “I don’t think the order is...

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“Cherry Bomb” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #264

On that day, the sunshine slicing through the open-walled tent, polished cutlery in gleaming formation, glassware throwing fractal prisms on the Colgate tablecloths, the best man advanced into position at the height of the reception set. The wedding planner, with the coordination of a master strategist and all the tact of a hostage negotiator, cued the DJ to drop the ambient music, and deliver to the entrenched head table a live mic. The best man, battle-hardened after a fraternity’s worth of matrimonial campaigns, raised the acceptably pre-...

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“Hot-Blooded” by Keba Ghardt

"I'm telling you, this is the perfect time," Holiday said. "The alarms are a joke." "We can switch the triggers from the freezers to the lobby," Wyatt agreed. "But the vault's on a different system." "It's a lazy bank," Billy sneered. "They leave the vault open from noon to four, for the afternoon traffic. If we move fast, we can get to them before they get to it." Annie chewed her lip. "I still think there's too many unknowns." A heavy sigh escaped from Butch as he tried to juice the anxiety from his forehead. "Annie! It's been record-break...

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“Strange Developments” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #258

The man came out of nowhere. Bridget swerved to avoid him, horns blaring as she swept into the next lane, and the car behind her slammed her Mazda into the median. Bridget's head bounced against the steering wheel, and the air bag punched her in the face, hot wires of pain shooting up her neck as the seat belt did its vicious work. Bridget groaned, dazed, as horns sounded a hellish chorus all around her, and there was urgent knocking on her cracked windshield. Looking up, Bridget saw the man's worried face before her vision swam away.* * *Wa...

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“Your Animal Side” by 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...

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