Kelly L

“The Job Interview” by Kelly L

Submitted to Contest #280

“Good morning. Is it morning?”“I think it’s just past noon, sir.”“Yes, yes of course—it’s easy to lose track of time—no windows in this whole building. Can’t tell if its day or night.”“I understand, sir. And… before we get started let me say thank you for scheduling me for this interview.”“You are very welcome, Miss…Poor?? POOR?! Is that really your last name?”“Uh, yeah. It’s the name I was born with.”“Ha ha ha! How unfortunate. But I guess if you truly are ‘Poor’ you definitely need this job! Ha, ha!”“I, well as I said, thank you for t...

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“The Startup” by Kelly L

Submitted to Contest #279

I need to find Zowen.I know he’s here somewhere in this park or rather, under it.It has grown wild in the last few years. Weeds choke off the hiking trails, briar patches proliferate, and trees are popping up everywhere. The old reservoir is little more than a swampy bog filled with cattail and sedge.I get up off the ground and stretch to give my back some relief. I lean down to grab my water bottle and sit down with my maps.Shelter Park is approximately four-hundred and twenty-two acres.Checking the map of the park, I can see that I ha...

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“Yesterday is Forever” by Kelly L

Delia Lewis opened the front door and found the milk waiting for her in glass bottles. No butter this time, the milk man must have forgotten. She picked the bottles up and took them into her small cottage before she went back into her bedroom, sat down at her vanity and took out her hair curlers. She sighed, as she looked into the mirror, it was really time for another color, grey seemed to appear on her head overnight. As she finished putting on her blue day dress, she heard a knock at the front door. “Who could that be?” she whispered. Ope...

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“No One is Watching” by Kelly L

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

I think someone’s watching.  I have heard that it’s normal to feel like you’re being watched after you commit a murder. Maybe it is guilt, maybe it is paranoia. Just in case it is intuition, I walk over to the windows quickly. I look around the backyard, I see nothing except night punctuated by a few Christmas lights strung around a privacy fence. Lucky we are on the second floor. I can still hear the muffled noise of the crowd downstairs. Ella, our department chair and her husband Richard always throw the faculty holiday party.&nb...

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“It Pays the Bills” by Kelly L

Submitted to Contest #190

I am feeling all of my fifty-nine years as my assistant is slathering my bare skin down with petroleum jelly. I already have the make-up on. That’s the easy part, the hard part is the costume. Luckily, LionCon only comes once a year.I will never forget the first time I saw The Deer Hunter. It was a Friday night 1978, I was fourteen years old and had badgered my older brother to take me to a movie. The one condition was that he got to pick the movie. I agreed and sat down in the theater resolved to enjoy a night out of the house no matte...

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“Found You” by Kelly L

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

Grandma is dying but she has lived a long and good life. At the age of ninety-seven, she was in remarkably good shape until a cancer diagnosis three months ago. She made it clear from the start that she didn’t want to fight it. No chemo, no radiation, no surgeries. “Just keep me comfortable and let me die in my own home,” was all she asked. My sister, Laurie, and I were supposed to be taking turns staying with her in her house, but Laurie works a lot. I am basically staying here full-time. Fortunately, my job is a remote research positi...

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“Legacies” by Kelly L

Note: This story deals with disappearance and death. I walk through my home now and I marvel at how safe everything looks. More than safe, solid. The dark heavy beams, the hardwood floor, the double-paned windows set inside the thick walls. My great-grandfather built this house. He meant it to be the ‘forever home’ for his family line running through the eldest children. The oldest child of every generation inherits the house. That is his rule and it is written in the spidery old script of his will, still on file down at the courthouse. Yo...

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“Permanent Residents” by Kelly L

Submitted to Contest #148

Note: This story mentions both suicide and murder.Caroline did not mind the quiet so much, but Arthur hated it. Vivian had mentioned that she was getting bored with no tenants around. Ewell had said nothing. The kids, twins named Hazel and Haskell, managed to make their own fun. They chased the mice that scurried down the empty hallways, looked inside the walls at treasures people had hidden and sometimes played in the empty rooms. Still yesterday, Caroline had found them sitting on the stairs in the second floor landing staring out the...

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