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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2020
Submitted to Contest #69
It's that time of the year again. Already, I'm filled with dread. Christmas dinner stopped being fun a thousand light years ago. What should be a season of love and cheer has become something characterized by trauma. I know with unerring accuracy how many days left till Christmas by the profusion of pimples springing up at will. I sit before my vanity damp from the shower, my hair tied up in a knot. Now I reach for the astringent. I observe my nightly ritual in vain. The blotches on my face will exit in the same manner they appeared, sile...
Submitted to Contest #63
By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. It was a surreal sight, quite staggering in fact. Everything seemed to be aglow, the varying degrees of red and orange struggling for dominance all across the backdrop of what was just over 5 acres of wine country. I stood unbelieving, overwhelmed, a motionless figure in the midst of the confusion swirling round about. A slap on the back took care of matters soon enough. ‘Get the hose!’ Jack cried. I was jolted into the melee, joining other hands darting about haphazardly, battling...
Submitted to Contest #61
They had unearthed her sometime in the past year. She had thought herself safe and well off the radar. 'Thank goodness for social media', everyone had squealed. 'We've seen what you're up to!' She'd felt the connection instantly, names long forgotten rushing in like the tide as the greetings poured forth. Naturally her curiosity had been piqued. She was only mortal after all. Keeping tabs had been fun at first. She had been overwhelmed when her old schoolmates reached out en masse, flattered even. She should have been prepared for talk ...
Submitted to Contest #57
Sixty-seven days! That's how long till the firm clocks 50. The buzz is palpable, one can feel it. It really is that thick. Everyone's excited. Everyone that is, except Drina. She winds through the marble lobby wordlessly, megawatt smile firmly in place, mutely acknowledging congratulations from the fawning employees, the expected accolades from industry peers, desperately wishing she were someplace else. Only in the privacy of her home does she allow her true self to emerge. Keeping up a double image can’t be easy. Lately, it's as though s...
Submitted to Contest #55
It all started with a simple dare but the aftermath would leave its indelible marks on us all. We were a rambunctious lot for the most part, an odd motley of adolescents from the robust McLeod clan. Like the tributaries feeding a great river, there seemed to me a branch of the McLeod's everywhere I looked. The family had done well with my Uncle Rob widely regarded as the head. Well apparently. Insiders knew that no major decision was executed without our Nan’s seal of approval. Rob had married well, his Cara came from a wealthy Spanish fam...
Submitted to Contest #50
You'd have thought it would be easier this time around. On the contrary! The butterflies are back with renewed vengeance. They have signaled each other, alert to the fact that the residence permit in your gut has been reactivated. You wonder what the big deal is. It's just an hour under the lights, after all. The reddened stumps that were once your digits belie this notion. Chewed to near extinction, they are an eyesore, proof of severely frayed nerves. Erin shakes her head and tapes them together. You shrug helplessly and look for other pre...
Submitted to Contest #49
It had been a full three weeks, one of those intense runs, a pressure cooker that steadily built up steam until the lid popped open. Team members had flown in from various parts of the region, brainstorming, bickering, collaborating, raising the bar in pursuit of excellence. I, for one had been heavily involved in the fray, tying loose ends together, making last minute edits, providing the required oversight. Finally triumphant, the prize having been delivered and an important client satisfied, we were now homeward bound, our goodbyes said, ...
Submitted to Contest #43
Some friendships are fleeting and based on such things as convenience, geography, social class or occupation. Others are unlikely and last a lifetime. I was a gawky 14 -year old when I met Nan. Ours was a friendship that was to be a source of surprise to many yet greatly rewarding.Father was seldom home. Once, during a spelling bee my fourth- grade teacher smiled confidently at me as she asked the class to spell the word 'expatriate'. My childhood memories of him are sketchy. There are albums filled with photographs of him squinting in the M...
Submitted to Contest #42
I had thought she wanted the best for me. She was the one everyone coveted. My phone rang endlessly for days with colleagues gushing, wanting to know the secret in landing such a plum prize. Here I was, fresh out of graduate school - a new job in a thriving firm, great prospects, itching to make my mark, the sky my limits and now understudying one of the best in the industry.We met quite by chance in the hallway. Serendipity, it seemed at the time. The lady striding purposefully towards the elevator was clad in an exquisite Armani, her confi...
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