Laura Camacho Frias

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (10)

10 Stories

232 karma pts

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“Persuasion” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #248

I work in customer service. I am a mother of three. Negotiation skills are not a need but a must in my life. I spend my days between price reduction requests and angry customers on one side and dreams about video games and annoyed children on the other. I would like these to happen in different time slots, but thanks to the magical world of the internet, I do this simultaneously, no matter where I am. I usually navigate wishes, requests, and demands --independently of where or who they come from-- in a fairly relaxed way: I just run my ...

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“The box” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #247

When I hung up the phone, an immense rage took over my body. I am not one to throw stuff around the room or crash the dishes on the floor because I'm the one who had to pay for them, but right then, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to break it all, smash it all, make it disappear from the face of the Earth. But I am moderate, so I kicked the door instead and hurt my toes. That's what I did: I hurt myself trying to get satisfaction. Now that I think about it, I realize it was stupid: the door had no blame, no matter how frustrated I was. ...

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“Marry me under the chestnut tree” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #246

Bea was my best friend at school, a little red-haired princess look-alike everyone loved. I was never as popular, pretty, or welcomed as she was, but she chose me as her best friend. We sat together in class and played together in the playground. Every day, arriving at school was a party because I would see her, and my day would immediately feel better until, one day, something changed in sixth grade. It was a regular autumn day. It was slightly cold, but not enough to wear our jackets, which we had left on the ground before jumping into our...

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“Four minutes and half a life” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #245

Everyone was speaking about it. It was the day when celestial bodies would meet, the light would disappear, and magic would happen: the total eclipse was about to happen, and no one would shut up about it. It would only last four minutes, but I had heard about it for weeks. No matter what channel I set on the television, someone spoke about it: science lovers, adventure junkies, romance seekers, first timers, experienced people... everybody wanted to be there, feel it, be able to say "I was there," but I didn't. I couldn't care less because ...

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“The present” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #244

Every September arrives, and I get nervous and itchy. That's when the presents season starts at home, or better, when I need to start working on the matrix of names, occasions, future, and past purchases. Most of the family birthdays happen between October and January. Thanks to our multicultural family composition and expat reality, we have three different Christmas-like celebrations between December and January. Then comes the terrible St. Valentine, and to end the celebration hell, our wedding anniversary, which I like but stresses me out...

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“RED” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #243

When she took me home, I was bright, shiny, and ready to party. It seems like a long time ago, but I am not the best with dates. That's not what I was made for. My purpose was different from the duty of the watches Ella kept in the drawer or the clock on the living room wall. I was made to make her shine, feel good, and be happy. My job was not to keep her warm or protect her from anything, but sometimes, I thought my bright existence was more problematic than helpful, as my presence seemed to call for dark intentions. Sometimes, I could rea...

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“La Menina” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #242

It was a beautiful autumn day when my world turned upside down. I was about to cross the ocean to my first big business meeting overseas, and I had been preparing every detail of the event for months. Due to our company policy, each site's representatives had to take different flights, so I was alone that morning. The materials to present were available on each of our laptops, and I had secured safety copies on external hard drives. There was no way I would leave any detail out of my control. I arrived early at the airport, giving me four ho...

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“Hello mother. Hi dad.” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #241

I grew up with a single mother. On Christmas Eve, when I was one year old, my mum packed a little suitcase, held me in her arms, and we left the house where we lived with my father, never to return. As expected, I don't remember it, but I've listened to that story so many times that I can even feel the snow falling that day whenever I think about it. I don't remember either many of my father's visits when I was a child, the time he tried to gift me a puppy, or the occasion when he tried to take me out of the country and my mother had to call...

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“Queen's day” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #240

The wind blew in her face while the heavy transit whispered, "You are late." The girl had promised to arrive home early that day, but things had not gone as planned at school. She was cycling fast. Her legs were hurting, her heart was racing, and she was thinking about the homework she still had to do, the time she had spent talking to her friends, and any possible excuse to give to her father, but she knew there was none. At least, not a credible one. When Queen arrived at the iron gates at the back of the house, she took the keys out of h...

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“Glitter” by Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #239

It was a cold day of winter when I saw it. Glitter started to fall from the sky. Glitter: little, perfect, shiny particles covering the outside world glowed and sparkled, transforming the view into a magnified snow globe. The houses and trees looked pretty and magical, while our lives remained the same, inside, safe from that strange event. It was not Christmas nor any other festivity that neighbors could have used as an...

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Author bio

I am Spanish and live in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) with my partner, three kids, and two dogs. For over twenty years, I have worked in multinational engineering companies in Portugal and the Netherlands. I've been a product developer, traveled worldwide as a Product manager, and managed multi-million projects and teams of brilliant minds. Last year, I decided to quit my Corporate Life and dedicate myself to writing full-time for as much time as possible. I've started to work on Prompts I publish in Reedsy (https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/laura-camacho-frias/), and I've created a website (https://www.lcfrias.com) where I write about my journey as a writer and my experiences in the Corporate world. Both parallel projects help me to connect with curious readers and write about things I feel passionate about, very connected to the role of women in the world, but not only. I'm currently looking for an agent to publish my first book, "UNWRITTEN", an auto-fiction story about mothers, daughters and expectations... many expectations.