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Laura Camacho Frias

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2024

Stories (50)

Comments

Library

72 Followers

24 Following

50 Stories

1298 karma pts

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Not dead

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #258

It all started a year ago when my grandfather returned from the world of the dead. To be fair, he had never died, "just" disappeared, but for my mother, who saw him convulse in a hospital bed until the flatline appeared and lived without him for decades, both things were the same: he was lost and dead... Twelve months ago, my mother argued with my grandmother during a phone call, which was nothing new but triggered an unexpected event. Who would have told us, her close family, children, and husband, that a discussion about good manners wou...

7 likes

Romeo and Juliet met at work

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #257

Rivalries exist everywhere: between countries, families, friends, and work. Recent disputes fuel some of them; others are so old that no one remembers how they started. My name is Juliet. Despite everything I heard when I started my career, nothing stopped me. I was raised to be great. I was educated and lectured about overcoming whatever was thrown at me. Failing was not an option, but I failed a lot. Still, I persevered. I was stubborn and resilient. That never changed. I worked as a product manager in a big multinational company. I s...

13 likes

Giddy up

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #256

Once upon a time, when I was a fierce Product Manager, I was invited to the Company's Top Hundred annual meeting. Neither I nor any of my group colleagues - invited as well- were part of such a select group, but our manager had decided that year to do a bit of self-promotion and convinced the organization that we were worthy of being included. So when the day arrived, we were there, the top hundred, a few organizers, and the ten extra-worthy ones, in a remote location, surrounded by greenery and chirping birds, ready to discuss the organizat...

8 likes

Burn baby, burn.

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #255

"Every day was the same. Since we were forced to retreat to our homes, share our space twenty-four hours a day with the same people, and fear the end of the world, the time seemed to stop, but it didn't. Hours moved slowly, the air got thinner, and the sounds more intense. I kept waking up early to prepare breakfast for the whole family, but I did not dress as I used to or wear any makeup. My high-heeled shoes gathered dust, and I lost the will to clean them. It was supposed to be two weeks, but we couldn't see the light at the end of the tu...

9 likes

Office whispers

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #254

At twenty two years of age, I was the only woman on the technical team when I started working. Around me, there were engineers and technicians, and me: the girl, the woman. I was also one of the youngest and eager to do whatever was necessary to be successful, as long as it was work-related and did not require my personal time. There was a time when I was good at setting personal boundaries. For years, I was surrounded by those men, listened to their stories, and learned from them. Some became almost paternal figures, and others reminded me ...

9 likes

Today

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #253

I feel the smell of medicine and decay as I exit the elevator. There is movement in the corridor. People dressed in blue walk slowly. White scrubs rush their way between calls and alarms. I feel like someone forced to attend the opera while having a perforated eardrum. I have been here before and don't want to return, but they told me it might be my last opportunity, so here I am. It's funny how we react to the last chance when we should have paid more attention to all the years before today. But this is not about what happened; it's about t...

15 likes

One more decision

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #252

My name is Ella. Growing up, I was told to do my best and conquer the world. My duty was to study, focus on important stuff, and not get distracted. No movies, books, friends, or boys were supposed to derail my mother's goal: I would have what she didn't, and I would share the success with her: my sponsor, my promotor, my everything... at least for a while. School was always tough for me, not because I found it challenging to deal with it, but because I was never as good as others thought I could be. The pressure at school was much better ma...

17 likes

The little one

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #251

My grandfather always kept a little brown leather journal in his chest pocket. It was his constant companion, the one I would see in the evenings and the one that, at dinner time, peeked out of his shirt, playing hide and seek with me. I always wondered what secrets it held, what adventures it chronicled, and what cheeky details of adult conversations it concealed. But he did not write that; all he wrote were lists. He did not write about anyone or anything that had happened. There were no fantastic stories to tell me about. He wrote the thi...

11 likes

Would you share it?

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #250

He should be sleeping like a baby but Leo woke up in the middle of the night: someone was screaming. It was not a dream, nor one of those nightmares he had had in the past days- since his mother had left the house without any explanation. Mum was back, and everything was as normal as ever. There was no reason to be sad or afraid; still, he was. The boy tried to get the light switch, but the little white box slipped out of his reach, so he walked in the dark towards the corridor. Silence. There were no noises downstairs, and the dog...

8 likes

A long weekend to forget and a day to remember

Laura Camacho Frias

Submitted to Contest #249

My phone rang once more, and for a moment, I thought he would have changed his opinion, but when I looked at the screen, it was not him, it was Elena, the department's assistant. I picked up, and before I had time to say anything, she started to yell at me:"Where are you? They are waiting, you are late! I sent you like ten messages!"I looked at my phone. There were no messages. Then I remembered: my work phone. Elena kept yelling things I couldn't understand, maybe because she was speaking too fast or perhaps because I had not slept for thir...

13 likes

Persuasion

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 ...

9 likes

The box

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. ...

15 likes

Marry me under the chestnut tree

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...

11 likes

Four minutes and half a life

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 ...

20 likes

The present

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...

18 likes