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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021
“Ah, finally,” said 0. “A new fresh start! It’s been a difficult year, and I want to change for the better. And to change for the better, you have to start all over again!”“Really,” ∞ said. “What have you done for the past year?”“I killed myself.”“Oh. Sorry about that.” ∞ looked at 0 as if he’d heard him say that line many times—he was getting tired of this. “Well, that must be why you have a new body. Sometimes you’re a boy, sometimes you’re a girl. And now you’re both.” 0 had indeed broken the biological limits. “But are you sure you’re no...
Ernest had a habit of always checking the time. He’d glance at the wall clock, his phone, and the upper right of his Apple laptop. Each second fed him with guilt that made him feel unproductive, even though he was being productive.“I could’ve done more if I didn’t distract myself with Twitter.” Even while scrolling through Twitter, he’d swipe down his finger on the upper screen to check the time, the guilt of unproductivity haunting him. He deserved this free time since he’d already done so much, but he couldn’t stop assuming that “he could’...
I’ve been staring at this boy, not because I like him, but because he’s been wearing this mask since the first day of school, and literally nobody cares. A black face mask, kinda similar to the Phantom of the Opera’s mask but a full one. Usually, masks are portrayed to conceal one’s identity. We call these “social masks,” and everyone wears them to play a certain type of personality. And when you remove your mask, it’s a sign of revealing your true identity—especially when it cracks for a more dramatic effect. Then everyone, still wearing ...
Every day, I went through the motions. In a home where my self-awareness peaked, overreaching any kind of normalcy I usually longed for. You could say that my life was so normal that it became abnormal. Too much of normal can eventually lead to abnormal.Until came the day when the doorbell rang. I lived in an apartment on the second floor, as par for the course that sounded. Again, I was living a too normal life. What was normal anyway? Do you have to become middle-class to live a normal life? And those who are either poor or rich live an ab...
In the wilderness, I could not help how foolish I was to imitate the values of the Buddha. I, an idiotic nobleman, decided to leave the castle for I was forced to marry the princess, not whatsoever uncommon, but it was enough to make me steel my resolve.My blood boiled with contempt over the aristocrats with many facets; I loathed bogus people who would sit erect and scratch the plates with golden forks and knives for the sake of image.I have to admit they had good intentions, but regardless of how well-versed and beautiful they were, I felt...
Every day, no matter how I perfected my sleep, I always wake up feeling heavy. Others are the opposite: they try hard to sleep, but then they wake up happy. I’ve heard that to wake up happy is to sleep happy—apparently, that’s not the case for me.People would google about how to wake up earlier or happier. It’s such a simple thing yet hard to do. Even they search about how to breathe these days, the very familiar term “meditation” pops up in search results, and it’s often related to gratitude.It’s interesting how we can’t seem to do simple t...
Submitted to Contest #105
I have had enough.The thought of staying alive has been crawling onto my body, stabbing my skin until it bleeds, and nevermore I wish to see more of the world that keeps on betraying my beliefs and feelings.I have lost appetite for this thing called “life.” Surely I am contented enough to die; when someone says they are content, I scorn them, for contentment is not supposed to be subjected to life, but subjected to death.If you do not wish to die, you are still dissatisfied, so to speak. You want to see more of the world so your satisfaction...
CW: murder, suicideShe looked around her surroundings, the darkness bathing her in paranoia. Each footstep she took vibrated up to her ears, competing with the loudness of her heartbeat, thudding voraciously in her chest.She walked along the sidewalk. On her right side sat a fenced forest, left side a road, and beyond the road stood a long wall that went all way to the neighborhood. Once she got there, she was a free woman. The cat prowled along the long wall, looking at her, and it gave her a start. Then it jumped inside the walled depot.Sh...
Submitted to Contest #100
“Do we have any food left?” I asked my wife.My wife and I just eloped to an apartment.A minimalist apartment—no furniture, no sustenance.We have nothing.We were still young; I was twenty-four, she was twenty-five.I don’t know if it was the right decision to run away from reality.After college.“Hmm…the fridge’s empty. What now?” I heard her closing the fridge.I’d been sitting on this couch for a few hours—wait, no, I’d been sitting on the floor for a few hours, glancing at the clock—wait, sorry, glancing at the walls.My wife approached me. “A...
Submitted to Contest #98
There was a monster in my house.Not a cockroach, not a spider—but an actual monster in my house.The kind of monster you see in fantasy stories.Nonhuman.Not a metaphor. It's the real damn thing.I had no choice but to leave the house.But where did it come from? Last week, I was living life as it was, and there it was, crawling onto the walls.It wasn't even shaped like a bug.It crept onto the ceilings, looking at me. I couldn't describe how it looked like. No matter how good you are in vocabulary, you simply can't describe t...
Submitted to Contest #97
I tapped my fingers on the table rhythmically.Did I have to put the adverb “rhythmically,” so that you can understand what I’m doing?Maybe. Because if I only said: “I tapped my fingers on the table,” then you’d literally imagine fingers tapping on the table, but not necessarily rhythmic.Hmm.I stopped tapping. I began drumming. Same words, different meaning.I looked at my laptop, glossed by the window’s reflection.When I was tapping my fingers, I also had my hand resting on my cheeks.The typical bored expression.Head slightly tilted, eyes dro...
Submitted to Contest #95
My life had been decent enough. I’d drone on about how monotonous my life was, having this repeated realization that I should be grateful that I had this kind of life. I might be feeling lonesome and all, but at least I had a stable job and life, though the latter is a different story…is job and life are even correlated? I don’t even know. I’d see other apartment dwellers going outside for work. I’d been cooping up in my little world, freelancing by simply editing or proofreading words, and only went outside if groceries were needed. ...
Submitted to Contest #93
I yawned.I picked up Styrofoam cups on the floor and atop the tables, then stacked them. Some of them still contained alcohol.“You never drink alcohol, do you?”I swished the contents. I wasn’t sure what type of beer it was, but I wasn’t interested in knowing either.“You never even drink coffee.”I looked at her. “Just help me clean up. What’re you doing there, just standing and watching me?” I groaned. “I’m not going to participate ever again.”“Yeah, and you didn’t even talk to people. I thought you were going to be a party-pooper.” She smile...
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