Mandy McCool

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (13)

13 Stories

326 karma pts

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“Blinking Lights” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #227

“Careful, it’s still pretty hot. It took forever to dissolve.” I blew the steam away from the rim of my own mug, only for it to return a moment later to once more fog my eyeglasses. She nodded with a small smile, that same faraway look in her eye remaining from before as she moved her gaze to the blinking lights on the tree. “It’s beautiful. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help,” I muttered. “It’s fine. I think it helps knowing I won’t have to take it down later. Suppose there’s a lot of perks to this, after all…” “Think the kids had a g...

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“Home” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #107

This is my home, complete with the sun-bleached wooden floors and the dirty storm windows. It’s old, but it’s peaceful, you know? It’s just an old house that transformed slowly into a dream escape. It is our escape. Well… it was. It didn’t take you very long to move another woman into our home. You didn’t think I would notice, did you? She’s beautiful. Skin glowing like a summer sunset, eyes reflecting crashing waves, and hair perpetually damp with salt water. You caught a fucking mermaid. Okay, maybe not… but she is gorgeous still. A s...

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“Mousetrap” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #102

Growing up, I had a three-legged cat named Mousetrap. I wasn’t the one who named him, obviously, as he had been around for as long as I could remember. I barely even recall a time when he had all four legs. My early memory has always been sort of spotty, so I only have a brief moment where I can clearly see him jumping from the top of the bookcase and landing softly on four gray paws, then the very next memory his front right leg was missing. When I would ask about why Mousetrap had his leg removed, I was always told the wretched old woma...

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“June 20th” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #99

Have you ever lived a day that stretched on past the usual twenty-four hours? I'm not talking about one of those days at work that seem to last forever. No. I'm talking about a day that goes on for weeks, months, and even a full rotation around the sun. Oh, it's impossible? Obviously you must not remember June 20th. At least, not the June 20th that I just lived through. It began innocently enough. It was a Sunday this year, and also fell on Father's Day... not that that detail matters too terribly for the sake of this story, just a pointle...

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“Berries and Sunshine” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #96

Twenty-six years. Birthdays, school events, sleep overs, trips to the mall... countless days spent together over the course of twenty-six years. You know, that is an entire lifetime in some circumstances. It felt like a lifetime to me.Now as I sit here waiting at the airport, I realize a scary fact for the first time: I don't really know a thing about the person that will be stepping off of that plane. How could I? We haven't seen each other in five years and barely kept in touch by other methods. She went off to travel the world, to make a ...

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“May Queen” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #90

It has been said that she was born in a sunbeam and would pass from this world by moonlight. Makes a life and a death sound pretty romantic, doesn’t it? Silly ancient fables tend to do that in order to make difficult ideologies seem pleasant. I mean, who in their right mind would actually want to live up to a story dreamt up hundreds of years ago and passed along with each and every generation? I sure as hell wouldn’t. But that isn’t my problem. That wasn’t my calling. That prophesy belongs to my older sister. Daisy is the May Queen, an...

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“Timeless” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #81

Do you believe in a love that transcends time? Well then, you are in luck! This is a tale about a love that has bloomed across many lifetimes, becoming stronger with every sunrise and sunset. In total, our fated lovers have found each other in the midst of six different lives that span different times and places. It wasn’t a simple feat, mind you. There were always obstacles that stood in the way to keep the two separate. Yet in the end, they would find each other and the memories of their shared pasts would return as if told in a fairytale....

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“The End of Our World” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #80

Emergency sirens were thirteen minutes too late to warn us of our fate. Our sky twisted into a swirl of gray clouds with a blood red sunset, thunder and cracks of explosions indistinguishable in the distance. Even the air that surrounded us peaked with electricity as I pulled my sister’s hand, feet pounded the earth eager to grab each step. It was the tiny details that seemed so memorable: the smell of smoke, the sweat of Isabelle’s small hand fighting against our grip, the burning air in my lungs, and the nausea that forced me to finally st...

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“Algorithm” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #77

The snow was still falling after I had finally finished my makeup and fixed my hair perfectly, so it just furthered my belief that this was meant to be. As soon as I pushed the front door open, a gust of freezing air blindsided me and nearly took my breath away. Lord knows that sometimes a girl has to do what she’s gotta do for the perfect winter selfie photoshoot. I couldn’t just let this sparkling winter wonderland go to waste, especially after spending over an hour and a half beating my face to the gods.My Insta page was steadily losing f...

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“Separation” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #76

“So… it’s over? Just like that. Everything we’ve gone through… this is it?” “Come on, Janice. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be!” “What does that even mean? Why are you acting like this isn’t a big deal? I dedicated three years of my life to this – and this is how it’s supposed to end? Tell me how I’m supposed to take it easier, Jeff – please explain to me how I can pretend like this is not a huge fuc-” “Calm down before you say something you’ll regret. And keep your voice down. Jesus.” “Okay. Okay. Okay… what do we do now?” “Well, ...

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“Carpe Noctem” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #75

I’ve been called many things over the years: the Spirit, the Guide, Fate… all paint me in a way that portray clarity and endless wisdom. I suppose by definition that is mostly true. I am the clarity that arrives to enlighten those that stray from the path of which they are destined. It is a gratifying position. Time moves forward and the lives I touch will either embrace my visions or turn against me and face a future of sorrow. Either way, I move forward. Time never ceases and thus neither will I. To say that I live is only a half trut...

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“The Stipulation” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #72

The Anderson gene pool is extensive. Just about everyone knows at least one Anderson of some variation, so it is pretty safe to say that I probably have multitudes of cousins I have never met from nearly every continent. It shouldn’t have been too surprising to me that I should receive a call that my cousin Helen had passed away suddenly, and that I was expected to fly to Illinois and attend her funeral. The surprise was that I had never heard of a Cousin Helen before, and she had apparently left me something in her will. Now, from...

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“Gwendolyn's Spritz Cookies” by Mandy McCool

Submitted to Contest #71

Grandma Gwendolyn took her famous spritz cookie recipe to the grave. This wasn’t the only thing she took with her, mind you, but it certainly was the one thing that anyone truly cared about. You see, this was no ordinary cookie; this was a tradition that seemed to hold the fabric of the family together. So of course it became my mission to recreate the recipe. A typical spritz cookie consisted of fairly ordinary ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and a single egg. I even managed to take her original cookie press f...

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Author bio

Mandy McCool (also known as M.I.H. McCool) lives in the little town of Danville, Illinois. When not fervently writing, she performs in community theater, sings show tunes in inappropriately public places, and sells promises for almost minimum wage. McCool, who graduated from Meridian High School in Meridian, Mississippi, is currently living one day at a time and quite enjoys the ride. She lives with her turtle named Roosevelt and a poltergeist she's lovingly dubbed Chupacabra. She has been publishing short stories and poetry since the age of ten. "The Contract: The Revelation of the Opal" is her debut novel and can be found at all great online retailers. 🖤 You can follow me at: https://linktr.ee/theundisputedunknown