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Maria DiFranco

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2022

Stories (6)

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6 Stories

128 karma pts

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The Katherine Brussel Award

Submitted to Contest #305

Alternatively titled, "The Great Emily Mix Up of Morresdale High"I stared at the crowd and told the biggest lie of my life.“I have to pee.”It just slipped out of my mouth. Not sure why. I didn’t. But all those eyes … all that attention. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I said the one thing I knew was a free pass out of any situation, and I ran.To the bathroom, of course. I didn’t have to pee, but when you tell a crowd of a thousand people that you have to pee, that’s where you should go.Except, it isn’t where you should go, because that’s wher...

2 likes

Quoth the Raven, "No, Don't!"

Submitted to Contest #280

Once upon a midnight dreary, sat myself and fair Lenore upon a bench, from a long walk we both were weary. Tenderly, our hands against one another’s, did we hold each other, hers so soft and warm. Alone we sat, on that cold night, with stars and moon above, and alone we spoke, so quietly it would not seem the hearing of our words we were capable of. Yet distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December when I asked her for her hand. “Fair Lenore,” I softly spoke, “oh, rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—may I ask of you a fa...

5 likes

For Queen and Country

Submitted to Contest #254

The flat of the dagger concealed in Martin’s boot pressed against his calf. It was cold, like his fingers and his stomach. Warm bodies crowded against him, and he cringed away from them. Shivering, he watched the couple dance in the middle of the room.It was a father and daughter, King and Princess, and their steps were well-choreographed and well-practiced, but they lacked a certain grace. A lady standing beside Martin whispered to the Lord she had arrived with, “Princess Lily is not dancing as well as usual.”“King Gordon looks too stiff as...

5 likes

Phoenix Feather

Submitted to Contest #232

"Just remember," the wizard said, his fingers burning with a warm fire, "no matter how much the darkness may try, it cannot put out a light." "But other things can," Teo said. His hands were smaller than his mentor's, and he cupped them together to receive the wizard's light. His mentor smiled. The fire lit up his teeth and dark eyes. "But we can stop other things," he said. He lowered his hand, dropping the magical fire into his apprentice's palms. Teo gasped at the heat, then laughed. "We cannot stop darkness," said his mentor, "but it can...

17 likes

Dusty Wings

Submitted to Contest #204

The moonlight turned the man’s hair the color of the sun. Large wings draped over his shoulders matched the dusty sand of the road before him. His feet dragged. So did his horse’s hooves as he led the mare into the empty town.  The man gazed at the buildings as he passed, his eyes in the lamplight turning the color of the wings across his shoulders. Casually he read each sign: the tanner, the smith, the healer he all passed, though blood speckled the feathers at the edge of his cloak, and the hand not holding the mare’s reins hung lim...

13 likes

A Hoard without Purpose

Submitted to Contest #185

Gwyneth huffed as she climbed the mountain. She had no sword and no armor; both had been stolen by the dragon. Many other things had been stolen too, and not just her things. Her father’s sword, which the elves had gifted to him, disappeared one night. The minute hand of the town’s clocktower also had vanished, leaving a ragged and bent stump behind that still ticked pathetically as it counted the time. Her king’s flag had been ripped in half, the guards’ helmets taken right off their heads, and even the royal treasury had lost half its weal...

16 likes