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Maria Wickens

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (13)

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5 Followers

5 Following

13 Stories

236 karma pts

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The Free State of Indiana

Submitted to Contest #291

THE FREE STATE OF INDIANA by Maria Wickens Outside the compound wall lies perdition. The howls of the unrepentant echo through the night. Padre Pete and the Warriors of the Light offer the community a safe haven, and all they expect in return is compliance. And hard labor. And on-demand sex. And a pleasant smile and a thank you at the end of it. I pace the perimeter wall of the compound. There is a world outside sanctuary, but nobody wants to go back there. “How do you know outside is so bad if you’ve never been there?” It is a blue sh...

10 likes

Pour Yourself A Drink, Put Some Lipstick On and Pull Yourself Together

Submitted to Contest #284

Trigger warning: Substance abuse, SuicidePour Yourself A Drink, Put Some Lipstick On and Pull Yourself TogetherCongratulate Martin who’s celebrating one year at Styx Ferryman.The words triggered a wave of loss and misery. She gulped down her gin and tonic and thus the spiral began.More than a year later and a stupid Linked In text notification could still do this to her.Typical Martin. He refused to approach his terminal diagnosis with anything but black humor. He changed his Linked In profile announcing his impending journey to the afterlif...

8 likes

Harbinger

Submitted to Contest #274

HarbingerDeath is absence, drowning in black. Clinging to the memories of people you love as they dissolve into nothingness.When I wake my throat is aching and my cheeks are wet with tears.“Oh,” I say out loud to my husband. “I do miss you.”Reaching out I am surprised to find he is lying next to me. He gives a grunt of a snore, unaware of the relief I feel.I am not dead. Just dreaming.The cat lying at the end of the bed lets out a cat snarl because my dead brother stands at the end of the bed, smiling.“I miss you too,” he says.I’m stuck betw...

12 likes

My Good Aunt

Submitted to Contest #274

My Good Aunt Trigger warning: Mental Health / Children's death Rooms full of medical equipment, are the only things left in the labyrinth of decaying structures. The faint smell of hospital food lingers in the kitchens where 100,000s of meals were prepared over the decades…The hospital where my mother resided throughout my childhood is under demolition. I learn this from a website article and it includes a virtual tour of the old hospital. I double dare myself to double click. But that mention of the smell of hospital food, lightly beaten wi...

11 likes

Run Rabbit Run

Submitted to Contest #273

Run Rabbit Run Trees were my only memory. I wandered through the woods for so long that all I remembered was fighting my way through branches. I had to reach a destination, although the location and my purpose were long since erased.I had hurt my head so badly that I forgot myself.Time was irrelevant. Not tired, nor hungry or thirsty. Day and night were indistinguishable. One foot after the other. Stay ahead of... what? Was someone chasing me? I just knew I had to keep going, hold back another branch and move onward.Onward?No. Stuck. Fl...

13 likes

Train Wreck

Submitted to Contest #264

Unnngahhhh. I’m alive again.Barely.My head is wedged under a dump truck. Pretty sure I’m weeping blood. And dear God, the back of my throat feels like I’ve gargled with squirrel turds. Especially nutty ones.I turn on to my back and wait… this memory foam is not remembering me. Whose bed is this?This is not my night attire. I usually wear the teeshirt from the day before and occasionally go to the effort of adding PJ pants. But this shirt is a different fabric altogether. And. Oh no. Man sized.Underwear?I can neither confirm nor den...

5 likes

Another FGI

Submitted to Contest #263

“Haz!” A short, sweaty guy with unblinking bloodshot eyes waits outside the cabin.Meeting up with a crazed little man sweating profusely has all the elements for a bad night in the boondocks. From the moment Harrison shouted at me to get in the car, it was clear there was a bad moon on the rise and I did not have my things together. Not at all.“Who’s Haz?” I whisper to my brother.“Me,” says Harrison. “Short for Hazard.”Oh yeah. Sure. That made sense.Short, dark and sweaty is Chaos. Another buddy from Harrison’s time in the dessert. They use ...

9 likes

Ninety-two degrees

Submitted to Contest #262

Trigger warning: Theme of Family violence / Sexual abuseIt’s the time of year when the depressing chill of autumn should be settling in, yet the sun is unrelenting stark radiance. No shadows, no perspective just a harsh white light providing a spotlight for my stepfather’s gaze as he watches us. I’m supposed to call him Daddy but under my breath I call him Kronos. Devourer of children. Unhinged titan. Seems more apt.He’s going stir crazy with the pressure of no work on the horizon. We’ve ducked his ill temper, dodged the petty arguments he t...

2 likes

Dear Valentina

Submitted to Contest #261

Dear Valentina,Thank you for the Samaritans brochure, helpline number and wristband. Your concern is appreciated.Janet.Valentina and I met on a work induction course. When Valentina suggested we escape early to get a drink, I accepted, thinking it was a kind offer from one newbie to another.It was not a bar I had been to before. It was quite dark and the walls were painted bordello scarlet and gold. Hanging above the bar was a portrait of a reclining naked lady. Moody black and white photographs of shirtless firemen adorned the walls.The bar...

5 likes

Happy Valentines Day, Ed

Submitted to Contest #260

Waking in a cramped wooden box in a shallow grave, I have to admit this is one of the worst first dates ever. It is not the absolute worst date - so that should tip you off my dating history is somewhat dark and hopeless. Still one has to believe in something and for me it’s que sera sera, what will be, will be, somewhere some time, I will meet that special someone.But clearly, not this time around.The signs started to mount up early into the date. When Mr Mystery Date opened the door it was apparent his profile photo was not so mu...

10 likes

It's Not About The Mini-Skirt

Submitted to Contest #259

Trigger Warning : Theme of Suicide Dad set a rule that we have to take breakfast together as a family. It dropped off when it was just my brother Jess and me at home, but after Harrison got back from Vietnam and Lane and Annie moved in the rule was rigidly enforced. Fatigue is a symptom of swimming through the quicksand of life in a small nothing happening town. I crawl my way to the breakfast room each day resenting every step. This is a sleep until winter’s over kind of tired. Hush! A piece of advice I picked up along my r...

2 likes

Double Exposure

Submitted to Contest #258

DOUBLE EXPOSUREBy Maria Wickens The translation of Woomera is “Big Spear” but the locals call it “Big Evil”. Kurdaitcha, the Aboriginal shaman of death, waits outside the rocket range, surveying the activity inside.Gubbah, the white man, always marching onward. Progress, he calls it. Kurdaitcha’s lips peel back into a smile. Ah, Gubbah dreaming is eternal; the dream may change, but there is no endpoint. Everything is now. We swim through time as if it is a river.A flock of birds beat their wings in a panic overhead. In the moment before the...

7 likes

You May Find Yourself

Submitted to Contest #257

When I hear that song Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads, I think of Thrax. Very few manage to extract themselves from our business, but Thrax got out and I reckon every day he must ask himself, “Well how did I get here?”Round about now he will be feeling the days are getting longer. Maybe he feels like he’s drowning at the bottom of an ocean of suburban mediocrity. Initially he’ll welcome that feeling. He’ll call it penance for the past life we led together. But Thrax is plenty smart. He knows people in our line of business are not owed be...

8 likes