Mark D

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2020

Stories (10)

10 Stories

296 karma pts

?

“Questionable Treasure” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #67

Questionable Treasures “Is it true what they say about the Captain?” asked Private Fry, his first time aboard Captain Raven’s ship. “In what regards?” asked Boatswain Stephens for clarification as the men prepared the Treasure Seeker, a pirate ship known for its acquisitions (usually legally) of buried treasures. “Can I ask about both rumors I have heard?” requested Private Fry. “Have you only heard two?” joked Boatswain Stephens. “Are there more than only two?” asked a concerned Private Fry. “Why don’t you ask me your two questi...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Ghost Hunters” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #65

Ghost Hunters I’ve always been interested in the paranormal.  No, I’ve never gone to Area 51 or checked out the mysterious Marfa Lights in Texas or stayed at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood.  I’m not a fanatic, I just have more than a passive interest in supernatural phenomena.  While I’ve never seen a ghost myself, there are just too many stories for me to completely dismiss it.  It’s like Sasquach.  There’s just enough circumstantial evidence and eyewitness accounts that Big Foot is tromping around the woods out...

3 comments 3
Read story

“Migration Mandate” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #63

Migration Mandate It was a cool evening in September as a group of Downy Woodpeckers gathered to hear the latest migratory recommendations from the WHO - the Winged Health Organization.  Dr. Anthony Fowli, a white-tailed Grey Goose, head of the WHO, appeared on the television screen to make his announcement: “The Human Virus 19 has infected over 3 million birds across the world claiming over 500,000 lives to this point.  The elderly birds aged 5 years and older continue to be the most at risk, particularly those with underlying...

15 comments 15
Read story

“Family Tree” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #61

Family Tree When I was just six years old, living in Fairhope, Alabama, a man knocked at our front door.  My father, John Smith, peered through the curtains in the living room to get a peek at who was outside.  Immediately, he let go of the curtains, turned to my mom, Jane, and said in his New York accent, “Janey, maybe it’s best you two should play downstairs.”  Without hesitating, Ma picked me up and we hurried downstairs, closing the door behind us.  I didn’t know what was going on, but something wasn’t right.  ...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Being a Zombie Sucks” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #60

Being a Zombie Sucks Being a zombie sucks.  And I have my best friend Dave to thank for turning me into one.  And now that I am one, I realize I can’t blame him for doing what he couldn’t control . . . trying to eat me alive.  Who I can blame, however, are the Swiss.  “We love everyone.  We’re neutral.”  Yeah, right.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the world, they were developing the biological weapon that caused the apocalypse of 2025.   Their official statement was that the world had become too much of ...

1 comment 1
Read story

“That's Not Me” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #59

That’s Not MeWhen I regained consciousness, I couldn’t move. I don’t mean I was paralyzed, I mean I appeared to be trapped in some sort of box. I was laying on my back. My feet were touching the box below me and it felt like I was wearing dress shoes. My legs and arms could feel the box as well to either side of me. And extending my arms forward confirmed that the box was closed above me. It was pitch black and I heard what sounded like the pattering of rain against the box outside.  But then the rain ...

6 comments 6
Read story

“Bob's Big Rescue” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #58

Bob’s Big RescueThere is nothing particularly exciting about Bob. Actually, that’s really giving him too much credit. There is nothing exciting at all about Bob. There, that’s better. Bob is 33 years old, lives in a small, one bedroom apartment in a boring suburb called Burien, just south of Seattle. Bob’s best friend (and his only friend really) is his goldfish he named Goldy. He is an average looking guy of average height and build. He drives a blue Toyota Camry that is fifteen years old. And it isn’...

4 comments 4
Read story

“Modern Moses” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #57

Modern Moses He never talked about it when I was growing up.  My father’s name is Thomas.  Thomas Jones.  Tommy to his close friends.  Tom to most everyone else.  He married my mother, Gina, right out of college.  Both of them went right to work.  My father worked in agriculture while my mother pursued nursing in our small town of Mancos, Colorado.  In case you don’t know, and most people don’t, Mancos is home to just over 1600 people and sits just east of the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park.&nb...

9 comments 9
Read story

“If You Like Pina Coladas” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #56

If You Like Pina Coladas It was Thursday night at The Gatsby, a swanky night club downtown.  It was named after The Great Gatsby, the 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a New Yorker named Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire who lived in a luxurious mansion where he would often host extravagant parties.  The Gatsby,  having been around just over a  year, was one of the newer joints to get in on the speakeasy trend that was becoming more and more popular.  Back in the 20s when booze was illegal, undergro...

2 comments 2
Read story

“Can you keep a secret?” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #55

Alice sat at the bar in the restaurant alone.  She ordered a drink for two reasons: she needed something to calm her nerves (she was shaking like the last orange fall leaf dangling precariously from the branch of an otherwise naked oak tree), and she needed proof that she wasn’t home when it happened.  This was to be her alibi. She sucked down her mojito like it was water in the desert and ordered another.  She ran her fingers through her wavy brown hair that she felt was turning grey by the minute.  Anxiously, she toss...

0 comments 0
Read story

Author bio

Mark D has not written a bio yet!