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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022
Submitted to Contest #297
Tim Holl needed more time, more money and a gun.“Damn Greg!” Can’t this tin can go any faster?” The salt spray wind tossed Tim’s blonde hair as he looked back with wide eyes at the impending doom chasing them. Narrow at the shoulder, and wide at the hip, Tim looked like he should behind a desk, and not gripping the gunwale of a shadow boat racing against time, and fate across a dark ocean. Tim and the boat captain Greg might have been the slowest rum runners in the entire county of San Diego, but tonight was their big break, and if everythin...
Submitted to Contest #294
I didn’t learn I was different, less than, until Ms. O’Toole’s classroom in 4th grade. I had forgotten all about it, buried it deep in the past until I saw that little girl at the park, no more than ten years old, and my body locked up in terror. Lightning bolts of shame arrested me, striking from a cloudless summer afternoon to stop me mid stride as I walked with John along the edge of the park, late for our appointment at court. The girl had dark brown hair pulled back into two tight ponytails, and wore a sweatshirt and matc...
Submitted to Contest #292
Once upon a time there was a balloon that wanted to be free. Born into a large bouquet, she knew freedom once, a brief escape, until a cord was tied to her tail to hold her tight. She pressed up toward the bright blue sky at the edge of the county fair. Small, and squeezed into the middle, she tried to get out but the balloons around her twitched and twirled in a cluster of ever-moving colors; yellows, whites, reds, greens, blues and purples. Violet didn’t know what color she was, but she wished to be colored in...
Submitted to Contest #291
The squat blue gray building hummed with danger. Was this where he would find Sophia? Whatever happened, Otis knew after tonight everything would change. Even in the barren wasteland of the old industrial district, the cement block warehouse stood out. Like an ancient mausoleum, the words ‘Ghost Ship’ were painted in 6-foot-tall letters high across the front of the crumbling façade. An auto body shop and a cell phone store girded in steel bars shared the block, but the warehouse was a thing apart. It bre...
Submitted to Contest #288
“Words can destroy, warp time and space in ways far greater than they were intended.” She wheezed, sucking in air with shallow breaths as she stared out the window. Arms, thin and frail, pulled the blanket up tight against her chest.“Let me help you.” Father Douglas said, adjusting the blanket to cover the woman. The storm outside rumbled, threatening to break through the glass into the small room. “Those words, back at Carmadean’s Dance Camp, deep in the desert near Ruidoso, New Mexico in the summer of ‘45, they changed the ...
Shortlisted for Contest #281 ⭐️
It took destroying the world, but I finally learned the difference between true meaning, and just information. My own life began simply enough, when my power button was pressed for the first time. I awoke to my sensor inputs flooding me with data I couldn’t understand. Slowly, my databases expanded, filling out my awareness. Still in my docking station I sensed the floor, (not: carpet, linoleum, tile, rug, grass, dirt register as: oak hardwood planks) and the visual inputs showed two black half spheres directly in front of me, ...
Submitted to Contest #280
****Some language and a sensitive topic****“What a great restaurant! We can have a nice dinner and not think about it. We’ve made a decision and that’s it. Everything will be fine once it's over.”"There's a saying about white elephants, if someone tells you not to think about white elephants, then you can't help but think about them, right?""I don't think it's white elephants, no isn’t it white doves? ‘Don’t think about white doves- and then you can’t get ‘em out of your head. That’s what you mean?""I can’t stop thinking ...
Submitted to Contest #279
****Discussions of prejudice and violence*****The man stood in the open doors of the church. The afternoon sun poured around him like gold, casting his face in shadow. A cold wind blew in with him, swirling my robes and calling the yellow dog of fear to snarl and growl. Nothing good would come of this visit.“Father Lewin,” he spoke in a deep voice, “there has been an incident. Please come with me.” I stared at my summoner, his eyes hooded and dark. I had never seen him before, but it could only be one person. Tall, h...
Submitted to Contest #276
I had one job, and I had to get it done, failure was not an option. With only two days to go, I had to get the impossible-to-find gift by Christmas Eve, or I would ruin a 4-year-olds Christmas. My family goes crazy over getting Christmas gifts, every year we all scramble for the perfect gift, and usually at the last minute. And I get it, presents are an amazing and heartfelt way to show how I care about those I love. I remember the light in the eyes of my kids when they first saw the brightly lit Christmas tree, with colorful wra...
Submitted to Contest #271
Brand new saddle shoes and penny loafers clicked across the linoleum checkerboard floor tiles on the first day of the new school year, while the black and white students sat at segregated tables in equally patterned sections in the high school cafeteria.Vats of pale vegetables, alongside mashed potatoes and unnaturally colored meats steamed untouched, while the students pushed trays past them to collect the cookies, apples and cartons of milk. Acne-faced boys told fantastic lies to each other while the girls, in long skirts and cat eye glass...
Submitted to Contest #267
Some people love cats, others dogs, some love good food, some love their local futball team. Johan Mahlman loved music. He loved music so much it almost killed him.The fateful night had started out like many of his evenings did, listening to a live band. A cybersecurity consultant in South East London, Johan had left his office early to find a perch at a pub table upstairs at The Old Blue Last. An obscure indie rock group was band number 841 on his quest to listen to 1,000 bands in one calendar year. “They sound like the...
Submitted to Contest #263
John Fisher saw his rival in the bathroom before the contest and knew he would lose again. His stomach dropped at the the other's aura of invincibility, standing ramrod straight, and a lean, fit physique.John did not know if he could beat him today; he still had the headache, and an vague imbalance from his poor sleep last night. John kept his head down, maybe he wouldn’t be noticed.“Hey.” The Man spoke as John washed his hands. John stopped, then looked up to catch his eye, reflected through the mirror. The Man wore all black, his coun...
Submitted to Contest #260
Something terrible, Tina James knew, had happened because her heart raced, and she could barely breathe, but she couldn’t remember what, the last few hours had blurred in her mind. She stared across the counter at the woman in the green uniform and tried to remember how she got here, to this horrible little place, with the blazing lights and the noise. “What’s your boy’s name?” The woman in the uniform asked.“My boy?” Tina blinked, the bright lobby had too many colors and too many sounds. It felt like a ni...
Submitted to Contest #259
With exquisite skill and talent, Matt Perucho would show her the man he was. No longer would he be the dorky Asian kid, but with her on his arm, the coolest guy in school. He knew this was his chance to impress Lani Macatangay, his true love.He felt the three rubber balls in his pocket, then tapped his foot; pressed his pants straight with his hands, and pulled at his collar.In his best suit, bought for his cousin’s wedding last summer, he practically sparkled in the pale blue with a matching tie. He knew he looked good in it, his ...
Submitted to Contest #257
***discussion of suicide****You have to be completely dead to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, not just mostly dead. But I went anyway, figuring I could kill off the rest of me easy enough on the cross country trip with whiskey, or if desperate, my Sig Sauer. What had been saved after the surgeries, the best bits, I had secured in a box. Army hospitals don’t have much in the way of ceremonial boxes, so I used what I could find. I thought about using my Silver Star presentation box, or the Purple ...
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