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Marty B

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022

Stories (113)
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286 Followers
78 Following

113 Stories

4712 karma pts

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Orange and Yellow, by Rothko

Submitted to Contest #185

Harry thought it would have been a lot easier to steal from his Stepdad, since he was dead.  But they had to get into the unit at StoragePro first.   “No.” The guard said. “We‘re his stepsons,” Harry pleaded. “Look, we have the key and everything.”  He held up a key with the StoragePro logo. The guard buzzed them into the entrance. “What unit?” He looked them up and down, sensing something was off.  “Number 222.” Harry said. “It is awfully late to be going into your unit-.” The guard looked at the mismatched pair...

18 likes 18 comments 18
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A Day at the Golf Course

Submitted to Contest #184

“My reality is my video feed! Going outside, that is just another display, another screen…” Ahn mulled the thought over in her mind. Her client Julie said those words earlier during their therapy session to deal with her unhealthy video game addiction.Ahn quickly forgot Julie. She was absorbed, her eyes unfocused, staring off into space. She was sitting indoors, in her office, but was watching the small display just to the left of her vision, a video overlaid against what she saw, of a man golfing at a course next to the ocean.&nbs...

18 likes 10 comments 10
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My Shadow

Submitted to Contest #183

My Shadow left me today. I will miss him, but I know I will be better off. He was holding me back, pulling me down. We’re just too different, my Shadow and I. He wants to standstill, stay comfortable. I need to push myself, embrace the unknown and turn toward the future. My Shadow has been with me as long as I can remember, following me everywhere, his dark shape lurking behind me. Most of the time I forget he is even there. The first time I noticed the pull of my Shadow, felt his strength, was in high school. I...

17 likes 7 comments 7
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Strangers in a Hotel Room

Submitted to Contest #179

-discussion of domestic abuse--As it was his first trip to Las Vegas, he wished he wasn't here to kill a man. Guy eased out of the taxi in front of the tall hotel and casino, and looked nervously at the commotion around him. He questioned again if this was a good way to achieve his goal. But what other option did he have? He was alone in his mission, he had been working on it all year, and this was his best chance. His old faded khakis were clean, his dress shirt tucked in around his potbelly. The circular driveway was full of peop...

20 likes 12 comments 12
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Moccasins with blue and red beads

Submitted to Contest #178

Forced by her Mother to wear a dress and rain boots, Nina was miserable.  The line outside the glass doors of the big building was long and full of adults dressed in pants and dresses and nice shoes. Nina, waist high to most of the people standing, focused on their shoes, some red, some blue, mostly white and black. Nina did not understand why anyone would wear the high-heeled, pointy shoes or the sandals with only thin straps holding them on. How could they run in them? And the thick leather shoes some of the men wore looked ...

25 likes 16 comments 16
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The Bishop’s Gambit

Submitted to Contest #177

--discussion of sexual violence--- Liz had several problems, but the biggest one was she was losing her mind. The lack of sleep, the pills Talia gives her to stay awake have confused her waking reality and her dreams. She could still do her job, but she needed to connect with the Bishop, only he could understand what she was going through.    Her dispatches were sent out, signals into the darkness.  Were they received and understood? Were they even noticed? Dr. Liz Friedman imagined they were. She trusted that her e...

16 likes 12 comments 12
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Santa Drives A Red Cadillac

Submitted to Contest #176

---discussion of drugs and sex, cursing--- The short, fat man in the red velvet suit with white fur trim put the marijuana cigarette up to his huge white beard. “How much longer until we are done with this Christmas shit?” The snow falling behind the large neon signs for the shopping mall reflected reds, blues, greens and purples, showering the three people standing in the alley with sparkling confetti of colored lights.  The ripe, sweet smell of restaurant trash from the dumpster next to them in the alley mingled with the smell of th...

22 likes 18 comments 18
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Call the Doctor

Submitted to Contest #175

For her last day on earth, she wished it was warmer.  Martha  hated being cold, and now that it was turning to winter the chill would not leave her bones. She rubbed the small metal pillbox in her hand, a talisman to allow escape from her misery. She twisted the dial on the small electric heater again, but it was turned up all the way. She pulled her thick sweater closer, tucked in the blankets wrapped around her legs even tighter, though it did nothing against the cold deep inside her. Today was her birthday.  “Today is...

9 likes 6 comments 6
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The past is never dead. It’s not even past

Submitted to Contest #174

***Themes of sexual violence*** There is nothing like a dead body to bring two people together.  “I am not the right person for this- shouldn’t we just call the police?”  I leaned into Julie.  She didn’t give me the time of day in high school, but now 20 years later, we were as thick as thieves after discovering the murder victim. “Greg, you can help us here. We had to cancel the reunion party. If you could figure out who did this, maybe we can hold it again.” Julie pleaded. “And no one really liked Tony, I mean except you-”...

22 likes 7 comments 7
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Language of Love

Submitted to Contest #173

I am so bad at buying gifts I almost got arrested. I blame the long distance relationship we were in, I could not think straight. Janey and I had lived up to the stereotype of U-haul lesbians, we moved in together after just three weeks of dating. To be fair, rent in the Bay Area is ridiculous, so we understood just being roommates would be OK even if it did not work out.But it did work out, until she was accepted into her dream graduate school, and we had to stretch our relationship over three states, thinning the connections unti...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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god of azon

Submitted to Contest #172

I have never been this high in the Temple, climbing to the most sacred floor to bring an answer to the greatest issue facing our Church in years.   I fear it is the wrong answer. I do not want to go. I pray to the gods they do not take their rage out on the bearer of the message.  My red robes, thick and heavy, slide down my shoulders as I take step after step. All I hear is the shushing sound of it scraping along the stone steps. Sweat runs down my forehead and prickles along my back as I walk through the pools of flickering can...

12 likes 9 comments 9
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The Cowboy

Submitted to Contest #171

I got eyes in my head, and been behind this bar long enough to know when a somebody has dynamite with a lit fuse inside of them.I know I don’t look like much, my grey beard is too long and my belly too big to do much besides pour whisky for drunks. But I knew the Cowboy was trouble, though of course I couldn't tell how. Hot as a two-dollar pistol, the air was thick with the stink from the cattle yards. The street sounds were drowned out by Joe singing in the corner like he did when the drink got to him, toneless Irish songs in his stron...

14 likes 13 comments 13
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Leo the Flea

Submitted to Contest #170

I can’t undo the zipper! My plan has gone terribly wrong, and now I can't breathe. It all came from me wanting to meet my idol, Lionel Messi. My name is Leo, just like his, except he is Lionel and I am Leonard. We are just alike. His nickname is La Pulga, which is the Spanish word for what my Mom calls me, Flea. She says when I was little I bounced around and was always where she didn’t want me to be. I have to see Leo play, I have to! I didn’t have money for a ticket. But I made a plan. I live right next to the...

23 likes 13 comments 13
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Day of The Dead

Submitted to Contest #169

“The dead walk among the tombstones at Mountainview Cemetery today.” Police Captain Jason Mollring said. He stared out at the view of the countryside from the top of the cemetery grounds while he sipped from a police station coffee mug. Recently hired from the Big City, he was still trying to get used to being in a small town. Officer Tricia Montalvo was not paying attention to him, instead closely examining the dead body. The head and shoulders of the victim were shredded and lacerated. This was her first murder case after four mo...

11 likes 8 comments 8
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Flawless Fasting

Submitted to Contest #168

Some artists sang, some danced, some performed magic for the fawning crowds, the man in the cage starved.Behind thin metal bars, tall enough for him to stand up, and just wide enough for him to lay down, a man sat cross-legged on a folded mat. He was in conversation with several of the spectators, quietly talking, and then after a comment was made, laughed, along with many of the people. A clock was in the corner, with an extra hand, tracking along with minutes and hours, the days. It read 14 days, 12 hours and 57 minutes. The smal...

13 likes 7 comments 7
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