Mary Lombardi

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2020

Stories (9)

9 Stories

125 karma pts

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“We Said Goodbye in a Hospital Room” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #44

We said goodbye in a hospital room, with the ever slowing beeps of the heart monitor. We held hands as we have done for over fifty years, and then he left. Holding my hand and smiling at me one moment, still and lifeless the next.  The tears I had held for so long started to spill, slowly dripping to our hands, still wrapped around each other. They are old hands, knobby with arthritis, marred with patches of blue-purple, but they are our hands. Hands that have belonged to each other since we met all those years ago.  It had been at...

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“Who are You? ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #42

I sit in one of the overstuffed chairs the Home Away From Home facility supplies. The heavily padded monstrous thing eases the constant pain of sitting as I sink a good three inches upon contact. Living in this home was my decision, I’ve been losing my marbles so to speak, but I still miss the little luxuries of home. Wooden chairs, for example, are uncomfortable in my old age, but I still want the option of sitting on one. Here all we have is padded. I suppose someone must have bumped into something and done enough damage to warrant the c...

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“My Map ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #39

Trigger warning: slavery, sexual assault My map hangs above me, a cloud of glittering dots in the sky. The familiar constellations tell me where I must go.  Breath coming in ragged gasps I run away from the only home I’ve ever known. Unlike Mother, I wasn’t taken from our native land across the sea. Unlike her, I’ve never tasted the freedom she missed so dearly.  All I’ve ever known was this farm and the abuse held therein. But I’ve been told stories of freedom, and now I will run.    Every night as we lay together, Mothe...

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“Friday Night Lights ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #28

My breath puffs out in front of me. I jump from foot to foot, trying to gain blood flow back to my frozen limbs. It’s the last game this year, but it’s also the first time in almost ten years that Traip’s football team has made it to the playoffs. Despite being well aware that we will not be taking home a win, we are overjoyed that we get to play once more against our rivals, Old Orchard Beach. The Rangers, lovingly called the Boats, against the Seagulls, not so lovingly called Bird Shit.  I stand on the sidelines of this Friday night g...

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“The Horrors of Travel” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #27

I’m tired, hungry, want to throw up, and have the growing need to use a bathroom. Dragging my heavy suitcase from the cramped taxi to the busy bus station did not help with my irritability either. By the time I got onto the red line that you must board on the green platform, of which two are closed because of construction, I was ready to scream at the next person who waved a newspaper in my face while screaming at me in no less than five different languages.  I drag my suitcase into the aisle of the cramped train, find the seat that re...

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“Wasting Time ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #27

The five of us stare studiously at the papers in front of us. No one daring to look up for fear of seeing how the others have taken the news. A clock ticks rhythmically in the background as we sit procrastinating before making any decisions.  The papers are a blur of organized text, but our primary focus lies on the array of photos that have been placed on top. They tell a story that words could never even touch. The entire life of a child is laid out before us, from birth to when she was found ten hours ago in a suitcase that washed u...

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“This Year ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #25

My pen hovers above the piece of paper. Practically trembling with my plans for the year to come.  This year will be the year that I turn myself around. Sure I said the same last New Year’s Eve, but this year will be different. It truly will! I will go to the gym! Finally, make use of that membership I have renewed each year hoping I will finally go. I will write a book! Finally putting together those incoherent ideas that I have dreamed into existence over the past few years into a comprehensible tale.  This will be the year I kee...

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“Caffeine Machine ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #24

To whom it may concern, When I signed up for this assignment, I was looking forward to spending four years of my life with someone who shared my disdain for obnoxiously loud, self idolizing, undereducated people. I believed (foolheartedly) that only respectful scientists would sign up for this mission. That only those who truly valued the exploration of the last great frontier would spend three years training, four years locked in a shuttle with little to no contact with Earth, and a year reconditioning to Earth.  Through all the vetti...

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“The Highschool Love Affair ” by Mary Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #24

When I realized I loved him, I wanted to find the nearest bridge and jump. He, for the past two years, had made my life a living hell. He was a narcissistic genius who was completely oblivious to how his actions affected those around him. But this year he has changed. He’s sweet, considerate, and seems to genuinely care about me. I didn't mean to like him (in fact the very thought sickened me), but soon, whenever he entered the room my heart would skip a beat.  This torcher continued for weeks before he finally asked me out, officially ...

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