Matt Craig

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2024

Stories (9)

9 Stories

161 karma pts

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“The Air Up There” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #259

The hum of the airplane engines was a constant, almost soothing backdrop to the otherwise tense atmosphere inside the cabin. I sat in my cramped seat, the seatbelt sign still illuminated above, signaling that we were in for a rough ride. The air was thick with anticipation, and something else—something I couldn't quite place. I glanced around at my fellow passengers. The elderly woman across the aisle clutched her knitting needles with white-knuckled intensity, her eyes darting nervously. Her hands trembled slightly as she tried to focus on ...

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“Shutters of War” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #258

Perched atop the scarred husk of a military vehicle, I squinted against the glare of the relentless Central African sun. Its scorching fingers pried into every crevice of the desolate village below—a place once teeming with life, now just a skeleton of smoldering ruins. Through my lens, the silence was haunting and stood in contrast to the chaos of war that had engulfed this place just hours earlier. Clicking my camera methodically, I aimed to capture the ghostly stillness. From my vantage point, I caught sight of Andie, her silhouette barel...

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“The Last Arena” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #256

The stench of blood and sweat mingled with the clamor of the arena as I sat silent amidst the commotion. My gaze was fixed on Silas who stood chained in the pit below. His eyes were as sharp as ever as they darted across the enclosure. The air hung heavy, saturated with the anticipation of violence. "Fight or die! Fight or die!" the crowd chanted, their voices a relentless, thunderous wave. "Fight and die," I whispered to myself. A shiver coursed through me. A memory clawed its way to the surface, dragging me back to that night. The alley ha...

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“Rain Might Come” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #254

Henry sat at the kitchen table, tapping his finger against the woodgrain. Each tap, a metronome of life ticking away time, each second blending into the next with mechanical precision. He watched dust motes dance in the light that seeped through a crack in the blinds. Lunch lay before him, half-eaten, an egg sandwich with the yolk oozing out, bleeding into the white of the plate. The incessant ticking of the wall clock filled the room. Henry took a bite, chewed without tasting, swallowed without savoring. "Another day," he said to the room, ...

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“Tick, Tock” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #253

"Tick, tick, tick," I count down the moments, my hands unyielding in their circuit. Angry words slice through the air. I can feel the tension rising between the two figures below me. One is pacing back and forth, his voice growing louder with each step. "Goddammit, you should have known better!" he yells, his fists clenched at his sides. "How could you be so stupid?" The other figure stands still, his fingers nervously fidgeting with the brim of his cap. He remains silent as the first continues to berate him. "I trusted you," he says, his vo...

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“Whispers” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #250

The sea was rough that day. The kind of rough that spoke of things deeper than the surface, things that moved with a purpose only the ocean knew. The girl stood at the shore, her feet sinking into the wet sand, watching the gray waves crash with a steady rhythm. Her father had gone out despite the weather, the lines of his face set like the horizon—distant and unyielding. She thought of the whispers she had heard the night before, the ones that slipped under the cracks of her parents' bedroom door. Words like "debt" and "no way out" tangled ...

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“Steps in the Shadows” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #249

The Jazzy Fox was quiet for a Tuesday night. The usual crowd murmured softly under the dim lights, sipping their drinks and nodding to the lazy strum of a guitar. Eli was there, as he always was, a solitary figure by the bar, his eyes tracing the patterns on the wooden floor. He remembered when the dance floor was his world, when the applause was for him, when the music was his heartbeat. Now, the rhythm was just a backdrop to his thoughts, a metronome for his regrets. Eli stood up, the stool scraping softly against the floor. He approached ...

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“Mischief” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #249

I've always considered myself to be a person of habit. My days are as meticulously organized as the Dewey Decimal System, and I take great pride in the predictability of my routine. So, when I found myself sprawled across the library floor, a casualty of my own book-laden blunder, I knew the universe was setting me up for something extraordinary—or at least, extraordinarily embarrassing. The stranger I collided with had the reflexes of a startled cat, leaping back with a grace that only highlighted my own lack of it. He was dressed in what I...

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“The Forgotten Road” by Matt Craig

Submitted to Contest #249

The night was a thick veil of fog and shadow, the kind that swallowed up the weak beams of Alex's headlights and made her feel like she was driving into nothing at all. Eldridge was a small blip on the map, a place you'd miss if you blinked while passing on the highway. But it was home, or at least it had been for the last few years. Alex's grip on the steering wheel tightened as the road seemed to twist more than memory served. The GPS had given up the ghost miles back, its screen now a dull and lifeless gray. She was alone out here, save f...

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Author bio

I am a middle school English teacher who enjoys reading and writing in my free time.