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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2020
Submitted to Contest #47
Its 3 o clock and the party was called for 12 noon.You've already taken a couple of Valium earlier this morning, but are still worried that Jeff is going to look better with his shirt off than you will The entire week until now You have been on the juice. Also, you cut out bread and refined sugar, had a full box of laxatives and done upwards of 800 sit ups. Jeff has a personal trainer though, so he definitely has the upper hand. Susan is here with you and to your own credit, she looks terrific. Her most recent...
Submitted to Contest #46
"What is Domestic Abuse anyway?" Jaime pondered this every day in his cell, over his cafeteria lunches, during his vigorous weight lifting sessions, and his walks around the prison yard. He thought about it as he pounded the concrete walls with his fists. He thought about it as he laid in his bunk and heard the creaking sounds of rusted bed springs and snoring from an obese former motorcycle gang leader sleeping in the cell beside his. All hours of the day, all summer, all winter, he wondered the answer to that question. After ...
Submitted to Contest #45
I’m nameless. My name is not important. When you see me, you look right through me because I do not have a face. I have no identity. I am a great big lie. A phoney. I’m ashamed of who I am. More then that, I am ashamed of who I am not. This great struggle for existence does not pertain to one who’s existence has no value to begin with. My existence is one great big apology. I stand behind enemy lines with only one question In my mind: Why? Beneath this aberration there was once a child. Before he ever ...
Submitted to Contest #44
When I look at Jake it takes me back to a much simpler time. I’m reminded once again of what it was like to be 13 years old— getting drunk when my parents went for a night out, chasing girls around, going to the movies, and my first kiss with Heather Bankley on a park bench and then getting teased the next day because she was taller than me. I’m reminded of what life was once like, before all this. Jake is the only thing I have to hold onto from the ‘real’ world I once knew. There are many things I’ve refrained from telling him about ho...
Submitted to Contest #43
Growing up I was never religious, but now I find myself wishing I could believe in 'something'. Maybe it’s too late for me. Maybe that 'something' is dead.It's a blistering dry, scorching sun afternoon in August. The time seems to stretch as long as the open roads on this highway. The emptiness of the deserted landscapes Im surrounded by reflect all my grievances back at me. I try to tune it out. Since I got this bruised up Pontiac a couple weeks ago, I’ve been listening to this religious talkshow on the radio. &nbs...
Submitted to Contest #42
“I’m telling you, it’s as real as anything, it’s as real as right now. ““Yeah, Mike. It’s weird. I really don’t understand it.” Dana's voice is dull as the butter knife I’m spreading over my English muffin. “Happened ever since I was a kid. It’s terrifying. The doctors call it 'Sleep Paralysis'. I’m literally paralyzed. I can’t move. It’s crazy. Sometimes I see stuff. You wouldn’t believe.”“Yeah, Mike. Crazy“I realize I’m distracting her from the celebrity news headlines on her computer. Dana is un-phased by what I’m tel...
Submitted to Contest #41
Jingle jangle went the opening door of Ms. Kayman's pet store. The people walking by smiled at the sleeping puppies nuzzled up by the big bay window facing the street. They touched their fingers to the glass, trying to get the attention of the fish inside the tanks on display. They beckoned to the cages filled with the kittens, or turtles, or the tiny Tweetie birds. They peered into the little tanks trying to catch a glimpse of lizards hiding out on their little caves. Ms Kayman greeted all the people with a jovial grin. “How do y...
Submitted to Contest #40
“Where is Alice?” The question made Francine shudder It had been a peaceful morning until the question came up. The sky was clear, the air warm and inviting as Francine went out for her morning run along the pier. She was greeted by the costal sunrise, singing birds, the smells from bakeries; all the promises of another beautiful day in a city so filled with wonder. The exciting tides of summer were still riding high in the atmosphere. She had moved to the city only a year ago as an ambitious 19 year old, with her high s...
Submitted to Contest #39
With an exasperated sigh, Aaron tossed another crumpled sheet from his sketch pad into the overflowing trash can by the door. The pile of bad cartoons Aaron had gathered was more impressive than anything else he had accomplished for the past week. The weekly due date for his newspaper feature was only a day away, and everything he had done thus far had made its way to the wicker basket serving as his waste bin. All the crumpled up paper formed an origami-like structure, or a constellation of half drawn, reject ideas. His eyes dart...
Submitted to Contest #38
From my bedroom window, I see it all. The life outside is like a stage, and here I sit at my own private theatre balcony. I see the happy families with their retrievers, strolling past on blooming spring afternoons. I see the newspaper boy trudging by on black snowy mornings. I see young hoodlums scurrying through the streets like rodents, breaking into any unlocked cars and taking change from the cup holders while the neighbourhood is fast asleep in their hypnotic dream comas. I’ve come to know quite a bit about my neighbours. Th...
Submitted to Contest #37
For many years since my adolescence, night after night I’ve ventured deep into the woods , stumbling my way through the dark. Despite walking through so constantly, I’ve found it remarkably uncanny how this same wood could be transfigured each time Ive wandered through it. Each night the woods has presented itself anew, and the deeper in I've ventured, the more peculiar I've found it to be. While on some nights the sky is pitch black, other nights the moon is in full view shinning down amidst the resounding sounds of howling wolves and rus...
Submitted to Contest #36
Real Men Don't Keep DiariesDear Doug,You’ve helped me through a lot ol’ buddy. I don’t know what I’d do without a diary as humble and faithful as yourself. These past few years, you’ve been my only refuge. My confidant. My go-to-guy. I had to appear strong to everyone else. To mama. To the old man. To the pricks at school. People are surprised when I say I’m only 12. Hell, I even surpass my own expectations sometimes. For one thing, I’m surprised I even made it this long without offing myself…Anyway, do you remember when the old man went to ...
Submitted to Contest #32
In FictionHe is a merciless God. He is a tyrannical God. It’s because of him that I endure this endless torture. I’ve lived a thousand lives and I’m poised to live a thousand more. Some last for minutes. Some last for centuries. Some lives I remember. Some I forget. And then, some I wish I could forget. I’m beyond control of my actions. I’m nothing but a series of ones and zeroes. Some guy In his mom’s basement crafted the brilliant script that resulted in me, the endless source of entertainment for an entire generation of ot...
Submitted to Contest #31
Often, it required two, or even three trips for Maggie to haul all the week’s laundry down to the laundromat. Between Petey, Phil, Henry, Dooley, Mikey, Micky, Nikki, Gurdy, Bobby, Pauly, and Finnegan, Maggie had her day’s work cut out for her. Toiling through the snow covered sidewalks, she would make her rounds while the kids were at school and her husband Gurdy was working at the post office. Between trips, Maggie would fulfill here other duties. A quick stop by the meat shop for the evenings mutton, or pork chops, if it were on a Wednesd...
Submitted to Contest #30
DaylightSometimes the daylight glare can be so penetrating, that I’m forced to shut my eyes. Maybe it is because in the basement dwelling where I live, very little light gets in. I've always hated the sun. You know on those really bright sunny days, when it feels like the sun is purposely directing its searing, white hot light directly into your pupils, and then suddenly a cloud covers it for a moment? When you can finally just let your eyes breathe a second? I like that. I like that more than anything else in the world. That moment of relea...
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