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Maxwell Pacilio

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2025

Stories (12)

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29 Followers

59 Following

12 Stories

238 karma pts

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Redemption or Damnation: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #303

“I reckon this town ain’t got much longer. The demons have been more rowdy these past few months. Nearly lost you, girl.” Riley Roswell, nineteen years old, brushes his loyal steed, Cassie. Her beautiful chestnut brown hair shimmers in the moonlight. His black leather vest practically in tatters now, the same red shirt that was burned nearly half a year ago drapes over his shoulders, and his black hat now riddled with a few more holes. Cassie’s saddle is a walking armory. A rifle now has an extra-long barrel to increas...

1 like

The Light in the Darkness: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #302

“Sometimes God sends angels down to earth to enact his will. They come disguised as regular folk like you and me, but they have been touched by His divine grace. These earth angels are meant to be our souls guiding light towards salvation while in this mortal coil. While mere strangers to us, earth angels wage a secret war between Heaven and Hell. Fer ya see, the Devil also sends his demons to tempt us. They come to us as false earth angles to make each of you stray from the Lord’s plan and give into sin. It is up to y’all to stand firm agai...

7 likes

Trial by Silence: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #301

The town of Starlit Mirage is a relatively lawless town according to Samuel Slater, a man in his late twenties that is wearing a lite tan two piece suit, with a white button up shirt, chestnut brown boots, and a white hat. Like any settlement in these deserts, Starlit Mirage likes to take justice into their own hands in spite of what the law tells them to do. Taking justice into one’s own hands tend to leave the world bloody. At least that’s what Samuel thinks as he looks at Riley Roswell who is staring up at the window in his small little c...

5 likes

Starlit Mirage: Tales from the Darkest Desert

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #300

The town of Starlit Mirage got its name from the countless stories travelers told at the local saloon, The Black Rose. You see, Starlit Mirage is the only speck of decent civilization for sixty miles in any direction. The harsh Arizona desert claimed many travelers’ lives if they didn’t make a pit stop at Starlit Mirage. Desert’s and their harsh conditions tend to make one’s mind a little wonky to the point that you start seeing things. Folks call that a mirage. The thing is, the twenty miles of desert right before arriving at St...

10 likes

A Silver Smile

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #299

“C’mon! Do something! Move!” A young boy, about six, wearing forest green shorts, a blue t-shirt with the words Blue kinda sus’ splattered on the front in bright red, and a Yankees baseball cap stares down what appears to be a statue. The statue is a person painted completely in glittering silver. They are wearing a full three piece suit, boots, a top hat and a silver rimmed monocle in their right eye. Their hands rest at their hips in a neutral pose with a slight bend in their knees. At their feet is a beautiful glistening silver plaque wi...

10 likes

An Oath to Forgive

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #298

Sir Luke Morrow looks up at the sky and whisper’s to himself “God forgive me, for I am about to sin, again.” Some would say this is the perfect spring morning, with a clear blue sky, warm yellow sun and song birds chirping in the open meadow, but not Luke Morrow. His all black leather armor with silver trimmings a stark contrast to the vibrant colors surrounding him and his target, a small pale young man wearing a large green cloak and typical brown traveler’s clothes from the Kingdom of Weiss. Their two kingdoms are on the brink of war. All...

9 likes

The Longest Three Minutes

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #297

Ding! Ding! Ding! The bell reverberates throughout the entire arena. The scattered clumps of people cheering for whichever side they put money on and the hecklers here just for a show of violence all echo in Jacqueline’s ears. Her body slick with a mixture of sweat and blood. Most of it is her own, but some of it is from her opponent, Terra. One more round. Three minutes. One hundred eighty seconds in the ring with the toughest opponent I’ve ever fought. Jacqueline, a young woman in her early twenties with ...

5 likes

A Visit from a Dark Imposter

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #296

The trees of the forest holler an eerie whistle as the sharp, brisk wind cuts through everything in its path. A crow lands on a nearby branch overlooking the small clearing carved out by fate. It caws at the fifteen year old boy standing in the center holding a kendama. The handle drips a strange black liquid. The ball is imbedded deep in the eye cavity of some poor soul as the string dangles down its face. Its skin black like burned meat in places where there was still flesh. In other places bare bones coated with black ash and dirt. The fi...

10 likes

The Sweetest Wish

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #295

FFFFWWWOOOSSSHHH! SKSKS-SKSKS! PLOP! I feel my body land on something soft, plush and a little bit sticky. My eyes are still tightly shut from fear. My arms and legs dangle off the sides of whatever I landed on, and I can hear my heart in my ears thumping like an angry jack-rabbit. I gingerly move my legs first, then my arms to see if anything is injured. No pain so that means nothing serious except maybe a small bruise on my elbow that smacked something hard before landing on this strange, plush object. “Okay. Good. I’m definitely still al...

12 likes

Letters from a Neighbor

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #294

April 15, 2001Room 211,Hi. I am your downstairs neighbor in 111. I’m aware that you just moved in a couple weeks ago so welcome to the building. I know you like to have people over, and it’s none of my business what y’all get up to, but could you try and not stomp around so much after midnight? Please? My side job at the local Amazon warehouse just put me on first shift, so I’d like a full night’s sleep before starting. Sincerely,Room 111 April 16, 2001Dear Neighbor 111,Hello to you too. I wish you felt confident enough to tell this to me in...

19 likes

A Conversation with a Unicorn

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #293

Click-click-clank, click-click-clank, click-click-clank. The morning train clambers along its old rusted metal railings. Its passengers idly stare at their phones, newspapers, magazines, books or whatever else they do to pass the time. It’s a cold day in upstate New York right in the middle of February so all the passengers are dressed in their stereotypical black and brown winter attire. Except for one passenger. Her name is Suzy and she is wearing an oversized bright neon pink Hawaiian shirt with ...

7 likes

The Tiny Silver Cricket

Maxwell Pacilio

Submitted to Contest #292

Ticka-ticka-tok, ticka-ticka-tok, ticka-ticka-tok, Clang! A tiny wind-up toy dog made of gears and scrap metal clumsily struts down a floor littered with other gears, metal wires and scraps. It falls down on the ground when it runs out of wind-up power. “Do it again Papa! Do it again!” A little girl with cute brown bubble braids and caramel skin shouts at her loving grandfather as she gazes at the tiny scrap metal dog scamper across t...

4 likes