Maya W.

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (41)

41 Stories

1805 karma pts

?

“and then you said goodbye” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #92

The sun said goodbye to me And I laughed For the sun always says goodbye When the moon comes out And the darkness begins to loom It is the only moment When I can count on someone else When I can count on you For you will never say goodbye Not now, not in the past And not before Because it is in that moment When the sun says goodbye That suddenly, all is lost And only then Do you know that it can be found again Just before the morning The moon said goodbye to me And I cried For I had begun to care about that man Smiling from abo...

Read story

“Times Are Hard for Dreamers” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #86

Our story, like so many, begins with a main character. Her name is Mireille, and she is a writer. A poet, more specifically, one born to a poor family in the south of France. She spends her days writing poetry and stories, and when she’s not writing, she’s brainstorming. Ideas flood her head, and those ideas become characters, characters she pens as she writes her great stories of life. Those characters start to take form in her life, and suddenly they’re all around her. Not literally, of course, but figuratively - they surround he...

Read story

“Where Darkness Blooms” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #84

Her hair cascades down her waist, a small flower still planted behind her ear. Her olive eyes twinkling in the light. Her sweater falls down her shoulder, a rush of chilliness going down her spine. She knows why it’s cold and she doesn’t care. She tells herself it’s for the sake of rebellion, for the sake of love, for the sake of living her own life. She tells herself she’s doing something for the people of the Underworld, for her husband, for the darkness, for reality, where the light can’t seem to shine. She tells herself s...

Read story

“Her Name Was Genevieve” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #83

She smelled as sweet as honey, with her big blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Like a little doll, amplified to a larger size. She wore a straw hat, just large enough to cover the top of her perfectly curled golden threads of hair. When I first saw her, I laughed, for she looked just like a goddess, emerging from the sea. Just too perfect to be real. I dug my feet deep into the sand, wondering if the feeling of warmth would bring me back to reality. My short brown hair flopped down over my ears, brushing across my cheeks as I looked down at ...

Read story

“Tell the Stars” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #83

***Attention! Please read my comment on this story, thank you!*** When she first emerged from the sea, she had no clue what was happening to her. Her arms were clammy, her hands shaking, her fingers pruney. Water clogged her ears deep into her drums, but somehow, she could hear a faint voice from the land. Tell the stars that we were here Tell them that we left Tell them that we love them still Even if they’re bereft The voice was quiet, though she couldn’t tell whether this was from her clogged ears or just the nature of...

Read story

“Noemi” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #79

Her hair was as blonde as the sun, and her eyes as silver as the moon. She wore our usual black dress just like everyone else at our school, but the way her sharp chin and bright eyes contrasted with it, she was as beautiful as time itself. She smiled, and curtsied right then and there in front of me, leaving me only to blink. My own hair was as red as a lion’s mane, or perhaps a dying tiger lily. My eyes looked like little olives, in both shape and color. But somehow, she had chosen to curtsy to me. “Hello,” she said, her smile br...

Read story

“Ink” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #78

“Memory is more indelible than ink.” Her name is forgotten by time, and she writes letters. She is the ink to the quill, the paper to the typewriter. She is the words one speaks, and the silence between them. She is outdated, but she is new and fresh to those who have not come by her before. She writes letters in ink, for in her opinion that is the only true way to write. She writes from dusk to dawn, penning new phrases and words no one has heard. She writes voices for those in her mind who are voiceless, and she writes so...

Read story

“Roux and Rue” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #78

“A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring the soul to the recipe.” Sage - 1 bunch, leaves picked I would pluck off the sage leaves and throw them into the pan with the browning butter, carefully watching to make sure it wouldn’t burn. Across the stove the water would come to a rapid boil, my older brother throwing in the pasta. “Come on, Clem!” He would shout, the mess of mashed potatoes from yesterday’s frits turned into today’s gnocchi. “Turn the heat off.” I would barely be done picking off the leaves and letting them crisp ...

Read story

“Of Ivory and Moonbeams” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #76

“Changelings are the fish you’re supposed to throw back. A cuckoo raised by sparrows. They don’t quite fit anywhere.” “Korina!” A bright, singsongy voice calls my name through the woods. My mother’s voice, as strange as it seems. Her voice always catches me off guard, like a baby bird chirping in the spring. It blends right into our surroundings as I run towards her, through the overgrown trails full of vines and wildflowers. I stumble on the path, tripping over a large root with saffron colored leaves popping out from under a tree. I lo...

111 comments 111

Read story

“Strangers on a Train” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #75

“Some birds sing when the sun shines bright. Our praise is not for them, but for those who sing in the dead of night. We raise our cups to them.” Suyin plopped herself down by the train’s windowsill, gazing out the reflective glass to see shimmers of rain falling down from the clouds. From the right angle, she could almost see her own reflection in the window, right above the bronze colored wood. Sighing, she stared out at the rain as it poured like a paint dripping down a canvas onto the streets of Ophirie. Signs blew in the wind, the rai...

Read story

“Blue Violets” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #75

***Not exactly a trigger warning but there’s some talk of religion if you don’t like that.*** “Stars will blossom in the darkness, violets bloom beneath the snow.” It was dark and lonely behind the gates of hell. A youngish man with a maniacal grin stood behind an old wooden table stretched along a dreary path, smoke coming to and fro from behind the table until it floated back into the air, more gaseous soot returning from below. This man was Charon, the ferryman of the underworld. The closest thing the Greeks had to a grim reap...

Read story

“Letters to the Girl She Was” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #75

***Trigger warning for drowning*** “We put down in writing what is happening in our minds. Once it’s on the paper we feel better, we feel better. It’s like some kind of clarity when the letter’s done and signed.” The roofs were high and mighty, like the cliffs of a mountain. Below them sat many multicolored houses with their own respective roofs to sit on and watch the glory of the sunrise from outside, but alas, it was late, and no one was out. No one, that is, except for two young girls sitting on the roof of a house, the one t...

Read story

“Ten Seconds of Jessamine” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #74

***Trigger warning for death***“This winter sky - how can anyone sleep? There was never such a night before! I feel like putting my arms around my knees and squeezing tight as possible, and flying away. Oh the moon! Oh the snow in the moonlight! And your childlike eyes and your distant smile, I will never be this happy again. You and I, you and I, you and I, and no one else. Maybe he came today - maybe he came already. Maybe he’s sitting in the drawing room, and I simply forgot.”It takes just ten seconds to watch a star fall, but it’s still ...

Read story

“Falling Petals” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #74

***Trigger warning for suicide at number 5 and death at number 9.*** “Flowers. I remember fields of flowers, soft beneath my heels. Walking in the sun, I remember someone. Someone by my side, turned his face to mine. And then I turned away, into the shade.” 1) Zinnia - “The zinnia flower has several meanings including thoughts of friends, endurance, daily remembrance, goodness and lasting affection.” We were young, on that one day in the shade of the old willow tree, but we still felt as old as time itself. She turned to me, her bright...

Read story

“Skylines and Soulmates” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #74

“I knew you before we met and I don’t even know you yet. All I know is that you’re someone that I’ve always known. All I’ve ever known is how to hold my own, and I don’t even know you, but I still wanna hold you close.”Mariko hopped off the subway into the large, cosmopolitan streets, her long hair flicking to the other side of the head. She had been in New York for a few weeks at this point, but still had no idea where she was going, or even what she was doing in such a large city. Mariko had loved the thrill of Tokyo as a child, but thrill...

Read story

Author bio

****ATTENTION! MY DEBUT NOVELLA, OF CRIMSON THREADS AND SAFFRON LEAVES, IS OUT NOW! PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W4NGT9J/**** Who is Maya W.? Well, first, you can just call her Maya, which is her real name. Maya is a writer, a reader, a chef, an artist (she used to paint, but mostly just makes jewelry now), a violinist, a mandolinist, and many more things she cannot explain. You can find Maya writing on the red chair in the corner of her room or playing with her new bunny, Kiki. She is very new to posting her personal writing online, so she would love constructive criticism on it. She loves this site and plans to stay here for a while, though she is discouraged by downvoting. You can purchase Maya's jewelry here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmberArtByMaya You can read some of her articles for a small Shadowhunters fanzine here: https://shadowhuntersmonth.wixsite.com/cclare You can also contact her on Discord at MayaHelen#3890, or on Instagram, @maya_whispers_words. Chances are, if you knew a MayaHelen online, it was her. Maya bids you adieu now. Please enjoy her stories!