Megan DeRouin

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2019

Stories (35)

35 Stories

736 karma pts

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“Rift between Worlds” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #49

Rift between Worlds Who are you? I woke up with the question on my lips. I touched them and they tingled like some half-forgotten dream that I longed to remember. I stood up, sheets spilling onto the floor behind me as I crossed the room. I could still smell her in the air. She smelt like wildflowers and sunshine. Like everything that was good and beautiful. I pulled away the canvas that covered a charcoal drawing that I had been working on for months. It wasn’t right. I had drawn hundreds of sketches, dozens of oil paintings of the lan...

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“Shadow of the Cape” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #48

Shadow of the Cape           The light flickered and buzzed unceasingly in the small, stuffy room with gray block walls and a steel table bolted to the floor. My hands pulled gently on the silver cuffs encircling them for what must have been the millionth time in the last hour since the agents had left me here. I could feel them watching me through the mirrored glass, the hair on the back of my neck was pricked and I could hear the blood rushing past my ears in time with every ragged gas...

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“Monster on my Chest” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #45

Monster on my Chest           There is was again, the monster on my chest. I could feel it pressing down on me and making it hard to breathe. I clicked away from the news feed and rubbed my eyes for a moment while the feeling dissipated. What right did I have? Who was I to express an opinion that lurked inside me when there was something so other about me? I was an outsider, I didn’t know anything. I couldn’t empathize, I could only sympathize. Even now as I refused to look at my compute...

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“From Nowhere in Particular” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #44

From Nowhere in Particular            “Well this sucks.” I knew my brother wasn’t really trying to diminish the scene unfolding in front of us, but for me the phase was too casual. It was something you said when you spilled ketchup on your shirt, or when you find out the concert you sort-of wanted to go too had sold out before you got tickets. It did not cover this. There was no way in hell that it covered this. I stood there a scratchy blanket draped over my shoulders as my whole f...

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“The Tale of Two Tails” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #43

The Tale of Two TailsThe day that Norma-Jean Prescott kicked me in the shin and ran away laughing I knew we’d be great friends. Now I know that may seem far-fetched, seeing as she had just left my leg in agony, but the thing about Norma-Jean was that she was something of an enigma.I was an enigma too. Everyone told me so and it was not something I saw as an insult or anything like that. I saw it as a distinction.There were the regular people and then there were the enigma’s.I may not know exactly what an enigma was, but the word was fun to s...

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“Shadow of a Doubt” by Megan DeRouin

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #42

Shadow of a Doubt            I’d heard the rhetoric before. I’d see it on television how men in overly starched suits, wearing too much expensive cologne laid out phrases of words that hardly meant anything at all. I had thought I knew what to expect. Now it felt too real. He was a man, not much older than I was. Maybe twenty-five, a few years out of college working a starter job in an office somewhere that had business casual as the dress code. He kept tugging at his red tie as if he wa...

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“Through Another's Eyes” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #41

Through Another’s Eyes           Every time I met a human it was always the same. They always stared and then their little mouths would drop open and some incoherent neighing would come out for a moment before they remembered that at a young age they had been taught language. They would ask, “Am I dreaming or is there a unicorn standing in front of me right now.” then they would usually turn to the human standing next to them to confirm that yes in fact they were seeing a fully grow...

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“It Never Was” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #40

It Never Was“The moral of every story is always the same. I know that all our college professors will disagree, but let’s all face the facts. The bad guy always loses, they always end up being overthrown or killed or worst of all they become the good guy.” Garrett said and I could hear something hit the wall.I just sighed, “Okay…what point are you trying to make?” I tucked my knees to my chest as I leaned back.I listened to Garrett shift behind me. “I’m saying that this isn’t over Amora, that this is the climax.”“I think you’ve been reading ...

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“The World was Wide Enough ” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #39

The World was Wide Enough            “I should have killed you when I had the chance!” I shouted thrashing violently, trying without success to free myself from the net I was tangled in. He just regarded me with eyes as cold as steel, his face half covered in a faded blue scarf betrayed no emotion. “There is no room for should here.” His voice was muffled, but I could see the fire dance in his eyes. “You second guess yourself and you die.” Great advice genius. I had not survived the...

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“Mirror Mirror” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #38

Mirror Mirror           I should have listened to my sister when she said not to try to transference spell, but she was always right and I hated it.I was frantically tearing apart the house looking for the portal. It had to be around here somewhere. After all the spell couldn’t have gone that wrong. I couldn’t have ended up that far off target. I pulled open a closet door and a sad looking inflatable duck pool toy flew at me.I wished I had my bow. My hand instinctively reached up, but it...

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“Demons of Imagining” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #36

Demons of Imagining 4/03/2020: MidnightMy therapist said I should keep a diary, as if writing down things I would rather forget would help me sleep. I really wasn’t sure that she was worth the $500 I spent every week, but I was just so tired all the time. Even my boss has started to notice and he didn’t notice that Sharron from accounting had a chronic stapler theft problem until the day she quit and tried to pack up some twenty company staplers with her personal effects.Honestly though who needed twenty staplers? And they weren’t even ...

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“Characters Anonymous” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #32

Characters Anonymous            I bounced my knee impatiently as I sat in the circle of eight chairs that had been set up in the musty basement of some backwoods town hall. If I listened closely enough I could still hear the music and pounding of feet on the floor above that I had snuck by to get here. I’d been sitting here by myself for a half hour. I fidgeted and twirled a lock of hair around my finger for a moment. I was starting to think that no one else was coming when Aydin wa...

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“Mother” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #31

Mother           Dawn was gradual, first it was just a slight lighting of the horizon line and then the sun peaked its head up from its long sleep and she awoke. The birds cried out as rays of pure light danced across the forgotten place she had come to garden. The ground was barren, scorched by children who knew no better. She was patient, she was kind, and a child could not turn her away from her task. She sang back to the birds as a slight breeze wound through the new spring leaves. T...

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“Sleepwalkers” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #30

Sleepwalkers I rolled onto my side and opened my eyes to see David’s bare back. I listened for a moment before I turned over again and stood up. I wiped my eyes and caught a glimpse of my heavy, ruined make-up and I cringed. She had gone out again.           “Celeste?” David questioned behind me and I stiffened reflexively and reached to fidget with my wedding band before I realized that she had left it at home. I turned around and offered David a half-hearted smile. He was not a bad man...

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“The Price of a Hero” by Megan DeRouin

Submitted to Contest #29

I had been hunting him for years. Always the same, I get within a hair’s breadth and he would slip through my fingers. I didn’t even know what he looked like really, only that cheeky grin as he disappeared. All my friends had said that I was taking this too far. Now they were gone.I knew it was an obsession. Hell I knew it probably wasn’t healthy or whatever else my mother had said, but I needed him, his mystery, like I needed air. I had even gone so far as to have a pin-board with blurry pictures and red strings connecting seemingly unrelat...

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Author bio

Hi Everyone, Thank you for stopping by. I confess I am really bad about answering comments, but I do appreciate the time of everyone reading my work. I write for the joy of writing, but life isn't always about following your joy. Sometimes (most times) there isn't enough time in a day, but I love to know what everyone thinks and really enjoy writing for you all here.

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #42
Shadow of a Doubt – read story