Meli Mangos

“This Bitch is a Hangover ” by Meli Mangos

Her fingers shook as she flicked the switch to turn off the lights in an attempt to calm the ache in her forehead. The voices in her head had been screaming at her all day.  She called out of work at the veterinary hospital where people yelled at her over the phone. She didn’t feel like being blamed for Bella’s online prescription request being rejected because she was overdue on vaccines. Or being accused of being money-hungry because Milo’s emergency surgery was going to cost five thousand dollars, and the animal hospital doesn’t acc...

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“Tails - Heads” by Meli Mangos

“This is what we’ve resorted to? Necromancy?” Corinth stood just inside the threshold of an inner chamber of the underground bunker. Sconces were lit along the stone walls. The air was stale, musty. In front of him, on his knees in front of a stone slab, was Colo. The slab was sideways over a buried stash of tools and rolled parchment. Laid out on the ground was a dagger, leather-bound book, and several candles. It was hardly midnight. The bunker was closed for the night hours ago, with guards posted at each entrance and exit....

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“Haze” by Meli Mangos

The fog thinned. I moved forward through it. Its wisps swirled as I passed, though my presence had no effect on it.  I found myself in a forest. The expanse of it was unknown to me. In front of me was a pond, maybe it was a lake. It was still and silent. It may have been the source of the fog. Slow and sluggish as it coiled upwards off the water.  The sun was over the horizon hidden behind a thin veil of clouds. I was not alone in this forest. Maybe it was a park of sorts. People walked around the edge of the water on well-worn w...

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“Sidewinding ” by Meli Mangos

Note: Story contains adult language. My daily patrol consists of me looking at a bunch of sand. And I mean a lot of sand. I know it’s a desert, but there never seems to be anything else to look at. Sometimes I hope to find camel droppings or footsteps to follow. It could lead me to a band of pirates, or traveling merchant. Whatever it would be, hopefully I could kill it, just for fun.  Jeriah always tells me not to kill for fun or sport, but that’s just a result of doing my job. We can’t have trespassers on our land. What if they d...

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“Stone Arch Bridge ” by Meli Mangos

Anna walked with her hands in her jean pockets and shoulders sagged. The leaves on the ground of the cracked park sidewalk were brown and dried up. She had just moved back in with her grandparents after failing her first semester of college and getting kicked out of the program and dorm.  She let out a breath and kicked a twig in her path.  “You failed so badly they told you to leave after only one semester? What are you, stupid? No, I know you’re stupid.” Her mother had said this morning while watching her unpack boxes out of th...

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“Obsidian ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #215

Story contains mild adult language. The subtle sounds of water flowing down a gentle incline masked the zip of my backpack’s pockets as I loaded up my insignificant camp. All of last night’s camp consisted of was a wool blanket and can of beans warmed by a lighter. Too risky to start a fire, not when I was this close. I buried the empty bean can with my latrine and washed the dirt off my hands in the stream. The moon still had a few more hours amongst the stars before passing the sky off to the sun. I had grown to be a light sleeper, es...

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“Hours ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #213

NOTE: Please be advised, this story is based on a personal true event surrounding the death of a friend. I sat in the passenger seat of my boyfriend's Honda Civic staring at the gravel driveway as we rumbled down it. He parked in the grass behind Jackson’s Volkswagen and shut the car off. We both sat still for a few silent seconds, looking at nothing in particular. All of our friends were here already.  Jackson’s girlfriend, Emma, walked out from around the side of the house toward us. We got out of the car and she wrapped me in a ...

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“Edge ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #86

Her bare feet skidded across the forest floor as new buds of grass and saplings stretched toward the sky in the early morning light. The year’s winter had been harsh and great storms and winds took the souls of many of the trees that had called the forest home. Today was the first day of spring, and she was late to give her report to the dryad council after they had awoken from their slumber.  “Oh, gosh.” She said to herself as she jumped over a tree log. “Father Gerald will be sore with me.”  Little Yalandra, as she was called b...

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“Colors of Spring” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #86

Alana walked along the sidewalk outside Jade Park to get to the entrance between the black iron-rod fences. The noises of the day had already started. She had to park a few blocks down the road as the spots surrounding the park were already filled. Her phone buzzed in her sweatshirt pocket. At the entrance! Kiely texted to their group chat.  Trying to find a place to park, ugh. Emily texted back.  Alana picked up her pace and adjusted the draw-string backpack on her shoulders. She rounded the corner of the sidewalk and saw Kiely...

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“Pizza and Porn ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #81

“Take a right at the stop sign.”  Anna followed the directions from her phone’s GPS mounted in an air vent of her 1999 Honda Civic and turned down the road to her right. Her headlights shone over perfectly manicured lawns and houses with elegant entryways.  “Wow, he lives here?” She said to herself as she drove past the mansion-like houses. She stopped next to a driveway in front of house number 513 and turned her car off.  The house had two large bay windows on either side of the front door. Every window in the house was i...

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“The Hand of God ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #68

The sun rising above the horizon through the trees of the mountain cast a shadowed glow across Belinay’s face as she sat on the wood planks of the deck. The wood was cool and damp on her fingertips and bare toes. Akachi stepped across the threshold of the back door and set a mug beside Belinay’s right hip before resting his elbows on the railing. The deck wrapped around the rental cabin, giving a good view of the landscape below them.  Akachi sipped from his steaming mug and watched two deer follow a hardly visible trail in the dense f...

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“Maids of the Sea” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #67

The railing running along the main deck was slick with seawater as the ship jerked in the waves. They were sailing through a maze of jagged rocky outcrops scattered around the small island in front of them. To make matters worse, a storm was rolling in from the East. Harta dug his nails into the splintering wood as his bare feet slid across the panels of the deck.  “Oi, how fares it?” Mersupio shouted as picked his way across the slick deck from the captain’s quarters, hand against his forehead to shield his face from the rain.  ...

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“Into The Wilds ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #66

Each person in line walked tied together by the chains around their wrists. Each link of chain that circled her skin outlined the scars that got Dinah into this contest. She dared not take her eyes off the feet in front of her, but heard each shuffle of bare feet on hard ground behind her as they walked in silence. She hardly breathed as they were led into the huge arena that would decide their fate. The metal barred double doors loomed like an armory.  The guards instructed them to stand in a line next to each other against the wall a...

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“The Apple Falls Far From the Tree” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #63

I stood leaning on the side of my beat up black Honda civic in the gravel parking lot of Herman’s Farm in the section next to the orchard. My stained grey converse fit right in at the farm and my ripped jeans, not bought that way, made me look like every other basic white girl going apple picking. Today my green-dyed hair was pulled into a side braid that laid across the plain yellow t-shirt on my left shoulder.  He would be here soon, I hope. The time on my phone told me he was already twenty minutes late. The parking lot was filling ...

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“Dead World ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #60

Alana had her hand against her forehead to shadow the sun from her eyes as she scanned the landscape before her. A scarf was secured across her mouth and nose and perspiration showed on the long-sleeved shirt on her back. Clouds of dust were beginning to lift and swirl above the cracked earth.  “Alana, we need to hurry.” Lillette called from behind her, near the tunnel door.  She kept scanning the landscape. Mounds of trash in the distance looked like mountains and cast shadows just as large.  “Alana, a storm is coming. Don...

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