Meli Mangos

“Where's the Beach ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #59

“Stay on Garden State Parkway for 14 miles, then turn left.”  The GPS said over the bluetooth, interrupting Emily’s driving playlist consisting of Lizzo, Panic! At The Disco, and Post Malone. They were almost at the end of a four and a half hour trip from the rural areas of downstate New York to the Jersey Shore.  Her ride-or-die and today’s road trip buddy and navigator was Francesca, her college roommate from freshman year. They were meeting up with Kayla, their suitemate from sophomore year on. She lived in Virginia but they h...

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“It's Not About the Destination ” by Meli Mangos

Oh, great. I thought to myself as I watched the landscape unfurl outside the train window. Not a rain cloud in sight. I sighed and leaned my back against the double-seat. The forecast last night said a definite chance of rain, and that was confirmed by this morning’s forecast. The sky that stretched forward from the train was as blue as you’d ever see for the English countryside. That’s the last time I’ll watch a news channel just to see the cute anchor.  My raincoat hung unbuttoned from my body and it made me laugh. Last time the we...

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“Snow Drift ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #37

I could feel the bite of the wind through my hoodie. The sting of the sun on my eyes. My feet, bare besides the socks, were numb in the snow. The sun was rising and soon they would wake up to find me gone. No matter what, I had to keep going.  Every step was agonizing as new pains emphasized older, yet still fresh, ones. I reached out to steady myself on a nearby birch tree, stripped clean of leaves, and saw the dried blood crusted under my fingernails and in between my fingers. I bent down to cleanse the filth with snow, watching as it...

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“Winter's End ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #35

The rising sun lit up the dirt path in front of me as I breathed in the cool, crisp morning air. This day marked the Spring Solstice. Later today a feast would be held in my village as a celebration of the spring returning and offering to the forest for a bountiful crop year. However, I wouldn’t be in attendance. The Spring Solstice marks the day something much more important than spring returns to the country. I rounded the ridge and looked down at the forest below. It spread from the Hawk River in the East to the Demise Cliffs in the West....

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“Caffe Mocha ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #34

Ayla pounded a weak fist on her pillow as she woke to the sound of rain on her window. She turned off her alarm and rolled over in bed.  “Well, no reason to wake up early now. Right, Mocha?” She pat her fluffy brown and black cat and got an annoyed look in return.  She sighed and pulled the blanket over her head. Maybe I’ll do laundry today instead. She took a sniff and cringed. After over half an hour of rolling around trying to get comfortable when she was just too annoyed at the rain, Mocha left and Ayla decided it was time to g...

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“Spire” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #33

Six years since she had stood in this spot. In the middle of the sidewalk in front of the stairs with the rusty hand railing. The same discolored steps poorly shoveled of snow. The stop sign on the corner of the street had been upgraded to a stop light that shone in the night. The pear tree sapling was now circled with chicken wire and stood a few feet higher. Icicles hung from the little branches. She stood looking up at the spire, same as she had that day, with small flakes of snow spiraling down around it. Memories started to spill past t...

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“Heart Trapped in Ice ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #23

Elizabeth slammed her palm repeatedly into her Jeep's horn. "Come on! It's just a little snow." She groaned and put her elbow to the window and rested her head against her hand. "Well, it is a blizzard, Lizzy." Kate said from the passenger seat. They were trying to get on the local highway but traffic on the ramp was stopped. Outside, snow was coming down in sheets. Some said the flakes were as big as baseballs, and they covered the roads quicker than the plows could make a second pass. There was a red Prius in the guard rail ...

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“Happy New Trespassing ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #22

Munir climbed through the broken first floor window and dropped to the dingy tiled floor. Glass and leaves creaked under her light feet. She checked her phone. December 31, 2019. 11:13pm. Perfect. She silenced her phone and put it in her black drawstring backpack and took out her flashlight instead. It shone off the brick walls of the abandoned building.  The building was located behind the new casino, separated by an overgrown field. Munir guessed the casino was an attempt to hide the building, as if the uncut trees didn’t do that. Wou...

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“Lone Ranger ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #20

“Bye, love you, thanks for helping!” Carla shut the door shut behind her parents and brother as they left her new apartment, cutting her dad’s goodbye off.  Carla turned to face the mountain of boxes she forbade her mom to help unpack. Her mattress leaned against the far wall of the studio apartment next to the purple dresser she took from her childhood bedroom. Next step will be to paint that black. Her mom had placed the boxes to their respective rooms, rather, corners of the apartment.  She was on the fourth floor with a bay win...

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“Walls Keep Those Out ” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #16

In the meadow outside the walls of Almeria, where purple Lanterns flower and stags graze in the early morning, little Henry was running in front of Elizabeth through the tall grass. Her skirts swished around her legs as she huffed to keep up. She had beat him up the hill, but when it plateaued he quickly overtook her.  “Come on, Liza! Last to the tree line has to go into the woods!” His hair danced wildly even in the absence of wind. Oh what his mother would say when she sees how he ruined what she had spent half the morning combing.&nb...

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“Marjorie” by Meli Mangos

Submitted to Contest #1

Marjorie sat at the round table in front of the window in the kitchen of her small, quiet house at the end of Greenfield Street. She sat with her hands in her lap and back straight despite the hunch she developed with age. Her kitchen counters were cluttered with newspaper ads and credit card offer letters. The off-white fridge whirred in the silence of the stillness while the handle to the icebox hung slightly off kilter. Lightning flashed over a hill in the distance, though Marjorie paid it no mind.  Marjorie pulled her cardigan tight...

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