Melissa Louise Murdoch

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2020

Stories (4)

4 Stories

206 karma pts

?

“The Café with Curls” by Melissa Louise Murdoch

Submitted to Contest #81

I remember the moment, the exact moment the feeling rushed through me, as though lightning had struck me headfirst and overreaching below; She walked into the cafe on a sunny winter’s mid-morning, a café that stood cuddled between apartment buildings, and the only café quiet enough to think in. Sunday’s for most were for churchgoers, and many shops and restaurants would only open their doors in the late afternoon, but not this café. She was quint and comfortable and bold enough to keep its arms open to the public, but small enough to welcome...

8 comments 8
Read story

“Rite of Passage” by Melissa Louise Murdoch

Submitted to Contest #79

The house was full and loud and busy. Silence was not a quality it had inherited, but neither was she built for it; with open arms for doors, and massive rooms to lounge or lunge into, she was youthful and she stood firm. Large houses should have loud, vivacious families and oh boy! Did she ever!My bedroom was situated on the far side of the 'L' shaped house, the last one of three adjacent to my sisters, both younger than I, who had by now fallen into a blissful sleep. Our stationed bedrooms rested on the first stroke of the letter 'L', a cl...

15 comments 15
Read story

“The Magic within the Greenhouse” by Melissa Louise Murdoch

Submitted to Contest #78

"I never mean to hurt you, Vivian…" Clarke said lowly. "And yet you hurt me most days, Clarke." Vivian stood by the door frame and looked upon Clarke’s face one last time. "Good-bye Clarke, may you know profound love and may you allow it to find you." Vivian shut the door behind her. The clouds were dark grey, and heavy and about to burst. Clarke watched Vivian walk down the path to the yellow taxi waiting to take her back to Arkacia. She could tell that Vivian was holding back tears, as was she. In the very instant she shut the yellow taxi’...

2 comments 2
Read story

“She will not live long” by Melissa Louise Murdoch

Submitted to Contest #76

This story belongs to the author, and although we share the same name, she will not be telling her story. She was born not of this world but up there, somewhere – I don't know where. In my days, she walked the earth. She lived a stone's throw away from me. Her parents weren't home often so, she spent most of her life in her bedroom. You could see her seated at her desk; overlooking out the window to roofs and chimney tops. I lived on the opposite side of the street and from my window, I could see her there. She only had a few friends that ca...

6 comments 6
Read story

Author bio

It is a backbreaking must-do job of exorcising creativity, although easy to expel it is ruthless to order, maintain and then contain. There is absolutely no pleasure in creating the important work, especially when you hear 'their' voices like some demented hag on some street corner somewhere in the world, but how she got there no one knows. When I'm creating, my back arches forward in the worst possible position but what you cannot see and what I feel is that word, compelled - it pushes hard against me; writing is my obsession, my addiction, my love-to-hate and hate-to-love. (Every now and again, a good woman walks out of her office and tells me to sit up straight for a moment of reprieve.)