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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2022
Submitted to Contest #208
Content warning: bugs, fire, darkness. Not for the first time in his life, Jack’s Sunday afternoon was saved by vintage pornography. There was a magazine in the dusty antique store, full of printed reproductions of saucy sepia scandals, and he flipped through with a schoolyard grin. “Oh my god!” said Lisa. “Don’t look at that, you jerk!” “Hey, you dragged me out to this dump, so don’t complain. And I ain’t jerking anything. Yet.” Lisa rolled her eyes and made that don’t-be-gross groan. Or maybe it was the don’t-embarrass-me-in-public one? ...
Submitted to Contest #207
When Walter Pratt saw the red envelope in his mailbox, he knew he had finally won. After forty miserable years, he had struck a fatal blow against the New East Carborough Society of Magicians, Illusionists, and Practitioners.His first clue was when their lawyers stopped calling. Well, he disconnected his phone, but that was beside the point. His second clue was when Harold came by with a “final warning”. Harold, in his five-figure suit and dollar store smile.“Please, Wally, reconsider. Whatever your beef with the Society is, there’s a proper...
Submitted to Contest #206
Content warning: spoilers for folk tales.The woods did not want them there. Dead leaves cracked beneath their feet and silent crows sat in judgement above. The wet reek of rotting autumn was falsely sweet, and the black mud clung to their clothes and dragged them down. The sun never reached the trails on even the brightest day, and when it set, the shadows choked the paths.Albrecht raised his torch high. The flickering orange teased the darkness and little more. It provided no warmth against the winds that promised winter.“Conrad!” he called...
Submitted to Contest #205
I put my hotdog into the bucket, because I want to see my daughter again. Her name’s Rachel and she’s fallen down the well. Also again. She’s always doing this to me. The first time was when I taught her to play chess, many sweet lifetimes ago. She was a ruby-cheeked cherub perpetually surprised at the beauty of life, and even though her mom feared she’d find the game boring, Rachel’s eyes widened with marvel at the armies arrayed on the board. But she thought it wasn’t a toy – something to be looked at and never touched. When I told her it ...
Submitted to Contest #204
The mule died and John Barris was alone. He tugged the rope. The beast didn’t stir from the baked dirt. It might have been sleeping if not for the silence. No more broken wheeze, no more ragged clop, no more irritated snap of the teeth. All John heard now was the wind whispering promises of another day in hell.He dropped the rope, stretched, and then got to rummaging through the animal’s bags.It wasn’t his mule. It was his by rights but he didn’t own it. But he was owed it. He was owed much, oh so much, but the men in this country were all c...
Submitted to Contest #203
Andy Hatcher noticed Rick and Tina hiding their beer. They were on the village green and they put their cans in the shrubs around the base of Ambrose’s statue. He’d caught them before, once, when a bunch of them had broken into the Sidlers’s cottage. The kids were scared witless when he drove up in his truck. Rick bawled and Tina panicked fearing her mother’d find out. Andy figured the hangover – and the cleanup – would be punishment enough. Of course, that had been twenty – twenty-five? – years ago. Rick and Tina weren’t kids any more, and ...
Submitted to Contest #202
The fireworks malfunctioned, and when they struck the gatehouse of the Lower Palace, the night air was filled with three sudden flashes of bright yellow. The funeral garlands that draped the towers vanished, a spider’s web incinerated, and then a dull orange glowering enveloped the gate. If there was any doubt, the screaming of the crowds and the ringing of the bell put them to rest: the gatehouse was on fire. Kadar gripped his spear more tightly. All of this he saw from the steps of the Silver Chapel, the highest point of the terraced garde...
Submitted to Contest #201
Neal Rowden hoisted himself over the bleached fifteen foot wall, dropped into a shrubbery, and rolled across the manicured lawn. He grunted, stood up, and dusted off his tuxedo. And then he pulled out his phone and turned off the mansion’s alarm system with the app. Of course it required a password, but of course – TK had provided it for him, as they were the very best of friends. If he was honest, he found this way of getting into the mansion a little annoying, but he knew there was no other way. Paparazzi camped at the front entrance 24/7,...
Submitted to Contest #200
Eloise Fish pulled back her drapes a hand’s breadth, took a sip of wine, and watched the circus unfolding down the street. Night was settling on Maple Avenue, but the old house four-doors down was bathed in the lights of half a dozen full-sized vans, each honking at the others. The crew of the National Ghost Hunters had been embroiled with the cast of Paranormal Sightings Unlimited, and just now the whole production team for Spectre Collective rolled up, with their tour bus in tow.When Snuffles – her pet tarantula – shimmied down the drape, ...
Shortlisted for Contest #199 ⭐️
Papa said it was a mistake to let Uncle Dale go shopping on his own, even if it was just down to Sammy’s to pick up smokes. He said that we support our troops in this house, and that it weren’t in no way proper to send a hero off on his own, forced to wheel his own chair around – even if it was a beautiful first day of summer, and even if Uncle Dale had wanted to go on his lonesome. And when Uncle Dale finally came back, we all knew Papa had been right. We spent all afternoon watching the clock. I knew it was an eight-minute-and-thirty-one s...
Submitted to Contest #198
Tim slowed his walk down the sunset-drenched suburban alley when he noticed a black cat sitting on a tall green fence, watching him. He stopped altogether when the cat said, “Psst!”Tim startled, shook his head, and took another step.“Hey kid!” said the cat. “I said, ‘psst!’”Tim planted his hands on his hips and frowned up at the cat. He let out a long breath, as though he had just worked a double shift at Hotdog Cabana. “I heard you.” His last double shift, they had a birthday party of nearly thirty. The kicker was, the screaming kids were a...
Submitted to Contest #197
The timer box clanked, the buzzer bzz-bzzed, and the dull yellow light turned bright green. All the cell gates retracted and the barn door trundled open, and all the cows started shuffling down the worn path to get their morning milking. All but Clarice. She scowled at her cell wall, resisting the inertia of habit, and around her roiled the ripples of gossip. What’s happening? What’s she doing? Is she ill? Is it catching? “Clarice!” Tammy, one of the youngest cows, called out. “Are you all right?” Clarice glared up at the timer box – their t...
Submitted to Contest #196
TW: violence, sexual violence, suicide.Tyler stands at the edge of the roof and stares into the alley far below, as the cold night wind ruffles his t-shirt. And he remembers the last chat he had with Matt, and he hears the refrain to his life’s theme song crescendo in his mind: Oh how quickly things can change. His worn boots scrape another inch over the ledge. When the wind suddenly dies down, the silence brings with it a different song, a warm song, words felt and not heard.What if?What if he took a step back, right now? What if he turned ...
Submitted to Contest #195
Intern 17 got off the bus right as the Hypermetro City Authority triggered a blanket warning. At once, all streets were bathed with a bland yellow emergency light and all windows on every building self-shuttered with reinforced titanium plates. Every street corner had a sturdy municipal loudspeaker, and these now clicked to life – and then Emergency Enid spoke. “Attention all citizens.” Her voice was the pleasant kind of dull, ideally suited to inoffensive announcements. “An imminent Superhuman Disagreement Incident has been detected, above ...
Submitted to Contest #194
Ian Dovecombe reached into the tepid waters of the mall’s fountain and scooped up another handful of coins. For ten years he’d been living like a beast, like half a man, but this haul would finally overturn his fortunes. He knew a guy, Warren, who could help him for a steep price. Not the coins – the wishes on them. “Hey!” a mall security guard shouted, from down one of the wings. Most of the place was abandoned at eight PM and those few people who were still there dutifully ignored Ian and the guard, lowering their heads. Ian didn’t spare h...
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