Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

Stories (40)

40 Stories

3129 karma pts

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“The Tin Man” by Michelle Oliver

The green vinyl creaks as I adjust my position. I’ve had more comfortable seats on a bus, or in a doctor’s waiting room. This was no exaggeration. Over the last eighteen months, I have had plenty of experience with doctors’ waiting rooms.My whole body is aching and I’m unable to keep my eyes open, but I’m afraid to close them. The young girl who took my order an hour ago walks past, cloth in hand, to clear the table beside me and she glances my way with curiosity. I smile wanly and continue to pretend to sip a brew long gone cold. ...

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“Haunted (A companion story to Ghosted)” by Michelle Oliver

It was easy to disconnect from life up here, which was the reason Janice had loved this place. So far away, she’d said, like you were a bird hovering above everyone else. Janice was like that, looking for a silver lining. Me, I just saw the stairs that you’d need to take if the elevator broke down.I stood by the window and stared down at the traffic that ebbed and flowed on the street below. The apartment felt empty. It wasn’t. It was stuffed full of bits and pieces that Janice had collected, a random assortment of eclectic objects...

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“School Refusal” by Michelle Oliver

“Ellie, come out from under there.”“No, I’m fine right here.”“Come on Ellie, it’s getting late.”“I’m staying here.”“In a pillow fort?”“Yep.”“All night?”“Yep.”“Don’t you think that’s a little… I don’t know… immature?”“Nope.”“Come on Ellie, your bed is much more comfortable.”“I’m perfectly fine here, thank you very much.”“How about I get you a nice tub of Ben and Jerry’s and you crawl up here next to me and we will talk about it? Come on. I’ve got Chunky Mon...

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“Touching Darkness ” by Michelle Oliver

Darkness has never terrified me. After all, it’s all I’ve ever known. My world is a vast eternity of sensation devoid of light, but rich in texture and sound and scents. I can feel you enter the room, I can hear your breath, that surprised intake you make when you first see me. I can only assume that I am somehow different from what you expected. “Mr. Jeremy Blake?” The tentative question ricochets through the roo...

44 comments 44 SHORTLIST ⭐️

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“Rumour and Ruination ” by Michelle Oliver

It is an unacknowledged truth universally ignored, that a domestic servant in possession of a reputable employer must harbor a fervent inquisitiveness when an epistle of unknown origins arrives by post. Unsupervised, they are left to weave tales of intrigue from the strands of speculation, denied the privilege of glimpsing the secrets sealed within the mysterious missive.Her own curiosity ignited, young Nora Green had taken it upon herself to polish the immaculate entrance hall once again, with the intent purpose of gathering infor...

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“The Apparatus ” by Michelle Oliver

“For God’s sake Mosley!”Jock Pendleton from Pendleton and Mosley ripped his spectacles from the bridge of his nose and mopped at his brow in frustration. Little Tim Mosley Junior stood before him with two halves of the whole apparatus resting in his open palms, his face a study of blank confusion.“If yer name wasn’t on the door, Son, I’d have given yer the boot long ago!”Tim’s munchkin face screwed up in dismay. His father had been a refugee from Oz in the early days of the Witch’s reign, ...

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“Perfect ” by Michelle Oliver

I successfully flag down a taxi, which is no mean feat in this day of Uber this and Uber that. I hadn’t planned on catching a taxi. In fact, I hadn’t caught a taxi in years and I’m a little unsure of the correct taxi protocol. So, I suppose the first thing is to tell the driver where I want to go. I open my mouth to do so, when the other passenger door is wrenched open and a froth of tulle and lace tumbles in breathlessly.“Follow that limo!” an urgent voice from amid the silky concoction demands.“Um, miss...

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“Coming Out of the Box” by Michelle Oliver

“Back in your box, Laila.”“But I don’t want to.”“It’s getting late. In your box, now!”“Come on Mom, just a little longer, please?” Laila had perfected the whine. She’d learned it from their neighbors, a spectral family who spoke to one another in that ghastly, wailing tone. Cynthia bemoaned their arrival in the neighborhood. They lowered the standard. Soon it will all have gone to the dogs… Quite literally. Where ghosts roamed, the wolves soon followed.“Come on, let me stay up a little longer. I ...

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“Letting It Go” by Michelle Oliver

NowShe stands before the mirror, staring blankly at the reflection of a woman she has never met. With trembling hands, she unclips the silver hoops from her ears and places them carefully in the jewelry box. The matching necklace is next. It slithers from her neck and crumples into a pile of links in her palm. She pours the chain into the box. Her rings follow. She wrestles each one over the knuckle and drops them all beside the chain. The jewelry belongs to someone else, a different woman, and she is ...

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“Braver Than You Believe ” by Michelle Oliver

CW: Forgive the Aussie slang and vernacular swearing.In Australia, everything is out to kill you! It’s a vicious rumour that we Aussies perpetuate to keep you out. Spoiler… Not everything in Australia wants to kill you, just most of it looks like it will. Except crocs. They will kill you without blinking an eye, or kangaroos. They literally tell you with their body language to “F*off or I will F* you up!” They’re mad buggers, hoppin’ mad. A ‘roo will take on a speeding car and live to tell the tale—or not—but death doesn...

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“Write Rite- a Mitzee story ” by Michelle Oliver

TW-Mentions death of a childDear DiaryMy name is Sarah and I’m eight years old. I have gotten this butiful book from Mummy to rite in. She says I can rite all my wurries and wishes in it.Well, I wish that canser didn’t exzist! Tomorrow the doctar is gonna take away my eye, bekoz there’s a lump and it’s hurting my eye. I’m gonna be a pirate.I’m scarred :(But if I’m reel brave, Mummy said I can get a kitten.:) Sarah🙂...

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“Mitzee and Menace” by Michelle Oliver

The glass window magnified the warmth of the sun, and Mitzee closed his single working eye as the rays seeped into his weary, old bones. He had a good home, a roof over his head, meals on demand, comfort and luxury all round.It hadn’t always been this way. He’d been a streetwise scoundrel, a ragged ne’er-do-well in his youth and into his early adulthood. A soft smile twitched his lips at the recollection. He’d been a terror. There was not a crime he hadn’t committed, or at least attempted, and he was usually successful. P...

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“Sweet Justice” by Michelle Oliver

The trail of devastation is clear, the evidence becoming more and more compelling the further into the crime scene I step. I move with careful stealth, to ensure that nothing is disturbed, careful not to move a single piece of evidence. I am not going to blow this by rushing through the scene.At the epicentre I stand and turn, a slow lighthouse, to study the scene with a practiced, veteran eye. This is not my first rodeo. There are traces everywhere: a crumb, a discarded wrapper, a knife that lay where it dropped, a broke...

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“Ghosted” by Michelle Oliver

When Marnie stopped talking to me for absolutely no reason, I thought my life had ended. We’d been friends since childhood, done everything together, two peas in a pod, the yin to the other’s yang. I had believed that we would be friends forever. Obviously, she didn’t feel the same way.I remember waking up on Monday, was it last week, the week before? Well, it was a Monday because I was headed to the gym before work, and we always meet up on a Monday for our weekly training session. No, it’s not a perve ses...

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“Where Do We Go Now?” by Michelle Oliver

Trisha watched the tail lights pull away, her smile pasted on her face, arm waving with encouragement as her daughter, Izzy, drove away with a fully laden car and trailer. Izzy and her partner Kate had finally, after saving for most of the year, put a deposit down on a unit, and today was handover. They couldn’t wait to move into their new home. In the darkest corner of her heart, Trisha was a bit old-fashioned. She would have loved to have seen Izzy settle down with a nice boy, have the big wedding and maybe, at ...

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Author bio

I write because I have always told stories to myself, some would say I’m crazy like that. I write because I need to get those stories down and out of my head. I don’t always make time for myself to do the things that bring me creative joy, but I’m a work in progress. I’m a mother, a wife, and a teacher, not always in that order, (and now I quietly add writer to that list.) I live in what his been described as the most isolated capital city in the world. I love reading the comments, sometimes more than reading the stories, because I admire the insightful responses to creative fiction pieces. I am always happy to read other people’s work in progress. You can drop me an email at moliverwriting@gmail.com Copyright © 2023 Michelle Oliver - All Rights Reserved. Using content without written permission is prohibited.

Winning 2 stories 🏆

Contest #187

Mitzee’s Moment – read story

Contest #184

All the Lonely People – read story

Shortlisted 2 stories ⭐️

Contest #213

Touching Darkness – read story

Contest #191

Love Language- A Regency Romance – read story