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Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

Stories (82)
Comments
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493 Followers
81 Following

82 Stories

5336 karma pts

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What’s Going On?

Submitted to Contest #249

What if life offered second chances? If you could press rewind, or stop, or start from a certain point again, just like watching a YouTube clip. Would you take the redo? Would your life be different? Press play.▶️ The train grinds to a halt midway between stations and you look out of the window onto a freeway that better resembles a car park. It is as if the entire world has been forced to a stand-still. Swirling around you in the cramped carriage, there are chaotic bubbles of conversation peppered with exclamations of dismay, and your heart...

39 likes 30 comments 30
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A Silent Night at Last

Submitted to Contest #245

Knock, knockHello, are you awake? May I come in?Yes, sorry, shhh…I know. I’ll speak quietly. I promise I won’t wake the baby. He’s a tiny thing, isn’t he?I, um, well, I traveled a long way to be here. I’m glad I didn’t miss it. The star, you know. It gave it away. Been watching that star now for weeks, since it appeared in the east. Well, OK, Melchior has. He hogs the telescope, but you know it’s so bright now we don’t need to use a telescope anymore, so I’ve been watching it every night.Oh, here, this is for you. I know, I know, it’s not mu...

26 likes 22 comments 22
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Allondial and Remu (remastered)

Submitted to Contest #245

To hear the stories told by old women over the fire, one would believe the world to be inhabited by ghouls and hobgoblins. This is not true. The world is full of magic for sure, but the magic has been here longer than the old women, longer than humankind and longer indeed than memory can express.In the beginning of time, Allondial was born. Her first breath was a gasp that awakened humankind from the eternal sleep of non-existence. Her smile was gentle as she gazed upon all creation as it woke, and humankind smiled back. Enthralled...

27 likes 16 comments 16
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#Sweet Sophie

Submitted to Contest #244

“For God’s sake, Sophie, what were you thinking?” T.J yelled, his voice hysterical and high pitched.“I wasn’t thinking anything,” Sophie Beckett replied, her enormous blue eyes welling with emotion. “I was eating an ice-cream!”“Look! Just look at this,” T.J turned his phone screen towards her. “Does this look like someone eating ice cream?”The image was grainy and zoomed in close, but it was unmistakably Sophie, her eyes closed, long lashes curving against her cheekbones, in an expression of forbidden bliss as she licked the melting ice-crea...

28 likes 34 comments 34
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The Jemloran Premises

Submitted to Contest #243

Taken from the personal log of Rahkan Cerirak-Biologist.Galactic Date: 90032.44.37Current Planetary Cycle 8.46.86The Jemloran Premises are wrong and I need to prove it.Premise number 1-The intelligent species that once populated this planet have long gone extinct.The remnants of their technology can be found at many different archaeological sites. Once a star begins to expand, it disrupts the rotation of all its planetary objects, pulling each planet’s more massively loaded side towards the star’s gravitational centr...

26 likes 24 comments 24
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The Roomba

Submitted to Contest #239

FACEBOOK MARKETPLACEROOMBA 600iDetails:Condition -Used like newDescription:Slightly used, comes with all accessories and two chargers. Price negotiable. Need gone ASAP.****Christine kicked off her heels as soon as she walked through the door. The French baguette peeking out of the brown paper bag in her hands wobbled precariously as Sir Lancelot wove his way beneath her feet while she attempted to place the groceries on the bench.Lancelot was a Persian crossed with a rag-doll, and the combination equated to hair—lots of it. Christine sc...

34 likes 32 comments 32
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Weather or Not

Submitted to Contest #239

Shay hummed along to the radio as she drove home from her late-night shift, happy to be heading into a three-day weekend. It had been a long week, exhausting and energy sapping, but TGIF! She had a hot date tonight with a bottle of Pinot Grigno and a hot, steamy Netflix series that she was planning on bingeing. It was the sum total of her dating life at the moment, and although her mother bemoaned her daughter’s single status, Shay had no energy left for the male of the species.The Weather Girls wailed from the speakers a...

28 likes 22 comments 22
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Butterfly Memory

Shortlisted for Contest #237 ⭐️

Leonard paused at the door, taking a deep, steadying breath. His hand holding the bouquet of daisies trembled, causing the delicate white and blue petals to flutter like butterflies. He knocked and waited. A gentleman always waited to be invited in, but no invitation was forthcoming, so he cracked open the door a little to peer in. Maybe she was sleeping.Martha was sitting in her chair staring out the window, looking beyond the walled garden, examining an image that was visible only inside her head.“May I come in?” Leonard asked softly, not ...

72 likes 88 comments 88
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Shooting the Breeze

“You can’t run forever,” said a metallic voice, and I froze, senses alert. My eyes darted to the entry points in the crowded bar. Front door—two Etruscan warriors, side door—a Nimb and a Fetlian. I’d take the Nimb and Fetlian over the Etruscans. They’re not as fast, nor as deadly accurate with their weapons.A clawed hand grasped my shoulder, and I fought the urge to shrug it off. Better to act as nonchalant as possible.“Hey, Kal. Did Grondo give you the night off, or have you slipped you...

15 likes 16 comments 16
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At Hampton Court Palace

Submitted to Contest #235

The brush strokes are indeed amazing capturing my attention and halting my progress down the hallway. The portrait is huge, truly an impressive feat of artistry. A regal gaze stares out of the canvas and I am captured by the familiar face and stance, who would not recognise Henry VIII? His fleshy features surround those piercing eyes. He’s not a nice man. Powerful, proud, arrogant, yes, but not nice, yet the portrait fascinates me.With deep reluctance I move on from the painting to admire the next one. Our tour guide has drawn his ...

25 likes 24 comments 24
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Dreams of Seventeen

Submitted to Contest #234

When Seventeen slipped and fell through the ice, Mumma was nearly hysterical. She begged the elders to send out a rescue team to save the girl, because Seventeen was the only other female of breeding age left in our clan. Mumma had been eagerly awaiting the reprieve from child bearing next year when Seventeen became Eighteen, and therefore old enough to procreate. Life had been hard on Mumma. Breeding every year for the last two decades had nearly broken her, but she, like the rest of us, knew her obligation to the c...

30 likes 28 comments 28
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Going Rogue

Submitted to Contest #233

Light harvesting is a dangerous occupation. You have to be fit, fast, and completely fearless—some might even say insane. I never had a choice; it’s all I’ve known.Out here in the Shadow Rim, a place of eternal twilight, you either survive, or you don’t. It’s cold and dark, even during the daytime hours, so we have to farm light. That’s my role. I check the light farms and bring back energy cubes so that we can survive out here on the Rim. Danger lies in the light. When the Light Stalkers invaded our planet a few years ago, they quickly seiz...

24 likes 29 comments 29
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People of a Dying Sun

We are the last of the humans; the ones left behind to witness the final throws of a dying sun.The Arc, the behemoth space craft, the life raft designed to save humanity by boldly exploring new places to thrive, left us behind, the unloved, the unheard and the unwanted. They promised to come for us once they found a new home. We knew their promises were empty, yet we lived in hope, but the Light Stalkers found us first.Then we lived in darkness and fear. A dying people, under a dying sun.****The sibilant hiss sends shivers of terror up my sp...

9 likes 10 comments 10
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We, The Left Behind

Submitted to Contest #232

We are the left behind, the ones who didn’t make the cut, the unlucky.When The Arc was created, they said the positions on board would be determined by ballot. Funny how that random selection process took one hundred percent of the rich and famous, the billionaires, the influencers, the celebrities and politicians. Oh, they took others too, the unnamed and unknown. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, all randomly selected. Families were torn apart by the horrible choice, either stay together and die, or separate for a chance at life. M...

43 likes 50 comments 50
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Soulless

Submitted to Contest #231

A soul was a weighty thing to carry. Florien had never realised how heavy it was until this moment. Sarah Jane looked at him with luminous eyes that were sunken into her pale face, her soul shining through the shadows of pain and exhaustion. An uncomfortable shame churned in his gut. He’d nearly killed her. He’d gone feral, giving in to his primal instinct to hunt, and he’d hunted her.It had taken years, centuries even, to reach the level of clarity that he had today. He could almost pass for human… almost. He drank ‘stil...

27 likes 16 comments 16
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