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Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

Stories (81)
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481 Followers
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81 Stories

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Today I Will Wake Up

Submitted to Contest #230

“Goal setting is so important, it helps to break the impossible tasks into possibilities. Write them down, have a plan, have a goal. Tick things off the list as you go. You will be surprised at how much you can achieve,” said my therapist to me.“I know.” And I did know, I just never did it. But I will today.Today I will:1) wake up and I will get out of bed. I will do it without groaning or moaning. Nothing will hurt. I will be refreshed and rejuvenated. I will have energy to face the day. It will be a great day.2) get dressed and I will look...

17 likes 23 comments 23
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Soulmate

Submitted to Contest #228

Florien felt a deep sense of regret and shame, overlaid with a heart wrenching panic, as he contemplated the gravity of his error. He’d eaten something he shouldn’t have. He’d eaten the artist, Sarah Jane.With self loathing settling in his stomach and the imminent repercussions resounding in his head, he withdrew his fangs from her neck and she slid to the ground in a boneless heap. The panic rose in his dead heart as he staggered to the side table where his phone was on charge, and opened his saved contacts. He only had one number, Mrs...

26 likes 20 comments 20
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Friday 13 January 1939-Black Friday

Submitted to Contest #226

“On [Friday 13 January 1939] it appeared that the whole State [Victoria, Australia] was alight. At midday, in many places, it was dark as night. Men carrying hurricane lamps, worked to make safe their families and belongings. Travellers on the highways were trapped by fires or blazing fallen trees, and perished. Throughout the land there was daytime darkness… Steel girders and machinery were twisted by heat as if they had been of fine wire. Sleepers of heavy durable timber, set in the soil, their upper surfaces flush with the groun...

19 likes 9 comments 9
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Self Imagery

Shortlisted for Contest #225 ⭐️

Florien needed to find a real artist. Well, he was a real artist. Centuries of practice had honed his brush strokes to a level that far exceeded proficient. His landscapes were so vivid that you could feel the warm breeze and the soft sun. Or should that be, feel the soft breeze and warm sun? It had been over two hundred years since he’d set foot beyond these castle walls in daylight hours, so he wasn’t quite sure. But today, he needed to find an artist other than Mrs Bedford at the inn who’d painted the most hideous portrait&...

47 likes 40 comments 40
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Allondial and Remu— a myth

Submitted to Contest #224

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...

26 likes 29 comments 29
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Facing the Music

Submitted to Contest #223

My bones hurt as I drag myself inside. It’s been a long day. Some people make snide remarks, ‘Oh, you’re a teacher? It must be nice to get all those holidays!’ and other such comments. I say, just try it. You go ahead and do what I do for a day, cramming a syllabus into the heads of the unwilling, while dealing with their issues and quirks, then see if you want to come back and do it again. I’m buggered at the end of each day, emotionally drained to the point that I really can’t ‘adult’ anymore.I kick my shoes off, leaving them where they fa...

27 likes 27 comments 27
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A letter to my daughter

Dear DaughterWith a heart full of mixed feelings, I sit here, scrolling through pictures and videos of you that I have taken throughout your journey through school. Your primary school photos, you and your best friend grinning from ear to ear, wearing gold tinsel and angel wings, messing about with friends, reading on the couch in pink pyjamas, winning trophies, playing instruments. There are so many memories. Each one is infinitely precious to me.Thirteen school years have raced by in the blink of an eye, and you’re now about to begin your ...

12 likes 17 comments 17
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The Trial of Don Gato

Submitted to Contest #220

“Please state your name for the record.”“Mi nombre es Don Gato, como estas?”The Don rested in the chair with studied nonchalance, his face impassive, his whiskers impressive. He was very proud of his whiskers and spent many hours of every day improving them. His grooming was impeccable.“Mr Gato-”“Don.”“I beg your pardon?”“Is Don. Señor Don Gato, no’ Meester Gato.”“Yes, well, Señor Gato, please explain in your own words the events that occurred prior to the morning of July 15th this ...

20 likes 17 comments 17
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Deeper than the Darkest Night

Submitted to Contest #219

Waking is my nightmare. When I open my eyes, there is nothing and for the briefest moment, I am drowning, lost in the prison of this endless and suffocating void. I scream, but the sound is stolen from me. I am buried alive in the unrelenting blackness that is deeper than the darkest night.Then the reality crashes back into my brain as my flailing hand makes sharp contact with human flesh. Small hands press against my chest and face, while unheard whispers sizzle over my cheeks. It’s then that I remember; I’m blind and deaf, the cruel conseq...

27 likes 20 comments 20
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This Wall of Silent Darkness

Submitted to Contest #218

Pain, the memories of it flit along the sharp edges of my brain like wounds from a weapon wielded by an iron butterfly. I cry out in the silence, but the unending sea of darkness that I float upon swallows my voice. Sometimes this sea rocks and swirls gently, and at other times it churns with violent, silent waves that torment and spin me around, drowning me in the void. Fragments of memory assail me. Vague recollections of awakening from a suffocating sleep, arms flailing, hands grasping, and the instinct to survive battles with the encroac...

38 likes 38 comments 38
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Sir Braxton’s Alchemy

Submitted to Contest #217

Savagely munching an apple purloined from the kitchen wench, Sir Braxton stormed his way through the outer courtyard, its stone walls ringing with the morning’s activities. Lord Hume had asked to see him in the great chamber and he could guess what that noble lord wanted.“Damn and thrice be buggered!” he hissed, startling a milkmaid as she went about her morning chores. He snarled at her impatiently and threw his apple core in her general direction. She squeaked as she dodged the projectile and scurried away, avoiding aggravating his temper ...

28 likes 24 comments 24
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The Tin Man

Submitted to Contest #216

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. I don’t ca...

40 likes 34 comments 34
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Haunted (A companion story to Ghosted)

Submitted to Contest #215

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 that clut...

25 likes 15 comments 15
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School Refusal

Submitted to Contest #214

“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 Monkey.”“Good try, but I think I’ll pass.”“Pass on Ben and Jerry’s? It’s Chunky Monkey! Yo...

29 likes 41 comments 41
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Touching Darkness

Shortlisted for Contest #213 ⭐️

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 room. I hide the grimace that threatens to twist my face. How absurd, as if there was any need for you to ask. How many blind men are...

51 likes 44 comments 44
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