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Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

Stories (81)
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481 Followers
82 Following

81 Stories

5263 karma pts

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Rumour and Ruination

Submitted to Contest #212

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 information as ...

29 likes 30 comments 30
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The Apparatus

Submitted to Contest #210

“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, and munchkin offspring stayed tru...

31 likes 29 comments 29
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Perfect

Submitted to Contest #209

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, this is my taxi...

43 likes 49 comments 49
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Coming Out of the Box

Submitted to Contest #208

“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 just want to see the sunrise.”“...

27 likes 28 comments 28
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Letting It Go

Submitted to Contest #207

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 happy to shed that woman, like...

29 likes 35 comments 35
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Braver Than You Believe

Submitted to Contest #206

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’t scare them. One Ch...

32 likes 33 comments 33
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Write Rite- a Mitzee story

Submitted to Contest #205

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🙂-Dear DiaryIts been a long time since I rote in here.I feeled&nb...

46 likes 37 comments 37
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Mitzee and Menace

Submitted to Contest #204

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. Pickpocket,...

26 likes 23 comments 23
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Sweet Justice

Submitted to Contest #203

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 broken plate. I...

17 likes 16 comments 16
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Ghosted

Submitted to Contest #202

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 session, we d...

45 likes 50 comments 50
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Where Do We Go Now?

Submitted to Contest #201

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 som...

36 likes 37 comments 37
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The Proposal

Submitted to Contest #200

“You must not tell a single soul!”Jane said nothing as her friend sat opposite her, grasping the fine bone-china teacup between her delicate fingers. Emily was animated, her eyes glittering with barely suppressed excitement. Jane found her friend’s enthusiasm for intrigue exhausting at the best of times, but since coming to suspect her own delicate condition, she found such exuberance almost unbearable.“Swear it! Say, I solemnly swear that I shall not breathe a word to a single soul!” Emily pressed, her words tumbling out in a breathy rush.J...

28 likes 30 comments 30
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Cursed To Be More

Submitted to Contest #199

The grizzled, grey man hobbled along the village street, his head bent, back bowed. Samra watched him with a wary eye and huddled closer to Mama as they sat on the stoop shelling peas together. Mama’s hands worked endlessly, and she barely needed to follow her actions with her eyes. Samra was not so dexterous. Her hands slowed as her eyes followed the old man as he shuffled along. His gait was slow and rolling, as if one leg was shorter than the other.“Samra, stop staring. Concentrate on your task, child,” Mama ...

22 likes 14 comments 14
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Making Music

Submitted to Contest #198

The lights dim in the auditorium and I wait as the next school’s Concert Band settles onstage and follows the First Chair’s directions. The young man calls upon each section to play, tuning them confidently, performing his duty as Concertmaster with precision and grace, before sitting back in his chair. This well-trained ensemble rises as the band’s director enters the stage and bows to the audience, receiving a polite round of applause.The ABODA Festival is the highlight of my year, a time when all the high school bands present th...

31 likes 36 comments 36
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Faithful

Submitted to Contest #197

Oh, Glorious Majesty of Sacred Powers!Um, who me?Wondrous Redeemer and All-powerful Lord.Well, I wouldn’t go so far as that…Heavenly Esteemed One, whose power fills all things, whose bounty is good and whose name is to be exalted above all others.Now I just need to check, are you speaking to me…Creator of all, Knower of all that is, was and will be.…or are you speaking at me?I say, who is interrupting me in my prayers?I’m sorry, but you were talking to me.Who is this?Well now, if you’re not sure, then perhaps you had better not continue your...

47 likes 39 comments 39
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