Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

Stories (78)

78 Stories

5140 karma pts

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“Friar Lawrence ” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #193

Dear Dr M CavannaghAs the head of a small archaeological team assigned to the Stratford-Upon-Avon site, I am writing to ask for your assistance in verifying the contents of a manuscript my team has unearthed in the recent excavations.The manuscript was discovered within a refuse site and I have sent the original to the laboratory for analysis and dating.Attached to this email is a transcription, maintaining the original spelling and punctuation, along with my own translation. It is my belief that this is a draft for a deleted ...

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“Lost Kisses” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #192

The first indication that this was not an ordinary day came when Dad called me to ‘come here’, lead and harness jingling in his hand. The harness means ‘car’, but ‘car’ can mean many things. Some are good, like ‘beach’, and ‘park’, and ‘home’. Some are not good, like ‘vet’, and ‘bath’, and… ‘vet’. But ‘vet’ is not all bad, they give treato’s for the goodest doggos. I’m always the goodest doggo. I’ve never bitten the vet lady, even when she sticks the coldest thing up my… well, never mind!However, today we do not go t...

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“The Fourth Gift” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #191

Jed hastily bundled his belongings together. He was late. He was always late. As part of the Traveling Magi show, he needed to be more organised, but he couldn’t seem to get his act into gear. The others had left without him, admonishing him to catch up when he could and to not delay too long.It hadn’t been his fault. The first set back happened as he piled his belongings onto the camel. The beautiful lead crystal bottle and rattle set had fallen off the other side and shattered over the pavement. Cas had just looked at him, d...

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“Love Language- A Regency Romance” by Michelle Oliver

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #191

The Honourable Michael Sedgwick briskly made his way down Grosvenor Square, his cane, a pure affectation, swinging and clicking on the cobblestones. He was unpardonably punctual, a habit he had inherited from a lifetime of country living. His maternal grandmother had meticulously pounded into his head the value of every minute of the day, emphasising that punctuality equaled profit. Of course, she was also considered quite vulgar in the extreme and he was working hard to forget her every lesson.Michael...

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“Mitzee’s Revenge” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #190

Someone is going to pay, and they are going to pay dearly, Mitzee fumed silently. Actually, no! He wasn’t going to be silent. He opened his mouth and yowled, continuously.He paced in his cell, the four walls seemed to close in upon him and he, who was never claustrophobic, even in the tightest of spaces, began to feel like he couldn’t breathe. Minimum security, my ass! He thought.How long had he been incarcerated this time? He couldn’t tell. In a fit of boredom and pique, he knocked a container to the tiled floor, where it smashed ...

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“Mitzee's Memoir - a Prequel” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #189

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. Mitzee watched as Snow did a complicated in air twist, landing lightly on her feet like a ballerina, her thick, white coat gleaming under the streetlamp. Her breath puffed in little tendrils in the icy cold air.“Locked,” she muttered as she walked off the pain of her fall. Nothing shook her for long.“Yep, locked,” Mitzee agreed. “C’mon Snow, this area is the worst for the likes of us.”“Pickings are the best here, though.”“Not much to pick if there’s no way in.”The two incongr...

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“On The Seventh Day” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #188

*** Religious Irreverence ***He sat back and put His feet up; it had been a long week. It had started at the beginning. If He had known then what He knew now, He may have had second or even third thoughts about attempting this crazy process. But it was too late. What was done, was done and even though He was exhausted, He was proud of what He’d wrought. It was on the first day that He began. The day was easy, He created light. It was good to see, but He could see nothing. Lots of nothing.“What is the point of all this light, Your M...

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“Mitzee’s Moment” by Michelle Oliver

🏆 Winner of Contest #187

Mitzee was in prison for a crime he did not commit.Well, OK, he probably had committed it once or twice. Who knew? Who kept count? But he was very sure that he had been incarcerated now because of something he didn’t do. He glared through the prison bars, plotting. He was Houdini, Al Capone, and Einstein rolled into one. There was nothing he couldn’t do… except break out of this prison, apparently.If looks could kill, there would be no one left alive in this joint. If he could get out, he’d make each and every one of them sorry they wer...

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“Schrödinger’s Kitty” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #187

“Good morning my friend! Up, up, up. Now!”“Mmffumplemuff!”“I do beg your pardon, but it’s morning and I’m hungry. And I’m hungry now and it’s morning!” “Phdtts. Stop it you mangy mongrel, get off my face!”“Mongrel? Indeed! I’m no cur, no slavering, slavish mutt. ‘We are not impressed, We are not amused,’ now get up you lazy piece of no good human.”“Kitty!”“Schrödinger!”“Get off!”“My God, you don’t need to be rude about it, and throwing me off the bed is just spiteful. Now hurry up, I’m waiting… the longer you take, the louder ...

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“Waves” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #186

Waves crashed and churned. They made a lilting kind of sound that lapped at our boat, leaving us gently comforted in their embrace. We were safe here, secure as a baby in our mother’s arms. This was Papa’s lifelong dream, to sail to the Bahamas with his family. I hadn’t ever thought about doing it, but since we started it had seemed to work out ok. Papa had assured me it was safe, soothing my fears, so I knew it was going to be fine. I was not going to die.Waves crashed and churned. All night long, the sea rocked us to sleep and lulled ...

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“An Elephant Never Forgets” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #185

Miss Parker was the very definition of refined. That’s what my dad said anyway. I didn’t believe him, I’d looked it up in the dictionary and it said nothing about Miss Parker.She lived on our street, three houses down on the opposite side of the road. Her house had been there for forever, old, but not decrepit. A place that looked like a castle or a haunted mansion without the spiderwebs. The street-facing windows were gently curved in a fancy arch and high on the wall by the front door was a circular window, like a single large eye watching...

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“All the Lonely People” by Michelle Oliver

🏆 Winner of Contest #184

MONDAY I tap my foot nervously on the shiny marble floor as I watch the numbers descend. I’m going to be late… again. It really wasn’t my fault. I’d had my hours swapped with George this week, so he could leave work in time to pick his kids up from school, while his wife recuperated from surgery. I now needed to be in the office by 10.00 instead of 8.30. You’d think that would make me early. However, since I was finishing later, I’d tried to get to the gym in the morning. Well that was a mistake. It was either shower and be late, or ski...

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“In Too Deep” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #183

*Note: The following events are true, as remembered by me, aged 11.*Albany, on the southern end of Western Australia, is cold, windy and wild for most of the year. Yes, there is an exception of a few months where it is comfortable and rather warm, but there is very little time in the year where swimming, for a normal red-blooded mammal, is advisable.It was one of those times of the year where swimmers (the people who swim, possibly called ‘bathers’ in other parts of the country) had not yet begun to venture forth, even though the days were b...

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“Eumelia and Kallais- A story in the style of Ancient Greek Mythology ” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #182

Hera, goddess of women, I beg you to help me!But Hera had other issues to contend with. The desperate pleading of one little, abused mortal did not register with her as she raged at her faithless husband yet again. Eumelia was on her own, the man holding her down was simply too powerful. She was merely a woman, and as such, she was powerless to do anything but plead silently to the goddess for a reprieve.Artemis, please save me! Daphne had escaped the amorous advances of Apollo. She had run, cried and begged, and eventually he...

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“Shriven ” by Michelle Oliver

Submitted to Contest #181

“Jesu have mercy upon my soul.” As he approached the locked door, he could hear the mumbled prayer from the other side, her voice was husky as if she’d worn it out with her incessant imploring of the Lord throughout the long night. Upon entering, William made his way through the suite to the Queen’s privy chambers with silent feet so as not to disturb her devotions. Her faithful almoner, John Skypp, Bishop of Hereford, sat beside her, his face weary and worn, but the Queen remained kneeling, her hands clasped together in ferve...

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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 5 stories ⭐️

Contest #269

Left – read story

Contest #237

Butterfly Memory – read story

Contest #225

Self Imagery – read story

Contest #213

Touching Darkness – read story

Contest #191

Love Language- A Regency Romance – read story