Nadia Woods

“The Room of an Elegant Woman” by Nadia Woods

"How are you doing?"Lacey blinked. "Um." She turned her head and blinked more slowly this time, rubbing her right temple gingerly as she slowly surveyed the paintings on the wall of the room - a collection of ruthlessly boring pastorals."Lacey?""Uh, yeah." She returned her focus to the elegant woman sitting in front of her, perched in a chair covered in a spotless olive green velvet."It's a simple question." The woman smiled patiently, and bowed her head slightly in Lacey's direction."Yes. It... is".The woman raised her eyebrows, but didn't ...

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“What We Can't Leave Behind” by Nadia Woods

Submitted to Contest #108

Marielle stood at the entrance to the bedroom, one hand mindlessly tapping the ivory white doorframe, the other gently grasping her lower jaw in an affectation of deep thought. The translucent lavender curtains across the room lazily flowed to the rhyme of the breeze outside. She could hear the steady beat of rain against the window, and shivered slightly as the cool late October air glided over her bare arms on its gentle journey through the one-bedroom apartment.She sighed and walked over to her bed, laying gently back on the bare, soft ma...

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“Trust No Mammal” by Nadia Woods

Submitted to Contest #98

Katya sighs deeply and closes her eyes as she leans back in her kayak, allowing the tense muscles of her upper body a slight reprieve. The cool fresh water and its evenly flowing current carry her softly, with a slight swaying motion, down the Potomac-Shenandoah River. From the shoreline she could hear the melodic trills of a pair of Goldfinches. Almost imperceptibly, a faint metallic whirring sound disturbed the peaceful ambience. Katya snaps her eyes open and meticulously scans the sky above her, her pulse steadily rising.Tension had retur...

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“A Long Night's Stroll” by Nadia Woods

Submitted to Contest #97

Every few minutes a car passed by the front window of Emilee’s darkened apartment, their headlamps lighting up the space despite being obscured by the falling rain. And every few minutes, Emilee feels a dull wave of pain in her lower abdomen, as if a single giant fist is slowing squeezing and releasing, squeezing and releasing. With a grimace, Emilee stands up with a hand on her stomach, and slowly makes her way from the window to pillage the medicine cabinet recessed in to the wall of her bathroom.At 4am on a Saturday morning, Emilee would ...

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“Under the Confluence” by Nadia Woods

Submitted to Contest #96

Stephanie fidgets restlessly in her seat, biting mindlessly at her fingernails. Rolling green pastures pass by outside the train window, but she doesn’t even register them. Instead, her mind is busy trying to remember any remark from her family doctor that may explain the sudden invitation to visit her mother on such short notice. The news was best shared face to face, her mother had explained.The train’s sudden clunky jostle and announcement of the approaching stop rouses Stephanie from her deep, harrowing thoughts. She blinks; surprised to...

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“Dead Boys Can't Send DMs” by Nadia Woods

Submitted to Contest #95

This is a straightforward decision, Lea thought firmly to herself. Before she could completely cut off her stream of thoughts and take a step forward to finish the task at hand, another voice floated in to her conscious: it would be an easy decision if you did more research before acting so brashly. "Augh”, she audibly sighed out loud, a bit louder than she intended – not that her pair of guests were conscious to hear it. That grating voice in the back of her head had finally taken a break from berating her and instead had reinvented itsel...

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