Najwa Zandlo

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2019

Stories (18)

18 Stories

1253 karma pts

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“Ring, Ring” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #52

Ring.  Ring.  The sound of the phone on the wall pierces the silence of the morning with dagger-like precision. Anastasia Malone and her husband, Connor Malone, stare at it, then at each other. Neither wants to make the move to answer. Their breakfast plates sit in front of them, half-eaten. A crinkled newspaper flashes the date in black-and-white: July 23, 1990. Anastasia makes the first move. She inches through the kitchen, watched intently by her husband.  Ring.  Ring.  Her fingers close around the plastic. A...

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“Liars, and Boys, and Love - Oh My!” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #50

Sitting across from me is the man I could potentially love - we’re on our first date.There’s a small, but notable, chance he will fuck me tonight and never leave my apartment again. If that happens, I’ll eventually take a shit in front of him while he brushes his teeth, he’ll propose to me on the spot, and we’ll rush to the courthouse in a final act of spite towards my mother. He’ll father my children, turn my hair gray, and wipe my ass when I’m too old to do it myself. Then, I’ll die because I’m too selfish to go last, and the heartache of ...

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“Play Dead” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #42

Play dead. No - not like that. What are you doing with your face? This shouldn’t be hard. Just lie there for fuck’s sake. I had a dog that used to “play dead.” I’d point my fingers at him like a gun, say “bang,” and he’d flop over and put his paws in the air - the universal sign. It took me weeks to train him. Every day after...

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“The Man and His Conversation about Death with a Colorful Cat” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #41

“I’m confused…” said the man with jet black hair and frown lines around his mouth. “What’s there to be confused about?” asked the cat with fire for eyes and stars for teeth. “Am I dead? Is this…heaven? Or am I somewhere…else?” “Where do you think you are?” mused the cat, licking its paw. With each stroke of its tongue, the fur underneath changed colors, shimmering between shades of black and blue and purple and pink and all other colors the man had seen. “What happened to me?” He was getting frustrated - the frown lines a...

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“7 Reasons Why I'm Glad We're Not Friends Anymore” by Najwa Zandlo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #40

#1. You had the worst personal hygiene and cleaning habits of anyone I’ve ever met. You rarely showered, I never once saw you brush your teeth, and you thought spraying air freshener on your shirts made them “clean” again. Do you remember the day I snuck into your apartment and spent four hours cleaning it top-to-bottom, doing all your laundry, and throwing away the moldy food in your fridge? I told you I was trying to do something thoughtful for a friend, but, truthfully, I only did it to make myself more comfortable - the smell was startin...

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“He Said, She Said” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #37

Iris Hardwell (Mother of Alex Hardwell) “You know, you’re not the first person to ask that question. Everyone wants to know. Everyone wants to know if I knew my son was a killer. Well, I’ll tell you just like I told all of them - fuck you. Fuck you for ever thinking that. My son was an angel. Ask anyone. They’ll tell you the same. Did I see this coming? What mother looks at her son and imagines he could ever be capable of something like this?” Denise Radley (Alex’s Homeroom Teacher)“I knew something was… off about Alex. He didn’t p...

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“How to Break-Up with Your Boyfriend” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #35

It’s too late now. You’re already here. Just get out of the car. Seriously. Remember when breaking up with people was easy? Remember when it was just information passed in a note between classes?  Just walk over there. You picked this spot. Why did you pick this spot? Why are you meeting in a park? Oh, that’s right - the second date thing. Jesus. You should’ve known this relationship was doomed from the start. Who plans a break-up on their second date?“If we ever break-up, we should do it somewhere tha...

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“Masturbation: A Love Story” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #33

My best friend in high school - Bartholomew - told me he masturbated before making any type of decision. He said, “You gotta release the tension before you do anything, even pick out what clothes to fucking wear.” He said we’re all wound up like springs, so we can’t think logically. Back then, I thought he was just a horny teenager that liked to jack off too much. Now, I think he was onto something. Bartholomew grew up in a strict, religious home, and his mom told him that touching himself was the devil’s work - said he’d go blind if he...

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“Falling in Love with a Haunted House” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #32

Not all hauntings happen in Victorian-style houses with stained-glass windows and wrap-around porches. They aren’t limited to old, porcelain dolls, or leather-bound books with ancient languages scribbled inside. People can be haunted, too - hearts can have poltergeists. I’m not talking about the kind of haunting that can be cleansed by a priest with holy water or burnt sticks of sage. The ghosts dwelling inside ordinary people don’t have names or unfinished business. They’re strangers, and they metastasize like cancer - deadly and rooted and...

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“Roast Beef and Antifreeze ” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #31

I don’t even like roast - I feel the need to stress that. I hate it, actually. I hate the way it smells. I hate the way the meat tastes after cooking in its own juices for hours. I hate the vegetables - the carrots get soggy and the potatoes turn into mush. I hate that it takes all day to cook a good roast. I hate the way people turn a roast into a week-long meal, using the leftovers for everything from soup to sandwiches, knowing that it tastes like shit after the first day it’s cooked. I hate that it was my husband’s favorite meal, but he ...

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“The Laundry Room ” by Najwa Zandlo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #31

Your mother is in there - in the laundry room - washing your clothes right now. She’s sorting out the darks from the lights, and she’s making neat piles on the floor of your dirty clothes. Let’s face it - they’re more than dirty, right? That dress you wore to the party you weren’t supposed to go to has a cum stain right on the front. Those jeans, those fucking jeans, barely fit you anymore, but you wear them anyway because they make Elijah stare a hole straight through your ass. But you don’t like Elijah, you like attention, and there’s a di...

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“I Love You” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #29

“I love you,” he says. The room is warm and humid, our sweat mixing in the air, windows slightly cracked to let in the sounds of the warm, Southern night. We’re lying in bed. He has his arm around me in a way that has to be uncomfortable for him but oh-so-comfortable for me. The words are dripping over us – this is the first time he’s said it. This is the part where I’m supposed to say it back, but I’m choking. He’s relaxed against me, slowly falling asleep in the haze. Flashback to five years ago. I was walking down the street with my ...

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“Shipwrecked in the Self-Help Aisle” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #25

Dear Sandy,             WOW! Can I just start by saying I may be your biggest fan? I’ve followed your column in the newspaper for years. The piece you wrote last week, about therapeutic gardening – that was genius. I bought a small bonsai tree for my office at work, so fingers crossed. I’ve read everything you’ve written. I’ve listened to you tell wives to leave their husbands, give new mothers breastfeeding advice, and help siblings reconcile their differences. I’ve read every...

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“Pine Trees and Other Drugs” by Najwa Zandlo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #23

Trigger warning: this story depicts suicide, depression, and miscarriage. I was eleven years old when I thought about suicide for the first time. I was sitting in the backseat after leaving a birthday party, and my mom was droning on and on in the front seat about our plans for the week and the scheduled time I had with my dad that weekend, and I imagined her life without me in it – I took myself out of the picture. In my vision, her worry lines faded away. Her speckled gray hair went dark again. I imagined she and my dad would still be toge...

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“New Year, New Me” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #22

Trigger warning: this story depicts rape. I read somewhere that every cell in the human body is replaced every seven years – which isn’t entirely accurate. Some cells take upwards of ten to fifteen years to replace themselves. Some cells, like the ones in the eye, never replace themselves. But, it’s still a nice thought. It’s comforting to imagine that every seven years, the human body erases like an Etch-a-Sketch, leaving behind a clean slate that hasn’t been touched.  I was raped seven years ago. I went to a New Year’s Eve party with ...

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Author bio

Najwa Zandlo has not written a bio yet!

Shortlisted 4 stories ⭐️

Contest #40
7 Reasons Why I'm Glad We're Not Friends Anymore – read story
Contest #31
The Laundry Room – read story
Contest #23
Pine Trees and Other Drugs – read story
Contest #17
The Dead Dads Club – read story