Nikki Potgieter

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2022

Stories (9)

9 Stories

185 karma pts

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“You know it to be true” by Nikki Potgieter

Sometimes I feel like a foreigner in my own mind, or like my mind is the foreing place in and of itself. I often feel lost. Everyone else instinctively knows what is expected of them, how to feel and how to react. It’s as if they have a knack for life that some of us will never master. Do you know how often I find myself apologising for something, not knowing what exactly I’m apologising...

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“Black Friday” by Nikki Potgieter

My father is dead. When I found out, I felt nothing. Isn’t there supposed to be something? When I think back, I’d always imagined feeling relief or satisfaction or freedom or… something. Instead of pondering about what he was, what he did, who he was supposed to be, I imagined that I’d be able to think about him dispassionately, without remembering… without subconsciously touching my tongue to th...

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“The greater scheme of things” by Nikki Potgieter

TW. Some strong language; allusion to abuse. “I’ve got a plan,” said Adea. “I’m sure you do,” replied Vivica automatically. She loved Adea dearly, but sometimes she was much too optimistic. Generally, that’s what one would want from a best friend, but she was like Vivica’s polar opposite. “Seriously, Viv, I do - you’ve...

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“Illuminated” by Nikki Potgieter

Story contains references to mental health and trauma; some strong language.“I seriously need to get a replacement for this damn mirror,” Joe said to herself. She tried to ignore the cracked mirror - her new haircut made her smile. She’d had it cropped extra short the week before. Her mom would have used the word “tomboyish” to describe it. “She would have hated it,” thought Joe. Thinking about her mother always made her feel uneasy...

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“The last train out” by Nikki Potgieter

Mention of hardship, poverty & deathWhen people think of train stations, they tend to think about adventure, about magical far-off places, about a journey. Others (like those of us who are much too neurotic for our own good) think of wrecks, crashes, and all manner of disasters… death. Trains can instantly conjure up images of magic and nostalgia, of wizards and war, of transport and tech. What people seldom think of when imagining a ...

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“Cleaning house” by Nikki Potgieter

This mind is a mess. I’ve lived in many of these kinds of dumps, fixing them up and moving on. I know that I’m supposed to be a professional, but there is a lot to do to get this place cleaned up. It’s like no-one ever did any kind of housekeeping to speak of, never cleared anything out, never threw anything away, never so much as picked up a pair of rubber gloves or a scrub brush. This ...

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“Inadequate” by Nikki Potgieter

I hate it when people ask me, “When are you going to start a family?” Even the word family brings up a complicated series of emotions for me. Growing up, there wasn’t much to look up to in the way of role models, so I always thought that that was how people treated one another. The stupid, angsty teenager that I was, often thought that I’d rather be alone than be part of something that I...

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“Undeserving” by Nikki Potgieter

TW: Allusion to trauma, abuse, neglect. Most people who have been through a traumatic event, have a tendency to blame themselves at one point or another. More often than we care to count, we utter the phrase, “This is all my fault.” It reverberates through our actions and thoughts, like ripples on a pond. These ripples distort what...

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“Nowhere, really” by Nikki Potgieter

Where I come from isn’t really anywhere at all. It’s a shell of something that was hardly worth calling anything, really… when anyone still called it anything. It’s somewhere people pass through quickly, without a second glance, without looking back, hoping they make it to wherever they’re trying to get, hoping that they don’t suffer some kind of breakdown on their way to, well, somewhere… anywhe...

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Author bio

I am an English, Geography and History teacher from South Africa. I live in a small city with my husband and our dog. I am passionate about advocating for the neurodivergent and encourage the kids at our all-girls school to find their voice.