Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Nuala Roberts

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2020

Stories (9)
Comments
Library
17 Followers
7 Following

9 Stories

177 karma pts

?

I Missed You

Submitted to Contest #90

A red ribbon looks up at me from the dust, the silk looking like spilled blood. I pick it up gingerly, as if it might fall apart from the slightest touch, and tie my hair back slowly. There isn't much here but broken fragments of metal and glass. I secure my bulky, makeshift gloves and drop the fragments of glass into a small metal box. Then I begin to shift through the shards of metal, looking for the weakest, softest metals. Tin, a bit of aluminium and a bit of lead. I plop them into my worn canvas bag, the letters long faded, and continu...

7 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

A Storm of Ivy

Submitted to Contest #90

The ivy wraps around me. Trapped. Trapped trapped trapped. I stifle a scream. It is a slowly warming summer day. Mother is sick, again, and I am looking after my little sister and my not so little little sister. Hannah, the older of the two, is sitting in the shade, her light hair pulled back into a relentless braid. Her focus is unbreakable as she stares at her book, turning the pages swiftly yet delicately. Ella is more cheery. Bright and quick and careless, but very sweet. She darts around me with a watering can, spraying me more than...

9 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

My Two Feet

Submitted to Contest #89

The box sits at the very top of my closet. Out of sight, out of mind... supposedly. My height - 5 "4 - doesn't stop me from checking the contents of the box every morning. I pull my stool away from my bookshelf (build things with regard for short people!) and thrust open my freshly painted closet doors. I shove the stool against my dresser and stand on my tip toes to reach the battered cardboard. Ugh! I give a lunge and the box slides toward my fingertips. The stool wobbles. I slip. The box drops. With a loud thud I landed ungracefully on th...

5 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Dear Sakura, I'll Always Love You

Submitted to Contest #88

Trigger Warning: Suicide and Abuse MentionsThe cherry blossoms shower down. Sakura. I never understood you, but I do now.You tried so hard to bear the weight of the world. You got good grades, looked after your four younger siblings, worked two jobs, cared for your sick mother and still found time to protest. I asked so many times why. Your mother was an addict. You were your own person, you couldn't look after yourself and five people. I told you over and over, "There are children in the care of an unfit mother. Report her, save them, save ...

11 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Little Dark Wings

Submitted to Contest #88

I have never trusted unicorns. All they really are is horses with horns, that doesn't make them special. And horses are terrifying enough with the horn, have you see their teeth? You might find this odd. Unicorns are perfect. But that's the thing: nothing is perfect. So where's the catch? Dragons, serpents, brownies, you know their flaws. When you know flaws, you know what to expect. Unicorns, therefore, are dangerous, weaponized and unpredictable. Then one showed up at my door. I'm different. I always have been. If this were a fairy tale,...

8 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Sixteen is No More Than Fifteen

Submitted to Contest #83

For my sixteenth birthday, my mom brought me to our little cafe. We go there every Sunday, and have breakfast and I listen to her slip in stories about Dad. This is the only place she will talk about him, so I always shut my mouth real quick when she begins so I don't scare her off. Dad left when I was little. No, not left. He's a free spirit, Mom said once. If you lock up a wild bird, don't be surprised when it breaks free. When I was little I always answered that with, "Yes, it might break free, or maybe it's spirit would break and it wo...

7 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Little Bit of Light

Submitted to Contest #83

1931, Calypso River, Greece The sun shines through the water. Bubbles move along with the current, and I cast my eyes up to the sky. "Calypso," a voice whispers. There are places still untouched by time. Places of naiads and nymphs, places of fairy magic. My mother said the Greeks had it all right, but my sister said they had it all wrong. Still, I knew both to be true. They didn't know about my wings. When Amity Gardner was fifteen years old, she met Calypso. Calypso, or Cal, was sweetly evil, which was the only thing Amity was sure of....

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Sailing Log of Summer

Submitted to Contest #83

Day 0 My hair spills out, inky black in the crystal clear water. The hot sun beats down on my face and I am glad to cool off. I lift my head out of the water and paddle closer to the shore. My feet scrape the bottom and the sand is soft. I step out of the water and the warm sand sticks to my feet, kind of marble and kind of slate. Sailing. The knots, the main sail, turning the rudder harshly and my best friend's laughter. She mans (womans) the jib and I steer. Last summer we saved up everything we had and worked double shifts to buy this l...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A Flash of Silver

Submitted to Contest #82

I looked over to see the new girl - Mira Starr, I think her name was - get shoved into a locker. Great.We've all been through the degrading initiation process James and his gang have so kindly taken it upon themselves to bestow. That doesn't make it right."Hey James!" I call out. "I heard your mom left when you were little, is that why you turned out so trash?"He looks shocked, and for a split second I feel guilty. His mom's departure is a bit of a sore spot for him, as I know too well. But the feeling quickly fades when he scowls and spits ...

8 likes 8 comments 8
Read story