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Paul Hellyer

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2024

Stories (32)

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26 Followers

19 Following

32 Stories

627 karma pts

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No one knows the day or the hour

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #301

I am nothing if not meticulous. Every Sunday, without fail, I attend church, slipping into the same pew, smiling dutifully at the familiar faces. I try to make conversation—Christians are supposed to be in fellowship, after all—but it’s not easy. I’m forty now, still single, while most of my peers juggle toddlers and mortgage payments. We exchange pleasantries, but there’s a gulf between us.I read my Bible regularly—or at least I try to. Lately, I’ve fallen off the wagon. It’s strange: I know I’ll feel good when I read it, but I keep putting...

1 like

Leaving June

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #298

When John broke up with his girlfriend, I took extra care to visit him regularly. I remember one time when there were a few of us in the car together with John, one of my friends asked him,“If she were to come back to you, would you give it another try?”What a stupid question. She had broken up with him because she said they were going nowhere, and they had nothing to talk about. That is more or less saying you are breaking up with someone because you are bored of them. There was no coming back after that, and I wasn’t at all surprised to he...

7 likes

Writing on Reedsy

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #295

I have written a fair number of short stories. I went to the trouble of self-publishing some of them, which I shamefully admit was very expensive. I even paid for a marketing campaign, which did next to nothing. It really hit home to me how useless self-publishing was, when I showed up at a bookstore with a bunch of copies of my book, and they told me they don’t sell self-published books. After this I realized all that money had been effectively wasted.So, the next stage in my plan is to win a writing competition. If I can do that, maybe I c...

22 likes

Perfect Vice

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #294

The alarm shattered his peaceful world of dreams, splitting his ears. He rolled over and smashed the button with his hands. Time to wake up. The bane of every wage slave.He rolled out of bed and staggered drowsily into the bathroom. Here he began his morning ritual of showering, shaving and brushing his teeth, soon completed in 15 minutes. Breakfast consisted of porridge and coffee; he still missed the sugary cereal that he had given up on a health kick. While eating, he turned the TV on to catch the morning new...

10 likes

On the Platform

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #293

Matthew had been waiting on the station platform for about half an hour, in the frigid night air. His jacket was done up to his neck, and his hands were buried fiercely in the fleece pockets for warmth. He thought back to what he had heard in the town.“If you don’t like this place, and you want to go somewhere else, there’s a train station just out of town.” The round-faced lady had said. “That’s where I’m going. I’ve had enough of this town. Nobody knows exactly what time the train is coming, so if you want to ...

10 likes

A Grey Night

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #292

I sit in my room, the days promise long gone. And now, it is night. Late night. I think of all the people I could call. The first person that comes to mind, not surprisingly, is my girlfriend. I usually call her at night. We’ve made a solemn ritual of it, always before we go to sleep, I call her.So, I take my phone off the charge, find her number in my contacts list (I still haven’t memorized it), and hit call.“Hello, John? How are you?”“I’m good Angela. How are you?”“Oh, not too bad. Work was rea...

8 likes

Trip to the Moon

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #291

“Three, two, one, take-off.” The giant shuttle began to lift aggressively off the ground at the end of the runway. For anyone inside, everything became tilted absurdly at a 45-degree angle, causing the passengers to feel like they were being pressed into their seats. Even the hosts and hostesses were sitting like everyone else, strapped securely into chairs. Things continued this way for the next 10 minutes, till at last, the interior straightened, as the shuttle began to climb at a gentler pace.Daniel looked out the wind...

12 likes

One Door Closes, Another Opens

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #290

“Unbelievable. Of course this had to happen to me… again!”Bitterness swelled inside Joe, but he kept walking away from the office he'd once called his workplace. Of course they had said it wasn’t due to any performance issues; the company was just downsizing.“Why me? Why, why, why?” He said under his breath.He had thought things were just starting to settle after a year of working for Bluestar, and of course just when he was starting to relax into things, the layoff had come. He sat down on a park bench and put his h...

12 likes

On the Run

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #289

He stripped in the cubicle in the restaurant to his briefs, then began to put on the tracksuit which was in the shopping bag. It was important to do this quickly – he didn’t know how much time he had. He also had bought some dark hair dye earlier, and did a roughshod job as quickly as he could manage. It didn’t matter if there were stains left on the tiles. Towelling himself as dry as he could get in such a limited time, and snapping on his belt bag, he was ready to leave.It was now or never. Quickly he swung the bathroom...

8 likes

Paranoid Delusions

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #288

The wind buffeted him wildly, and the rain hammered down relentlessly. He was walking near the local creek, which was connected to the suburbs storm water drains, but this particular area was just rocks, shrubs, trees and water. Hastily, he made his way down to the muddy stream, which at this time was pitch black, and stepped into the water. This would be a sort of baptism. He descended into the water, and dunked himself in it. It was too shallow to cover his entire body, so he splashed some water onto his head.Now h...

8 likes

Slice of Life - Travelling

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #287

It’s just me and Bub, on the road together. Bub is my pet dog. He’s a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, and I think he’s great. He’s been my companion for the last year. Actually, he was a gift from one of my aunts, back when I used to live with my parents. More about that later. Oh, my name? It’s Calvin.I walk into the roadside cafe with Bub following me in. Bub draws a few stares, and some of the staff look nervous, but I reassure them that Bub won’t cause any trouble, so they grudgingly agree to let hi...

7 likes

New Beginnings

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #286

The interior of the pub was clean and tidy, and there were only a few people there. The carpets were vivid, and all of the tables had the sheen of freshly wiped surfaces. It was 10:30am. He was sitting in the smoker’s section, and was currently smoking a cigarette, while his mobile phone was plugged into a power point on the wall. This was the central business district of Sydney city, and as the pub was mostly empty, he assumed most people were in their offices doing work. His black leather suitcase was on the floor ...

8 likes

Looking at the past

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #283

Jones relished quiet Saturdays. Reclining in his armchair with a book, he let the hum of the air conditioner blend into his thoughts—until his phone broke the silence.“Hello, who is it?”‘It’s Karen! You don’t recognize my voice?’“Oh, hi Karen. How’s your weekend going?”“Jones, listen. I’m at the front of your building near the mailboxes. Come down there’s something I want to show you.’ Her voice was bubbling with an excitement Jones couldn’t quite place.“Your downstairs? And you didn’t tell me you were coming?&n...

10 likes

A Covert Moment

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #282

The world has changed. The sun never comes out anymore, instead a brackish fog lingers and the world is painted in shades of grey. But it wasn’t always like this.I think again about what I saw in the forest that day. I was stepping slowly through autumnal leaf litter, surrounded by verdant bushes, as the sun peered through patches that the oaks did not cover. I lived on the edge of the woods, far on the outskirts of town, but I always made time to go on these walks. That day the forest was silent, as fireflies drifte...

6 likes

No Escape

Paul Hellyer

Submitted to Contest #279

I hate being locked up in this place. And I’m not even crazy. This place is the Karibu psych ward, and I’m in here for what their calling a psychotic episode. The night when I came in, I was walking home in the rain, when I started to feel things. My thoughts were being read by a whole group of people, and I could feel each and every one of them staring into my mind. They were all asking me questions: “Who are you?” “Why should we choose you?” “What do you know about us?”Soaked and chilled as the storm belted do...

9 likes