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Penelope Stansfield

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2024

Stories (45)

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103 Followers

118 Following

45 Stories

1525 karma pts

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A spark in the wires

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #310

Even at the age of nine, I knew there was something inexplicably different about Eugene Westcote. To all intents and purposes, he was a typical boy of our generation. Grubby knees, snotty nose, with a particular fondness for semolina pudding and lead-painted soldiers. But all that aside, a peculiar air would sometimes sweep over the boy, seemingly out of nowhere. His nature would take on a disturbing sort of other-worldliness. He would become ridiculously perpendicular, gaining inches in height, or it would appear so at least, and he would a...

17 likes

The tomb of someone who never lived

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #309

A dark marble tomb sits high on a gloomy knoll to the west of Darksford cemetery. Its distinctive edifice, carved with skilfully crafted words, glints in the sunlight on the rarest of fine days, when the rhododendron bushes part their leafy green hands and allow the unassuming passerby to catch a glance of the monolith that waits there. *** It was on one such day that George Godfrey, a writer of sorts and part time curator at the town’s library, was taking a purposeless meander through Darksford cemetery in search of something he knew not....

25 likes

All the creatures are coming

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #308

The bear with red cherries for eyes grinned horribly as it carefully manicured its dreadful claws with the emery board discovered at the back of the bathroom cabinet.“All the creatures of far and beyond will play a part in your demise,” it whispered through fish-tainted breath.Damon reached for the fork but it wasn’t there. Forks were banned from the house, ever since the incident with his mother and the postman.The cherries glistened, full of demonic fruitiness. Damon grasped again, the back of his hand brushed the bottle of indigestion rem...

26 likes

From ignorance, truth

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #307

It’s a warm Monday morning in early August, and Kyle Deans is feeling stuffy and uncomfortable in the uniform of his new school. The navy woollen blazer itches and his tie feels as though it’s cutting off his airways. The trousers are tight around his middle, and the shoes, brown brogues, polished within an inch of their life, squeak with every hesitant step, rubbing the back of his ankles. Kyle’s usual attire, grey Nike tracksuit, Air Max trainers and hoodie, is now hidden away in a locked black box, along with his phone, earbuds, and his i...

20 likes

If you read this...

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #306

Sunday 2nd MayThere was a dead mouse in the fridge this morning. A small brown furred one, all stiff and cold. It was laid on its back next to half a squeezed lemon, little paws pointing up towards the ice compartment. I think the mouse had squeezed the lemon into the last bottle of milk as that has gone completely sour and there won’t be any more until Alfred comes on Tuesday. I wrapped the mouse in an old floral tea-towel. I don’t think mum will mind. Then I buried it in the garden under the lilac tree. I think he will like it there. Patri...

26 likes

Taking back control

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #305

“You know what? I quit!” Jenny appeared at the kitchen door. “Quit what lovey? What is it exactly that you’re quitting?” The woman at the sink knew not to rise to her daughter’s sudden outbursts. Jenny stared at the back of her mother as though she was completely stupid. “You know. Life. This thing. The system. It’s what they say… I quit.” “Well, I suppose I might have said that a few times over the years but it’s not often that I’ve actually quit…“ Jenny’s mother paused, considering the scrambled egg encrusted saucepan that she’d be...

12 likes

Deeper into velvet night

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #304

Much is hidden beneath the velvet cloak of night. The dark manifestations as earth spins away from the sun and the quiet truths to which many close their eyes. But what of the dark? When all we regard with our daytime gaze becomes unfamiliar and strange, shrouded in a cloak of deepest hues, lit only by the celestial beings of the night. Those old friends and foe.I lift my head skywards. High above the old church tower, Orion takes his place. A constant nighttime companion through the turning of the calendar, retreating only when hidden benea...

16 likes

The Punch Case

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #303

Miss Prim’s week was not going well. To start with, on Monday, the Dinsworth twins had bitten another teacher. Then on Tuesday her car refused to start outside Greypool primary school, and by Wednesday her caseload had reached an all time high. Every cup of tea was cold by the time she drank it and all she wanted was a few precious moments to herself. So when Mrs Truegood, her garlic and chickpea scented supervisor, called her in on Thursday morning with another new case, Miss Prim felt nothing but despair.“The red and white place near the s...

19 likes

The dreaming stranger

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #301

They say that ‘hard work never sleeps’, but Louise hated working late, especially in the winter months when slumber seemed so much more essential, and she hurried to the station through the cold February air, the pavements slick with damp and city grime. All she wanted was the warmth of the train carriage and a quiet seat where she could let the familiar journey home numb her after a demanding day at the office. But as she reached her platform, Louise was dismayed to discover all the carriages full. The only empty seat she could find was...

7 likes

I'm coming back

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #300

I’m coming back. You never thought I would, did you? I never thought I would. I was determined that I would never set foot in that place ever again. But something has changed and here I am. I’m coming back, and you’re never going to forget about me ever again. You can be certain of that. I’m sure you all thought that once I’d gone, that would be the end of it, once I’d left the old town and the stinking old bodies that existed there. Those lingering bodies that shuffled and meandered the worn old streets. Holding the same conversatio...

13 likes

Call of Domestic Duty, by Declan, age forty one and a half

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #299

It’s just after ten in the morning. I’ve been awake for four hours and it feels like it should be bedtime already. After the battle of the breakfast table (cornflakes or toast Maisie? No, we don’t have smashed avocado), I dispatched the kids to school, well, I shoved them through the gates (‘Yes Alfie, you do have fish paste on your sandwiches, and yes, that’s all there is.’) and ran like my life depended on it. Since then, I’ve folded a pile of laundry, half of which I’m sure doesn’t belong to anyone in this house, fished a Lego man and one...

17 likes

The south facing window

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #298

*some sexual content*Daisy looks out across the grey concrete landscape below. Her coffee’s gone cold and the sparrow that’s been flitting about on the window ledge all morning, has gone. Daisy can just about make out cherry blossom on the trees below, the only bit of nature deemed appropriate for the residents of Elizabeth Towers. Spring is beginning to bloom in all its glory, and Daisy, a systems analyst, is working from home in a cold, east facing flat that the sun only touches with its weak rays in the earliest hours of the day.It’s midd...

16 likes

All the time in the world

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #297

“Honestly, Alex, what the hell made you think this was a good idea?” Colette visibly sulked through the dark-panelled rooms of Greatmead Hall.“I thought,” Alex kept his voice low, “a bit of culture would be nice for a change. Instead of trailing round the shops like we do every Saturday.” He bit his lip. That was going to hit a nerve.“But this is just so boring!” Colette almost stamped her feet. “You knew I needed a new outfit. Stella will think I’m a tramp if I don’t wear something new tonight. But you wanted to come here. Boring!”“You know...

23 likes

Painful precious words

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #296

The rivers have turned into waterfalls but the springs and flowing eddies have run dry and cease to flow. There is a key to the box that remains closed. It is there, somewhere, but its keeper cannot see the way to the small hole in the escutcheon, even though there is light and the key is held firmly in their hand. I carry these contradictions with me as I venture on through the dense woodland, thick with pine and birdsong, spores and hurrying ants, blindly building something that they can barely see. The pointed hoof prints of some fallow d...

26 likes

Airing Cupboard Alchemy

Penelope Stansfield

Submitted to Contest #295

All the nice girls love a sailor,All the nice girls love a tar.For there's something about a sailor,(Well you know what sailors are!)Bright and breezy, free and easy,He's the ladies' pride and joy!He falls in love with Kate and Jane,then he's off to sea again,Ship ahoy, ship ahoy!But enough of that old English music hall song for a moment, we’ll come back to that shortly. For now, let me ask you a question…What springs to mind when you think of magic? Perhaps a showman in a flashy tuxedo with a corny catchphrase, a top hat, and white rabbits...

26 likes