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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2023
Submitted to Contest #222
Chris was the sweetest kid. He always had a gummy smile for everyone.His parents had the house next to ours. When they moved in, my mother was involved in some arguments with them on account of Chris’s shouting during the night. Those council-house walls were badly made and very thin, and her bedroom was on the other side of the wall to his. I could hear it too, but it was muffled by the time it reached my room.Once, the shouting was so loud that my mother called the police; she thought Chris was being abused. This became the source of some ...
Submitted to Contest #221
Trust me. This ghosting lark isn’t such a breeze.You may think that all it entails is floating around and going “Whoo-oo!” now and then for effect, and that it seems like an easy enough life-after-death. Then you’ll be thinking of the perks.For one, there’s the fly-on-the-wall factor. You get to witness secrets or listen in to the exchange of them. But what can you do with the information you glean? I mean, half the fun of knowing a secret is breaking confidentiality and spreading it, am I right? Who are you going to spread it to but other g...
Submitted to Contest #220
A wrenching hand pulls me from the comforting blackness. I don’t want to leave, but the hand is insistent; the deep night dissipates, lightens, blooms into a kind of day.And there she is, gripping my shoulder. After a few moments, her face comes into focus – a gentle face, her bright eyes fixed on mine, concerned. I smack my lips, trying to generate some saliva; my mouth’s horribly dry. She offers me a beaker of water and I drink. The cool liquid hits all the key spots – lips, tongue, throat. I sense it slipping down my gullet on its way to ...
Submitted to Contest #219
It was random, Bailey reasoned, and the chances were slim that he’d be singled out for inspection. How slim, he wasn’t sure, but he knew that none of his family, friends or acquaintances had ever been the subject of a Code Black. And what was the alternative? A trip to the confession booth and more peccatum-points docked? He was already down to his last dozen, and there were still three months to go till renewal.The main problem was knowing what was covered. He switched on his comm-card and scrolled through the holo-screen looking for the re...
Submitted to Contest #218
The top deck is full, as usual for this time of day. I’ve seen several fellow passengers on the same journey most working days for the past 32 years. A couple of them I can say ‘good morning’ to, but I’ve never had a real conversation with any of them.The windows are opaque with condensation, though some have wiped a spy-hole in theirs to observe the rain streaming down the glass and attacking the pedestrians on the pavement; we can hear it pounding on the roof when the bus makes a stop. After completing a once-over of my neighbours, I wipe ...
Submitted to Contest #217
There once was an ugly duckling … but this story isn’t about him.No, it’s partly about a dragon who was no picture either, but that’s the very nature of dragons really, isn’t it? Unless you’re another dragon, and then I suppose they may all have a certain allure.But I digress already.This dragon lived in the mountains, as dragons normally do. Like all of his brethren and sistren, he had a fiery temper to go with his fiery breath. The temper of this dragon was especially incendiary, however, and came from a sense of inferiority, which in turn...
Submitted to Contest #216
“Come on! Get a grip. It’s only a party.”“Yeah, but all those people…”“Well, d’uh! Party. People. They kinda go together, don’t you think?”“Suppose so.”“So come on. Snap out of it. Get out of the car. Walk up the path. Ring the bell.”“Is this the right address, though?”“You’ve checked it twice already.”“Better check again.”“Go on then, if you must … Well?”“Yeah. It’s right. But maybe I’ll just stay here a few minutes. You know, ‘stiffen the sinews’ and all that.”“Jesus wept! Get. Out. Of. The. Car!”“All right, all right! I’m going. Now where...
Submitted to Contest #214
RETURNINGIt’s been a magnificent day. I’m not sad it’s over, though.Coming down from our lovemaking, my body glows from tip to toe. As we lie side by side in the meadow, our warmth is maintained by a sun that’s low in the sky but still strong.In this light, Sophie’s skin is almost incandescent. I reach out to check that she’s real. For a change, we’re in concert, my hand meeting hers. We link our little fingers. We’ve never done that before; it feels just right.“Mmm,” she purrs.I have to agree but I don’t voice it. I’m content just to lie ba...
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