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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021
In her kitchenette, Jane Doe reached for the smallest pitcher of the three placed on the middle row of the 4-rows open shelving. Her face was wet with tears, her gullible-ness had taken a toll on her. Never had she envisioned herself as a victim. On opening the faucet, all she got was the sound it makes when water is lacking- good thing she stores water. Below the stainless-steel sink, she pulled up a 2-litre plastic bottle of coca cola reused to hold water. After draining it into the pitcher, she poured (into the sufuria) water just enough ...
Submitted to Contest #103
They allowed me in; but not inside. Glass, thick, stood as a clear barrier. I could feel his eyes on me, but I wouldn't look. Out of the corner of my eyes I stole glances at him. He didn't seem scared not one bit, in fact he was as a dove, a white one for that matter, with a twig of olive caught in its beak. I knew it! I was right! I hate him. He didn't care. He's not regretting anything. He didn't love him, Oooo! Summoning all the courage the universe could offer at that moment, I scornfully peered at him. Strapped non-slackly, his footba...
Submitted to Contest #102
Please, tell me more about that night. What really happened?"...Serenity disguises. In the silence of a cemetery and harmony like a united people, grows tall and green grasses petting snakes; lifeless but not dead. They talk to each other and we hear. But we mustn't allow them to utter in our listening. We mustn't keep schtum when we hear their hisses.I didn't like visiting the countryside; pretentious relatives, no service or network for days; unreliable solar electricity-- full-blown boredom. So when my parents peacock proud announced that...
Submitted to Contest #100
Dear diary,So yesterday was a memorable day and I forgot to share it with you. Though I wished it would never have come, it did and it’s behind us now. Siz Nel felt the family needed to come together; just like old times before we grew breasts and knew we needed to cover our bosom; so, she organized what should have been a family get together. Immediately she informed me, I was sure it was a bad idea that would not be received well by the rest. Surprisingly, everyone else was on board and she was informing me last, to be certain it would be ...
Submitted to Contest #99
Lily had just turned seventy, or so she thought. The last time she was asked her age was way back in the early 2000s when Katrina and Rita struck. This was when she and Jay her beloved were trying to get pregnant fruitlessly. She had had many doctor visits, where her age, weight and height were measured, before she finally threw in the towel. The dyad had contemplated adoption but for some reason they concluded against it. For ages it had just been the two of them. Both of them were orphans and the only people they could dare to call fa...
Submitted to Contest #98
Looking down outside the pirogue, I saw the reflection of my fizzog in the slightly mucky waters. I inhaled deeply, paused, then exhaled a cloud compressed air inadvertently attracting the attention Okumbo, who was rowing the pirogue.We had nicknamed him Okumbo because of his forehead. He deserved to win Guinness world title for man with the biggest forehead. It was protruding like an elbow when one folds their arms; thus the name Okumbo, which means elbow.I didn’t have a canoe, my come-we-stay husband was the one who had a canoe in our home...
When I was brought into the world, novice and all, it was assigned to me a family of five turned six when chogo (lastborn) was born five years later after I. Life was big when I was small: our small kibanda (hut) near the never not smelly river seemed a mansion.The large population from non-stop procreation in the area allowed me to have as many alter egos; not being aware of what they called such places – rookeries, even worse, jhuggi.All houses, though we rambled on and on about living in the big city, were made of matope (mud). The only e...
As she sat in that too cozy black armchair in the agent’s office, she allowed her mind to wonder outside the room—Is this truly where those like me end up?There was a long queue of desperados (desperate), just like her, or even better, waiting to meet the agent. Some were excited, others had plastered smiles on their faces and others just stared at their feet until they were called in. She had been standing in the queue since seven in the morning, when she was finally called in at noon.Outside the office, in place of chairs there were metall...
Submitted to Contest #97
“LEMME NOT HEAR THAT AGAIN…. FOCUS… COME ON!” Those were the words she truly meant to say. They came from the depths of her heart. The others, “Go safely, May God protect you, and may you be successful”, were just forced out of her mouth by parental conscience. I looked hopefully at my dad, but he quickly turned his face away when his brain signals sensed the motion of my face towards his. Did I expect him to defend me? My siblings came and we squeezed in the constructed small accidentally living room. Prayer. No matter what, a mother’s pr...
The trees sway harmoniously; almost in oneness with the nightly breeze. The psithurism of the trees in the breeze was one to be embraced. The sky was richly black, decorated generously with bright white polka dots. The moon was full and it shone mightily as if trying to fight away the darkness of the night. At bird’s eye view she could see him and his partner. He was dressed in his everyday nickel gray uniform, that now looked like a rainbow and always seemed too tight on him. You could tell that it spent ...
Submitted to Contest #96
It was not long ago in my mother’s house that we had a special cupboard for storing utensils meant for the guests - and the guests alone. I remember my sister and I waiting for our parents to live for work, so that we can have a feel of being guests. I think our parents knew, even though we did that behind their backs. Many are the times they would come home and find pieces of glass in the dustbin. My mother, the lioness of the house, had shouted and punished us numerous times that she had given up – even lions when they fail to catch a pr...
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