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Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2022

Stories (11)

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8 Followers

2 Following

11 Stories

210 karma pts

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Lady Dragon of the Year

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #298

"We had so many wonderful contestants this year and we want to applaud every one of our finalists for their dedication and hard work.""Of course, the judges had the near-impossible task of picking just one winner for Lady Dragon of Sea Mountain High.” How did Ms. Avery do it? Look straight into the thousand lumen lights and to not only not squint, but to smile right back at them. Which was shinier? Which was more synthetic?“Madelyn, your exemplary grades and your many hours of volunteer work, not to mention earning first chair violin in our ...

5 likes

Regrets

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #297

“Our last night together.” She whispers though we’re alone here. Perhaps she's just matching the quiet around us as we wait for the sun to emerge over the shadowed edges of the field. But I think it’s because she’s afraid of the words we both know to be true. My arms slip around her middle and she leans back as the lip of the sun touches the horizon. She entwines our hands and I lay my chin atop her head. This moment is perfect: impossible contentment I will never feel again.“It doesn’t have to be,” I say and whisps of her hair float around ...

5 likes

In the Shadow of the Tailor's Alcove

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #241

The war edges around me, a spiral of fear and unrest. And yet, the non-human world moves on undeterred. The daffodils, the preface to tulips, sprung out of the ground. The ducks in their mated pairs waddle and shit all over the sidewalks as they prepare for the arrival of their next hatchlings.  And I watch it all out of the window of my townhouse, the beauty of spring and the Sisyphus weight of human turmoil in the presence of the unknown and the unable.  By all accounts, my business is bare of the burden that most had before...

6 likes

The Plan

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #226

This year, I have a plan. I’m prepared. I’ve practiced mantras. I meditate and have a gratitude journal and this year I am not going to ‘ruin Christmas dinner’ as my youngest son told me I did last year when he shocked us all with his engagement to Hannah. This year is going to be different. I have a plan. I will not compare my children. I will not judge them. They are adults and can make their own decisions. I inhale for five and let it out for five seconds. Repeat. I love my family. My family loves me. The doorbell rings, bu...

5 likes

Good Company

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #225

My cheeks stung. My body burned with open wounds and admonishment. The very follicles of my hair rebelled in their purgatory of being partially ripped out. When I reached the creek, I fell to my knees. Water cooled my burning skin and camouflaged my tears, but nothing could be done for my broken voice asking nobody for everything. “Please,” I begged the earth, “I can’t do this anymore.” She did not reply and the loneliness wrought a desire to confess the foul thought that festered in my young soul - a wish steeped in cruelty. It was not in m...

16 likes

Whisper

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #224

Catherine doesn’t know where I go at night. I am grateful that she has yet to ask. I want to tell her now more than ever.  I can see the death in her eyes. The lies are dissolving what was once a mystery. In its place is suspicion. The corroded threads of our relationship are exactly why I wish she knew, but also reinforced why I simply cannot tell her. “How was work?” I ask and her attention jumps to me. Her eyes work me over. I wonder if she looks at her patients the way she’s looking at me. Wondering what the hell is wrong with them....

6 likes

Collapse

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #215

She wails in her sleep and wishes for the end. The ghosts try to comfort her, but they are bad company. Their ethereal murmurings are too hard to hear and she is so tired of asking what they mean. They are cruel to one another and to every living thing that comes near to them, feeding off of their terror and eventual deaths. They do not dust or tidy. They do not see that she is falling apart around them.  If she’d a head, she would shake it at them. If she had a mouth, she would demand that they leave her worn body. If she had arms she ...

5 likes

Quiet Finality

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #215

Finality. The search for solitude and quiet drives me to the bridge. The water looks choppy and angry. At me? Do I disappoint even the water? Of course, I do. I’m a constant disappointment.  I hesitate now. Should I dive in? Fall feet first? What will lead to the least painful death?  Perhaps I should have just taken pills, but I didn’t want my husband to have to find me. Or worse, one of the kids. Head first, I decide, my neck will hopefully snap and it will be over soon.   I’ve just decided when I hear a scuffle of ...

7 likes

Discover the Fall

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Shortlisted for Contest #214 ⭐️

“I’m so glad we’re doing this,” Mom says just as we hit the highway.  “Me too, Mom,” I say.  Good timing says the angel I’ve been ignoring since we got into the car. He leans between the driver's and passenger's seats so that his transparent head bobbles between us.  “We’re going to have such a good time. I have plans. Look at the binder!” Mom slides a hot pink binder that's been baking on her side of the day over to me like a bartender sliding a shot to a favorite customer. “Of course, there’s a binder,” my eye roll and sigh ...

15 likes

Off Script

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #213

She doesn't see the blackness inside of me. She doesn't know I have expired. I followed her here and she thinks I am besotted. Perhaps I am. My human emotions have become muted over the years. I hover on the precipice of reaction just as I do life. Instead, I converse by rote when necessary. I have been using the same phrases for decades. “You’re so beautiful.” “I hope I’m not being too forward, but I’d love to buy you a drink.” I make to leave first with regrets and they nearly always follow me out. Invite me home. Invite me inside their h...

5 likes

Changing Colors

Raquel Belury Rosenberg

Submitted to Contest #152

“I want it to be purple,” she asks again. She holds her translucent, plastic cup to my face. I accept it and twist it in my hands to study it, twisting it in the filtered light coming from the kitchen window as I consider her request.  “Purple, huh?” I ask. “Blue is kind of like purple,” I attempt to hand it back to her, but she crosses her arms over her chest, her head drops as she keeps her gaze on me, and her little mouth opens to hang slightly ajar. "Maybe?" I second guess myself. "In the light?" I hold the cup up to the wind...

10 likes