Regina Perry

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (12)

12 Stories

763 karma pts

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“An Improved Version” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #69

One day, Mrs Sharp stuck her pointy nose where it did not belong. This was not so particularly unusual, as Mrs Sharp was the sort of woman who thought her nose belonged wherever she put it. In her defense, she was trying to be friendly.“Have you been to see your parents lately?” She asked Andreas, her tenant. She was bringing in the mail; Andreas had a letter from his mother.“Of course,” Andreas answered distractedly. He hadn’t; he’d been avoiding his mother for a long time. She had different ideas about what he ought to do with his life tha...

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“Knot Beet-trayed” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #67

My hands are covered in a dark red liquid that refuses to come off. It’s stuck there from today’s work, no matter how many times I wash my hands. I feel a bit like Macbeth. Other people might think the stains on my hands are a badge of shame, but to me, they’re a badge of honour. They’re there because I spent my day helping people. One week earlier:I’m walking into school with my friends Dee and Masha when we see the graffiti on the front of the school building. In big letters, someone has written “YOUR AWESOME” over a giant yellow smil...

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“A Waste of Time” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #66

"It doesn't count if you're already planning your defeat, Doctor.""Don't you think I know that?" Dr Ellery-Staton took off his reading glasses, turning so his interlocutor could see the expression on his face. It was not encouraging.The royal-messenger-turned-research-assistant gave him what he hoped was a reassuring look. “You can do it, Doctor. If anybody can, it’s you.”Dr Ellery-Staton sighed. “That’s just the trouble. I don’t think anybody can do it. The thing is an impossibility. If even one person could do it, the thing would be alread...

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“Ad Heroibus, Auxilium” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #64

Every time I close my eyes, I see the troll. It looms in front of me, drool slavering from its monstrous orange jaws. It looks rather like Dr Suess’s Lorax, but it’s much bigger and much hungrier. It looms over me, opening its mouth. This is the moment I’ve been preparing for all term. My heart is beating faster than that roller coaster I was too scared to ride when I was eight and Laurel had her birthday party at a theme park. The troll gets closer and closer, opening its mouth wider. I catch a glimpse of jagged, orange teeth. Dr Suess forg...

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“The Magic Set” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #61

Andreas needed to tidy his workroom. It was a small, wood-panelled room, just big enough for a desk, a chair, a set of shelves, two supply cupboards, and a small one-burner camp-stove. There was a large pot simmering on the camp-stove, and the desk, aside from being covered in a haphazard pile of papers, a tea-kettle, and three used tea mugs, was cluttered with all sorts of strange-looking vials filled with stranger-looking substances. About a good third of the vials were uncorked. Not one of them was labelled. Two lay empty on their sides, ...

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“Bread, Milk, and Eggs” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #60

“Ready?” “All set, sir. Everything’s in position.” “On my command… three… two… one… NOW!” A set of explosions rocked the earth. When the dust settled, there was nothing but rubble. “You can’t still have that garage!” Simon wrenched the offending object away from his little brother and started smashing it. “Maaaaa!” Manny wailed. “Simon’s smashing my garage!” “I have to!” Simon insisted. “It’s the end of the world! There’s nothing left but rubble.” He pulled large chunks off of the garage and started strewing them about what was l...

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“Wishful Thinking” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #59

At first, there is nothing. Just nothing, stretching on and on and on. Nothing but nothing.Then, all at once, there is pain. A sharp pain that starts as a single pinprick of existence but quickly spreads outwards, exploding into a cascade of colours, each sharply brighter than the last, resolving at last into a smooth, curved surface in a bright copper colour. All at once, she is aware of herself, though she knows not who she is. She blinks, trying to clear the copper colour from her sight. It refuses to leave, insistently surrounding h...

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“A 'Real' School” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #58

I sat in fourth-period social studies, spacing out. The three branches of government were boring. We'd done them last year at my old school, and I figured I already knew all there was to know about them. I had much more important things to worry about. I needed to fill my quota by the end of the day or I might lose my job, and I did not want that to happen under any circumstances. Not that I particularly liked my job, but someone had to do it, and I figured it was best for everyone involved if that someone happened to be me. I moved to Ocean...

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“The Banana” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #57

Dogs were useless, Alyssa thought gloomily, rubbing the dirt off her palms. Try as she might, she couldn’t get Frankie, the neighbours’ border collie, to chew even one corner of her homework. Usually, the neighbours complained that they couldn’t get Frankie to stop chewing things, but Frankie just wasn’t going for it this time. Alyssa had tried everything; waving it under Frankie’s nose, trying to pry his mouth open and stuff it in, rolling it up and throwing it for him to fetch, even wrapping it around his favourite chew toy. Frankie just t...

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“Seeing Red” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #56

Once upon a time…In a pretty little house in a pretty little wood there lived a pretty little family. The family consisted of a mother, a father, and a little girl. The mother was called Clara, the father was called Jonas, and the little girl was called Red. The little girl was not named Red, for her name was Jennifer, but she’d been called Red ever since her grandmother, who lived a little ways away in the same wood, had given her a red jumper that Red had refused to take off until it fell to pieces. Even now, Red loved the colour red; she ...

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“Freckles” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #55

Lianna lay on a large rock, enjoying the sensation of warm sun on her closed eyelids and wet skin. Blue-green water the exact shade of her shimmering scales danced against the nearby shores, though there was little wind. The day was hot and still above the waves, just the way Lianna liked it.Lianna was just beginning to drowse off when she felt a shadow over her, blocking out the sun. She opened her eyes to see what the problem was.“There you are, Lianna!” It was Narina, Lianna’s friend. Narina wore a short, pale yellow sundress that contras...

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“Creativity Failing” by Regina Perry

Submitted to Contest #53

“The Great Popsicle! It’s melting!” Jeffers burst into the galley, panting heavily. “What? It can’t be!” Sally looked up from her sandwich, panicked. “We need that popsicle!” “Stop it, Jeff; we’ve had enough of your practical jokes,” Oscar said, not even turning from the sink, where he was washing dishes. It was true; Jeffers was a bit of a practical joker. He was always coming up with new ways to “make life interesting”, in his words. The rest of us thought it was a bit annoying, but we put up with it. Jeffers may have been a nu...

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Author bio

Alas, I do not have too much time for Reedsy these days. I still check back periodically, though. I love words; I've been playing with them for as long as I can remember. I've also had my nose stuck in one book or another since I was very small- and I mean that in more ways than one. I love reading books, of course, but I also enjoy just smelling them. You can tell a lot about a book from how it smells. Books that were handled more than others have a distinct smell, as do old books that were kept in boxes, old books that were kept in open-fronted bookshelves in a parlour, and new books, straight off the presses. My favourite genre is fantasy. I love reading about dragons and faeries, knights and magicians- though I nearly always side with the dragon. I may be a fantasy creature myself. One of my closest friends is convinced I'm a vampyre.