Reilly Stuber

“Not You” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #289

DISCLAIMER: This story contains nudity, language and slight gore that may be sensitive. Keep that in mind, and enjoy the read!The lab smelled of chlorine, sterilization, and simplicity. A drop of water kept illuminating the background, a feeling of coldness eradicating from it as each droplet landed on the floor across the glass.Bloop. Miley felt comfortable behind six inches of safety glass, the space giving her time to breath and watch as the droplets of water kept splashing onto the opaque floor, the water spreading across it slowly like ...

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“Voices Unheard ” by Reilly Stuber

DISCLAIMER: This text is highly focused on mental health, suicide awareness, and the tragic effects it has on people worldwide. Know you matter, are heard and seen, and that there is always someone to reach out to. Thank you.The padded rooftop of the bus stop proved relatively useless as Jack felt the droplets of rain setting into his skin from above. Without pattern or shape, they continued to fall, as inevitable as the turn of the Earth.Looking to the sky for any sign of stopping the downpour, he felt a slight sense of emptiness. Unlike th...

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“An Odd Day To Get Married” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #287

My phone chimed about six times, each in quicker succession than the last. I put down the coffee in my left hand, feeling the skin cool as it left my grip, pulling the phone towards my face to open it and receive the messages. u there yet, Henry? which table are we reserved for? hey ill be there in 20 i love you I scrolled down the chats from Sara, halting the device at my sides to focus on what I sent back. table 12, cant wait :) love u too I shut it off, leaning back into the lush cushioning. The intricate patterns, as fancy as they came...

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“Memento Mori” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #287

"There was one other such as yourself." Madam Loru spoke softly. Her voice trailed off into what seemed a whisper, the hush exaggerating echo and making itself discernible. "Yet he was more willed. More capable, a little taller. He spoke with such passion and dignity that his irrefutable ask was out of my control to reject." She looked upon me with the eyes of a lantern. My fingers locked onto the bottom of the table, an irresistible urge to flee ringing in my ears. But I settled with it: sat at the wooden table with the Everlong Candle, com...

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“A Journey From Grey to Radiance” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #286

Collective dust settled in the dull room as Kenton sat in front of his laptop, and he hesitated to click the esc key and close out for the night. The screen blared in his face, even overriding the light coming from the window glass. Beams refracted onto his chin, and if his life were any more comical, it would dissolve a hole in his head like a centered sun ray through a magnifying glass.The home phone began to ring. He moved over a hand from the esc key, the blaring chime of it interrupting his compulsion with the computer screen.No words c...

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“It Starts With You” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #286

James shook the frost off his boot, cursing under his own breath as the crumple of powder settled underneath it. The locket on his neck, for the first time, felt warm instead of cold on his skin, and he reached a hand up to pull it out from under his layered clothing. The steps he took were heavy, his breath magnifying the air he would exhale, and he couldn't help but remember being a kid and pressing the foggy breaths outwards as if he were innocently smoking.Playing in snow, messing around with poorly-formed snowballs and throwing them at ...

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“The First Time I Died” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #285

DISCLAIMER: This story contains sensitive topics like suicide, mental health, romantic language, and vague nudity. Please enjoy and read with that in mind! Thank you. Living again is an experience I got used to a lot quicker than I would ever imagine. Opening eyelids after being permanently shut is a ride one should be delighted to take: life, again. Like removing a veil of plastic from your head, it's awakening again that is truly suffocating. It took me roughly four lives—which is hard for me to understand, but is a lot of time. I see...

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“D-fect” by Reilly Stuber

Submitted to Contest #285

DISCLAIMER: For clarification purposes and a smoother reading experience, the italic paragraphs below are flashbacks! The italic and shifting POV is intentional. With that in mind, enjoy reading!The storm incoming was thick. Which is an odd thing for me to be worried about: but I was. Dense clouds of swirling fog turning gray and tan loomed above, desperately reaching across a canvas of the sky to reach me before nightfall. They had gotten worse over time: I could only provide so much, and droplets the size of cannonballs and lollipops are t...

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“Jealousy Burns.” by Reilly Stuber

Dear you, I know true to myself that often times people are fiercely naive. Even ungrateful at times. Sometimes the decisions they make are deceitful, evil, and wrong. But they don't think they are. They probably don't even know they matter or affect anyone in the slightest. We are all in our own little, infallible world anyways. A lot of times, those decisions made based on a false reality are consequently distasteful, wavering, and unsure by default. Which is okay; it's human to be imperfect. A lot of people suffer from the thought that it...

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