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Reilly Stuber

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2024

Stories (18)

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18 Followers

6 Following

18 Stories

398 karma pts

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Look Up

Submitted to Contest #314

"You ever just look up?" My dad had asked me one night. And as any twelve year old boy would have, I thought that was a silly question. Pretty corny for my middle school self, who was convinced that I needed to be a 'cool' kid who didn't spend his time staring at the sky or counting stars, but instead playing baseball."No, not really?" I questioned him, and he smiled a little bit. I remember that solely because he followed it with the heartiest lesson I'd ever been given up until then. "You should sometime. I know it's not anything exciting ...

8 likes

The Person You Changed, but Never Knew

Submitted to Contest #313

Dear my friend, I doubt you remember me. Probably not. In all honesty, I would never expect to cross your mind, and this letter might be the weirdest thing that's happened to you all week, or ever. But even then, likely not. I guess you can just read and label that for yourself. We only talked a few times in college, and although most of it was small talk, we had one deep conversation. It was outside of Richards Hall, in those two metal chairs under the shade of some huge oak trees. I'd been on the way back from class, and I'm pretty sure ...

22 likes

Bayside Reading Immersive Club

Submitted to Contest #310

"You know that group is gonna be bullshit, right?" Luc told me after I stumbled on the Bayside Reading Immersive Club website on my laptop. To be fair, I couldn't exactly defend it, the website itself sucked and every book recommendation I followed seemed equally as shitty. They were all by some indie authors I'd never heard of, and if they found out there was any other genre than horror and gore, they probably would have had a stroke."Luc, shut up, you know I need to be around people that write. They aren't some Stephen King regens, but I l...

14 likes

The Mirror In a Casket

Submitted to Contest #307

Separating Darlene Winchester and her gold-rim mirror actually did happen over her dead body. Nobody had believed her when she first proclaimed it around the summer of 1994, a story my mom had told me all about. But for all her paranoid years to come, it remained in her hands so long as any eyes could see it in her possession.Roughly two decades later, there it was, still in her hands in the coffin, over a pair of ash-white ribs and a pale, wrinkly body. Over a life spent in a reflection. I was around six then. The mirror was there until it ...

17 likes

It's All In The Words

Submitted to Contest #306

Nobody other than me knew what happened to Paul Cherbrand after his huge debut in the stage lights until one year prior of today. Whether or not it could have been prevented, I hate to tell myself, but the very least I can do is tell the story like he did. And it's a complicated one that I don't believe either sometimes. If you believe in coincidence, or purpose, I'll leave that part up to you. But for now: just bear with me.He was giving off this huge bravado speech about his time there at Banks Memorial High School, flaunting the Valedicto...

13 likes

Where The Reflection Takes Me

Submitted to Contest #305

It took a few seconds to realize I was utterly and completely lost. It took an hour to realize I was not alone. It took the last few moments to accept it, and only one of them to run.The woods were crowded. Not with people, but sounds. Me, myself, them, the lake, trees, creepers, truth, solitude, vacancy, displacement. There wasn't anywhere to go to, other than farther away, but I guess my head would have preferred I go there rather than anywhere else. So I flew.I knew I was escaping something. And I'm at the lake. Practically on the shoreli...

16 likes

Started Counting After 14

DISCLAIMER: This text has the reference of death and interpretative meanings. The counter top was cleared, with dimmed lights dotting the house and only a small circle-plate in the center. On that plate was a mile-high vanilla cake, with frosted edges swirling like wind and candles standing above the waves with a small orb of fire at the end. Counting down the sides, there were sixteen of them. Sixteen candles, blue and white, meeting at the charcoal tip with that heat, prepared to be blown out for a miracle of a wish. "Happy Birthday, Eth...

5 likes

Uncovered Philosophies

Submitted to Contest #295

DISCLAIMER: This story contains the theme of death / afterlife and vague scientific study on animals. With that in mind, enjoy! The air had never sat as still as it did on February Eleventh, at approximately six-twenty-one past the morning, where the wind was utterly deceased and even the clouds sat motionless, awaiting their permission to move with the Earth, which also cowered before the hour and refused to spin, for the soul of man himself had perished on this day, with the pale body of Phil Torrance Macklimont. Thomas Asencio, perhaps a...

20 likes

The Boy Who Believed

Submitted to Contest #292

Once upon a time, in a land oddly similar to here, there was a place where the sun never came up. A place where all manifestations were truths, and the darkness enveloped the horizon as clouds did the blue. To the left were collective sorrows, and to the right were the eaves of decaying homes with the poor folks living beneath.  The roads were as silver as the illuminations above, all draping the world in a monochrome lens. Each lamp post aligning the stone pathways were like interrogation lights, a white circle drawn on the ground that...

8 likes

Not You

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 ...

22 likes

Voices Unheard

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...

4 likes

An Odd Day To Get Married

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...

18 likes

Memento Mori

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...

11 likes

A Journey From Grey to Radiance

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...

14 likes

It Starts With You

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 ...

9 likes