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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2019
Camino Pope always imagined her first alien encounter to be in an abandoned field in Kansas, not a small outdoor mall in Delaware. She thought there would be more cows, more lights, more eyes, maybe. Though now that she was here, there were none of those things. There was a strong looking boy leaning against a clothes rack, wearing a black and white checkered coat and smoking a roll of quarters he’d borrowed fr...
The sun was back with a vendetta, only it held rays like fire over the earth instead of a machete. It wore a mask of radiating, pulsating heat and Beba Maria felt like she was going to pass out. The day had been long, the road hard, and the undertaking of their task was proving more difficult than they had expected. They’d missed the boat because Oscar had fallen down, scraped a knee, chipped a ...
Afra and Gervassi sat across from each other, watching the waters roll into the sandy shores of Lake Granby. A few towels away sat Muzical and the other wild high schoolers in the Colorado Caravan, as Gervassi had come to call their group over the last few days. He held Afra’s hand, heads resting close together, and sang softly. He could carry a tune okay, though Afra wouldn’t say she'd vote for him on American Idol. It...
There was no reconciling with the summer sun after noon. There was no appeasing it, no cooperating, not a single delegation that could make that star calm down. It was a relentless force. It wanted to burn the citizens of the town up alive, wanted to melt the flesh from their bones and incinerate the bones till they were nothing but ash. Ash called Oscar. Ash called Lina. Ash called Beba ...
“So,” Gervassi started, like he had gotten accustomed to doing every morning, “How did you sleep?” “Like a shot duck.” Afra was just waking up. She still hadn’t gotten used to the early mornings school required. Luckily, her morning usually started with a call from Gervassi, and that was always a delightful way to wake up. It was almost better than the sunset. “And you?” She wished they were in the same ...
What happened on the second Tuesday of July was a simple thing, and it started like so.The boy wore a large velvet blazer and was swallowed by his ancient copy of Jane Eyre; the copy that smelled like his grandmother’s perfume and felt like butterfly wings between his calloused fingers. He sat alone on a park bench that day, much like the other days, and he waited for something to happen. Not in his book, he already knew how that ended after having read it seventeen times, but in the park there were several things that could happen...
Afra stepped off the bus and sighed, her backpack heavy with laundry and memories of the last few days; of her wonderful fireside chats with the elusive Gervassi. She smiled and turned back around to wave at him from the ground. He already had his headphones back on but he waved at her anyway. Good, she thought, that way no one else will talk to him. Speaking of talking, Afra’s ...
I stepped back into the light, tilting my head this way and that to get a better look at Victoria. She had just floated down the stairs of her house and was wearing a long silver dress, one that dragged to the carpet and made me dizzy in the best way. Good thing I was alive to see it. See, I missed last year's prom due to being, like, dead and all that stuff. Victoria being the considerate girlfriend she is...
The notice came at two in the afternoon, on a paper smelling of lavender, old socks, and a hint of person who never bathed for lack of time. It was written in blue ink on a piece of standard stock paper and read as following: Resident Bunny Smokes must adhere to the procedures as soon as she can. She has been elected to be the next Moon Hostess. Failure to comply will result in execution at dawn by means of
are you deadare you deaddid you fall and hit your headare you deadare you deadcan you never leave your bedare you deadare you deaddid you hear what I just saidor are your eyelids brokenare your toenails rottingare youdeaddeaddeadNeedless to say, the teacher did not appreciate my song. In fact...
Lalalala, wedding day, wedding day, who's afraid of her wedding day? Me? No, surely not. I'm excited! There's cake! And friends! And, oh yeah. That guy. The one I'm getting married to. I try not to think of him right now, because he's not actually in love with me and I'm definitely not in love with him. He's not bad. I'm not bad. We just both want things we can't have, and you know what they say. If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with. And I'm with this guy, s...
All you wanted were banana chips. It seemed a simple enough request. You wanted to slip in the store, buy your snack, successfully avoid contact with the cute check out clerk, and leave with your sweatpants intact. But that's not what happened. You walked into the store and grabbed a basket; headed down the aisles where your treasure lay. As you walked, you became eerily aware that not a single person besid...
**talking to a friend while looking at stars above**Can’t say that I’ve been in loveThough I do like to pretendCan’t say I’ve ever broken upHad a relationship real enough to end.I don’t know what to say to youBut I’m sorry that you’re sadI kind of feel like slashing thingsOn your behalf; is that bad?I know that you still love themThough you’ve had to move alongWould you cry if I broke their face inOr are you singing the sam...
Ochd. I woke up. “Hey.” I looked up. No one was there that I could see. “Hey.” Where was I? There was someone who was still trying to talk to me but they were too far away and there were miles and miles of my head saying what are they saying and I couldn’t think straight anymore. “I see you waki...
Sia. I could see her eyes flashing and I remembered the time I broke my nose because I called her a vampire. I didn’t want that to happen in front of Saberdeen, or worse, to her because of me. “Yes. I would.” We left at lunchtime. I hadn’t be...
"I’ve been hoping someone will love you, let me go.”
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