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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025
Submitted to Contest #310
I sound like a mina bird with no tongue, off-key and sick. My brain flip-flops the letters: B or D? Can’t tell. The note squeaks out, all pilikia. I'm a mess.A few snickers buzz around. The principal viola, the boss, turns and rolls her eyes like she's all high-maka maka, better than me.“Stop!” Mr. Akana shouts.I'm supposed to be quiet, a ghost sitting in the back, playing to blend. But I got too loud. Woke the sleeping god.His desk sits in front of a whiteboard, scrawled with chord progressions and circled mistakes from yesterday’s run-thro...
Winner of Contest #308 🏆
Content warning: brief mentions of child abuse and domestic violence. I can’t tell if the yowling’s for the dead or the heat. It’s cicada hiss and lawn mower growl hot—so hot, it’s disrespectful. But as Dad shovels dirt over Papa, I’m cold. I can't cry, and it feels like sin.“It's alright to grieve,” Aunt June whispers. “Ain't no shame in it.”She fans herself with a program as tears drip below her sunglasses. She means it's shameful not to cry, especially for your own. But I can't put on grief like wide-brimmed hats and pearls and black dres...
Shortlisted for Contest #304 ⭐️
Content warning: Contains themes of pregnancy loss and griefSunbeams turned floating flour into glitter—too pretty for the mess I’d made. My fingers twisted through sticky dough, a ball of goop on the counter. Outside, mina birds chirped. The sea sighed against the sand across the street, breeze heavy with salt and sweet plumeria. I breathed it in like it might help.But the birds didn’t care. The sea didn’t care. They carried on, like the world hadn’t burned down.Mine had.BEEP.The pre-heated oven broke my thoughts. And so did a smack on my b...
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