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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2022
Submitted to Contest #287
My Kind of PeopleThis interlude of my life began on a Saturday morning when Michelle, my wife, burst into the living room with the kind of energy one usually reserves for a winning lottery ticket. “Wake up! We’re getting new neighbors! Their moving truck is in the parking lot!”I look up from the couch, where admittedly, I’m half-asleep watching endless episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants with my 3-year-old daughter, Megan. She woke me up at 6:30 AM, one of the joys of parenthood.“So?” I reply, unsure why having a new neighbor warrants su...
Submitted to Contest #286
When he got pulled into the scam, young Junyu was a college grad living in Shanghai. At 22, he still lived with his parents and spent most of his time in his bedroom covered with pop star posters, the windowsill lined with collectible toy figurines.Junyu’s mom walked in. “You need to find a job,” she said, for what felt like the hundredth time. He had modeled for a few e-commerce shoots, but he hadn’t landed a spot for months. The Chinese economy was cratering, everyone said.“I’m a model,” Junyu groaned. “I need to focus on auditions. Rememb...
Submitted to Contest #283
Maybe I was just trying to escape from my problems–'doing a geographical’ as the self help people say these days. Or maybe I just wanted to have some fun. Regardless, in my early 20s, I decided that immersing myself into a foreign language and culture would be a therapeutic escape. After digging through a mountain of application paperwork, I landed a scholarship to study geology at Hiroshima University. After my first busy year of study, and facing the butt end of my savings and my student visa, seemingly out of nowhere, I was offered a...
Submitted to Contest #282
Life in darkness is filled with terror. An unseen itch could be a piece of sand, or a rat chewing on skin. In the dark, when I jolt upright, I hear vermin skitter away. As sleep is impossible, I live in an interminable nightmare.A factor that might explain the downward course of my life is my father’s uncanny ability (if that’s what it’s called) to get into arguments with everyone he came into contact with in our hometown. They assumed the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and took it out on me. Guilt by association. They say children sh...
Submitted to Contest #281
Being Fashionable I’ve learned that discussing things I find on the internet with my wife Liz is like tossing a match into a pool of gasoline. Liz works in corporate PR. In loyalty to her paycheck, she embraces the corporate establishment’s narrative. When I read the news, I like to take time to figure it out instead of taking it at face value. You might call me an “Internet Dad”. I hope to one day find the right moment to talk some common sense into her. Maybe that moment is today.My computer screen shows 10:59am. I promised Liz I’d be...
Submitted to Contest #280
It’s time to get going. Can you get off your elliptical machine and get ready? I just need ten minutes more to reach my target heart rate. Can you please not push that–Don’t give me your infamous glare, just because I cut short your elliptical session. I am trying to keep this family running.Well, it was fortunate that my PT had me working on running after all, wasn’t it?I think you need to lose some belly fat first, if you want to outrun anyone. Speaking of food, tonight is pizza night, right? It's Wednesday.I’m sure we can ...
Submitted to Contest #279
I made it to Lamma Island the day the ferry stopped. I’m an American who has lived in Hong Kong since high school, I know the territory, and I choose my escape route carefully, though I admit I barely speak a word of Cantonese. I made the right choice. It turned out that Lamma Island, green, sparsely populated and just two kilometers off the coast, might be the best place on earth to survive a zombie apocalypse. Let me explain more. Banana and papaya trees pepper the jungle here, and the South China Sea teems with sea life. In an apocal...
Submitted to Contest #278
“We need to arrange a family meeting,” Mom declared, her tone leaving no room for argument. She set about calling and texting our relatives, inviting them to come to our place. Blessed with a commanding presence, combined with the intellectual heft of a well-trained lawyer, people tended to do what she asked. I had to track down Jason, who had moved into the UW dorm last year, and talk him into attending.On Sunday, all my aunts and uncles sat around our living room, sipping their diet sodas and glasses of white wine, and trying to figure out...
Submitted to Contest #275
How do you go about accusing a family you’ve never met of being murderers? That was a thought that tumbled through Fletcher’s head on the drive up to Weyauwega.He hadn’t trained to ask these sorts of questions to strangers. At any point, he could have turned around back to Milwaukee, but he continued ever northward. His destination, Weyauwega, was beyond where the farmlands of southern Wisconsin turn into the marshy forests of the north. The inhospitable land that Native American tribes were driven in order to free up farmland for immigrants...
23. Symbolic Public Acts - Protest DisrobingsAfter earning my Master's degree in International Relations from Yale, along with a minor in Arabic, I found myself a month later living in a tiny apartment in Amman Jordan, earning minimum wage, and working for an American NGO funded by a silicon valley billionaire.Two weeks after I arrived, I spent all Thursday afternoon navigating the city’s bus system to locate a loaf of multigrain sourdough. Rebecca was having a brunch party the next morning, and apparently didn't have time to do it herself.“...
Submitted to Contest #268
I’ve found my peace.No patients, no traffic jams, no pills—just daily mindfulness and meditation. I’m living proof that doctors can change. You can choose a different path if you take control of your life.The 11 AM church bell rings, marking the start of my day. I live under the shadow of a medieval cathedral in a beautiful, walkable European city.I finish my Asanas and prepare to step outside for a leisurely day of total freedom.Mobile in hand, I stroll Ben Jelacic Square, searching for a new lunch spot. The streets are covered with graffit...
Submitted to Contest #267
Do you remember what it felt like the first time you were stung by a bee? The sharp, searing pain, a jolt of panic, and then, a few seconds later, a sense of relief when you realize it still hurts, but the pain isn’t that bad, and you can handle it. That’s what being in Israel in 2044 felt like.Meira didn’t talk about it for a long time, but these days, since passing 80, she talks her memories with close friends. When Meira was a child, her parents had told her that Israel was the chosen land. Her dad was a beekeeper in New Jersey. The ...
Submitted to Contest #266
Danya groaned under the weight of the heavy equipment that she lugged across the tarmac. It felt like a metaphor for her life. One spent under the burden of following other people’s suggestions, which led to this dead end, working at a military air airfield in North Dakota. As she lamented her eight years in the Air Force, she gazed up at the stars flickering in the pitch black sky, and let her mind wander.She turned to her crewmate, Greg. “What sound do eagles make? Do they caw, or chirp, or…?”Greg's gaze remained focused on his e...
Submitted to Contest #264
By the end of Saturday morning, I had interviewed everyone connected to Greg Allman who rode the Princess Voyager. Cruise ships should be joyful places and it was Greg's 10th wedding anniversary, but by now, I am no stranger to the dark side of these vessels. At 9:45 AM, Greg’s nephew, Dylan Allman, sits across from me at the interview table. Aged nineteen, thin, and jittery, he has an earnest stare that demands the listener believe him. His leg bounces incessantly under the table. “I can tell you’re a smart kid.” I lean forward slightly to ...
Submitted to Contest #263
Andre stared at the scars on his face in the mirror, each one a testament to his refusal to back down from a fight. Thirty years after high school, and he still took pride in never having run, no matter how outnumbered. Back then, using threats of violence helped him to extract homework, money, and food from his classmates. Admittedly, being part werewolf made it easier.Being a bully in school was perfect training for his current role as gang leader. From his 10th floor nightclub, Andre the Cruel ruled over the border town of Golgak. The vod...
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