Story Time

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

Stories (215)

215 Stories

10379 karma pts

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“Nail-Biter” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #75

I stopped biting my nails by wearing gloves. I stopped biting my nails by wearing gloves taped to my hands, around my wrists, with duct tape, with the deep grey duct tape that you can only get at the hardware store, and as soon as I walked into the hardware store, the man behind the counter took one look at me and said-- “You need to stop biting your nails.” He offered to cut off my hands, but that seemed extreme to me, so I just asked for duct tape instead, and then I went back to the car, where my second wife taped the gloves we had ...

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“Discussion Questions for The Ten Commandments” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #74

We know religion studies can be boring, especially when you really just want to go outside and play, but before you head into the fourth grade, we need to make sure you have a solid understanding of some of the most important rules ever put to paper--or stone, as the case may be. A little Bible humor there for you, even though you should never ever joke about the Bible.  Ever. Please answer the following questions in three sentences or less. 1.  The First Commandment says that “The Lord is the Lord and that you shall have no ...

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“Chatty” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #73

Fran? Fran, it’s Cyn. CYN! No, not your sister. Your cousin. You don’t have a sister. Are you drinking that grass drink I bought you at the store near my house? Drink it, it’s good for you. CYN! Am I bothering you? Well, I know it’s 4am, but I had a feeling you’d be up. Especially if I called you a few times. What was it--six?  Six times?  You should really answer your phone as soon as you hear it. It could be an emergency. I could be dead. Imagine if your cousin was dead and you didn’t even know it, because you were ...

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“Tale As Old As Time” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #72

I’ll tell you what I don’t appreciate. I do not appreciate people telling me how I should or shouldn’t be feeling. It was not my--Let’s get this right--It was not my choice or of my choosing to come to the castle. I was placed in a very uncomfortable position, wherein, I was asked to come rescue my father, because he went somewhere he shouldn’t have. Now, yes, that was a bad choice that he made, but what I did was simply the result of a reaction to a bad decision. And so what happens is-- An umbrella forms. Once you are put in a ...

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“The Sacher Torte” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #71

My grandmother would make the sacher torte every time my grandfather created an infidelity. I must apologize for my English is not very strong. Though I am not foreign, I am quite pretentious. After years of boarding schools and backpacking trips in Europe with schoolmates who were vaguely related to the royal family of Hungary, I have found that my consonants are harder and my trust is soft as Swiss. The cheese, not the people. I always found them to be remarkably hard-hearted if you crashed through their living room window on a chill...

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“Like a Box of Chocolate” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #70

I was given no choice when you stop to think about it. The person who sold the most chocolate in the state of Idaho would receive a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa, and once I heard what was on the line, things like “friendship” and “camaraderie” became antiquated notions of the Before Times, when you could afford kindness because chocolate was free and handed out to you by strangers on Halloween. Matty, I’m sure, disagrees, and that’s why he’s destined to be the employee and not the employer one day. He’ll most likely be my employee, sin...

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“Uncle Grendel” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #69

We’re supposed to call him Uncle Grendel, but my sister will not. “He is not an uncle. He is a monster who has taken over our house.” I tell my sister that while I am on her side, that doesn’t change the fact that our mother has fallen for a descendant of Cain, and we should try to support her. “I mean, we’re all descendants of Cain, aren’t we,” my mother asks me as I’m shoveling dead frogs onto a plate, Grendel’s favorite Thanksgiving meal, “So I really don’t think any of us are in a place to judge. You know, your Dad was related to T...

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“Have It Your Way” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #68

“I go to the other.” “You go to the other and you do what?” “I ask for the number seven.” “Why the number seven?” “It’s the best value.” “You have so much money.” “I know.” “I come to your house and I see envelopes. Little blue envelopes everywhere that look like what you would use to put Easter cards in or Save the Date notices for a spring wedding. But I look in the envelopes and there are hundred dollar bills. All over your house.” “I know.” “Why would you go to the other?” “I sat down one night and nobody came over to...

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“Elizabeth, Who Lives Upstairs” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #67

Elizabeth, who lives upstairs, hasn’t been home in hours. I alerted the super, and he told me that she travels. I asked him what she does that requires her to travel. He wouldn’t tell me. It’s personal. He flicks the last bit of a cuticle off his hand. His sandwich smells of red onion and vinaigrette. I feel queasy, even though I’m starving. When I starve, I only want plastic straws, and everything else nauseates me. “I’m sure she’s fine,” the super says, but the night before, I heard three quick whacks of a blunt object, and then what s...

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“Thou Shalt Not Pass Go” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #67

Father forgive me, for I have sinned. I slipped money into my pocket when my wife went to get more pretzels. You have to understand. She always wins. She wins at everything. There is no game she cannot defeat me in. No sport. No gamble. No competition. On our first date, we went bowling, and she decimated me. Made a mockery of me. Laughed at the way I was holding the ball. Criticized my every toss. If I managed to knock down a pin or two, she would step up and achieve a strike as though each individual five-pin had insulted a member of...

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“Don't Mind the Howl” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #65

I am just so embarrassed that I couldn’t have you over sooner. I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I got here. I tell you, you start unpacking, and the next thing you know, it’s the middle of the night, and a month’s gone by, and you’re shackled to the wall going “Hey, what’s going on here?” You ever had that happen to you? The number of times I wake up, and I’m chained to a radiator or a doorknob or a pipe or something, and at first, it’s very disorienting. Usually I’m not wearing any clothes, because, well, so, you know, I try ...

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“And I'm Not Even Dead Yet” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #64

I came to the house A few days before I died. That’s how it works. Most people-- Should I be explaining this to you? I don't think I should But I'm dead So the consequences Of doing something I shouldn't seem...negligible? Then again I'm not dead At the moment Although I'm headed that way. With most people The soul leaves the body A few days Before the body Is no longer... ...Accessible to it. Transition periods Are important Even when you’re talking About life and death. So… You get a few days To get your bearings in ord...

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“To Name a Goat” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #63

I like to cut along the dotted line. That’s what I like to do. Of course, you’re welcome to cut in any way you see fit. I believe that’s up to you. You can--If you want to go all outside the box with it, that’s fine. I don’t mind that at all. Who am I to mind? I’m a big nobody-at-all, that’s who I am. I like to cut out little dogs and cats for posting all over the classroom. The kids love dogs and cats. I like to let them name the dogs and cats once they’re thumb-tacked to the walls. It’s a little ceremony we do, the kids and me, namin...

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“The Bear” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #62

The Bear is going to sleep. She picks up the phone and calls Roger at the cave. Roger is eating a dead rabbit and when the phone rings, he looks up, rabbit blood pooled at the corners of his lips, and decides not to answer. Roger is aware that the Bear is just about ready to go to sleep, because it’s that time of year, and the rabbits are getting clumsier, but also less tasty, and so he knows that the Bear is going to hibernate soon, but for much longer this time, because she’s getting tired of waking up, and he knows he should answer th...

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“Let the Fire Do the Work” by Story Time

Submitted to Contest #61

Outside her house, there’s a tree on fire. Her hand holding the blue coffee mug that says “Another Morning” doesn’t even shake as she looks out the window and sees the tabby flames consume the branch Chet fell from that summer he broke his arm. That summer he turned eleven and got sweet on the girl two houses down who was either named Marie or Mary and begged her to let him go to sleep-away camp. She had never been eager to let him out of her sight, and after her divorce, her anxiety over his care only intensified. She would wait until h...

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Author bio

Stories and a few more stories. Write something everyday.

Winning 3 stories 🏆

Contest #137
The Boy in the Pink Tuxedo – read story
Contest #134
The Hovering Age – read story
Contest #116
Straw, Sticks, and Brick – read story

Shortlisted 5 stories ⭐️

Contest #209
Goldilocks Returns – read story
Contest #142
Looking for Mr. Darcy – read story
Contest #101
Today The Phone Won't Ring – read story
Contest #99
Dracula in the Morning – read story
Contest #87
Regarding the Meat – read story