Menu

Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Directory

Contests

Magazine

FAQ

Susie Bennett

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2025

Stories (39)

Comments

Library

19 Followers

20 Following

39 Stories

608 karma pts

?

The Cartographer's Secret

Submitted to Contest #306

The Journals of Elias ThorneEntry 1: March 12th, 1888The salt air stings my face, a welcome discomfort after weeks buried in London’s suffocating fog. The Sea Serpent creaks beneath my boots, eager to swallow the horizon. This is it. The Royal Geographical Society has entrusted me, Elias Thorne, with charting the uncharted – the southern coast of Terra Australis Incognita. A fanciful name for a land shrouded in mystery and speculation.Professor Armitage clapped me on the back before I boarded, his eyes gleaming with academic fervour. “Thorne...

2 likes

Where am I

Submitted to Contest #305

The biting wind tore at my exposed cheeks, staining them a forbidding crimson. Snow, a seemingly endless cascade of icy needles, relentlessly assaulted my eyes, blurring the already indistinct landscape. It took a few seconds, perhaps even a full minute, for me to realise that I was completely lost.I’d been so foolish.The map, a tattered, laminated thing that felt more like a taunt than a guide, lay crumpled in my gloved hand. Its faded markings offered no comfort, no direction. I cursed the overconfidence that had led me to stray from the m...

10 likes

I don't understand

Submitted to Contest #302

The flickering gas lamp cast elongated, dancing shadows across the cluttered shelves of Professor Eldridge’s study. Dust motes, disturbed by my frantic pacing, swirled in the weak light, mimicking the chaos in my own mind. I gripped the worn leather armrests of the professor's chair, the only stable thing in a world that had suddenly tilted on its axis. I stared at the intricate, almost alien symbols etched into the obsidian amulet lying on the mahogany desk."I don't understand," I repeated, the words a hollow echo in the silent room.Profess...

13 likes

The Raven's Shadow Over Prague

The year was 1618. Prague, the jewel of Bohemia, pulsed with a nervous energy. The Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, a staunch Catholic, was tightening his grip, threatening the hard-won religious freedoms of the Protestant Bohemians. In the labyrinthine alleys and grand squares, whispers of rebellion mingled with the incense of simmering resentment.Elias, a bookbinder with hands stained with ink and eyes that held the weight of ancient knowledge, was no soldier, no politician. He lived for the smell of aged paper, the rhythm of needle and t...

1 like

I had until midnight

Submitted to Contest #302

The neon sign of the Rusty Mug buzzed a mournful tune, casting a flickering orange glow onto my face. Rain hammered against the grimy windows, mirroring the relentless drumming in my chest. I fished out a crumpled ten from my pocket, the last of my cash, and slid it across the sticky countertop."Another one, Mickey," I mumbled, barely audible above the din of the bar.Mickey, the bartender, a man whose face looked like it had been carved from granite and weathered by a thousand storms, grunted and slapped a shot of cheap whisky in front of me...

11 likes

Alia's Special Biryani kahan milega?

The humid Karachi air hung thick and heavy, clinging to Zara like a damp cloth. She adjusted her headscarf, the vibrant silk doing little to alleviate the discomfort. Around her, the bustling marketplace throbbed with life – vendors hawking dates and spices, children chasing stray dogs, and the rhythmic clang of a blacksmith’s hammer. Zara, a British-Pakistani woman spending her summer break reconnecting with her roots, felt a strange sense of belonging and displacement all at once. She was home, but also a stranger.Today’s mission: find the...

1 like

This isn’t what I signed up for

Submitted to Contest #301

The salt spray stung Elara’s face as the skiff bucked and shuddered on the turbulent waves. The wind, a mournful howl, tore at her cloak, threatening to rip it from her grasp. Rain lashed down with the ferocity of a scorned lover, blurring the already indistinct horizon. She gripped the railing of the small vessel, her knuckles white, and swallowed hard, trying to suppress the rising tide of nausea."This isn't what I signed up for,” she muttered, the words almost lost to the storm’s fury.Just a few weeks ago, Elara had been surrounded by the...

3 likes

This box...it whispers of endings.

Submitted to Contest #301

The rhythmic clang of the grandfather clock echoed through Elias Thorne's antique-filled study, each chime a hammer blow against the fragile edifice of his composure. He sat hunched in his worn leather armchair, a half-empty glass of amber liquid trembling in his hand. Outside, the wind howled like a banshee, clawing at the ancient stone walls of Thorne Manor, a sound that mirrored the tempest raging within him.Elias, a renowned antiquarian and historian, was a man defined by order and control. His life was meticulously curated, a fortress b...

7 likes

My memories are a kaleidoscope of vibrant images

Submitted to Contest #300

The salt spray stung my face as I stood on the cliff edge, the wind tearing at my threadbare coat. Below, the churning grey water of the Atlantic crashed against the rocks, a relentless symphony of loss. I closed my eyes, the image of Avonlea rising in my mind, not as it was now, a mere memory etched in the hearts of a few, but as it had been.Avonlea. A name that tasted of sea salt and peat smoke, a place that existed on the fringes of the world, clinging to the craggy coastline of Ireland with the tenacity of a limpet. It wasn't on any map,...

6 likes

Queen Victoria pantaloons were gone!

Submitted to Contest #299

Right, buckle up, butter your popcorn, and prepare for a rollercoaster of ridiculousness. I present to you the saga of Bartholomew Butterfield and the Case of the Purloined Pantaloons.Bartholomew Butterfield, a man whose life was as beige as his wardrobe, lived in the quaint, somewhat eccentric village of Little Piddleton. Bartholomew’s greatest passion in life, aside from meticulously alphabetising his collection of commemorative spoons, was his collection of antique pantaloons. Not just any pantaloons, mind you. These were pantaloons of hi...

4 likes

A bridge between people

Submitted to Contest #299

The city was a symphony of honking taxis, chattering crowds, and distant sirens—a chaotic melody to which Leo, the clown, danced. Not literally, not yet. He stood in the alleyway beside O’Malley’s Irish Pub, adjusting his oversized shoes and painting a fresh, vibrant red smile onto his face with practiced ease. The damp chill of the evening seeped into his thin costume, but Leo didn't mind. He was about to step into his element.Leo wasn’t just any clown. He was Leo the Luminous, the Purveyor of Peculiarities, the Master of Merriment (at leas...

11 likes

He was finally free to start living

Submitted to Contest #298

The salt spray stung Elias’s face, a familiar welcome after years away from the sea. He gripped the worn railing of the ferry, the wood smooth under his calloused hands, a ghost of the fisherman he once was. He was returning to Oakhaven, the village cradled in the crook of the bay, the village he had sworn he’d never see again. He was returning for forgiveness.Twenty years. Twenty years since the storm, since the accident, since the unforgivable. The guilt had burrowed deep, a constant ache that no landlocked life could ever ease. He had tri...

5 likes

Sunrise Yoga

Submitted to Contest #298

The old wooden sign creaked in the wind, its faded lettering barely whispering the promise of "Sunrise Yoga - Beginners Welcome!" Eliza hesitated, her hand hovering over the rusty gate. Sunrise. Yoga. Both concepts felt alien to her, foreign languages she couldn't quite grasp. For forty-two years, her mornings had been a symphony of coffee, emails, and the frantic scramble to get her kids, now thankfully fledged, out the door. Exercise, beyond the occasional sprint to catch a bus, was a myth she read about in magazines.Eliza was, in her own ...

9 likes

The Guardian of the Woods

Submitted to Contest #297

The wind howled a mournful dirge through the skeletal branches of the ancient oaks, a sound that mirrored the turmoil churning inside Elara. It was just before dawn, the air thick with a pre-dawn chill that seeped into her bones despite the heavy cloak she wore. The sky, a bruised purple fading to a sickly grey on the eastern horizon, held no promise of warmth or light. Here, on the precipice of a decision that would alter the course of her life, the world felt bleak and unforgiving.For generations, Elara's family had been bound to the Whisp...

3 likes

The Lighthouse Keeper

The old lighthouse keeper, Silas, had a secret as deep and swirling as the ocean surrounding his solitary post. For fifty years, he’d stood sentinel, a weathered figure against the crashing waves, guiding ships away from the treacherous Devil’s Teeth. But the light he shone for others was a stark contrast to the darkness he kept hidden within himself.His secret wasn't a crime, not in the eyes of the law. It was, in Silas’s estimation, a betrayal. A betrayal of trust, of nature, and of the very essence of himself. He clung to it, wrapped it i...

1 like