Tanja Cilia

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020

Stories (37)

37 Stories

993 karma pts

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“Life, As We Know It” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #86

 Hibernation is for hedgehogs. And skunks. And bears. And me.  That thought was on a loop in my mind as I left the Clinic. “It’s something between torpor, and sedation, and suspended animation…” The doctor had explained. “This is a very, very innovative and exploratory therapy. During the time you will be under, you will have time to dream, to think, to examine your life so far… and make plans for your future. There will be Life, but not as you know it right now. There will be Friendships, Motion, and Sustenance, so do not worry...

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“City Limits ” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #85

 That’s the thing about this city… it was built on another that was built on another that was… ad infinitum. Well, not really… only since Neanderthal times. The river and the fertile soil make it an ideal place for a settlement. That is why it abounds with entities, both seen and unseen. Some call us angels; some call us sprites, spirits, ghosts, saints, nymphs, deities or other numinous beings; some call in the exorcists, and some are adamant that we do not exist… according to which religion, superstation or folklore, or none, the...

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“Well Enough” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #84

Is it Sunday? There’s not as much traffic as yesterday on the street…It’s windy. No, it’s Thursday. I’m thirsty too – let’s go and have a coffee…This joke used to be funny. But that was when I was not yet almost completely deaf, and when I thought I would live for a thousand years.And here I am, waiting to die. I’m so sad and lonely. All I have to look forward to is… nothing. Not even the thought of the next meal excites me. Only cooking it, does. I used to love my food… the kitchen was my domain… I baked up a storm during the weekends, and ...

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“Running Totals” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #82

“I want you to have this!” she said. I undid the bow and opened the shoebox. I eased out the gift inside. It was something full of bells and whistles; a thingamabob between a Fidget Box that is given to those inclined to stim, and Ziggy, the Supercomputer of Quantum Leap. “Will it bite?” She laughed. “What does this do? And this? And this?” “That is for you to find out…” She smiled, and took her leave, not even staying for coffee or ice-cream.     I was one big mess. I had a list of ailments and conditions as lo...

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“The Food of Love” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #81

love is a sandstorm undulating sand-dune sea a map is useless love is a marble hard glass encases a core that’s unreachable love is an onion it’s got a hundred layers and it makes you cry! love is a corner of the street or of a room; according to choice love is a cycle; flowers bloom, and then wither leaving seeds for more like unravelled wool love is so complicated not one end in sight I snapped my school diary shut. It wouldn’t do for Brown Cow to ask what I was scribbling – again! Heaven knows the stick I got when I said ...

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“Tunnel Vision” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #80

As soon as I saw the tunnel, I knew that it just had to be mine.I knew why and wherefore I wanted it – I knew I would even sell my tiara to obtain enough funds, if I had to. But of course, I wouldn’t have to. Of course not.My mother had always told me about “the light at the end of the tunnels” and she was being her usual ambiguous self. Yet, here it was, in Glorious Technicolor – or as much as an underground tunnel could be thus – and it was what I had visualised all my life.You know those Road Runner cartoons, where a lightbulb switches on...

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“Stone Walls, Iron Bars” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #79

Hey, you, out there; you think you know everything there is to know about incarcerated women. But you are grossly misinformed. Just because you watch re-runs of Locked Up, Orange is the New Black, Wentworth, or Prisoners, you can’t even begin to know what life is like behind bars in a women’s prison. Each of us has a different story. Oh yes, the dramas about favouritism, butches and Nellies, and physical and psychological violence do exist. There is torture, there are murderers, there are thriving back markets for necessities, and there...

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“Happy Days” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #78

“Think about it. If you’re still interested, give me a call and I’ll set you up!” And with that, she cycled away, ever so gracefully, despite her girth. But let me start at the beginning. The lethargic spinning of the fan blades, whirling over the heads of the congregation, was hypnotising me as they caused the disco balls to sway ever so slightly, creating nauseating patterns on the walls as the mirrors reflected the neon lights. The place was stuffy, and smelled of stale sweat and a million different deodorants, perfumes, and fabric ...

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“Museum Piece ” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #77

It was just my luck.I hadn’t even been a week at my new job, and here I was, stuck inside the Museum because of bad weather. And I wasn’t even supposed to be there, in the first place.Bad weather, did I say? It turned out to be The Storm of The Century – The Grandmother of all Blizzards of March 14, 1973 – my birthday, incidentally.In my gap year, just for fun, I had been working as a waitress at Le Riche Oursin, an upmarket French Bistrot in the tourist area. Who should walk in but the curator of the Graffiti Plus Art Museum – only, I ...

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“Soap Opera” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #76

“There you are.I've been waiting for ages. But I knew that sooner or later you would come to do the MSN Solitaire Collection, because there’s just enough time for you to finish the five games before the episode begins... That is one of the good things about being able to watch television on your laptop, and having a smart television, so you can hop back and forth between the two, according to whether or not you are alone in the house.Am I not the clever one? I knew that you would notice the new icon, and that you’d click on it to s...

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“House Hunting” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #75

“This is the year I will get out of here.” You call it the Psychiatric Hospital. I call it the Funny Farm – funny as in weird, not funny as in ha-ha. The day I checked myself voluntarily for hospitalisation into a psychiatric ward, I didn’t quite know what I had let myself in for. But my state of mind – or rather the voice reverberating in my brain – told me it would be the best thing to do. I was the only remaining sibling from a family of seven. Our parents were dead, and I was all alone… no one on either side of the family had want...

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“Abracadabra” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #74

December 18It is the beginning of the end; the first time that I find something missing.I have OCD. So, I know where everything is. I don’t even have to look at what I am bringing out of the cupboards.When I put my hand up for my cappuccino cup and felt an empty space, I was flummoxed. I looked in the sink, on the draining board, on the bedside cabinet. Nada. Zilch. I took out my second-favourite cup, and… I discovered that all the mocha pods were missing. December 19 Ah. Today it was a light bulb from the chandelier in the ballroom. I notic...

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“Light Relief” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #73

I was the first coryphĂ©e to pirouette offstage when the cue was Exeunt Stage Left. I almost always, but not quite, avoided getting dizzy and / or smashing into the backdrop, thereby making things difficult for the rest of the nymphs and dryads sprites and naiads. I had joined the troupe with a view to going places during my gap year – not because I liked dancing. My sister’s boyfriend had high hopes for me; he said my height and carrot-top would make me famous. You don't often see tall ballerinas, do you? In fact, they X-Ray the wrists ...

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“Flight of Fancy” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #72

Leeza woke up with a start, bathed in sweat. She’d been having one of those weird dreams, parts of which were recurring. Her shrink said they were replete with suppressed memories and significant objects, but she knew they were her brain’s way of saving her from having to resort to electroerasure therapy. She was in a classroom, the walls of which were painted aquamarine, and decorated with stuck-on pictures of fish. This gave her the feeling of being inside an aquarium. Outside the classroom, there was a lot of noise; children were play...

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“The Not-so-Duff Duff Duff” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #71

The plan was perfect. At least, so it seemed, on paper. I was chosen to bring to fruition a Sting Operation for the Government of Zirconia, with the aid of the Secret Service. I was to go, find a huge house, buy it, and insinuate myself into the community. I would work undercover, and help nab all the bad apples that passed my way… that is, members of the Five Families that went by the oldest documented surnames in Zirconia – Allard, Catteja, Faljon, Glech, and Lenponi. How I would do so was up to me – but money was no going to be a pr...

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Author bio

Maltese, Mediterranean, European.