Tempest Phoenix Smith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023

Stories (30)

30 Stories

499 karma pts

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“Goldilocks and the Wolf” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #277

The wolf liked chasing this particular boy. He helped the three little pigs, didn’t he? He helped them rebuild that house of straw and that house of sticks every single time. Otherwise, the wolf might have had more chance of piglet for lunch—or maybe several lunches if it was the really plump juicy pig—long before now.Close enough that he knew the boy could smell his hot breath, he enjoyed inhaling the tempting aroma of fear as he chased, even if experience told him that he wasn’t likely to be able to bite that ankle or that leg or anyt...

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“Wicked Way with Words” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #277

Lecker means delicious in my father’s tongue. Not to be confused with lecture which he often did, especially after my sixteenth birthday when he warned me about so many things.Do not borrow money—this will lose you friends. He meant lending, actually, and I still confuse this word myself all these years later despite my mistake being corrected again and again. I tried to get round this by giving money instead when a friend of mine was stranded in December for lack of money to purchase a transatlantic flight to visit her much-missed boyfriend...

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“Surfer Poet” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #276

What brought us together? We couldn’t have been more different when we first met.Even being female was not really something we had in common as we were at the opposite ends of that scale, as far apart as if we belonged to different species.She danced into the windowless classroom in the maze of Adams Humanities in a swirl of colourful clothing, already conversing with several other students as easily as breathing, even to the boys, maybe especially to them actually, reflecting back on it. From snatches of conversation, I understood that...

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“Snowfall” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #275

Though my sensors continually monitored the environment around us, that was an automatic process, so, treading onward, I focused most of my attention on following the big black cat and his smaller tawny brown sister as they dashed around like kittens in the snow, their paws sinking into the cold white stuff. Snowflakes adorned the long whiskers of the black cat. He paused and shook himself to dislodge some snow from his dark flank then ran after his playfellow, lumbering where she danced.I consistently monitored their energy expenditure...

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“Twin-Pearl Ring” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #274

Melinda rearranged the silk scarf with blue colourways and gave her reflection a critical stare. People, well, mostly the housekeepers had always said she was pretty, but all she saw was that the blues of the scarf made her stormy blue eyes more noticeable.She liked the eighteenth birthday gift from the Portuguese housekeeper but refused to believe it would bring her the promised good luck. Stroking the blue scarf, she tried to pick up some nuance of the woman’s personality, but felt nothing. The guardian had probably cleansed the gift of an...

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“White Jacket” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #273

It was a Tuesday. As Melinda walked beside her guardian, she watched swifts weave their aerial paths above Castle Street, flying and feasting on their breakfast in mid-air. Someone talking rapidly distracted her. She glanced down the side street and watched a business suited man clutching a mobile phone while carrying a laptop under his other arm.With practiced ease, she disengaged, not wanting to find out what lay beneath the spikes of frustration, though envying him both gadgets. Everyone had technology at their fingertips except her.Child...

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“Elbows and Knees” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #272

Sleeping three in a bed, top to tail, was never an outcome that any of us wanted. But the flat was cold enough that whenever we spoke, our breath misted the air as if we were dragons. Benedict tried for a while to sleep in the tin bath, but kept bashing himself on the sides. Besides, he reported that the tin radiated cold, which, naturally, it would do. We never bathed properly anymore as heating enough water was far too much effort and only the first of us to bathe felt much of a benefit. One less thing to argue about when we gave up on bat...

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“Green Apple with Cheese” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #272

She rubbed the towel against her hair which was damp where the shower spray had caught it. When she entered the room, she saw at once that he was asleep on the sofa, his long legs squashed to fit the cramped space. She felt her eyebrow quirk upwards, a movement out of her control. Not much was, these days. She hung the towel on a chair and walked into the kitchen. Domesticity amused her sometimes. She clicked the kettle on that she had already filled for the two of them. Soon, she carried an aqua tray with two full m...

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“Between Stations” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #271

"Never seen so many blooming sheep," the Londoner commented in a feeble attempt at a Yorkshire accent to his wife as the train rumbled onwards. "Must be more sheep up here than people." She provided the obligatory laugh, then both of them lapsed into silence for which I was grateful.Though tempted to tell them they should try travelling through Wales, I kept silent and stared out the window. Sheep and green hills here, of course, in Yr Hen Gogledd, the Old North, which had once, historians said, been part and parcel of Wales.Not that anybody...

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“Taking in the Laundry” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #270

Early one morning from her kitchen window, Grannie Annie studied the storm clouds speeding toward the village. Next door’s clothes danced, pegged out on the line strung over the new family’s back garden.   She only had a nodding acquaintance with them so far, but they seemed nice enough. The little boy had not come to Storytime at the library yet on a Saturday morning, but she expected he would in time. She knew she would tell the right story for him when he did. After a moment’s consideration, she realised that nobody would be home in ...

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“Gleaming like a Drop of Blood” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #269

“I make the decisions for the business,” Nathaniel Benedict growled. “Remember that.”No expression on that poker face, of course. Nate didn’t give Tom any time to reply, but stormed out of Maggie’s kitchen and through the garden that surrounded the House of the Setting Sun under another blue sky over San Francisco. Driving north and inland since then had cooled his blood, though he preferred to sit in the back and let Tom drive as that is what a wealthy man would do. Nathan liked the look of Sonoma and besides, their argument derailed breakf...

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“Marmalade Tiger” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #268

Sheila’s corner office, over the years, became a gallery presided over by photos of cats and kittens. Sibling kittens with bright eyes, a lonely oldie safe in the arms of someone who understood loneliness, a mama cat with her one surviving kitten adopted together. A number of photos lay stacked on the corner of her desk waiting for someone to venture up a ladder to affix them to the ceiling because every inch of wall space was covered, though she suggested they could adorn the corridor outside, so that discussion was still ongoing.Otherwise,...

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“Nightmare” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #267

Imagination, the essential gift for anyone with magic in their blood, could turn against a witch if exhaustion fogged the brain so much that she utterly lost herself in the depths of sleep.And this nightmare made sense. The monstrous shadows jibbering at the base of the lighthouse tower, failing to gain entrance through the main door, crept and glided along the curving wall to attack the secret door which was nearly indistinguishable from outside, could well have travelled from beyond the seascape horizon.The muffled thuds and scrabble of cl...

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“Over the Moon” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #267

On what was supposed to be the best day of her teenage years, Red felt lost in a sea of maroon graduation gowns that made everyone look the same. She watched and listened to the hubbub as parents and siblings joked with and fussed over the teenagers that she had spent four long years with at high school. Above the stage, the breeze teased a golden yellow banner with maroon writing which said: Class of 1978. It was going to feel odd to have her full name announced when she lined up on the stage with other students from her row ...

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“Meadow” by Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #266

L’scariot stood hip deep among the colourful wild flowers, lifting the beautiful woman up, the summer breeze playing with her long dark hair, the glowing sun not as bright as her smiling face. He slowly turned, his strong musculature supporting her petite weight, holding her securely so she would not fall, letting her laughter completely fill his mind.That part of him that always questioned wondered why he did not know her name, but what did that matter when they were alone together and the sun was shining?Then, aware of stealthy approach fr...

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Author bio

Tempest Phoenix Smith loves to weave words into poetry and stories. She will be launching her first Read Aloud book this year, so watch this space. Work in Progress - Lightkeeper has several chapters here on Reedsy: 1. Refuge, 2. Fever, and 3. Nightmare