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Tempest Phoenix Smith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023

Stories (54)

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18 Followers

8 Following

54 Stories

1008 karma pts

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Watch for a Sign

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #302

Daffodils raised their yellow trumpets all over the Yorkshire landscape to announce that longer days and better weather were on their way. However, with Mothering Sunday on the horizon, Carolyn was oblivious to their cheerful presence as if the cold and bleak, dark, dismal, gale-drenched winter continued to hold sway. She even still wore her winter coat though not her woolly hat and gloves more from being self-conscious than feeling warm enough as the winds came sharp and bitter sometimes even when the sun was shining.Up early to get her dai...

4 likes

Message Delivered

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #301

She drifted back to earth from a dream of moonlight shining down on the central courtyard of the temple as the women gathered to celebrate another full moon. The caw of a crow mingled with the sound of birdsong, a beam of sunlight warming her face and the rising grief that the temple was only a ruin now after so many centuries.But they had celebrated last night which always invigorated her. She opened her eyes and stretched, reached to secure the sheath of her hunting knife on the belt at her waist before sitting up and straightening her thi...

4 likes

Between the Lines

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #298

Although bright and sunny outside, it was a dark day when the texts flew back and forth that made our friendship trip and falter and sprawl like a centipede that had forgotten how to organise forward motion for each of those hundred tiny feet.Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.Mine the fault, mine the fault, mine the most grievous fault.Though I hadn’t seen the inside of a Catholic church for years except when attending essential family events and that one Christmas Midnight Mass when I was dating a devout Roman Catholic, the old Latin w...

10 likes

Desperation

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #297

Under the tranquil rise of light that fades the night sky before dawn, I set my jaw against the desire to vomit as I edged my way across the battlefield. A handful of crows already enjoyed their own treasure trove, feasting on those slimy ropes that spilled from a belly or pecking at an eye that would never see again.I felt most sorry for the horses who had not chosen this battle. One, which lay collapsed, gazed at me so pitifully that I changed course to have a closer look. The shattered foreleg from which the bone protruded made my stomach...

4 likes

Recycling Bank

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #296

I changed my mind a dozen times before that Saturday morning came in the height of summer or what passes for such in Britain.Much too good at talking myself out of one decision and into another and back again. Story of my life, relationships and jobs that drained me, sticking it out in the hopes of improvement which never happened or only in fits and starts that failed to satisfy.But when the day arrived that I finally came to grips with the situation, for once and for all, my choice seemed not just inevitable but as if it had been the only ...

7 likes

Invitation

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #295

I couldn’t resist. You know what I’m like.Because I know how confused mortals can get, I was careful, though.The muses would have laughed. I wore black and shrunk myself down into the form of an elderly widow. Uncomfortable, but I could bear it for the hour or so that this would take.I must say the tiny velvet hat adorned with a black-petalled rose was the exquisite final touch.A black lace curtain concealed my face.I walked with a slight hesitation as if maybe I needed a walking stick but was too proud to use one. This was something of a mi...

4 likes

A Whole Herd of Elephants

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #294

“I want to talk about a pair of elephants,” I said as the end credits rolled for It’s A Wonderful Life on the Panasonic flat-screen television that we had saved up for and finally purchased in the after-Christmas sales. We had allowed a small contribution from our twenty-three-year-old daughter for both of our birthdays and Christmas combined.My other half looked at me with a dubious expression. “Let me guess. You want us to adopt some elephants through World Wildlife, is that it?”“Much as that idea has merit,” I replied, “we’ll circle back ...

19 likes

Attitude

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #293

On the eve of Midsummer’s Day, Fredric looked around the crowded High Street for anything green. He saw various bits of green clothing that people were wearing, a shiny dark green handbag, an emerald-striped shopping carrier, but no trace of the feathered fluff ball.“You don’t make it easy,” he muttered, standing still outside W.H. Smith’s bookshop. Surely, it was only five minutes since their arrival. Then he remembered missing the first train and glanced at his watch. “I’m late!” he told nobody in particular. “Again.” A woman walking along...

3 likes

Brittany and the Black Cat

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #292

The last thing Brittany wanted or needed was anything else being put on her plate.Dealing with her solicitor who was trying to obtain a reasonable settlement during the course of her divorce continually occupied her mind. Sometimes, she thought about getting in touch with her soon to be ex-husband and negotiate herself, but how badly had that gone last time she tried? Not worth the aggravation.Then there was the daily grind of being a Customer Happiness Agent from noon to 8 in the evening on weekdays and sometimes doing extra on a Saturday, ...

2 likes

Road Trip

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #291

Waking up disagreed with me so I resisted the process, clinging to the dream of throwing a stick for Dasher to fetch as we walked together through the Redwoods. I generally tired of this game well before he did.Finally, I blinked myself awake to a reality that no longer held the Dachshund who had accompanied me on so many adventures. I knew my faithful companion still existed somewhere beyond the reach of even my deeper sense that tuned me in to so many things that full-blooded humans seldom perceived. Perhaps I had visited him in my dream o...

9 likes

Hiding in Plain Sight

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #290

Going nowhere, parked up, hands resting on the steering wheel, I listened to the rain dancing on the car roof. I watched bright droplets shimmer on the windscreen wiped dutifully away by the repetitive ker-thup of the wipers. Beyond, the lighthouse rose like a giant white chess bishop surrounded by cloudy sky and overlooking the crash of the waves along the pebbled beach. I broke the trance my mind was sinking toward, released the wheel, flicked the wipers to neutral and turned off the ignition. I stared at the dangling keychain, carefu...

17 likes

Popeye the Sailor’s Dog

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #289

The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.Chrissy repeated the words to herself, eyes closed, until a scene from her past finally surfaced like a negative developing under the red light of her best friend’s improvised darkroom. The cramped dark space had made her too claustrophobic to share that part of the hobby, but they often did photo shoots together.Eleven years old and two thousand miles from home, Chrissy sat cross-legged in aqua shorts, a horizontally striped red and white t-shirt, tennis shoes and pink socks on the pale gr...

13 likes

Risk

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #289

Emerald smiled the smouldering smile required and gave a coy wave with her fingers which implied she would be right back. No point in trying to say anything under the crashing heavy metal music that echoed from wall to wall inside the nightclub. The player’s greedy eyes reflected her gold spangles, no doubt already imagining her satisfying his every craving. Not so much player as predator—assuming she was his prey.Even a shade for hire needed to powder her nose now and then, realign her parameters due to excessive sensory input so as to...

19 likes

Peace and Quiet

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #288

Trevor knocked again, knuckles loud, annoyed with the heavy rain already soaking through his shirt and continually pattering on his head like miniature fingers on a hairy drum.He searched the edges of the door for a doorbell in case he’d missed it, but no button to press.Florida was not living up to his expectations. How many others had been lured here by the promises of eternal sunshine and balmy breezes? Sharks ruining the idea of swimming in the ocean, bulbous frogs jumping out from bushes, their ugly corpses littering the roads and espec...

8 likes

Maestro

Tempest Phoenix Smith

Submitted to Contest #287

The Maestro stared out of the broad bay window and watched the rain falling onto his capacious front gardens. His eyes followed the paved path to one side that led toward the distant street. He tried to imagine the steady progress of the sturdy black umbrella bobbing up the path, glimpsing the tweed coat and long grey skirt underneath as if the force of his will could make her appear.But he lost patience. “Where is the blessed Housekeeper?” he grumbled.The only answer was the tick of the grandfather clock which presided over his study.He loo...

3 likes