Tom .

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (10)

10 Stories

1660 karma pts

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“Wishing Well Questions” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #95

I am sitting behind my house trying to place some order to everything that happened. It is a big house, but not really a house at all. It is more of a huge shambling wreck. I just live down in one little corner of it. I am sitting on the edge of a concrete well. It is like an ugly sewer pipe facing in the wrong direction. It is pointing directly to the sky instead of out across and spoiling some idyllic forgotten water course. I know that this place for some reason is important. I cannot seem to remember why. I just know that here some of th...

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“The Door Home” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #95

The sound of my running feet dominated the silence on the moor. My heaving breath was visible in the cold air. A silver moonlight illuminated the ground and a fog was rolling in. My visibility was impaired and that made the sound of my running seem like everything. I headed uphill to escape the mist. I was lost. Although, that was the least of my worries. I was not trying to escape the fog. I was trying to escape what brought the fog. Halfway up the long slope, I stopped. I tried to get my bearings. I could hear a crisp, continuous patter co...

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“Man Bites Dog” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #94

I read once that revenge was like biting a dog that bit you. Whoever said that failed to realise everyman must bite his dog. The secret is to bite the dog first. That is what happens in the wild. When a new litter of puppies is born into the pack, the alpha dog, on their first night, bites each puppy hard on the scruff of their necks. It is important. It is their initiation into the pack. That puppy knows pain for the first time; knows its source and respects and fears it. When you first take that new puppy home, for your family; you must ...

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“Why is a Laser Beam like a Goldfish?” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #82

“I have a friend. He keeps trying to convince me he’s a compulsive liar, but I don’t believe him.”“Good Opener, okay FEZ let’s go old school, a joke about marriage.”“My wife and I were happy for twenty years; then we met.”“Excellent, excellent, tell me a joke about winter.”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Stop FEZ, Open Delivery protocols, increase pause after ‘another’ by 20%. Repeat”“One snowman asks another, “Do you smell carrots?””“Much better, much better, right tell me a famous joke”“I said to the gym instructor: Can...

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“Down to Earth” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #81

“Look it happens, you have fallen off the treadmill of this pretend normal life. There are so many cracks in this delicate, false reality that it’s easy to fall through one if you’re not careful. Suddenly, right now, you can’t find any meaning or value. This for you is the first time you have discovered that the life you’re living sucks, but you are lucky because most of us have always known that. You can just as easily have everything you ever wanted except now you know it has absolutely no meaning. You may feel these enormous waves of sadn...

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“Jenny the Penny” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #79

Find a penny pick it up and all day you’ll have good luck.You ‘ave always made fun of me for tha’ one.Jenny the Penny you called me.My whole life I picked up every penny I found. Tha’ glint of light on the ground appeals to the inner magpie in all of us. Do you know ancient cultures thought found coins were important? To find metal was precious it was a gift from the gods. For me, it goes back to being a little kid with my grandma walkin’ across the heath and findin’ my first penny. I held it up to her in the light. All shiny and new like a ...

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“The Sinned Beneath my Stings” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #78

“The first rule of Bug Fight Club: is you don’t talk about Bug Fight Club. The second rule of Bug Fight Club: is you don’t talk about…”“Joe, are you for real?”“I’m sorry, Officer Fletcher," Joe said, "I'm only messin’, I've been waitin’ to say that to someone all night. No hard feelin’s.”Fletcher smiled at the huge Samoan doorman. It was impossible to argue with him. It had nothing to do with his hulking size or his politeness. He hypnotised you with a child-like softness to his voice.“Very funny, Joe.”“I haven't seen you at one of these bef...

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“Plato's Peak” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #77

“The worst type of man behaves as badly in his waking life as some men do in their dreams.” ― Someone very clever a long time ago The plan was simple. Descend the mountain. Go to town, locate the prize, take it. Then escape and return to the cabin. Then, quietly enjoy my life waiting out the reset of civilisation. Everything had been going perfectly. I had located the prize in an old abandoned office block. It was my escape that went pear shaped. The town was now fortified had been for three years but I had gained access through the s...

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“Ray of Light” by Tom .

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #76

“Father Daley, Father Daley, it is me, Ray Meehan.”“Hello Ray.”“You're not Father Daley.”“Ray this is the confessional. You do not have to introduce yourself.”“Sorry, Father Michael. I am tryin' to find Father Daley.”“The confessional is for the Sacrament of Penance, a cornerstone of our faith. Not for locating individual members of the clergy.”“So you don’t know where he is?”“I did not say that.”“Oh.”“Are you here for the Sacrament of Penance?”“Not really. I have looked everywhere for Father Daley and this was the only place I had not check...

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“Good Old Joe has Something to Confess” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #75

You can call me Joe.It is not my real name, but it is a good name.It is an everyman name.Joe can have almost any identity, be any shape, age or size.Joe steps over the divides we erect between ourselves.Whether it be Regular Joe, G.I. Joe or just your run of the mill, Joe Blow; there is a space in all our lives for Joe. We can even wake up in the morning and drink a cup of Joe. Anyway I promised you a secret, something nobody knows about me, so to make this easier to tell, we can pretend it is just happening to Joe. Good old Joe, who just li...

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Author bio

Jenny the Penny on Vocal, check it out (the reads will help with judging). https://vocal.media/stories/two-cents Trying something new. A destination for my stories when I think they are ready. Some of my old stories I deleted before Christmas are now here also. https://vocal.media/authors/tom-mdd17c06as I am currently using all of you as Beta readers. I will not apologise as you are excellent at it. Most of my entries here are going to be for other competitions or places. I will only post here if it is allowed within the rules of the competition. That means i will delete perfectly good stories when I am satisfied with them. I will repost them at a later date if a prompt fits. I am 43 years of age. I am posting here to get feedback. So let me know what you think as I will usually be just testing out ideas. Comments after submission will be gratefully received. More often than not the finished piece is still unpolished. I have been carrying on work on them afterwards. Please only comment to tell me what is good or bad. I have an unusual process I build the story first so if something very new is posted it will be stiff, I then rework it into something a little more pliable. Thank you and have an awesome day. https://vocal.media/vocal-plus?via=thomas

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #76

Ray of Light – read story