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Tricia Shulist

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021

Stories (200)

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200 Stories

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The Parr Tea House

THE PARR TEA HOUSE “Do you want to meet up tonight?” Tilda asked her best friend Bethany. “Sure. Where?” “How about the Parr Tea House?” “Eww! Sounds like fun! What time?” “Eight-ish?” “Sounds perfect!” said Bethany.“Text me the address.” Bethany ended the call. Even though she thought eight o’clock was a little early for a night of clubbing, she was super excited because this was the first time in almost two months that Tilda had wanted to get together for a night out on the town. Two months was a long t...

4 likes

More Than A Feeling

MORE THAN A FEELING It was a usual work day for Amber, and her alarm went off at seven, as usual. But what wasn’t usual was the fact that she was already awake, and had been hours. Instead of waking up as usual, she was staring up at the ceiling, wide-eyed, trying to remember the nightmare. The nightmare that had caused her to come fully awake, gasping for air, sitting bolt up in bed, hands clutching at her racing heart. She knew that it had been a truly horrific nightmare, but she couldn’t remember a single thing about i...

2 likes

Everybody Needs Some Buddy

EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME BUDDY “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” The cheer went up, reverberating around the square. I snorted. “Yeah, Happy New Year.” I looked out at the crowd. It was small compared to anything from before the pandemic, but still larger than the 2020 crowd, when there was no ball drop, and the only people allowed in Times Square were health care workers. The rest of the world had to watch the new year arrive virtually. This year the crowd was what, fifteen thousand? That’s still a lot of people, and a lot of g...

5 likes

Better Late than Never

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER I looked at my watch — 5:56 pm. I really needed to step lively if I was going to make it. I had to get to the bank before closing time at 6:00 pm because I really needed to get into my safety deposit box. The ATM can do a lot of things, but that was not one of them. I hustled a little faster. I know. I know. Why wait ’til the last minute — again? I had every intention of going to the bank right after lunch, but I met a friend for linch, and it went longer than I expected. T...

5 likes

The Game

THE GAME “This sucks.” I plopped down on the ground, and crossed my arms across my chest. “I know.” My cousin Cathy laid back on the grass. “I hate it here. It’s so boring.” “I know, right?.” I considered the three weeks that I was spending at my Grandparents’ farm a prison sentence. A really, really boring prison sentence. Summer was supposed to be fun — hanging out with friends, sleeping in. Not sitting around watching the corn grow. I looked over at Cathy. She was eleven, a bit...

6 likes

Monica and the Five Stages of Grief -- A Different Take on the Meaning of "Stage"

MONICA AND THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF — A DIFFERENT TAKE ON THE MEANING OF “STAGE” Monica looked down at the gravestone with her husband’s name on it. She was feeling okay. Not great, considering, but a whole heck of a lot better than she had been the day Seth had announced that their marriage was over. That had been the worst day — Day One of a new life; not a life Monica sought for herself, but one foisted on her by Seth. Stage 1: Denial “I want a divorce.” Monica looked at her husband, shock showing on her fa...

3 likes

When the Going Gets Tough ...

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH ... “We’re not going anywhere. We’re stuck.” I looked around, panicked. We were surrounded by an ocean of cars and trucks and motorcycles, and not a single one was moving. “We can’t be stuck. We have to go!” “I know, Tilda, but there’s nothing I can do.” “You have to do something, Jacob, because if you don’t, this is not going to turn out well.” I threw myself back in the seat, gritting my teeth as pain racked my body. Oh, God, I thought. I can’t stand this. Make it stop...

7 likes

Big Surprises in Small Packages

BIG SURPRISES IN SMALL PACKAGES The doorbell rang, and of course, the dog lost her bananas. Bark, bark, bark, twirl, twirl, twirl, bark, bark, bark, jump, jump jump, bark, bark bark … you get the idea. I love my dog, don’t get me wrong. But man, she’s, what eight now? How many times has the doorbell rung? A million? And each and every time she loses her mind. Why? I have no idea. The majority of recent doorbell rings have been either friends or deliveries. Nothing heinous. Just pals or packa...

5 likes

The Gift of Qamar

THE GIFT OF QAMAR The woman looked down at her fingernails. They were filthy and ragged. Her eyes continued down to her worn and dirty jeans. They didn’t even fit her anymore. They were baggy, too long, and she held them up with a hank of old yellow rope she had found on the street. Her shoes were worn and she knew that she was only a few days away from wearing a hole all the way through the sole of her left shoe. She was thankful she didn’t have a mirror. She did not want to scrutinize her own reflecti...

4 likes

Case Closed

CASE CLOSED “Back in my day, when a person tried to kill another person, the police hunted that person down, arrested their ass, and threw them in jail!” “Mr. Byrne, that’s what we’re trying to do. But we need you to tell us everything that happened." “Bullshit!” said Byrne, slapping his hands flat on the table. The handcuff chains rattled and clanked. “If that was what you were doing, I wouldn’t be sitting here trussed up like a common criminal.” There were three people in the police interview room: ...

6 likes

Ghost in the Machine

GHOST IN THE MACHINE Abigail plopped herself down and closed her eyes. She was exhausted and wasn’t sure she could do it all over again tomorrow. But, she knew she would. She closed her eyes and wished for a glass of Merlot to magically appear on the table beside her. She opened one eye and peeked at the table. No Merlot. She sighed, opened both eyes all the way, and looked around the room. It looked as if a tornado had been through it. A little tiny dark-haired twenty-five pound tornado named Angelica — or ...

5 likes

How Quickly Things Can Change

HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN CHANGE I knew it was late in the season. I knew that I shouldn’t go camping this time of the year. I knew the weather was unpredictable in the mountains. I knew all of these things, but I didn’t care. I just needed to get away. Far away. And I needed to be alone, to figure things out. And how did that work out for you, Elle? Not well, not well at all … * “I don’t give a shit what you say. I’m not going to prostitute myself so that you can get the account!” Jason, m...

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A Ghost Story

A GHOST STORY MISSING TEEN — FAMILY AND POLICE WORRIED FOR HER SAFETY. Family and police are seeking information about the disappearance of Bernadette George, 16, who vanished from her family home sometime Saturday. Bernadette was last seen by her parents at 3:00 p.m. Saturday when they travelled out of town for the evening, leaving Bernadette alone in the house. Upon their arrival back home at approximately 2:00 a.m., they noticed signs of a struggle in the house, and found Bernadette missing. Her parents, Hilary and Wins...

4 likes

The Chicken House — Jemma

This is a continuation of another entry, but is still a stand-alone story THE CHICKEN HOUSE — JEMMA 2021 Jemma put her phone down. It had been her brother Allister. He wanted to get together and talk about the what had happened at the Chicken House. She had agreed to come over to his place on the weekend, but she was conflicted. Did she really want to dredge up the past? 1997 Jemma maneuvered her head between the spindles at the top of the stairs. She tilted her head towards the kitchen, where ...

4 likes

Broken

BROKEN tw: school shootingPROLOUGE 9:11 am I looked at the clock. There had been no sounds for almost two minutes.“Okay, okay, okay” I whispered to myself, heart pounding in my chest. “What do I do now?”I looked at the twenty-three faces looking back at me, waiting for me to do something. Waiting for me to save them. I felt sick.The pre-recorded message started again: “ATTENTION. THE SCHOOL IS IN LOCK-DOWN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. STAY IN YOUR CLASSROOMS. LOCK YOUR DOORS. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” We sat on the fl...

11 likes