Tricia Shulist

“Books Can't Do That!” by Tricia Shulist

BOOKS CAN’T DO THAT! “Ashley, go clean your room.” “Argh! I hate cleaning my room!” Ashley stomped into her room. Her mother was always telling her to clean up her bedroom. She liked her room exactly the way it was — messy. But, according to her mommy, her room was a disaster zone. Just because she was a kid her mom figured that she could...

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“We Were Once Fifteen” by Tricia Shulist

Submitted to Contest #186

WE WERE ONCE FIFTEEN “Finally, the bell. It’s a wrap. We can leave? No one needs you until tomorrow, right?” “We can leave. Sitting around waiting for someone to tell me what to do is, to put it politely, mind-numbing.” “And ass-numbing.” “Haha! True! … Lunch?” “Sure. Where? The commissary?” ...

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“A Dragon's Treasure” by Tricia Shulist

A DRAGON’S TREASURE Gruff looked around. He was surrounded by everything that he held sacred. He paused. Everything his family held sacred. Him, not so much. There was gold, and silver, and gemstones, and rings, and bracelets, and every type of treasure a dragon could want. Problem was that Gruff didn’t really want all this treasure. What good is tre...

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“Boys and Their Toys -- You Can Never Be Too Prepared” by Tricia Shulist

BOYS AND THEIR TOYS — YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO PREPARED There are different degrees of quiet. There’s the quiet during the night, after everyone has gone to sleep — the usual sounds that a house makes in the dark, late at night. Then there’s really quiet. The sound, or lack of sound, in that same house when the power has gone out. All the background mechanical sounds in the ...

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“Barking in the Night” by Tricia Shulist

BARKING IN THE NIGHT BARK! BARK! BARK! I sat bolt up in bed, confused, looking at Barkley, my dog … pony … whatever. He’d just roused me out of a pretty sound sleep, and my heart was hammering in my chest. My head swung around, taking in my room. In the dim light from the street, everything seemed to be as it should be. Except Barkley.

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“The Path Less Travelled” by Tricia Shulist

THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED “I’ll show them!”  Lara stomped down the path. “They have no idea!” She was so angry that she hadn’t realized that she had veered off the main path. Instead, she had diverted to a smaller trail. One that wasn’t nearly as well-travelled as the main path. But still she blundered forward, unaware of her mistake, mumbling to her...

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“Christmas in a Cave” by Tricia Shulist

CHRISTMAS IN A CAVE “I’m pretty sure it’s Christmas,” I said. Bart and I were wandering around the perimeter of the cave we were being held in, looking for a way out. “Christmas?” my companion queried. “Yeah, Christmas,” I said. “You know, the Sweet Baby Jesus, son of God, Blessed Virgin Mary, Joseph, Christmas carols, Santa Claus, presents,...

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“The Downtown Grill” by Tricia Shulist

THE DOWNTOWN GRILL Christmas was a little less than a month away, and Britt was trying her darnedest to finish off her gift list. She only had a couple of things left to pick up, and was so proud of herself for getting to it before the stores got crazy. Usually, she would leave things to the last minute and inevitably something would be out of stock, or couldn’t be delive...

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“Money” by Tricia Shulist

MONEY Bree “Thank you! It’s just what I wanted!” I looked down at the nightgown my mom just gifted me. It was a lovely gift.  Problem was that it was the nightgown that I had gifted her last year. My mom had actually picked it out, and I bought it for her.   What to say … What to say...

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“The Best Laid Plans ... ” by Tricia Shulist

THE BEST LAID PLANS … “Excuse me?” “I said, ‘you’re pregnant.’” “Really?”  The doctor looked at Faye. Faye looked at the doctor. “You’re sure?” asked Faye. “We are. One hundred percent,” said the doctor. “Really,” said Faye, nodding her head slightly Fay...

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“The Scene of the Crime” by Tricia Shulist

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME “It was murder. I’m sure of it.” “Why do you say that, Ms. Copperfield?” asked the tall woman. “Look at the scene. There’s guts all over.” She looked around, and pointed. “Over there is the top of the skull. It’s definitely murder.” Detective Terry Waits looked at her partner, Carlos Ito, who shrug...

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“Smokey and Ginger” by Tricia Shulist

SMOKEY AND GINGER “I don’t know what to tell you,” said Ginger. They were sitting on a wall outside of Smokey’s house. Being late October, it was dark out, but not too late. The days were getting shorter, the nights longer, as the northern hemisphere tilted farther away from the sun with the approaching Winter Solstice. But neither Ginger nor Smokey knew...

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“The Monster Under Juanita's Bed” by Tricia Shulist

Submitted to Contest #169

THE MONSTER UNDER JUANITA’S BED“Okay, you can come out now.”Juanita looked at her closed bedroom door, flopped onto her stomach and leaned over the side of her bed, looking under it.What she saw was truly hideous. It was a monster. Its body was covered in patchy grey fur with ulcerating pale skin the colour of curdled milk. Its hands were crabbed with grotesque black claws sprouting from the end of its deformed fingers. The feet were...

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“Missed It, Made It” by Tricia Shulist

MISSED IT, MADE IT 8:27 PM Coattails flying, I ran into the train station. It had been a hellish day — nothing had worked out as planned. And to top it off, I was about to miss my train home … MISSED IT My day, of course, started with my alarm not going off, or...

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“Foreshadowing” by Tricia Shulist

FORESHADOWING “This is all my fault!” Detective Carlos Ito looked at his partner Detective Terry Waits, and shrugged in confusion. They had been catching up on paperwork in the bullpen, when the Desk Sergeant had called up, and said that there was a woman downstairs at the desk who needed to see a detective, ASAP. She wouldn’t tell the S...

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