Tricia Shulist

“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?” “Hmmm. No, we always eat at the commissary. How about Chinese? There’s a great place not too far from here.” “Sounds good.”  ***** “Why so quiet, Charlie?” “Umm, no reas...

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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 treasure, if you're all alone? he wondered. What he wanted was something completely different. He wanted a warmer climate. Winter was coming, and the...

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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 house are gone. Gone is the slight buzz from the nightlight in the kitchen. Gone is the quiet sound of the compressor in the fridge. Gon...

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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. “Barkley! Quiet!” I hissed. He looked back at me quickly, acknowledging, his head then swivelled back to look toward the darkness of the hall. BARK! BARK!&n...

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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 herself. The reason that Lara was out big-footing it around the wilderness alone was because she had just left her friends — and she used the term “friends” very loosely. “...

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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, food, parties, stockings hung by the chimney with care, reindeer … Christmas.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I looked across the room at him. “You don’t know about Christmas?”...

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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 delivered until after Christmas. But not this year. No, siree, Britt was all over Christmas this year. But with shopping came great fatigue. You can...

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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 … “This is a really nice nightgown, Mom,” I said, holding it up for her to see. “It is nice! I really like it. It reminds me of you,” she said, smiling, completely oblivious of the fact that it reminded her ...

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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 Faye had not been feeling particularly good lately. Especially in the morning. Because she knew that she was healthy, and because she monitored all aspects of her health daily with a myriad of devices — FitBit and Apple Watches, digital thermomete...

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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 shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Ms. Copperfield,” said Waits, “all I see is pumpkin remnants. It’s not murder if the victim is a gourd.” “The victim was a living thing. It had...

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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 anything about hemispheres or solstices. What they did know was that Hallowe’en was approaching, and pretty soon Smokey would be locked in the house. Smokey look...

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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 cloven hoofs that were split with fungus growing between the cracks. It smelled horr...

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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 I had turned it off without waking up. Who knew? No way to tell. Either way, what I did know was that I was late for work and had to book it.   I hate being late. I pride myself on being on time, even early. I usually build in e...

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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 Sergeant why she needed to see a detective, just that it was a matter of life and death. Emphasis on the death. They were now sitting in one of the drab, utilitarian interview rooms at Ce...

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“GURRLZ” by Tricia Shulist

GURRLZ What if Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion had met on a playground when they were little kids? ... The two little girls sat playing in the pea gravel that covered the playground surface. Current wisdom was that the tiny rounded stones would be less likely to hurt the children when they inevitably fell, running from one play station to the next. What the designers hadn’t counted on was the fact that (a) children will eat anything, and (b) cats like the tiny stones for the same reason as the developers — they didn’t hurt th...

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