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Vera N

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2024

Stories (111)

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22 Followers

36 Following

111 Stories

464 karma pts

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When Time Stopped at 12:07

Vera N

The rain had settled into a steady rhythm, tapping against the pavement like a thousand tiny fingers. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, felt small tonight. The streets—narrow and winding, lined with centuries-old brick buildings and salt-stained windows—seemed to draw in on themselves, as if the town, too, was holding its breath. The faint smell of saltwater from the nearby harbor mixed with the scent of wet earth and stone, a familiar and comforting aroma that had been a part of Clara’s life for as long as she could remember. But tonight, even the...

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The Decision Line

Vera N

Evelyn Hart rubbed her eyes as she leaned back in the worn seat of her Honda Civic, the soft hum of the engine the only sound keeping her company on the drive home. It was nearly midnight. The hospital shift had been brutal—eight hours turned into twelve, and her feet ached from standing, her mind heavy with images she couldn't shake. A man with a fractured skull, a little girl with second-degree burns, and an overdose case that had barely survived the night.She turned onto Main Street, passing the closed flower shop on the corner and the 24...

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Midnight Terminal

Vera N

The city buzzed with the low hum of late-night traffic, a constant, rhythmic pulse that filled the air with a quiet urgency. Car headlights stretched across the streets in long, brilliant ribbons of white and red, cutting through the heavy mist rising from the wet asphalt like veins of light, throbbing with the lifeblood of a city that never truly slept. The rain had just begun to fall in steady sheets, each drop a shimmering bead against the harsh glow of the streetlights, turning the pavement into a slick mirror that reflected the blur of ...

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Seven Minutes to Istanbul

Vera N

The intercom crackled.“Final boarding call for Flight 217 to Istanbul. All remaining passengers, please proceed to Gate A11.”Dylan had exactly four minutes.He sprinted past a man fumbling with a tray of Cinnabon, pivoted around a stroller with a wailing toddler, and vaulted over a rolling suitcase someone had abandoned in line for Starbucks. The backpack on his shoulder bounced with every stride. Inside, carefully packed in a hard case, was the drive. Not just any drive. The drive.Three minutes.Across the concourse, a security officer’s radi...

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Noose of Regret

Vera N

The moonlight stretched thin through the barred windows, casting skeletal shadows over the cracked stone floor of the prison cell. Rowan Calloway sat against the damp wall, his wrists raw from iron shackles, his mind a battlefield of regret and resolve. Tomorrow, he would be hanged for murder.They would call him a criminal, a traitor to justice. But Rowan knew the truth. He had killed a man, yes. But he had done it to save another.It had started with a simple promise—one given in a moment of desperation, whispered in the dead of night betwee...

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A Warning Too Late

Vera N

Darian’s hands trembled as he locked the office door behind him. The weight of the secret pressed against his chest, making it difficult to breathe. He moved to his desk, forcing himself to take slow, measured breaths. If anyone saw him like this, they’d know something was wrong. He couldn’t afford that—not now. Not ever.The city outside his window bustled with its usual hum of life, oblivious to what he had discovered. Cars honked in the distance, pedestrians hurried past on the sidewalks, completely unaware of the impending storm. If they ...

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The Wasteland Hunter

Vera N

Eleanor pressed her back against the jagged rock wall, her breath coming in short, controlled gasps. The cavern ahead of her pulsed with an eerie bioluminescence, casting ghostly shadows against the damp walls. She was running out of time. The air was thick with the scent of moss and something acrid—something unnatural. She tightened her grip on the rusted machete in her right hand and forced herself to move forward, her boots crunching over brittle, calcified remains scattered along the cave floor.She had never meant to come this deep into ...

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Behind The Painted Door

Vera N

You’ve walked past it a hundred times. Maybe more.A weathered blue door, its paint cracked and peeling, stands quietly between a dry cleaner’s and a coffee shop that never closes. It doesn’t call attention to itself. It simply exists, blending into the city’s background like an old scar on a familiar street. People glance at it without ever really seeing it. And if someone does stop, hesitation creeps in—an odd fog curling at the edges of their thoughts, nudging them to move along, to forget they ever noticed.But the door isn’t forgotten.Lat...

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The Lighthouse Connection

Vera N

It was one of those days when the world felt heavy, as though the weight of everything that had gone wrong in the past week had gathered and was now pressing down on the shoulders of the city. A storm had been brewing for hours, the sky a dull gray canvas above, the clouds thick and swollen, ready to burst. The air was dense, charged with the unmistakable smell of rain, and the temperature had dropped sharply, making everything feel even more oppressive.Inside the small, cluttered coffee shop, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, in stark c...

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Erased and Returned

Vera N

The rain came down in a soft drizzle, soaking into the freshly turned earth at the cemetery. Fat droplets pattered against the canopy of black umbrellas, rolling off in streams and pooling in the muddy grass. The air was thick with the scent of wet earth and cut flowers, mingling with the occasional rustle of shifting feet. The mourners huddled close, their breath misting in the chilly air, whispering among themselves about the tragic accident that had claimed Daniel Reeves. A car wreck, they said—no body recovered, but enough wreckage to as...

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The Forgotten Coordinates

Vera N

My Dearest Eleanor,If you are reading this letter, then I have failed. I have failed to return, failed to keep my promise, and failed to unravel the tangled threads of this mystery without losing myself in the process. I write to you now in the faint hope that my words will reach you even if I do not, that they may serve as some small beacon in the darkness that has swallowed me whole.You must understand that I did not embark upon this journey lightly. When I first discovered the journal hidden within Grandfather’s old trunk, I thought it no...

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The Dead Piano

Vera N

The night was alive with the whispers of wind slithering through the cracks of the old Victorian house. Though it had long been abandoned, the town of Black Hollow never dared demolish it. Superstition kept the wreckage standing, its bones creaking in the moonlight. Among the scattered relics of a forgotten past, one object remained untouched by time: a grand piano, its polished surface dulled but not broken, its keys yellowed but intact. It was known as the Dead Piano.Legends swirled like mist around it. Some said it was cursed, others clai...

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Red-Eye Threat

Vera N

Submitted to Contest #293

The overhead light flickered as the plane rocked gently, somewhere over the Atlantic. Ryan shifted in his seat, stretching his legs under the tray table. It was a red-eye, the kind where most passengers tried to sleep through the monotonous hum of the engines.But he couldn’t sleep. Not with 37B beside him.She hadn’t spoken much since boarding in New York, just a quick nod when he let her slide into the window seat. She wore a gray sweater, her dark hair falling over her shoulder as she stared out into the night. Nothing unusual. Except for t...

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The Stranger from Seat 14B

Vera N

Lena settled into her seat on the flight from Budapest to Genova, tucking her backpack under the seat in front of her. She sighed, glancing out the small oval window as the Hungarian capital shrank below. It had been a whirlwind of a trip—solo traveling through Central Europe had been both exhilarating and exhausting. She had wandered through the gothic streets of Prague, losing herself in its fairytale-like charm; admired the stunning architecture of Vienna, indulging in rich coffee and decadent Sachertorte; and soaked in the thermal baths ...

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The Watching Silence

Vera N

The rain hit the window in slow, lazy drops, smearing the view of the gas station outside. Mia pressed her forehead against the cool glass, watching the neon lights flicker through the drizzle. The SUV rumbled beneath her, the engine idling as her father filled the tank.This was just the beginning.She sighed, adjusting her earbuds. Their family took road trips almost every summer, but this one was different. Longer. Farther.Their destination: a cabin by the lake, deep in the mountains, hours away from cell service and civilization.Mia wasn’t...

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