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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2020
Submitted to Contest #99
July 2nd 3:07 p.m. “I hate you,” Noah said, fiddling with the knobs on the dashboard. I fixed him with an icy stare, even colder than the air conditioning blasting out of his vents. I didn’t have the energy to argue. The sun burned hot against my neck as the stare seemed to go on for ages. I finally broke my gaze and turned to the window. Cows and cornfields, cows and cornfields. I never thought we’d be like this. It was supposed to be a fun summer trip. Annelise, Mark, Noah, and me. Now it was just Noah a...
Abigail pulled her needle through the fabric over and over, daydreaming of wading in the nearby river all the while. “I’m done, Ma,” she finally said, holding up her crude embroidery. “May I please go with Pa to the river now?” “Oh, all right,” Ma sighed and looked to Abigail’s sister, Dorothy. She was working on her embroidery, her blond hair tied up into a knot. Perfect as always. “Dorothy, go along too and make sure Abigail doesn’t get into any trouble.” So the two girls set out for the muddy river banks. Abigail pulled her bonnet d...
Submitted to Contest #88
Being a girl in the world of the Colosseum was tough. Trying to pull two lions into their cages was no tougher. Neither was bartering with the man who didn’t take me seriously. It was just part of the job. I was an assistant then, for Marcellus, the show director. His main job was to put on shows that would entertain our high and mighty emperor. His secondary job was to discourage me as much as possible. On my first day, he said I should leave because this “wasn’t a woman’s place.” I told him I’m here to stay, and anyone who tries to stop...
Submitted to Contest #84
Dear Cera’M, Welcome to Planet Atopia. You will need to know that the suns are scarce, and the rain is plenty, and the days stretch on. Don’t get me wrong-- It’s not an altogether horrible place. Makali and Pakali cared for me as a child, I went to school, and we’re building a great civilization. You won’t see the civilization. It’s in the cities, not where we are, between the wispy trees. I never knew much of our history. I’d heard that we came from a faraway place and decided to start over. I’d heard we were rebuildi...
Submitted to Contest #81
I close my eyes and imagine his dark eyes, chestnut hair. I know every inch of him-- his looks, his interests, his flaws, even the middle name he’d hidden from everyone but I’d found so wonderfully gorgeous. (It was Nathaniel, by the way. Nothing about the name itself was interesting, but the way it locked together with his first name-- Ashton Nathaniel-- was so incredible.) I remember so well being a lovestruck teenager, staring at the back of the smart boy’s head in English, singing angsty pop songs and pretending he was listening, biking...
Submitted to Contest #74
“Ten!” I gazed across the balcony to the man with the microphone, giving the countdown. His sequined top hat with the words 2021 flashed in the lights. I turned my head so I was looking ten stories down. There was the floor, the tiny designs on the carpet blurring together. The desk, where an employee sat. I couldn’t see their face. I watched as someone’s confetti popper tumbled quickly to the floor. The sounds around me were deafening, so there was no way I could hear the sound it made, but I imagined the thud. Could it really be 2021? We ...
Submitted to Contest #55
Read my story A Year Of Voicemail first! Trust me. I pick up a box, grunting at its weight, and silently cursing my mom for making me help our new neighbors. I drag it inside and set it in the entryway, where Ms. Charlotte promptly jabs scissors into the strip of tape connecting the two flaps. She unfolds the flaps and begins pulling out a toaster. As I walk back to the truck to get the last box, I hear her say, “Jim! You marked the kitchen appliances as shoes!” The last box sits in the back of the truck bed. I climb in and see that the ...
Submitted to Contest #42
“School’s out,” I groaned. “I’ll be stuck with Aunt Eleanor for the rest of the year.” “Maybe not,” said Calvin. “You could go to camp or something.” “Unless you can think of a way to go to camp without her knowing, then I don’t think that’s going to work.” “Hey, I’m just trying to help.” “Sorry,” I snapped, but then plopped onto the bed in the corner of the room and relaxed. “You know what, Cal?” I asked. “I know what I’ll do. I’ll go away from here.” “Go away to where?” Cal asked, astonished. I smirked. “Vegas...
Submitted to Contest #39
This story starts with the stars. The stars that have been in the sky for billions of years, and may be in the sky for another billion. The stars that light up the night sky. Valerie was sitting on the stoop of her house. It was just another suburban house, but for Valerie, this was not just a house. It was home. Valerie was looking up at the stars. They were the one thing that could comfort her right now. The stars would not change, whether she was looking at them from North Dakota or Nebraska, whether she was with her mother...
Submitted to Contest #38
I’m in love. Jonas Sistheim is his name. I had better explain. Jonas was-- is-- my first boyfriend. And I had a little problem when I decided I liked him. He was my best friend’s brother. Isabella, my best friend, has known me since kindergarten. We argue a bunch and do everything together. I never really noticed her brother. He was just always there. Until this year. He was suddenly cute and I wanted him to notice me. Except I didn’t, because what about Izzy? What would she think? Also, would Jonas even glance at me? I ha...
Submitted to Contest #37
“My God, did you hear? Violet Randall died. Last night, as a matter of fact.”Gossip was circling its way around the breakfast customers at Marie’s Diner. The queen of rumors, Anastasia Prewett, was sitting with Janie Lewis. Anastasia's attire was rather gaudy, especially for breakfast. Janie was the opposite, plain in appearance. Janie and Anastasia were happily munching on scones and the latest news. “How’d it happen?” Janie demanded. “Stabbing,” said Anastasia with an air of delight about the mystery of it all. “You don’t su...
Submitted to Contest #35
Okay. Deep breath in, deep breath out. I said I would do it on the first day of spring. I have to at least try. If no one answers, then no one answers. But if there is an answer … This is why I have to try. I glance at the calendar, hoping that it is not March 19th, that somehow it still says March 18th. Or a year ago, before I even had good reason to do this at the start of every season. Today’s calendar card reads loud and clear. March 19th, 2020. I sigh. Well, I said I would do it today. I did not say when. No. Bes...
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