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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2024
Submitted to Contest #304
CW: Contains themes of mental health crises, manic episodes, and suicide.Vale…Farewell to the years of academic success. He had a remarkable pathway through secondary school and was anticipated to excel at university too. No-one could have guessed what was to happen when he turned eighteen. How would anyone imagine that bright star lose its brilliance.Vale is a Latin word meaning farewell, often used in an obituary, but Steven did not die, he just fell over, fell off the wonderful trajectory he had been riding on in his teenage years. And ir...
Submitted to Contest #302
The phone rang and an excited eight year old voice announced that his team had won at soccer.‘I scored a goal!’ he said, and I could feel his smile glowing with pride. How many goals did your team score? Three. Who won the other two goals? Nathan and Jake. He bubbled along, full of success and happiness. ‘You should have seen me Gran, I was up near the goal and I just tapped it in. The goalkeeper completely missed it!’It was his second ever game, as part of the first soccer team he had played for. Until now he had only played practice games ...
Submitted to Contest #301
Every day at 7 am Jerry took his Jack Russell for a walk around the park. One day Mrs P sneaked out to follow him but Jerry only stopped at a local kiosk for a coffee for himself and a dish of water for Jojo. Mrs P was very disappointment. She had hoped to discover a secret liaison.Jerry was a very private person. His neighbours spread the rumour that he had once been married, but the outcome of that relationship was unknown and there never seemed to be a female in Jerry’s lonely life. They watched through their windows as he opened the fron...
Submitted to Contest #263
The Villain. He was the Sheriff of Greystone County and recent events have greatly traumatized him. I’m the cause and have added another scalp to my collection.He is a gentle soul and the biggest upset he previously had to deal with was a squabble over boundary fences on Aston’s farm. He engineered an amiable settlement with Aston and Grieg both happy.I started in a neighbouring county in my late school years- at first selling trading cards then graduating to E’s and weed. My parents were to blame. Mum was a drunk and if I didn’t do the...
Submitted to Contest #261
Gratitude. Joan was a happy lady with shoulder-length blond hair and a marvellous smile. Many studies have shown that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and have less depression. They have friends and express more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions.Since childhood many of us learn to make negative responses to some situations, but that can be ‘unlearnt’ through simple therapy. The negativity can be reversed.If our...
Submitted to Contest #260
The Will The street lights shone on the treetops. The trees swayed in the wind, settled to still, then shook and shivered, and then the treetops trembled when the breeze blew softly and the wind wound up again to a wild, lashing power. Darkness hid the rest of the trees, and the light lit only the treetops and the power lines, the round shape of the light fractured by the shapes of the windblown leaves and smaller branches.Ebony sat in her car, in the dark, waiting for the wind and rain to abate. She had an appointment with her lawyer at 6....
Submitted to Contest #259
Is Nobody going to say it?I’m stupid, naïve, gullible, a ‘softie’. I’ve been made to look a fool… and you could go on. I deserve it all. And I guess I was so excited that my manic spending was difficult for anyone to understand.Firstly, I’d bought the house next door, and secondly, two lots of land in the new suburb just opened up, so that we could build a house next to each other. And there were smaller things too, like dozens of Christmas presents for Gary, Matthew and Suzie, Leonie’s three children and $2000 worth of Tupperware to help ge...
Submitted to Contest #251
Errol died suddenly. He left a neat apartment packed with creativity and no living soul to appreciate or own it.His motor bike collided with a bus and death was instant, but he had not left a will or any directions about the distribution of his belongings. Errol had many interests, including oil painting and drawing, he was a talented pianist and read extensively. How little we really knew about our friend and was revealed to us when we entered his apartment with a key from the landlord. Eve and I had been Errol’s closest friends and the onl...
Submitted to Contest #249
I had to pick up a parcel from Welshpool and I’d never been there before, or perhaps many years ago, and I’d forgotten my phone and the precious GPS, and however did we cope without I, but I suppose we had to rely on maps, or those street directories that were always going out of date or getting lost under the seat, or even stopping to ask someone the way, and people were usually trying to be kind and helpful, except the ones who were visitors to the area themselves or didn’t speak English, so I thought I’d be OK without the phone and set of...
Submitted to Contest #246
‘There’s no-one around so let’s sit here on the swings and look at the plans. It’s all fun and games unless they catch you at it.’ Tim and Lawson plotted together in the empty children’s playground. It was 7pm on cold July night, and Tim shivered.They had decided that they would start stealing bigger items. Until now they had limited their robberies to department stores.‘I know the old bird has a big furry cat, and there’s a decent sized cat door in the back entrance. If we unscrewed it, you could easily climb through, unlock the back door, ...
Submitted to Contest #244
Aaarh..choo! I sneezed and sent clouds of dust scattering in all directions. I sneezed again and the force of it threw me backwards against my car. I was in the garage cleaning things out for the Council Clean-up. The dust and cobwebs in my brain were unsettled too.I sneezed and shivered and headed back indoors to grab a jumper and hot coffee. From my porch I could see the sunshine starting to loosen up the rigid cold air and two neighbourhood children scooting by. It was school holidays and my daughter had just called to pick up her son and...
‘Terry, I think the baby’s coming!’ cried Marina, clasping her hands urgently across her big belly and gasping. Terry jerked the wheel to the left and pulled up in the safety lane.‘What? Now? It’s not due for eight weeks!’Marina burst into tears. ‘She can’t be born yet, she’s too small.’‘What exactly is happening?’‘I just had a big painful contraction,’ Marina explained tearfully. ‘I know it’s too early. I must ring Dr Shelley.’Terry took charge, calmed his sobbing wife and got out his phone.Dr Shelley answered promptly. He also said it was ...
Submitted to Contest #242
Ron was derisive, mean, tormenting. He had been my husband, but I never dreamed he would find me again, as I had changed my name and moved three times since I had received his last abusive, angry letter. His re-entry into my life filled me with terror.I was shopping, in a large shopping centre near the Art Gallery and Museum. I had come to the city early, to see a new exhibit at the Museum, and after that I ate lunch at the Museum café and then returned to my shopping. The noise of a thousand voices filled the air, and people of all shapes a...
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