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Aidan Romo

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2023

Stories (20)

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Library

18 Followers

5 Following

20 Stories

410 karma pts

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The Tiger, The Pool, and The Chill of Death

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #335

The tiger peered with its black beads. It spoke comforts that fell to nothing. Henry did not care. He preferred it to the pit in the walls. Outside did nothing either. In here, the heat beating on his meaty shoulders, it was cool. Then she came in. The door opened wide and creaky. He was gone then. The talking stopped. The air was let in, and his light was snuffed. “In here again?” Jessie said. Perhaps she felt the dream of the garage too. All feel it. Not in there, exactly, but everyone has one like it. Though everyone feels it, not all ca...

8 likes

Alligator Park

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #321

“Mister Official, the alligator just ate seventeen more kids here this week.” The mother said. The playground official was taking a last bite out of his sandwich and watching a baseball game on his phone. His mustard hair was unkempt. He wore a suit much too formal for his position. The tie he had was poorly put on. He also wore a small pin on his left side—right above his heart. The pin had a yellow smiley face on it—showing its teeth. On the left side of it: a big yellow thumbs up. Quite a few people in the neighborhood liked seeing this ...

12 likes

The Depression of Dr. Caligari

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #289

Author's Note: This short story is loosely inspired by and borrows elements from the 1920 German horror film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. ACT I "God, what the hell am I doing? You're married..." A man washes his face in the bathroom of a Red Lobster. The one he and his wife went to for their first anniversary dinner. The man looks down at his beer spilled shirt, and realizes that some of it trickled down to his pants. "It's not my fault she was so hot. Any one would go for her. It’s not like this is a serious thing." In a huff, the man goes...

22 likes

Years of Longing By Erin Rosswell

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #286

“Alright, thank you. You have a good day now. Thanks.” Another call done and dealt with. I swear, I’ve only got seven minutes left of my shift, please…please in the name of Jesus Cringles, not another call. I’m so ready to pass out on my bed. Alas, got a couple more dollars to make today. On the plus side, the mortgage should be dealt with. Now I just have every other payment to make. I wish the economy would up and die. At least I’d have an excuse to be financially underperforming. Oop, phone just buzzed. Bright Blue? Damn. N...

13 likes

10 AM

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #282

Message One. Left at 4PM, September 7th.Hi, sweetheart! Umm…surprise (nervous laughter) yeah. I’m so sorry. You’ve probably been sweating bullets all day wondering about me. It wasn’t my intention to abandon you like this. I wish I could’ve told you earlier than now, but, what can I say, your proposal tripped me up mentally. (laughter) Anyways, this doesn’t change anything with us, honest! Again, I am so utterly sorry about this situation. I simply couldn’t not show up for this business trip. Sadly, it is quite important. The last thing I wa...

7 likes

Eve of Repentance

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #281

New York City12/24/1928 Ritzy piano fills the halls of Benjamin’s mansion with a bombastic tune of Jingle Bells. As the exquisitely tailored host himself peers from the top of his staircase upon the sea of glimmering acquaintances, prancing with drinks in hand, Benjamin M. Kent thinks how thankful he was to be in here rather than in the unrelenting Christmas Eve cold. How gracious was he to invite so many to this party on such a harsh night. How lucky was he to carry such distinguished company, Benjamin told himself, coming down the stairs t...

12 likes

My Sweet Nothings

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #280

“Do not….go…to…the door…”“What’s out there?”“Eve…ry…thing……you cannot…have…”“Not that there’s much…”“You…do…not…need….that…never have….never wiiill…..”“You might be right…”“Have…..I….ev…er….led…you…..a…stray….”“I don’t know.”“Of course…you do not…..you know nothing….”“When have I last seen sunlight?”“There….is…no….sun……for you.”“Why just me?”“You….are….im..pure…..put..rid…”“It’s hard to see in here.”“Why…would…you…need to see…..a world….that you can’t…have…”“Am I unworthy of light?”“Yes…..most…un…worthy…”“Of the sun?”“Just….look….at…you…”“Wh...

11 likes

Ballad of the Gambler

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #279

The following is one of several songs of unknown exact origin that circulated from person to person through the American Frontier about one of many long forgotten, some say even fabled, folks of the region's unruly past.The heat beats on without regard for prayers of escapeFrom those who gives up or has all taken by desperate hands.Yet one soul pays no mind, a numb, boiling shape. They just march on without end, drifting through desert sands. Where his destination lies is where that where is lying. For he goes long ways alone,...

14 likes

Visiting Hours

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #267

"Excuse me, where's Blake?"Jeremy leans over the reception counter, composed but panicked in thought and emotion."I'm sorry, sir, Blake who?""Blake Himbley, I rushed here as soon as I heard about his accident. Where is he?""I'm sorry, who are you?""I'm his brother, Jeremy. Could you mind just telling me where he is?"The young woman takes out a clipboard from the side of her desk, flipping through it as quick as she can."Ah, okay, Mr. Himbley, we just took him out of the emergency room an hour ago, he's in 107."The woman points towards the ha...

5 likes

Feral

Aidan Romo

Submitted to Contest #264

NEW HOMEI take one last glance at the pack as my new life with pure, sweet Robin lies somewhere beyond these tall trees, which I have spent many lonely moons under. Despite all the grey my eyes beheld, a part of me feels guilty leaving them behind now. Strolling through the summer soil, Robin's beautiful form of flaming ruby red illuminating the way ahead, I feel the most joyful, painful tear of mourning flee my snout.Lacking the community of my pack, every step I take here is another step closer to my soul sinking into the Earth they frolic...

15 likes

Bradley

Aidan Romo

Heya. If you're reading this, you should feel lucky. I'm the biggest deal at Redman Elementary. Ask any of the other students that go here. Few would argue with this fact, if at all. None of them even could. My real name is Bradley Stepson Grant, but proper names are for losers. For people who are content to sit at their desks thinking their mediocre lives and achievements are somehow special to anyone. Call me Big Bradley, nothing else. You're not worthy to know me on a solely first name basis, but don't feel bad, very few are. The only one...

5 likes

Sweltering

Aidan Romo

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled radio program to warn you of an incoming heat wave set to devastate much of mainland USA over the course of the next few days. Earlier this morning, the National Weather Service gave a dire warning about the unusual kind of-" As he strolls through his neighborhood, young Herbert Newsworth, with chill air blowing onto the back of his neck from his umbrella, flips off the local station on his phone. People, likewise, are walking on the other side of the street with their umbrellas and fans. A pair of shir...

3 likes

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Aidan Romo

Act 1, Scene 2Flourish. Enter Claudius, King of Denmark, Gertrude the Queen, the Council, as Polonius, and his son Laertes, Hamlet, with others, among them, Voltemand and Cornelius.KINGThough yet of Hamlet our dear brother's deathThe memory be green, and that it us befittedTo bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdomTo be contracted in one brow of woe,Yet so far hath discretion fought with natureThat we with wisest sorrow think on himTogether with remembrance of ourselves.Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,Th' imperial jointr...

7 likes

Diablo

Aidan Romo

Walking down the snowy mountains, the wind nearly blowing my hat down onto the path below me, my eyes beset another small drinking bar in the distance. I appreciate the quaint design of the exterior on this particular bar. I've been to quite a few with the poorest of upkeeps.I don't know why I have such an urge to go into another one of these. Down amongst them otra vez. These past years, walking from place to place, it has all ended the same way. I end up the same wandering stranger I've been my entire time on this vile world.Yet, I can't s...

3 likes

Reconstruction

Aidan Romo

"We've been giving handouts to these faltering communities for too long." Echoes Lincoln Miner to the other five acting members of the council seated around him. Especially to the one sitting directly across from him on the other side, Councilman Jock Kluggs, the biggest threat to his absolute influence over the council. "There's only so long our government can continue to provide far reaching aid to planets that aren't worth the effort." Miner rises and begins to fiercely gesture towards the other members. "It'd be like spending months ...

3 likes