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Alev Gefen

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025

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46 Stories

184 karma pts

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Loose Strings

"Hello?""Ms. Makkonen, this is Dr. Kaurismakki.""Yes, Doctor, I've been expecting your call.""Ms. Makkonen, I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news.""Is it Eiro?""Mr. Lahti has been unconscious on arrival. We lost him.""Linda, honey, can I come in?""Just a second... OK, Mom. Go ahead.""Was that Dr. Kaurismakki?""Yeah... Eiro didn't make it.""Mom, can you give away my violin? I'm not going to play anymore.""What?! But you're so good! Your father and I are proud of you. It'd break our hearts if---""Mom, my heart is broken, now. Playing the vio...

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Signal Lost

Weekly Contest #320

The notification pinged across nine different phones simultaneously: Weather window confirmed. Departure 0600 tomorrow. Don't forget the drone batteries. —Derek Leia Fong double-tapped to heart the message in their group chat before switching to her Instagram stories. The Ring light cast perfect illumination across her packed gear as she filmed herself doing final equipment checks. "Day zero of the Kholat Syakhl expedition," she announced to her 50k followers, using the mountain's indigenous name that most people couldn't pronounce. "Nine fr...

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The Upload

Weekly Contest #319

Jim's thumb hovered over the "Share" button, the blue glow reflecting in his wire-rimmed glasses. Three years of following, of believing, of documenting every moment with the Teacher—and it had come to this.The video was forty-seven seconds long. Shot in portrait mode, because that's how the world consumes truth now: vertical, digestible, instant. In it, Manny spoke quietly to a small group outside the community center, his words about second chances and helping the forgotten cutting through the evening air like they always did. But this tim...

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The Space Between Notes

Weekly Contest #317

8:30 a.m. I am running late. The train waits for no one. The Takadanobaba station hums with controlled chaos. I slip into the packed Yamanote Line car, bodies stacked like books on a crowded shelf. This is my third week in Tokyo, and I'm still fascinated by how forty people can share six square feet without making eye contact. Back home in Helsinki, this would be unbearable. Here, it feels like meditation. At Azabu Hall, Professor Iinuma is already writing on the blackboard when I duck into the classroom. After the quiz, I venture to the nea...

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The Foundling

Edward Brennan had always known he was adopted, but the story his parents told was simple enough: a teenage mother couldn't care for him, so the Brennan family—prominent immigration lawyers in San Francisco—had welcomed him in. His adoptive mother was Irish-American, his father third-generation German-American, and Edward had grown up bilingual, moving seamlessly between cultures in their Pacific Heights home.The Brennan house overlooked the bay, its walls lined with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, photos of handshakes with senators and j...

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Hero Rising

Ellis "Tank" Dayton stood six-foot-eight in his steel-toed boots, his massive frame filling the doorway of the community center like a protective wall. The kids called him Tank not just for his size, but for how he bulldozed through every obstacle the Meridian Corporation threw at their neighborhood."They're coming again tomorrow," said Kiara, looking up from the eviction notices scattered across the folding table. "Twenty more families."Tank's jaw tightened. Meridian had been systematically buying up properties in East Haven for months, off...

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On the Margins

What a day... All the guests are laughing and singing their lungs out. They threw a party for this kid, and he's crying. Granted, he's only eight... days, that is. Eight days old and throwing one of the loudest tantrums I'd heard in years. The grownups don't give it a second thought, as they twirl around the room in a delirious haze of wine and merriment. They named the kid Isaac, but he sure isn't laughing. Still reeling from the shock, I'll bet.The smell of brisket and kugel drifts from the kitchen, mixing with the sweet wine on everyone's...

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The Blue Blanket

The phone vibrated against Lukas' chest at 2:47 AM. He didn't need to read the message twice."They're coming. Tonight. Go now."Veronika was already awake, her motherly intuition sharper than any alarm. She held their son, Theo, swaddled in the blue blanket her grandmother had knitted, the one thing from her childhood she couldn't leave behind. The baby stirred but didn't cry—as if he understood the gravity of silence. "The van?" she whispered."Behind the old dairy. Petro's cousin." Lukas was already stuffing documents into a plastic bag—birt...

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Crosshairs

They called him Orion because of his size—six-foot-seven in combat boots, shoulders broad enough to block doorways. But Captain Mark "Orion" Belmont earned his reputation through the precision of his rifle scope and an almost supernatural ability to track enemy movements across the Syrian conflict zone.From bombed-out buildings and rocky outcrops, Orion could spot insurgent activity from distances that made other snipers shake their heads in disbelief. Three confirmed kills at over 1,500 meters. Seven successful reconnaissance missions behin...

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Monuments

Jason folded the letter with an audible swish. His wife Rhiannon looked up from her book, marking her place with a finger against the spine. "Is everything all right?" she asked."Yeah, another bit of good news for today..." Jason chuckled wryly. "Orion Tech decided to forgo my proposal.""Shame on them," Rhiannon said, setting down her book entirely now. "You've put more guile and guts into it than anybody I know. And they're not even half the workaholic you are.""People in my department would agree, but they also claim that I'm... rebellious...

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Something to Behold

I see red. And white. And yellow. Phosphene levels are in overdrive tonight. Strobe lights, pyrotechnics—it's all a colorful mess, as if someone had spilled neon paint onto a canvas. I remember mixing watercolors and acrylics, dipping the brush with bristles soft as an infant's hair... Here I am, musing about infants at a metal concert.Kevin didn't care when my eyes checked out, years ago. He saw me, while I could barely make out his face. He didn't flinch at guiding me—neither on the first date nor whichever number this is. We've lost track...

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Wrestling Till Dawn

Weekly Contest #312

Jun's fingernails scraped the tatami mat. He awoke with a start, the moonlight nearly piercing through the paper walls. His wife lay on her side, and his sons' chests heaved softly under the weight of each breath. Jun tiptoed into the adjoining room, treading carefully so as not to topple the table. On it, a half-full carafe of cold sake towered over three cups and a delicate wooden tray full of half-eaten pastries. Jun slid the shoji open and stepped out into the garden.Isao is here. I know it. He may not want to hear me out, but it's the o...

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The Road to Bethlehem

Weekly Contest #311

"There you are." Liz pushed through the bookstore door, her smile faltering when she saw Miriam's face. "Somebody's in a festive mood.""Hardly." Miriam's hand moved instinctively to her abdomen, where the fabric of her spring dress had begun to cling. What was once flat now felt like a mound, and soon there would be no hiding it. "Joe wants to move the wedding up. His father insists we marry next month."Liz's eyes narrowed with the look Miriam knew too well—her friend's uncanny ability to sniff out secrets. "Don't tell me you're still hung u...

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Salt and Memory

Weekly Contest #309

Shintaro was not in a hurry to leave his apartment that muggy morning. The sun wasted no time, dousing the streets of Ikebukuro with heat at seven o'clock. He picked out an off-white Ferragamo to complement navy blue slacks, then settled cross-legged on his futon with a sleek, moss-green book. A peach-colored bookmark reading "Sugihara Street, 2016" split the pages down the middle—a keepsake from somebody else's journey.Two folded papers slid from the book. One bore kanji calligraphy of his name, שינטארו. The other: a plane ticket dated Apri...

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A Midsommar Awakening

l understand. He's always been patient with me.Dani picked up her phone and sent a text. Moments later, it rang."Hey! Um... Sorry, I know you're busy with the guys right now... Uh-huh... You're with Josh at CPK... And Mark? Oh, well, say hi to them for me... No, it's nothing... I'll tell you later. OK, see you tonight." Later that night, Christian and Dani sat on his couch, their bodies close together, though Christian visibly flinched when she leaned against him. Dani threw furtive glances his way, inhaling slowly, ready to speak. She stopp...

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