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Alexis Araneta

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2023

Stories (51)

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583 Followers

861 Following

51 Stories

6628 karma pts

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The Lady in the Gilt Mask

Submitted to Contest #316

I still know the gleam of those large, meadow eyes, even behind the garish sheen of the gold silk of her mask. Her head might be tipped up, every centimetre precisely calculated to showcase a swan-like neck dripping in diamonds, but I recognise every flutter of those lush, upturned lashes. I could instantly detect how her bow lips shake like autumn leaves, even as they’re painted a luscious carmine. She may be a picture of elegance in her luxuriant merlot dress, every jewel scrupulously encrusted on the bodice, but I notice a terrified pinki...

73 likes

Entwined Flowers

Submitted to Contest #306

1 February 2024 Dear Diary, Today, I picked out my wedding dress. In the blinding ivories and lily whites in silk, lace, taffeta, and tulle, I transformed into a bride. Then again, from the very moment I met him, I knew I was meant to walk down a flower-lined aisle towards Florian’s tearful earth brown eyes. As soon as he extended his hand, the aquarelle rows of vibrant blooms at the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens seemed to fade in colour. At that moment, the only thing planted in the soil of my memories of my holiday in the Netherlands was his qu...

76 likes

Midnight Pretenders

Submitted to Contest #297

CW: Allusions to sexAbel, because of you, my favourite time of Saturdays is now midnight. Just a thought of that glorious moment where the clock’s hands stretch to the heavens we’ll both get lost in and the stars twinkling like crystals on ebony silk, and I float through the loop of the work calendar.As if it were written on an agenda, it all unfolds to the most precise of milliseconds. At six o’clock on Fridays, I would race to my room, swipe a perfect winged liner on my lids, and apply scarlet on my lips. An hour later, you would rapt a dr...

60 likes

Green Is for Remembrance

Submitted to Contest #292

Rowan, if remembrance were painted in only one colour, it would always be green for me. Of course, that’s all because of you.Yes, my love, every single seed of a moment with you, I’ve nurtured in the greenhouse of my memory. There, I watch it sprout, breaking so deftly out of the rich earth of everyday. Little by little, buds begin to form until it is ripe, ready for the rainbow of petals to open up and perfume every crevice in the heady scent of joy. Now, every time I step into my forest of recollection, a smile creeps onto my countenance l...

74 likes

All of the Cherry Red Marks

Submitted to Contest #290

My Beautiful Nicole, One thing you should know is this: every single time your soft lips have left those delightful cherry red marks all over my skin, you’ve also marked my heart indelibly. Why yes, ma chouchoute, your kisses have carved their way into the inner recesses of my mind. From the first moment you broke into that moonglow smile as your ‘hello’ wrapped me into its velvet arms, I knew that I will always crave for those bright stains on my face and my clothing. It’s gotten to a point that even when you aren’t around, all th...

87 likes

Earl Grey Everywhere

Submitted to Contest #287

Colin, this is how I know I’m totally besotted with you: No matter which place I’m in, from the dizzying buzz of London’s streets to a sun-bathed tropical plain, I smell earl grey everywhere when I think of you. I just can’t deny it. It seems that anytime my mind fixes itself on your honeyed smile or your warm velvet laugh, every single drop of affection in me boils over until it whistles in my ear. Then, like clockwork, the air infuses itself with the sweet hints of bergamot rind and an aromatic haze of lapsang --- pervasive like the i...

83 likes

Through the Peaks

Submitted to Contest #286

My Dearest Darling Theodor,If there’s any taint in the snow-white assurance in your mind that I’m coming to you, let this letter quell that fear. Yes, my love, as I’m penning you this little message, I am attempting to stuff my beat-up mauve suitcase with a fraction of the rainbow of clothes that always made you shake your head and elicit that low, velvety chuckle that cocoons me with warmth instantly. I leaf through the soft, watercolour renditions of the dew-kissed, blush roses at the Schloss Mirabell that have, a myriad of times, pai...

63 likes

Home for Christmas

Submitted to Contest #283

Christmas 2024Dearest Victor,I hope you know that even if you’d left me, even if you took to the skies for 17,000 kilometres and 22 hours to spread your wings away from the nest we’ve built, there’s nowhere I’d rather spend Christmas but home with you.This morning, my fingers brushed the supermarket tinsel draped around the banister and yet, there was no tickle for all I could sense was the weight of the atmosphere pummelling my exhausted lungs. My bunny slipper-donning feet dragged across the wood floor to fetch myself just another bowl of ...

58 likes

Worst Job Ever

Submitted to Contest #282

Hey, Olly, I’m really sorry to say this. This is the worst job I’ve ever had to do. I know you won’t begrudge me. Then again, there are things you won’t…. you can’t…Oh, I don’t want to think about it.I find it hard, though. How can I not notice you sprawled out on the dove grey bed sheets you’ve inhabited for almost a year now instead of barrelling down the stairs with your favourite fire engine red skis, the ones you’ve christened Pepper? The freshly fallen snow taps away an invitation to hibernal enchantment on your windowpane, but yo...

45 likes

Without Question

Submitted to Contest #280

14 December 2024My Sweet Princess Beatrice,Firstly, Daddy must apologise if I can’t answer your question about Moana speaking in Tahitian. You know that even if I’m all grown up, have navigated the sometimes-murky crests and troughs of life for longer than you have, there are little mind-bending queries I can’t respond to. As you will know, the more we shoot up towards a clear, cerulean sky, the more we reach our arms only to snag on even more curiosities, more puzzles, more uncertainties. I hope you could forgive me.All of that’s a long way...

53 likes

Words I've Waited For

Submitted to Contest #278

Just one look at the penmanship, --- a solitary glance at those loopy, almost oblong letters, a furtive regard at the doughy circles dotting the small I’s --- and I feel a million glass butterflies flutter as they’re compacted inside of my stomach, their fragile, delicate wings catching on every tissue and cutting my insides. I’ve waited countless mornings of teardrops splattering into my tea, years of watching the postman like a hawk, for this blush-coloured piece of paper. Now, that it’s in my hands, her name resounds in my head once more,...

87 likes

130 comments 130

An Open Letter to a Lifelong Love

Submitted to Contest #276

Dear You,Yes, I have always known that you were with me. How could I ever ignore that honey sweetness that coats every single inch of my mouth with a mellow warmth when I speak to you? How could I deny the rush inside me every time you sweep me in the powerful yet refreshing whirlpool of your majesty? Is there even a way to hide how a giggle bubbles up inside of me – minuscule at first, then, slowly encasing me in prismic wonder --- every single time I recall how I sometimes stumble and stutter, all because of your golden presence? No, ...

70 likes

Love's Not an Alien Concept

Submitted to Contest #274

CW: SwearingHer profile stated that she loves the colour periwinkle. I had no idea that she was talking about her latex-like skin. She said that she wants held softly, deftly --- as if she were the most delicate of hydrangea petals. I didn’t know it entailed caressing her nine protruding tentacles. She mentioned that she’s originally from far from London. Who knew that she hails from outside the Milky Way, from some dwarf planet called Lila Centauri?As I observed this non-Earthling twist the flounced sleeve of her watermelon maxi dress with ...

59 likes

Afternoons with Martin

Submitted to Contest #273

Okay, just so I don’t forget…His name is Doctor Martin Gatsby. He’s tall and a bit lanky, his gazelle-like legs took huge strides when he approached my bed this morning. His slightly loose navy-blue button-down shirt hung over his jeans in that effortless yet posh way, and when he sat down next to me, I was cocooned in the smell of the Woolacombe sea breeze I had to leave behind for university in London two years ago and petrichor. When he greeted me hello and extended a large hand, oh how his peridot eyes sparkled along with that half-moon ...

68 likes

Haunting Me

Submitted to Contest #272

Time doesn’t march; it dashes, kicking up the ever-shifting sands of memory onto an open soul’s eye. All you can do is watch as it zooms past you.It’s even truer when you’re a ghost, floating above everything you used to know --- the same halls you used to roam, the very smells that used to tickle you every time you breathe, the people you used to hold tightly by your bosom. And yes, it still stands even if the one living being you miss embracing, the only one that made you come back to Earth on a mission to let her know that you still think...

75 likes