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Amy Jayne Conley

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

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72 Stories

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Be careful what you wish for

15th AprilNew Diary, who dis? And we wonder why I’m still single with this cringe… I treated myself to a new diary. Saw it in this little pop-up shop in town. I don’t usually go down that street, but today I felt like it, and I’m glad I did. I ended up also finding a new gelateria, and they had that gorgeous ice cream I fell in love with on a school trip to Venice years ago. I never thought I’d be able to eat it again! Now I think about it, this diary kind of reminds me of the one I had when I was a kid. I used to finish each entry off at ni...

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One on one

Stay away. It’s not worth it. Don’t give him the space. Rachel looked down at her phone, eyes shining with thick tears that threatened to spill over. She leaned against the wall outside her gym, still a little bit too early for the opening hour. The text was from her friend, Jessica, who hadn’t really slept out of fear for Rachel’s safety. Living with an abusive father was difficult – especially when one left home secretly. I know. But I’m scared for my mum. Rachel hit send, the tear falling. “Did you camp outside?!” The jovial tone of Micha...

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Forget Me Not

The explosion was catastrophic. The city hadn’t seen one that big since the Oppenheimer movie came out, and even then, the world knew that it was CGI. But this one wasn’t CGI. The shockwaves from it shattered windows a mile away. Yet, the fatality rate? Zero. The worst casualty from the explosion was a headache, and maybe a bit of tinnitus, but since those complaints came from a care home fairly close to the blast, it wasn’t clear whether that was because of it, or if that was just old people. The buildings around the blast hadn’t survived. ...

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Diamonds are a girl's best friend

Alex sat with his head pressed against the window. The cuffs around his wrist was looser, now. Perhaps the resignation to reality he’d suffered made him feel a little less restricted, but the other one lay closed on his lap. He stared out of the window as the countryside outside London passed him by. A countryside he’d grown up in, running around without a care in the world. Beside him, Poppy sat in the driver’s seat, eating a strawberry lace. Alex couldn’t reconcile the vision of this Poppy, with the one he’d known previously. This Poppy, r...

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The Cold Never Bothered Me, Anyway

“You’re stupid. You’re so fucking stupid.” Jenny ran her hands through her hair. “What are you going to do?!” Addie said nothing. She couldn’t. Jenny’s words weren’t even cutting her – she couldn’t hear them, even though she knew she was speaking… how diabolical, the situation she found herself in. Addie sighed, sniffing. She was sitting on the kitchen floor, her legs having given up. “Say something?!” Addie looked up at Jenny’s harsh tone. “For God’s sake, Adds, say something!” “What?” Addie murmured. Jenny burst out laughing, incredulous. ...

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The Last Song

Applause lights the room up as I stand solitary in the spotlight behind the lectern. Every single audience member grinning. Happy to see me. How odd. Thank you, thank you… It’s strange, actually. That you’re all smiling and happy for me… and it’ll be stranger still when you laugh at my poor jokes, purely because that’s the energy of the night. Tonight is the night. My night. My night to formally announce that I’m done. I quit. That’s gottem.When they asked me to write a speech for tonight, thanking you all for coming, I wondered why. I’m bor...

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History in the Stars

To outsiders, their silence could have been considered awkward. The way they meandered through the exhibits, pausing a moment here and there to read the little explanatory placards, making small noises, pointing out interesting sentences... to the outside world, it could have been a boring first date. A waste of time. Time spent purely for the hell of it, because neither wanted to give up the time they’d already spent, nor the money they’d spent on the ticket.  But the truth was less malevolent. Tom and Annelise had met through fri...

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New Year, New me

TW: Strong language, gory scenes. The remnants of a party littered the small, cramped living room, evidence of all kinds of debauchery (to put it very kindly) hanging around the place. The air was stagnant, unmoving… just like the people who lay at odd angles, looking almost like they’d passed out where they’d been standing. No-one moved. No-one stirred. The events of the hours before came back to Rosie like a flickbook. Brief flashes of lucidity which quickly blurred and flickered to another flash of lucidity, which then twisted and warpe...

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My Cursed Truth

An old vanity was just what the room had needed to pull it all nicely together. That wall had been horribly bare, and for a good while, I couldn’t decide what it had needed. Until I’d walked past the old, nondescript antique store in town and spied the most beautiful vanity, complete with stool. The mirror was encased in the most beautiful mahogany. I had to laugh: That is MAHOGANY is one of my favourite quotes, and I couldn’t not buy it. Getting to be Effie Trinket every day… sad, sure. But my truth. What I didn’t expect was for the mirror...

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Blood of my blood

TW: Blood, zombies (mentioned), cat death In the middle of the day isn’t the moment when one would consider best to raise the dead. But the stars were in the right place, and the energy aligned just right, at precisely two fifty-seven in the afternoon. And that’s why I found myself stood before a mausoleum, spellbook and items in my cat leather bag (don’t ask), ignoring the funny looks I was getting from the funeral attendees who’d just laid their loved one to rest. A loved one who wouldn’t be resting for much longer. “Do you have any id...

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Hope

“What?” I couldn’t quite believe the words had just come from her mouth. My lip wobbled. I felt sick, like the floor had disappeared from beneath me. “I’m just saying. I think you’re being really stupid. Your family is clearly using you, and you’re stupid enough to fall for it.” Mia smiled at me, as though she was telling me the fucking weather. I stared, struck dumb. “Yeah. I mean, the shoes are one thing – six hundred dollars for shoes is ridiculous. Like I said, when I was a kid, I was lucky to get ten dollar shoes.” Vicky’s turn. It ha...

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It's Okay, You Can Let Go

“We’re selling.” Okay… no big deal. I had to find a new place to live. Maybe. Nothing was for sure, but it was fine. Oh, no, it was not fine! Not at all. I felt sick to my stomach the entire night. I wanted to curl up and scream. I wanted to put my hands over my ears and scream and shout and bawl and cry. I wanted to carve up my face and be truly miserable. I wanted to throw myself from the battlements, hurl myself from on high… I looked at the tiny packet of pills on the side. One more left. One more, and Rosie had told me that I’d know w...

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A leg up and a leg over

I hadn’t wanted a pet. I had no money for myself, barely enough to buy food each day… so the horror when I woke up that morning to a tiny cat that had slipped its way through a tiny opening in my tent… well, you can imagine. It was a sweet little thing. Obviously underfed, a little scraggly, but otherwise cute. Black, entirely. Most people would consider that to be bad luck. I considered that to be bad luck, actually. Another mouth to feed – and the thing probably had fleas, or something. And if I couldn’t afford food, how in the hell was I...

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The Prime Factor of Lost Love

Dearest Gracie, This… is hard. How do I even start? Such a thing should be said aloud. Instead, I cowardly write it in a note and send it. Forgive me. It is obnoxious, I know. But I am not so brave. Gracie, I hate you. I hate you with everything I am and everything I have. So much. For years, you have made my very existence hell. To finally be free of you is a joy. Truly. It was not an easy choice to make. In a way, I’m glad you made it for me. I wouldn’t have left alone. In fact, I couldn’t have left alone. I didn’t see you for who an...

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You Need to Crack a Few Eggs to Make an Omelette

The shelves hit the floor, and every single egg shattered. The noise was spectacular. The powder that flew up, the shards of crystal, tiny gems that scattered across the floor… not to mention the plaster that crumbled from the wall, the shelves themselves breaking into pieces… it was chaos. I stood there, stunned. William stood there, stunned. A few moments of very tense, very horrible silence followed. A knife couldn’t cut it, it was so thick. I hardly dared to move. How could I move…? I’d just destroyed an almost priceless collection of ...

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