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Andrew Darrah

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2024

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19 Followers

1 Following

22 Stories

349 karma pts

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The Notebook

Weekly Contest #347

DANIELSlow is steady and steady is fast. That’s Daniel’s philosophy. Take your time. Be patient. Do it right. He picked the lock to the front door with ease, and siddled inside the house. He doubted whether the home had power, but wasn’t going to flip the switch regardless. He brandished a flashlight and carefully made his way through the building. The home was a complete mess - it had clearly been abandoned for quite some time. Daniel found evidence of squatters, likely homeless or drug addicts. Some old, dirty towels. An overturned chair, ...

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Pickles

Weekly Contest #345

The humans named me Pickles. Honestly, I don’t know what that means. Is it a common human name? Why is it plural? Is there something about my appearance or personality that made them choose this name? Or was it just random? Did the humans simply like the sound of the name?So, I am Pickles. I am a rat. Now, before you stop reading… rats get a bad name. Blame New York City subway rats. Or those rats that spread the Black Death around Europe centuries ago and killed off a third of the population. It’s really not fair though. Rats like me are ni...

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That Didn’t Happen

Weekly Contest #344

Cooper always loved it when his uncle Nick visited. Nick would usually bring a gift for him, some sort of little knick knack from his travels or wherever he happened to be living at the time. He’d gotten a comic book from Japan. A baseball signed by some relief pitcher in Miami. A bow from somewhere out west. His family barely traveled - outside their annual trip to the Upper Peninsula of course - so he enjoyed these relics from around the world. But he especially loved hearing Nick’s stories. So last Friday when he arrived home from his fri...

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No Regrets

Weekly Contest #342

Warning: Contains sensitive content - alcohol abuse, self harm, mental health Part OneDanny was dying. He’d made his peace with it, and knew it would only be a matter of time. Death loomed.Regardless… It was a bitter pill to swallow. He’d hoped to live long past 73. With today’s medical advances, he’d hoped to reach 100. He even joked that he’d reserved the hall for the party. That joke always got a polite chuckle. Liz always rolled her eyes, having heard the joke too many times.Instead he’d fallen 27 years short of 100. It was cliche, but u...

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Walter

Weekly Contest #339

The wipers swoosh as they push the rain from my windshield. The rain’s gone from a steady march to a torrential assault. I roll my eyes. I was so done with this. We’ve had a week of this crap.The meteorologists were all wrong today too, making it worse. Today was supposed to be the reprieve, our long-awaited break from the rain. No such luck.I flip through the stations on my car radio. I’d been traveling more for work, mostly around the state, so I’d sprung for satellite radio. I’d been on a 90s kick for a while, some Nirvana and a little Ho...

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Ten Minutes

Weekly Contest #338

“Just so you know… we’re closing in ten minutes.”The bell to the little boutique shop gave a friendly ding, and the store clerk looked up from his crossword with a smile as he gave her this news. Tina scraped the snow off her shoes and rubbed her hands together. She’d seen this shop in passing, but had never stopped in. Now seemed as good a time as any. She had a general idea of what she needed, but was open to suggestions if the proprietor proved to be knowledgeable. Sometimes these folks could be quite useful - you never know. But as usual...

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Dear Sir

Weekly Contest #334

Dear Sir,You don’t know me. Well, we met once. The day after Christmas. Boxing Day, if you will. Our interaction was brief, one you probably barely even remember. But for me, it meant everything.Our conversation saved my life.I was having a rough time. A really rough time. The worst Christmas of my life. And you, good sir, you treated me like someone who mattered. Someone special. Someone worth being alive.Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas treeWhy have you abandoned me?Sorry, apparently we’re getting to the homewritten poetry part of this lett...

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The Date

Weekly Contest #328

I realized my mistake just a half second too late. I ran straight through the stop sign. Whoops. Thankfully, the driver coming into the intersection from my right anticipated my mistake and slammed on his brakes - not without laying on his horn first.I shouldn’t have been rushing. I wasn’t running late. I was actually pretty early. But I was nervous. This was my first date since the breakup. After a seven-year relationship, I was newly single. It took a while to get to this point… but I was ready. This girl - Molly - seemed really cool. She...

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Eyewitness

Weekly Contest #325

CW: Themes of substance abuse, loss by miscarriage, mental health struggles and suicide “I’m pregnant.”The words seemed to involuntarily slip from Dani’s mouth, like she didn’t actually intend on telling me that. Like it was all just a mistake. Her voice was weirdly void of emotion, neither happy nor sad.She was probably in too much shock. Was she happy? Upset? Did she even know yet?I’d been dating Dani for a few months during my junior year at OSU. It started pretty casually, and then things got slightly more serious - but never too serious...

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Our Place

Weekly Contest #309

Summer is dragging on. It’s only been about a month, but I am already bored out of my god-damned mind. I guess I could spew out some killer analogy (“summer is dragging on like blah blah blah”), but the boredom has killed far too many of my brain cells. Or maybe it’s just the sweltering summer heat. Who has the energy for analogies, really? My body is about 99% sweat right now.Parker Park (seriously, who comes up with these names?) is pretty dead today. What day is it again? I think it’s Tuesday. No phone to check the date. The splash pad’s ...

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ASK ME

Weekly Contest #300

I remember it was a humid night last summer, maybe June or July. The sun had just begun its descent into the Colorado horizon. All the local kids were out playing, embracing their summer freedoms. Bouncing balls, swinging sticks, tossing curses and insults. Meg and I were sitting on a nearby bench, fiddling through our phones, occasionally glancing up to check on Jaxson. Just a typical summer night. Or, it should have been. A supply truck - transporting potato chips - pulled over to the side of the road not far from where we sat. A man exite...

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Science Fair

Weekly Contest #299

“Do you feel ready for tomorrow?” asks her mother. “Ugh… no,” responds an exasperated Li. She’s been dreading tomorrow for months. When the project was first assigned, she’d been SO excited to take this on. It would be vastly different than the usual essays and word problems and reading. A chance to CREATE something! A chance to showcase her creativity and innovation. But… no. The project’s been a complete disaster. Tomorrow she’ll need to admit this to everyone, all her teachers and fellow students. Her project failed. SHE failed. “Well, y...

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The Snorkel King of Florida

Weekly Contest #298

[March 1992] I passed my exit and kept driving south. Nope, no work for me today. Ohio’s a boring state, but I kept going. I powered through the mundane. Determined. Unsure where I would end up, but anywhere seemed better than there.Goodbye to my boss. Goodbye to my friends. Goodbye to my father.Cornfields and bridges and rivers and trees. Mile after mile of Ohio scenery I hoped to never see again.Eventually I stopped to fill up, use the restroom, and grab a snack. I took the map from the glove compartment to look ahead. It was purely ceremo...

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Ray

I learned an unfortunate truth about myself on July 19, 1995 - I’m a coward. Even today, years later. I’ve carried that guilt with me for my entire adult life. It’s defined who I am.Today I’m meeting my old friend Ray for a quick lunch. We see each other every now and then. He’s struggling, as usual. He’s still not right.“How’ve you been, Ray?”“Doin’ good,” replies the eternal optimist, slurring his words just the slightest. “Doin’ good. How about you?”I just nod, as if that explains anything. I look down at his hands, which are shaking a li...

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Orange River

Weekly Contest #292

We’ll never forget the day the river turned orange.We called it Pig’s Foot River. Can’t really say why, to be honest. The name had been in place for centuries by the time any of us were born. Ole’ grand Pig’s Foot, with its mighty waves and currents. A fierce beauty, such a steady, integral part to our little burg.Little Charley Plimton was the first to notice the change. A boy of eleven, notorious for skipping class to go fishing. It was a Tuesday morning, and sure enough, Charley should have been in school but was not. Miss Atkins had step...

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