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Annalisa D.

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021

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92 Followers
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75 Stories

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Human Costumes

Weekly Contest #117

CW mature content            Birsha’s long, black claws clutched the stopwatch so tightly I expected it to shatter. His yellow cat eyes darted back and forth, and his seaweed-like beard swayed as his head nodded side to side to a rhythm no one else could hear.         “If you keep watching it, it’ll take longer,” Kikimora hissed. Purple ooze slowly slid down her scaly, purple skin giving her the appearance of melting into a pool of slime....

9 likes 12 comments 12
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The Neighbor's Basement

CW: foul language, violence, child abuse      I stabbed a steak knife through the orange pumpkin flesh and sawed a jagged line around the stem. Warm rays of sun hugged my shoulders while I worked. The scent of burning bread from the egg sandwich Jeremy was grilling on the deck tickled my nose.           “So, you and Trent are like an official thing now?” Jeremy asked while spraying canned cheese across his sandwich.       &...

6 likes 7 comments 7
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Breakfast with a Ghost

Weekly Contest #115

 CW: Swearing, blood, death     Getting a call at four in the morning on a stormy night, created an instant feeling of gut tangling dread. Luckily, I guess, I was already awake. An unusual nightmare about watching Jonah drown in an icy marsh and not being able to save him woke me with heart palpitations. In the dream, I dove under the water and desperately swam towards him but never actually moved. He floated in the murky, green-brown water in an oddly peaceful way. I swam furiously in place while the pressure b...

30 likes 16 comments 16
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The Mountain Prince

      Evelina’s shimmering, rose-colored wings fluttered as she bounced from one flower head to the next in a graceful dance. Her best friend, Ingrid, clapped her hands in delight as she watched from a purple mushroom top.           “I liked this one even better than the last!” Ingrid cheered.           Beaming, Evelina leapt off the white daisy and took a bow while her feet sunk into the soft blanket of...

8 likes 8 comments 8
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The Swamp Queen

      Cayden pulled the hood of his black cloak over his head and slipped into the darkness of the forest. His movements were light and swift so that his approaching footsteps would not be heard. The haunting sound of a melancholy flute guided him towards the secret gathering that he wasn’t supposed to be in attendance for. In the darkness of the night, the twisted branches of the trees above him appeared to sway, stretch, and reach out for him. He assured himself what he saw must be an illusion due to the eerie...

7 likes 8 comments 8
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Rocky Shore

Weekly Contest #114

      “You want to get out of here?” Hunter asks.           My head feels light and slightly hazy from the orange flavored beers I’ve been consuming. A part of me longs to stay because I know our friend, Chase, won’t come with us if we leave. It’s hard to tell sometimes how much Chase even likes us and there’s an odd comfort in that. It’s what I expect, and it keeps me in my familiar role of constantly seeking approval. A part of me also wants to leave. Part...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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Villain Prevention

The dream had me so preoccupied and shaken, I barely missed the bullet headed straight for my forehead. Fortunately, the speedster Scotty kept vigilance, and shoved me aside in time. “What’s up with you, man? Now’s time to focus,” Scotty yelled over the gunfire. I couldn’t really hear him so much as I knew he yelled from the intense expression on his face as I read his lips. My ears rang, all feeling faded, and images blurred together. I threw up my hands and stopped time. Shiny bullets suspended in the air and people, like statues, hel...

7 likes 13 comments 13
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Mushroom Monsters

      Most people were devasted by the drought and praying for rain, but I felt much safer in those months of dry weather. The lack of rain meant the death of the deadly mushroom demons, and therefore a period of relative security and calm in my life. I’m not foolish though. I knew those dehydrated and weakened mushroom monsters were releasing their spores, creating their water vapor, and struggling to bring about their life supply of rain so they could terrorize me again. Any day now they might be successful. T...

8 likes 8 comments 8
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Sunshine Springs

Everyone said love was blind, but nothing seemed more blinding than pride. Selena stomped through the woods with anger burning in her heart, desire for vengeance itching through her fingertips, and her vision blurred with tears. Today she took the brave step of speaking out against Clarissa’s reign of terror, and instantly became a town pariah. Clarissa was the town’s sweetheart. Being a descendant of the town’s founder and daughter of the CEO of the town’s beloved Sunshine Springs, made Clarissa untouchable. Admitting that something da...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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Sometimes You Never Get an Answer

      “You’re gonna be a janitor?” Allie asked with disgust curling on her upper lip. “Why?”           Delaying my answer, I shoved a handful of spicy, curly fries in my mouth and made a point to chew them down to total mush. The real answer would be something like I need things to be easy for a while, so I could get myself together. I needed something mindless. Something without any social interaction, because faking a smile felt close to impossible. What I...

8 likes 14 comments 14
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UFO Crashes Into House

      Jeremy had the worst kind of luck. Any small thing escalated into a catastrophe with him. So, when I looked up to see that plotting and scheming look on his face, as he dunked his Oreo into a jar of peanut butter, my stomach tangled into small knots. Wanting to avoid anything he might say, my gaze quickly dropped back to the pages of my book on how to be human and have normal conversations. Something I’d need to learn if I ever hoped to have more than Jeremy in my life.       ...

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Out of This World Peppers

      I get how suspicious it looked. Three people in my life disappeared in the same week, and I was the last person to see all of them. I had an idea of what was behind it, though I couldn’t really explain it, and no one would ever believe it. It all sounded absurd.           One thing you need to understand about me is that my friends and I enter our county’s chili festival each year. Our goal is always to make the hottest chili imaginable. We want to sco...

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Welcome Home

      Kieran would be there. That’s all I needed to hear to follow Skye down the sinuous path through the dark forest. Leafless dark oak trees with twisted trunks and tangled branches loomed above us. Vibrant orange mushrooms popped against the otherwise dreary backdrop. Loud caws from screechy crows pierced through the still, humid air.           “Are you sure this is the way?” I asked while flipping on my flashlight. The beautiful bright blue of twilight d...

9 likes 5 comments 5
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Wellness Plants

      The fact that management scheduled a mandatory meeting on improving employee mental health for 4pm on a Friday shows how out of touch they are with our mental health needs. I’d guess that most of us are already checked out come 12pm on Friday. The afternoon is reserved for daydreaming about weekend plans.            For the training, I sat between Kevin and Moonbeam. Not because I wanted to, but because I came in last due to a slight bathroom disaster...

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Perfect Timing

      While locking my backdoor, I groaned. Time for another monotonous workday. Despite my dread, a flicker of hope that today something fantastic would happen persisted. I'd come into some extra book money or get a nice compliment or maybe something really exciting like aliens visiting earth would happen. As I began my descent of the stairs, my foot caught on something and almost sent me flying down them. I grabbed the handrails desperately, and took quick, panicked breaths as I stabilized myself. My eyes...

12 likes 17 comments 17
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