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Ashley D. Gilyard

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2020

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53 Followers
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14 Stories

258 karma pts

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Inauguration Interrupted

Weekly Contest #343

The band had just found its rhythm when the lights went out. Not dimmed. Not flickered. Gone. A collective murmur rose inside the ballroom of the Angelou Civic Center as conversations stalled mid-sentence. Crystal glasses paused in the air. The projected city seal behind the stage vanished, taking the carefully curated gold-and-navy lighting scheme with it. Somewhere near the back, a woman laughed nervously. Someone else said, “Well… that’s new.” Alyse Daniels Wright closed her eyes for one steady breath. Mayor David Boston’s inauguration pa...

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Secret Confession Diary Entries

Weekly Contest #344

October 22, 2023I’m writing this down because I need to tell someone, even if that someone is just a notebook that won’t interrupt me or look disappointed. I’ve carried this secret long enough that it feels etched into my skin. I keep thinking I’ve moved past it, that time has filed it away into some quiet corner of my life, but the truth is it never really left. It just learned how to sit still. It started two months ago. I was walking home from work along the same route I’ve taken for years — past the old library with ivy climbing the bric...

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Alyse's Special Recipe

Weekly Contest #333

The first thing Alyse did was turn on the lamp over the sink instead of the overhead light. It was early enough that the kitchen could still pretend it wasn’t awake—early enough that the house held its breath in that soft space between night and morning. Outside, the backyard sat still and black, winter-muted, while the window above the counter held Alyse’s reflection like a quiet witness: hair twisted up, sweater sleeves pushed to her wrists, eyes that had learned how to look steady even when her chest wanted to splinter. She set her keys i...

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A Quiet Christmas

Weekly Contest #284

The first thing Nora noticed when she woke up on Christmas morning was the quiet. It was the kind of quiet that made her feel like she was underwater, the whole world muffled by an invisible, unyielding stillness. No laughter echoing through the hallway, no sound of clinking coffee mugs or the hurried rustle of wrapping paper. Just silence. For the first time in thirty-four years, she was spending Christmas alone. Her parents had moved to Florida the previous spring, eager to trade icy winters for balmy breezes. Her brother, Owen, was on a s...

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I Should Have Known Better

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows over the dusty streets of Angelou, a small town caught in the crossroads of change and tradition. Michelle Wright leaned against the creaking wooden fence that separated her family’s ranch from the bustling main road. Her hands gripped the rough wood tightly, her knuckles red. She’d been staring at the horizon for what felt like hours, waiting for the stagecoach to arrive. “Michelle, you’re going to wear a hole in that fence,” her younger brother, Stephen, teased as he approached, a bucket of...

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A New Horizon

Weekly Contest #282

When Emma stepped off the bus in the small, coastal town of Seacliff, a biting wind greeted her, carrying with it the faint, salty tang of the sea. She clutched her duffle bag tightly, the sum total of her possessions inside, and took a deep breath. The air here was cleaner than the smog-laden city she’d left behind. Cleaner, yet it felt heavier—weighted with the past she couldn’t quite outrun. Emma had made mistakes. Large ones. Three years ago, she’d been a rising star in the marketing world, managing big-name accounts and winning awards f...

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Forgive Me?

Weekly Contest #282

"I'm sorry," Miriam whispered, the words tasting bitter on her tongue. The room, dimly lit by the pale morning sun streaming through tattered curtains, felt heavier for her admission. She sat across from Clara, her sister, whose expression wavered between anger and heartbreak. The table between them held the remnants of last night’s dinner, untouched and cold. Clara leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sorry doesn’t cut it this time, Miriam," she replied, her voice low and tight. "You lied. Again." The accusation hung...

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A Long-Overdue Apology

Weekly Contest #278

Subject: A Long-Overdue Apology From: Emily CarterTo: Daniel Monroe Dear Daniel, I hope this email finds you well. I've debated writing this for years, and if you're reading it now, it means I finally found the courage to send it. Please know this isn't an attempt to reopen old wounds or seek absolution; it’s simply an apology long overdue. I’m sorry, Daniel. For everything. Warm regards, Emily Daniel Monroe stared at his laptop screen, the cursor blinking idly beside Emily’s signature. For a moment, he thought it might be a phishing e...

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The Last Confession

Weekly Contest #278

The stale scent of antiseptic lingered in the hospital room, mingling with the faint hum of a heart monitor. The steady rhythm was slower than it should have been, and I knew the sound would stop soon. Aunt Marie, my confidante and second mother, lay on the hospital bed, her hand frail in mine. Her usually sharp eyes were dulled by exhaustion, but they still sought mine with a strange urgency. She was dying. The doctors had told me it was a matter of hours. Pancreatic cancer had taken hold of her body with ruthless efficiency, and though it ...

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Memories

Weekly Contest #264

July 30, 2023 Gayle opened the box labeled Pictures and Memories and sank into the abysmal puddle of her own making. The first picture out of the box was one face-down bearing the date: July 30, 2022, exactly one year ago today. The picture displays the man Gayle loved and still loves on his wedding day to another bride. A picture of two friends, moments before he said, “I do.” Gayle didn’t want to be there and opted to stay away, but as her beloved said to her, “I can’t get married without you. You have carried me through so much and I tru...

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Package Delivered

Weekly Contest #122

Fifteen years of marriage proved to be tepid rather than loving as the Wrights drifted further apart. The unvarying abuse, the myriad affairs, the wavering health conditions, and let’s not forget, all the children brought situations to a halt upon Alyse’s hospital release. While attempting this chance at restoration and renewal, Alyse finally recognized her breaking point. She was no longer walking around the great state of Mississippi as the abused wife, nor Matthew’s fool. Mind you, Alyse was no one’s fool. She knew of his infidelities, as...

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Memories

Weekly Contest #103

July 30, 2023 Gayle opened the box labeled Pictures and Memories and sank into the abysmal puddle of her own making. First thing out of the box was a picture face-down bearing the date July 30, 2022, exactly one year ago today. The picture displays the man Gayle loved and still loves on his wedding day to another bride. A picture of two friends, moments before he said, “I do.” Gayle didn’t want to be there and opted to stay away, but as her beloved said to her, “I can’t get married without you. You have carried me through so much and ...

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Restoration

Weekly Contest #88

Densie (Denise Ella-Mae Grayce Dennington Draylig), princess and heir to the Drayligean Throne returned from her quest of locating her parents with no more answers than she learned before she departed the kingdom. With the QUEEN and KING presumed dead, The Oracle vanished for her own protection, and the Princess and Prince ruled Draylig. Princess Densie heard many capture, death, and exile conjectures, but would not believe this be their fate. In the QUEEN’s absence, Princess Densie assumed the role of ruler of Draylig, as she refused a quee...

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A Wright Thanksgiving

Weekly Contest #69

Now that the funeral was over, Hope Street’s Annual Fall Festival had ended, and Thanksgiving was around the corner, The Wright Family needed a dose of happiness. Reverend Matthew Wright, Sr., the pastor of Hope Street Baptist Church had just recently married his second wife, Alyse, and desired to acclimate his new wife to the Wright Family customs. Alyse had witnessed some of the Wright's customs as Matthew’s fiancé; however, things have changed, and expectations have expanded now that she was his wife. Alyse was no longer a visiting guest ...

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