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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2020
Submitted to Contest #327
CW: Mental health, suicide What does it mean to be happy by yourself? Daniel asked himself this question as he poured a tall Guinness out of a bottle in his studio apartment. Feeble sunlight penetrated the indigo darkness through Venetian blinds in thin, slanted rays. They illuminated an unmade bed that was the sore blight in an otherwise organized place. The dining table was clear, the bookshelf organized. The closet was neat and arranged by color. Yet anyone who knew Daniel would not find this surprising. In times of great distress, Daniel...
Submitted to Contest #326
The gloom that had descended on Storrow, Washington was one of a strange nature. It was late October, and while the citizens of the small township were used to dreary weather–the constant mist of cold, peppery rain and the like, they weren’t accustomed to several days in a row of deep, impenetrable fog. More than that, there was a sentiment around the quiet streets that whispered its way from house to house as though carried by the chilling breeze snaking its way through leafless trees: something was coming. Kayla Driscoll pursed her lips e...
Submitted to Contest #324
It was hard to pinpoint exactly what about Billy made Sarah Bedingfield fall so quickly in love with him. They shared shy glances in school. At lunch, Billy purposely sat so that he could always have a clear line of sight on Sarah’s face, even sitting askew from the rest of his friends if need be. Under the broiling yellow sun of a North Carolina spring, the two were finally pushed together by their respective friend groups. A date was made–a night at a jazz concert in the big city. The forty minute drive to the theater was spent in great te...
Submitted to Contest #323
Patricia hadn’t been sure about her boyfriend for some time. She’d been with him for a while, and they had not experienced any major issues. Well, that’s not entirely true. Two months in, Patricia began to wonder why Stas Petrov only met her once the sun had gone down, why his skin made her gasp from its frigidity, and why he ate so sparingly when they went out for dinner–not just sparingly; he’d eat exclusively rare meats. A confrontation had to be made, so one night, standing in Central Park, Patricia asked Stas if it was something about h...
Submitted to Contest #322
All his life, David Larson had known he was going to be Great. Great with a capital G. Ambition seized his heart, throttled his mind, and sent sparks of electricity through his fingers. He worked a respectable job. He made a good living. However, in the back of his mind there was always that all-consuming idea: do things that make the whole world applaud for you. He envisioned it every night as he stayed at his parents’ house. David saw himself on stage, he saw the microphone in his hand. More than that, he saw careless beauty on his face, t...
Alexandra’s eyes did not pass over the trophy that stood imperiously upon an altar several rows into the crowd. Nor did her ears flinch at the unearthly din of the crowd that roared as she walked through the tunnel. Cameras flashed, but her eyes remained steadfast. To her, the trophy meant nothing. What was it that made it so hallowed in the eyes of others? Sterling silver, an oversized chalice fit for a giant, emblazoned with words merely ascribing it to a certain championship. Was it not all interchangeable? Had it not been for ceremony, f...
Submitted to Contest #321
“Hey, is this seat taken?” The voice came out of nowhere, cutting through the din of an otherwise hectic cafeteria. The subject to whom that voice had directed its line jumped in her seat. She looked up to see a tall boy with a slightly round face with brown skin, curly black hair, and soft, easy brown eyes. He looked athletic in a black sweat-suit. Her eyes widened. She stammered, “W-what did you say?” The boy smiled, revealing dimples and white teeth. “I just asked if this seat was taken. No worries, though; I can find somewhere else–” ...
“Hello.” “Good day, sir.” “How are you doing?” “T’wouldn’t be a day without the sun rising in the east, and I wouldn’t be Alicia without being well.” “Haha. Well, I hope you’re doing well for real, and not just making it up so I feel better.” “I promise you, sir, I’m doing well.” “Can we dispense with the ‘sir’ stuff? It’s been… God, it’s been years; I wish you would just call me Marcus.” “…” “Okay, okay, you can call me ‘sir!’ Jesus.” “I don’t see what he has to do with this, but thank you, sir.” “You never asked me how I’m doing?...
Submitted to Contest #320
Sepia-hued sunlight filtered through the stubborn chartreuse leaves still clinging to dry bark. Two brothers walked along a well-trod path, the younger crunching pinecones underfoot and the other trying to load up the hiking trail app on his phone. The younger brother tripped over a gnarled root that poked defiantly out of the ground.“Jeez! Watch it, Will,” said the older brother as Will clung onto his sweatshirt for stability.Sheepishly, Will replied, “Sorry, sorry… are we almost there yet?”“What are you talking about, we just started!”“Oh…...
Submitted to Contest #319
[TW: Drugging] I do not know the greater curse: my paralysis or my muteness. I stand every day in the same spot, watching… watching helplessly from the darkness. The sun lengthens shadows around the living room, casting dusty yellow and orange light through the dense leaves that shelter us from a view of the street. The trees… they loom outside and I wonder if they can sense what happens within this house, the terrible things to which I am privy. I wish desperately to talk with them, to reach out… to touch one of their branches. I wonder wh...
Submitted to Contest #225
On my life I swore to do this, and on my life shall it be done… no matter the cost. My butler came into my chamber today. “You have not eaten in three days, sir,” said he with a trace of British pompousness behind his lackluster concern, “and I can see the jug of water just filled yesterday is gathering dust. The only change in its liquid level seems to be of evaporation.” “I’m fine, David,” I replied crossly. My left hand was gracefully tracing the outlines of a familiar shape on the canvas before me. My other hand was ...
Submitted to Contest #224
The orange and purple of the faintest glimpse of twilight had only just begun to creep over the eastern sky outside my window when I awoke. Truly, a magical thing. It’s as though God, the great painter of the world, has made a yellowish brushstroke just at the flat plain at the edge of the world, blending it in with the inky blackness of the pure night sky with a single masterful swipe. You’d think I was weird, of course, if I told you that I awoke this early of my own volition, on Sunday of all days. In fact, I set my alarm this earl...
Submitted to Contest #222
“Ah, who am I kidding, you’re not listening anyway.” David Cross swung back the brown bag and felt some more cool courage flow down his throat. “Y’know,” he continued regardless, you always said you knew the best for me… what do you say now?” You’ve done well, replied a voice, somewhat distant amongst the wind which whistled through the hibernating winter branches. David scoffed. “Well, yeah… Well enough to be sitting here on my ass, wondering how you are.” I’m fine. The bottle was done, this one at least. David put it ...
Submitted to Contest #205
Small towns like Turing are littered across the United States. Well, not exactly like Turing. There are any number of towns with a low populations and with just one set of shops in the town square, none of them having another branch. Many towns had just one elementary school which was also the middle school and high school. However, even though perhaps ten thousand such towns existed in quiet innocence around the continental US, there were none exactly like Turing. There were none that did things quite like they did. This little speech was e...
Submitted to Contest #204
Along the streets of Goslin, shops formed an even line of large façades. Their dark brown wood was long since encrusted with dust and pummeled by weather. If one entered Main Street from the east, the first set of shops would be the convenience store and the local paper store. Then they’d find a hat shop and a general clothing store. A horse supply store would be next, directly across from the local saloon. Most folks didn’t go much further than there on their first stop in Goslin, but if they did, they would find the sheriff’s office, a sma...
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