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Garrett Michael

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021

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11 Followers
5 Following

11 Stories

205 karma pts

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These Lives

Weekly Contest #345

I have lived much of my life in imaginary places. Who I am is a question I cannot answer, because all I know about myself is who I am not. I believed I was a narcissist. Instead of seeking it through standard routes like self-harm or even the threat of self-harm, I got validation from people acknowledging my existence. When a popular student in class said my name, I thought about it for weeks.Nick remembered me.My name existed in his brain.Nick knew what I looked like.He knew how my voice sounded. After I got my driver’s license, drivers sto...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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Room Enough

Weekly Contest #339

“Leave room for the milk,” the man said in front of the counter, a little demanding. He stared at his phone, paying no mind to the barista. Meredith didn’t care for his tone, so Meredith would not leave room for the milk.“Absolutely!” she said to him, putting her acting lessons to good use. Who does this dick think he is? She thought. She looked at the man, staring at his phone frantically, typing like he’s the CEO of ExxonMobil, in disgust. As Meredith filled the cup, she wondered if she was being oversensitive. She wondered if the years of...

1 like 0 comments 0
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The Southern Penitentiary for Invisible Individuals

Shortlisted for Contest #112 ⭐️

CW: violenceHow we got here is unimportant. What matters is we are here. For now, at least.We deal with the reality like most of us deal with weight gain.I must have drunk a lot of water today.That extra weight is because I'm wearing pants on the scale.It's innocent enough, especially if it helps you live a less worried life.So when the clouds begin to come together in a beautiful and dark ensemble, the rain will come down, and people will disappear. A single drop of the Earth's new premium beverage gives us a chance to go away. To exist onl...

29 likes 8 comments 8
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What Not to Say to an Armed Robber

Weekly Contest #104

Hot black coffee spills through the counters and down onto the drawers. It creeps to the floor and spreads like fire. Steam rises from the ground, where the brown stains begin to form on the white kitchen tiles. The river of coffee floats over the refrigerator and under the dungeon of doom. The space under the fridge has never seen the light; those who enter will never exit. The coffee joins the quarter and the business card for a real estate agent. They’ve lived there for two years, and now they welcome a new liquid friend to their home. Th...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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The Public Figures

Weekly Contest #103

You're next. Enjoy it, or don't.  Let me start by saying I am a modest person. I am no different than your average firefighter, soldier, or paramedic. Well, there's obviously a bit of a difference. Those professions can't really compete with what I manage to do. What they do in 40 hours I can do in ten. I have the job others are too scared to do. I have the career people would kill to possess. I am a social media influencer.  I make content that sets fire to the internet (see: Renegade dance challenge on TikTok, link in...

9 likes 0 comments 0
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The Ballads of the Wind

Weekly Contest #102

The ground shakes but not in a pretentious way. She isn't bitter; she's not mad at any one person. There is no need to feel angry when you are already dying. What's the point? Ending your time while thinking of the last person that hurt you. The ego that gives them, even if they're dying too. Her demeanor is soft, but her builders are vicious. The ocean, the land, the rivers, the sand. All break their silence, and in doing so, hurt each other. She'll watch as her creations tear it all apart. Nothing we could do, "where would we even start?" ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Friends Who Frequently Lose Control

Weekly Contest #100

"My goodness, whose apartment is playing that filth?" Nicole is walking with Dennis through his apartment building. His friends have promised to be on their best behavior for this one dinner, even if they aren't sure why Dennis sees her. Dennis tells them he sees past Nicole's fear of God.  "The only God I fear is Bea Arthur," Kasper had told him.   Nicole's devotion to 'traditional' living and families was not something Dennis mentioned to his friend group, who collectively equal one straight person (Dennis.) He told them tha...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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On Our Own

Weekly Contest #98

So she sat there, with a face full of urine, questioning how long God will punish her. Yes, she's done some shitty things. Making sexual jokes about her priest comes to mind. Stealing a church's tabernacle when she got high on shrooms tickles her memory. She brought it back!  "I'm a good person!" she shouts at no one in particular. And she's right, of course. Because good is arbitrary and subjective. We all think we're good inside, even the people we least suspect. Ted Cruz thinks he's good, Ian from Delta Pi Alpha thinks he's good. Sur...

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I'm fainting, I realize.

Weekly Contest #97

I've always been jealous of other people's fingernails. Mine never seem to look right. The skin below the nail is always dry and rough. The nail itself has white patches on them. My cuticles are constantly covering my nail no matter how much I maintain them.  In school, I used to look at my classmates' fingernails. I expected someone to have ones like mine. But they never did. Even the boys who hardly ever thought about their nails had better-looking ones. I was distraught. What was I supposed to do? I look at my nails. My middle finger...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Before You Call Home

Weekly Contest #96

The kettle gets warmer on the stove, and Flora has to stop herself from touching the circle of heat. Anything to break the dullness of the never-ending predictability of her day. Tea time is her favorite. Every evening at 4 PM, Flora walks into her tiny kitchen, with outdated forest green and mustard yellow tiles with even more outdated neon green wallpaper shaped in squares. It’s incredible how so much color can be so plain, Flora thinks. She walks to the oven and opens the door, where she grabs her silver kettle. Flora keeps all of her pot...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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Absolutely not

Weekly Contest #95

A few thoughts are racing through Claire's mind as she stares at two doors, one to harmony and one to yearning. It's a bit cliche, really, Claire thinks. The harmony door has that predictable bright light shining through the cracks of the door. Claire hears some gospel choir from behind the door, and she rolls her eyes so hard she can see her brain. "Jesus chirst," Claire whispers. Immediately the door opens to a thirty-something-year-old man with low-cut hair and a trim beard. He's wearing what Claire would call an eggshell top sheet and ch...

14 likes 1 comment 1
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