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Graham Kinross

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

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150 Stories

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Banged Up

Weekly Contest #175

TW: Swearing, death, sexual references. Mayko’s black hair tickled Arthas Jacques face, lit by a halo of white light. “You’re awake. Thank goodness.” That soothing mix of upper-class English and French accents from her at once wise and youthful face instantly brought to mind his ex-girlfriend, Konnie. Even through the haze of his sedation, Arthas knew to keep that to himself. “Where am I?” He asked, looking around at a curtain which had once been white. “You’re in the station’s medical bay. We were caught in a bomb blast. You saved my lif...

38 likes 44 comments 44
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Raising a Dead Horse

Weekly Contest #174

Lupita Smith held the skull of the horse in her hands. “I can feel the magic in it. It’s not completely dead.” “Maybe I should smash it with a hammer then,” said Sir Danielle Longbow coldly. “Those flaming horses helped slaughter my knights.” “They’re steeds, just as a living horse is not to blame for the actions of the rider, you can hardly hold this one responsible. I can feel the remains of its soul clinging to this skull. Bound to the bone. It’s waiting.” “Why make it wait, I’ll get the hammer.” “No.” Lupita put a warm brown hand on ...

28 likes 28 comments 28
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How to Assassinate the Undead

Weekly Contest #174

Flaming skeletons marched through the dragon scorched streets of Holyhome. Little remained of what had been the capital of the continent’s most powerful empire. “What now?” Sir Danielle Longbow asked the assassin by her side. “Now you blacken that tabard and stash your armour where it can’t give us away,” said Catherine Harper, who wore the blackened silver hawk mask as always. The knight rubbed the breastplate of her armour instinctively. She felt naked without it. “Where? There’s nothing left of this city that doesn’t have burning skele...

32 likes 13 comments 13
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Love and Loss, Begotten Before Battle

Weekly Contest #174

TW: Swearing and mention of violence. Long after the dust of the enemy had blown away the blank eyes of friends and comrades stared into the sky. Sir Danielle Longbow laid them side by side. The dead outnumbered the living. Merciless sun beat down on silent survivors. Shame kept Danielle’s head low as she carried scorched soldiers to lie in rank with the rest. Though they had held their own and beaten back an army of undead, the Nameless Knights had been decimated. Among them was Sir Lachlan Donaldson, a flame haired menace who’d romanced ...

24 likes 19 comments 19
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Sunshine on the Ones I Love

Weekly Contest #171

Red light of the rising sun caresses the cheeks of my two loves. Tina’s mouth lies open, cheek squished against her mother’s chest. Outside the window is a view that people remember forever. I’m watching the drooling beauties on my sofa. Breath catches in my chest as happy tears smear dark lines on my sleeve. For all the darkness in the world, the sun sheds light upon happiness I never knew was possible. Love fills an empty place inside me that knew nothing but dust and spiders for too long. Days are long, work is hard, but if I’m coming h...

34 likes 17 comments 17
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Arthas Gets Blown Away

Weekly Contest #171

Mark Brigg fiddled with the neon sapphire sleeve of his prison jumpsuit. “Is there any way to get an outfit that doesn’t glow in the dark?” “It brings out the blue in your eyes,” said Detective Arthas Jacques in his Martian capital Arab-French sounding accent. Cheap prison soap scent filled the air. “My room is tiny. Shouldn’t I be with other prisoners? So I don’t go crazy?” Mark’s voice had the contrasting qualities of being gravelly and whiny at the same time. “Give us some information on the bombing targets and we can start giving you ...

32 likes 32 comments 32
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Xander Meets the In-Laws

Weekly Contest #170

TW: Brief mentions of violence. Nothing is as terrifying as meeting your in-laws for the first time. I’ve met killers that didn’t give me the dry acidic taste that’s dancing on my tongue right now. I asked to hold Tina. Using my baby daughter as a human shield might seem cowardly. Probably because it is. I’ve never had a relationship serious enough to meet family. Perspiration in my armpits threatens to ruin my first impression with the stench of fear. Tina is making chattering noises, once she starts talking, I doubt she’ll ever stop. Th...

27 likes 15 comments 15
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Odd Pilgrims at the Church of Hate

Weekly Contest #170

TW: Swearing, gangs, guns. I’ve got a plan. It’s vicious, perhaps even cruel. That’s part of the fun. They gather in a giant shed. From the outside it’s halfway to a church. White wooden walls. Tall thin windows. They don’t preach the word of God here. They worship hate. A project I have laboured on for a week is coming to fruition. Every night I sealed up every possible vent for air in the side of this wooden temple to xenophobia. It doesn’t need to be completely airtight, just enough for the dental nitrous oxide to knock out everyone in...

18 likes 8 comments 8
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Who Polices the Police?

Weekly Contest #170

TW: violence and swearing. No one wants to read the word ‘HELP’ in a text message. Especially from their wife, the mother of their baby. It could be anything. I’ve gone up against a lot of scary people. Most of them were militant white supremacists with a bent for murder. There were a load of perverts recently but destroying the lives of neo-Nazi’s was my bread and butter for years. I race back from work drenched in a cold sweat, not that I’d managed a day at work without being soaked in sweat anyway. Somehow lifting frozen bread in and o...

30 likes 16 comments 16
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A New Tail

Weekly Contest #169

I look at the fluffy monster, crouched in the corner of the room. “Why? Billie?” I ask my wife. “Why do we need another cat?” Its tail flicks as it watches me, as if it knows I’m threatening to send it back to the streets. “In case Genzo gets lonely when we’re out.” She knows I’m annoyed so she’s doing the puss in boots eyes and hiding behind our adorable baby daughter. “Where is the ginger tom formerly known as Toby?” I ask Billie, formerly Billie Watanabe. She frowns, long bored of me moaning that she changed our cat’s name. “He’s in the b...

32 likes 17 comments 17
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Baking up Trouble

Weekly Contest #168

TW: Hints at sexual assault, swearing. Yellow light reflects off the window as I watch my station disappear in the subway tunnel. Blackness turns into the bright light of a train heading the other direction. I think of my little girl, Tina, with her mother, Billie. Be a better man. No more powers. No risking your freedom. I try not to make eye contact with anyone. Some of them have gang tattoos. I saw a kid with different colours getting on in a different car further down. Hopefully they get on and off without seeing each other. I don’t wan...

32 likes 24 comments 24
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Love on the Rails

Weekly Contest #168

Cairn tied his cart to the flatbed train car. Melanie tied hers alongside it. Her horse, Samwise, was enjoying a rest in the stable car, towards the front of the train. “It’s an odd pilgrimage to make,” she said. Her bronze-coloured hand reached out for his. Cairn, still unsure of their limits as a new couple, placed his pale hand in hers. “I suppose it’s important to remember why the world is the way it is. Why humanity had to change.” They walked between the many carts of their tribe, heading for the front of the train. Other tribes had...

24 likes 5 comments 5
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Daydreaming of Love

Weekly Contest #167

My cheeks flush. My heart hammers in my chest as she sits down on my lap. Every word that might come up to comment gets stuck in my dry throat. Her soft fingers dig into my sandy hair. She asks how I wash it that it smells so sweet and feels so soft. I stutter through telling her about the shampoo I make myself with citrus fruits. She smells of mint and honey from the tea cart. Melanie is the goddess of my wildest dreams. How is this happening? Pink-brown lips curve in a teasing smile. She knows how uncomfortable I am. I can feel the heat o...

27 likes 20 comments 20
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Written on Rob's Mind

Weekly Contest #167

TW: Death, war. “How did Robert get caught. He’s always so careful.” Agent Paul Summers looked at his colleague and friend of twelve years, laying on a slab. “They got lucky, or they were tipped off. Doesn’t matter how they got him if they didn’t get the information,” said Agent Lana Scully. “They put a whacking great hole in it,” Paul said. He wiped a tear on his shirt sleeve as he gestured to the bullet wound between Robert’s eyes. “All we can do is head in there and see what was left. The bullet wound suggests they didn’t find what he...

28 likes 11 comments 11
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Merl and the Mothman

Weekly Contest #166

TW: Swearing, guns, monsters. Rain hammered down on Esme’s night black Lamborghini Diablo. “First stop is the woman who gave the interview to the news,” said Merl. He sat in the passenger seat, polishing his favourite revolver. “Are you sure she’s not just a nut job?” Esmerelda asked. “If she wasn’t, she probably is now. That don’t mean mothmen aren’t real. First spotted in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. That was back in ’66. Since then, they’ve been seen before disasters all over the world.” His words were a whiskey-soaked drawl. Merl’s gr...

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