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Hazel Swiger

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2025

Stories (25)
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16 Followers
23 Following

25 Stories

172 karma pts

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The People Made of Stars

"Yeah, she's a real lemon, in need of a check-up, but she's precious; she'll take you anywhere you need to be." Gus Harding said, patting the car on its hood. I was shuffling around uneasily in my bleached jeans and Old Navy shirt, the smell of smoke and oil burning inside my throat. Kara Marlin, my best friend, stood beside me in her KISS shirt and white sweatpants. She had driven me to get my car, and then she would leave hers to get it fixed- it's check-engine light had come on just before we had arrived at Gus Harding's Cars & Fixes....

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when we fell down a rabbit hole

Dear, Diary: (ugh that sounded so cringe, I'm not 7 anymore...)Well, I'm not going to name you like a freaky weirdo... (Ahem: Joy Dean). But 'diary' is so cringe, I am literally cringing just seeing that written from my own pen. I didn't even want this piece of crap; my therapist, Dr. Badman (I know, right?), told me to 'vent' into this notebook. Not a diary, okay? Notebook. Say it loud, say it proud!Anyway, today is November Eleventh (11/11) and I feel luckier than usual... But yeah. Well, my mom told me to fill one page with a stupid 'abou...

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Game of Glass

TW: Self-harm, mention of substance abuse, themes of mental health I lived in a small, suburban town on the edge of Manhattan, with my grandmother and two siblings, Conrad and Ruby. We didn’t know our parents very well; we were adopted by Nan when we were seven (me), six (Ruby), and eight (Conrad). Besides, we were in and out of foster care almost our entire lives. We were all born and had knowledge of our existence. But we probably all regret that we were then capable of remembering things. The stuff that went down in one foster home, The ...

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Thought We Were Friends

Emma, December Thirteenth, 10:47 P.M.: How was your date? Jackson: It was alright. She doesn’t seem into me, though. Emma: Oh no. I knew that she wasn’t right for you, j. Jackson: It’s ok. besides, I don’t need love right now. Emma: don’t say that Jackson: it’s true, tho Emma: no it’s not. you deserve everything and more, j. Jackson: awww, you’re making me blush, e. Emma: shut up. besides, I always said that Sam was not good for you and that you had such a better shot with Laura or Bea, j. Jackson: maybe you’re right, e. although is...

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Out of Time

TW: Death and themes of mental health The day I met Phillip, nobody would’ve known that I was drowning.I know, right? What a great way to start off. You’d think that I would succumb to some glorious, sweet, slow-burn romance: “The first day I met Phillip, a little flying baby wearing a diaper with a bow and arrow shot me and him with a love arrow.” But no.The real way to start off is with the real, raw truth: “The day I met Phillip, nobody would’ve known that I was drowning.” Yeah, that’s the real, raw truth.So, the first day I met Phillip,...

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What We Thought

TW: Death My grandmother, Wilda Parkinson, was a fire-spirited, sassy old woman. It was hard to picture her as anything else, really. Me and my two brothers called her Gram, and my cousins called her Gee. I don't know why, they were always a weird bunch, honestly.So when Gram first got the call, we didn't think much of it. I remember what she had said the day after the call and the scan and the doctor's visit. She didn't want anybody fussing over her. She had that ring to her, that she didn't really care what anybody thought. She'd battled ...

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Year of Glass

TW: Drug dealing, description of murder, mention of abuse. Nobody expected me.Out of all the Morrisons- all seven tyrants of them (including me), nobody ever expected me. I was just a filler for Estelle’s spot. I was just the person everybody avoided; just the other distant relative nobody liked. But maybe they should’ve thought twice before deciding that.You see, I am my own glass shell. Easily breakable, yes, but people treat me with extreme caution, as you would with a piece of literal glass. So I guess you could say that they were afrai...

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Our Hill of Stars

TW: School shooting, trauma, mention of suicide and mental health problems, including nightmares and depression. The night Halle Tucker came up to my door, I nearly refused her. Something told me not to, though.I didn’t know that she would change me forever. Halle Tucker was my half sister. She was eleven when her mom, Katherine Tucker, married my dad, Marshall Hogan. I was thirteen. I guess you could say that Halle really wanted to become instant friends with me, and I tried for the first year or so.It was odd- I’d always wanted a sister,...

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The Last Smile

TW: Death “Wait, please don’t leave me,” I said, with a desperate tone that surprised me myself, and then she turned to me, her eyes glistening with tears that had formed in the hospital bed.She smiled. One last time.Time stopped after that, and I’ve always assumed that it was because of heartbreak, a topic I am too familiar with. She just smiled.She didn’t wave.She didn’t make this elaborate farewell speech.She just smiled, which somehow hurt much, much more than any elaborate farewell speech could.It probably hurt so much because I knew sh...

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The Whispering Pines

TW: Mention of suicide and murder James never got what he wanted. He always told me what he wanted, yet nobody ever knew what it was. Come to think of it, I didn't really either.James said he wanted a pine tree. But not just any pine tree, The Pine Tree, he said. Obviously, when you live in a forest in a little cottage like James, it's hard to want pine trees. You're surrounded by them for as long as you live here, in Whispering Pines. People didn't like James. All they felt was pity and sorrow. James's parents had passed in the War, but it ...

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