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Hazel Swiger

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2025

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46 Stories

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THE SECRETS WE BURY

“Jon, what is this again?” I asked my brother, who was carrying a big metal and leather trunk with our great-great-grandparents’ initials carved into them. “Some trunk that you inherited from Granddad,” he said, his knuckles white against the hard edge. I directed him up the stairs, wondering what could possibly be in the trunk. You never really knew with our grandfather. He was just like that.We arrived in my bedroom and Jon placed the trunk down with a big thud. There was a big, brass lock on the trunk, and Jon handed me a key that fit per...

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let's get to 100

Olivia: Theo? Hey, do you want to go somewhere?I stared at the text, grimacing. It sounded so weird. It sounded clingy. It sounded like I wanted too much. God, I can’t text without overthinking.My little sister, Lacy, came into the room. “What do you want?” I asked in a sweet voice. The last thing I needed was for an eight-year-old to start bawling in my room if my voice wasn’t perfectly pitched. She looked at me, and then at the phone in my hands. “Can I play the unicorn game?” She asked in her cute little eight-year-old voice. I sighed. I ...

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It Will Last

"We'll be together forever, right?" She said, looking up at his glowing green eyes. His arms were wrapped steadily around her waist, anchoring her. She was afraid if he ever let go that she would fall. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and she buried her face in his neck. Sometimes, it hurt to look at him. But she didn't tell him that."Yeah, yeah, we'll be together forever," He said, not meeting her eyes fully. She could feel her heart plummeting, her rib cage barely catching it. She took a hitched breath. With him going away to study a...

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No Place to Hide

Six people- all enemies in some sort of way- are to come to Wraithwood Isles to enjoy a feast of togetherness and empathy. You have been chosen to be one of the six, [enter name here]. You shall travel to Wraithwood with the plane ticket entombed. You shall not ask any of your peers if they got the same letter. This must remain secretive at all costs. There are no rules on Wraithwood. Use that to your own peril.Cyril Reeves *********Lilian WalkerI stared at the letter in my shaking hands, questioning every letter. I’d never heard of Wraithwo...

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Before Us

Dawn Henson was my best friend. When we first met, it was a cloudy day- the first day of middle school. We were both scared out of our wits, and we both were in all the same classes. I remember sitting in an uncomfortable chair, one of those blue ones that snap your hair if you sit too close, and I was wearing what I thought were cool clothes. I was trying to mimic my older sister, Jocelyn’s, style and hairdo. So, there I was, sitting in a pair of slightly ripped, bleached jeans, a purple Nike shirt that barely covered my stomach, and dark b...

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Everything We Didn't Say

TW: Death "What if one day, you woke up, and you found out that you could spend one last day with a deceased loved one- what would you do?" Cassandra Woodward, my best friend, said, looking at me with a solemn look."Uh, well, considering that I'd do literally anything with Mom, even if it were only one day, I don't know what I'd do. Probably everything I forgot. I would say everything we didn't say, you know?" I said, spinning the fidget ring that I had on my thumb. It had a sun on it, for Mom. Her name was Eliana, meaning 'daughter of the ...

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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 P...

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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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