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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jan, 2024
Submitted to Contest #327
*** Themes of death and witchcraft and demonology *** Call me Beltane. I’ve had other names through my lives – Grimoire, Sybil, Fluffy (don’t ask, that was a huge mistake), Lilith, and Sabbat – but Beltane is my latest incarnation’s name, and it’s festive. I’m a familiar, the Igor to my current witch Lenora. House cats lie around getting lazy and fat and occasionally slaughtering the local wildlife. Familiars have a more important job to do. No fancy cushions and expensive cat food for me. When I was a little kitten, eyes not yet open, the w...
Submitted to Contest #326
*** Content Advisory: Mentions sexual themes, substance abuse, physical violence and gore (not explicit) *** “Let’s play charades!” Jimmy said, and everyone applauded. Last weekend, Jimmy Butler had invited eight of his friends from college to spend Thanksgiving at his huge home. His family would join them on Wednesday afternoon for the traditional holiday celebrations, but today was Tuesday. Jimmy was the richest of the group, and the youngsters were treating it as a campus party in unusually luxurious surroundings at the Butlers’ estate in...
Submitted to Contest #325
As I walked into the bedroom, a cool breeze gently blew past my ankles, causing me to look down to see if I was brushing against something on the floor. I was in a house I had known well when I was a teenager. My aunt Toby was a widow even then, but she had been the most sophisticated and glamorous person I knew. Now she had died, and I was the executor of her will. I found myself back in her house on the edge of Exmoor, still full of the things she had collected on her travels around the world. The house seemed familiar but strangely empty....
Submitted to Contest #324
I had no experience sailing a boat. In retrospect, I don’t think Billie had much either. The boat was undoubtedly the baby of her Navy SEAL husband, who was currently overseas. Billie had full use of the seventeen-foot sailboat, and we took it out on Saturdays on the big lake, weather permitting. We were capable of raising and lowering the sails, and using the small outboard motor to enter and leave the slip. With the confidence of thirty-year-old professional women, we considered ourselves indomitable. It was September, and we knew there wo...
Submitted to Contest #323
Miguel wakes up each morning and patiently goes downstairs to wait for the rest of the household. There is coffee in the coffeemaker from yesterday, so he pours himself a cup and heats it in the microwave. He’s waiting for breakfast, one of the main events of his day. He can actually make his own breakfast, with cereal, milk, a banana, and toast. But he hopes that today Lillian will decide to make an egg dish for him. (Miguel never cared to learn how to cook, and he notices that Lillian gets irritated when he makes mistakes.) He used to go u...
Submitted to Contest #322
“You’re doing a great job, Dave. We’re going to put you on a bonus plan in addition to your salary.” Dave blinked. He’d been working in IT for several years, starting as a programmer, then a systems analyst and now a team leader. He had never expected to be repaid with productivity bonuses. That was something that only happened to management. He tried not to appear surprised, imagining how he’d respond if he had been expecting it. “Can you tell me how that works?” he asked. “Are there specific targets to meet, and is the amount of bonus pred...
Submitted to Contest #321
Mister Whiskers walked into the bedroom and jumped on Louise’s bed. Louise absent-mindedly reached out and stroked him, without opening her eyes. There is no hurry to wake up on a Saturday morning. Mister Whiskers rubbed his face against her hand, purring loudly. Slowly, she opened her eyes, smiling at the big orange cat. Then she froze as she saw the present he had placed beside her on the bed. Screaming, she jumped up, ran into the bathroom, and slammed the door closed. A few minutes later, Louise emerged in her housecoat and slippers, rea...
Submitted to Contest #320
How could I be lost so close to civilization? Two or three miles to the west or east would take me to a road or to the coast. But heading due east or west is for skilled trackers, and people with compasses. I do not belong to either of those groups. I was raised as a city kid and came to the great outdoors later in life. This part of the world, and of the country, is fairly new to me. I’m fairly sure I’m not about to die out here, but I do feel disoriented and slightly panicked. The Oregon coast is beautiful. Rugged, and backed by forest-cov...
Submitted to Contest #319
The police showed up on the doorstep in the middle of a Monday morning. Julie had seen the kids off to school, cleaned up from the breakfast mess and started the laundry, and she was just settling down with a cup of coffee and the New York Times crossword (too easy on a Monday, but it helped to shape her week). She tsked irritably at the interruption to her routine. Weekends were stressful, and she enjoyed the comparative calm when she was alone in the house at last. Two police officers stood in the doorway: a man in plain clothes and a unif...
Submitted to Contest #318
I was hanging out in the prop room when Mary Linkletter came to find me. She was the primary understudy for Cissy Lucas, who was playing Evita. A great starring role, so I understood why Mary came to see me. Mary was a striking-looking woman with an impressive vocal range, but she’d never had a starring role in the West End. She had expected this to be her big chance for exposure, but Cissy had proved to be as healthy as a horse. The show had been running for nearly two years, and Cissy hadn’t missed a single performance. “Hey, Cass,” she sa...
Submitted to Contest #317
I was given past life regression hypnosis when I was still in college. I don’t usually tell people about it, because at the time I thought it was just a con trick, and now I’m scared. My buddies and I had been out drinking on a Friday night, and we met a guy who said he’d done it and found out about his past life as a Roman centurion. We all had a good laugh at that, but he gave me a card and told me I really ought to try it. The next day as we all recovered from our hangovers, I found the card in my pocket. The guys wanted me to try it out ...
Submitted to Contest #316
The gentleman comes to sit next to me at the bar. I’m just sitting there, scrolling through messages on my phone, looking like a million dollars. My chestnut hair falls in soft waves over my ears, framing a face that has been artfully made up to look natural. I’m wearing a simple peacock blue jersey dress that is cut demurely but hugs my body in all the right places, paired with a necklace in blue and gold with rhinestone accents and matching earrings. The overall effect is tasteful and definitely eye-catching but does not appear flashy or v...
Submitted to Contest #315
At midnight, the new puzzles show up online. I do the Microsoft games, the New York Times puzzles and the new jigsaws. I know, I have 24 hours to do them all, so there is no reason to stay up and do them as soon as they show up. I don’t have OCD, but sometimes I behave as if I do. I justify the puzzles as keeping my mind alert and well-exercised and also giving me a checkpoint to see how rapidly my brain is deteriorating. Anyway, that means it’s about 2:00 a.m. when I finally go to bed, and of course by then I’m wired so I read to calm down ...
Submitted to Contest #314
It was dark and gloomy. The river flowed almost silently, silver showing up the ripples on its inky surface. There was no sign of the ferryman. Alpha scratched behind his ear. Was that a flea or just one of the serpents moving around? “It’s getting dull here. No one is escaping, no one is trying to get in. How about we play a game?” Gamma yawned loudly. “We already played ‘Fetch sticks from the Styx’ this morning. I could use a nap.” Gamma sounded like a gangster character from London. The middle head, Beta, growled quietly. “I want to eat s...
Submitted to Contest #313
I can hear the AC/DC song “Highway to Hell.” I open my eyes, but I’m still in the dark. I can’t see anything. I try to rub my eyes and realize I can’t move my arms – or (as I immediately test them) my legs. The happiness I had felt when I heard the familiar music quickly evaporates as I start to panic. Where am I? I focus on the beat to calm myself and try to figure out more about my environment.I am sitting in a chair, with my wrists attached to the arms and my feet attached to the legs. The chair is not particularly soft, and the arms and ...
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