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Jesse Jelinek

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Nov, 2025

Stories (2)

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2 Stories

37 karma pts

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It all started one summer day on the blacktop of an old school

Submitted to Contest #330

It all started one summer day on the blacktop of an old school. The neighborhood kids were short a player, and my older brother waved me in. I didn’t have cleats, just duct‑taped shoes. My glove was too small, my heart too big. The second batter cracked one deep. I chased it down, caught it off the bounce, and without thinking, I threw that white ball like it was born in my hand. It sailed over the backstop, into a yard across the street. The older kids froze. My brother didn’t speak. He never really did.That was the first time I real...

12 likes

The Day I Walked Away

Submitted to Contest #330

The basement smelled of sweat and stale beer. Shadows flickered across the walls as the men sharpened their knives and their lies. They called themselves brothers, bound by a covenant sworn under the blade of a ceremonial sword — a twisted parody of family.At sixteen, I stood among them, a boy desperate for belonging, ready to prove myself. They had fed my rage for years, weaponized my pain, and promised me loyalty if I gave them blood.Tonight, loyalty meant murder. But the story didn’t begin in that basement. It began in a tent by the waste...

5 likes