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John K Adams

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Aug, 2019

Stories (310)
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962 Followers
1178 Following

310 Stories

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We Need to Talk

Submitted to Contest #230

Dennis spread the checkered blanket out for their picnic. He scanned the river and the view of distant trees turning vivid fall colors. An arpeggio of birds soared over the water. The breeze was warm, a glorious day. Sandra, his date, his steady, unwrapped the wine from its cloth. She smiled at seeing the label from the same vintage they’d shared for their first dinner together. It had been a glorious summer. Dennis admired how she arranged things on their blanket, just so. She placed the glasses on paper plates for stability. ‘Wouldn’t wan...

16 likes 11 comments 11
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New Kid

Submitted to Contest #229

Cole entered the middle school for the first time. He was back. Excited kids ran about. You could tell the seventh graders from upper classmen. They weren’t seasoned. They didn’t belong. Cole knew about not belonging. His family always on the move, he was the perennial new kid. He’d been the new kid four out of his first six years in school. He would have called it migration, but birds returned to where they’d been. Until today. Now Cole was back, starting again where he’d once lived. He only needed to connect with old friends to feel like h...

8 likes 6 comments 6
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Eve

Submitted to Contest #229

‘Who am I? Where am I?’ Roy stood in the still, dark night, holding a package wrapped like a present. He didn’t know who it was for. Starlight helped him see its professional wrapping in fine paper. It had no tag indicating the intended recipient. The large box, though not unwieldy, felt lighter than he’d expected. He could only guess its contents. ‘Why must I lug this box around?’ The stars looked like velvet in the clear sky. The Milky Way lay just out of reach. Trees lining the road seemed to glow through the darkness. He felt submerged ...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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Big Girl Blues

Submitted to Contest #228

Lara knocked on her daughter Rachel’s bedroom door. “Dinner’s ready, hon.” Not hearing a reply, she pushed the door open to see Rachel on her bed staring at the ceiling. Her auburn hair flowed across the bedspread as if posed for a Pre-Raphaelite painting. She cradled her teddy bear in one arm. “You okay Rach?” “Perfect…” “Big day tomorrow… I made your favorite. Everyone’s waiting to celebrate your last dinner as a single girl.” Rachel looked at her. “What have I got myself into, mom? You have an escape hatch?” “Oh…” Lara sat on the bed a...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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Absolute Zero

Submitted to Contest #227

‘Where’s global warming when you need it?’ Toby stared out the trailer window at the bleak, icy landscape. Icicles arrayed like glistening fangs hung from the eaves. It was snowing. How many weeks had passed with no sunshine at all? Too many. Even inside, he could see his breath. The space heater never kept up. The walls were cold. Everything changed so fast. No one knew the trigger. Experts spun theories off non-stop finger pointing. But the hot air didn’t make a dent. Cold was the new norm. Just prior, it had been unseasonably warm. News ...

10 likes 7 comments 7
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What the Mirror Wants

Submitted to Contest #225

“What’s wrong with me? Do I even exist?” Selma gazed at her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. Her irises contracted as she peered into her pupils. “Anybody home?” She chuckled. ‘Of course, I exist. I blink; therefore, I am…’ But somedays she struggled to own that even to herself. Remembering her college biology class, ‘I’m alive. I move and breathe. God knows I excrete…’ It is one thing to choose anonymity. Quite another to feel ignored. Even a dismissal requires recognition of the banished. No unicorn ever felt dismissed. But for S...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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The Point of no Return

Submitted to Contest #224

Allen boarded the plane, stowed his carry-on and found his seat. The interminable layover, now ended, allowed him to relax. Dusk settled over the airport. He hated taking the red-eye, but this was his last chance to go where he’d never wanted to go. The P.A. squawked. “Ladies and gentlemen, there will be a brief delay before take-off. Please exit the plane. You can leave your carry-on luggage but take anything you may need with you.” A loud groan erupted from the passengers. A stewardess murmured something about ‘mechanical trouble’ to a st...

10 likes 6 comments 6
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Mighty Pen

Submitted to Contest #223

Moving down the student union cafeteria queue, Kermit couldn’t help but notice her. They slid their trays mechanically along the stainless-steel counter. Slide. Stop. Repeat. He watched her careful choices and precise manner of organizing food on the tray, so nothing touched. Being a journalism major, spotting telling details was his mind-set. When he accidentally bumped his tray into hers, she shot him a warning look. Her mane of tight blond curls took a moment to settle. He couldn’t place her despite her distinctive look. Kermit apologize...

10 likes 3 comments 3
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In the Box

Submitted to Contest #222

Riding the elevator up, Ernest dried his palms on his shirt. ‘Is it me? Or is it always this difficult?’It had been years. They never communicated. Would his father even be there? He almost stopped his ascent into the forbidden zone.Elevators terrified him. Could anyone design a better place to make one feel isolated and alone? Ernest hoped not.Except for the slight rocking, and hissing from the vent, there was no sense of movement. Claustrophobia hovered.The floors ticked by. The elevator slowed and stopped at the penthouse. The doors slid ...

18 likes 20 comments 20
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Cold Feet

Submitted to Contest #221

I watched Helen, my wife, my widow, drift through the house each day, like smoke wafting from an extinguished candle. I could relate. But what could I do? I was the ‘dearly departed’ whose passing sapped the juice from Helen’s life. That’s right. What could I do? How do I explain my being here at all? Neither here nor there, in or out… A presence within the absence. It’s admittedly hard to describe. Those poor souls who think they’re taking the short cut out… They arrive when the party’s just starting.  Who knew? Even thinking you’re ...

13 likes 13 comments 13
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What Glitters

Submitted to Contest #219

“I feel like I’m living in a goldfish bowl,” said Sharky, the goldfish. He looked anxiously about. “You are living in a goldfish bowl.” Marina, the mermaid, suppressed her cute smile. They’d had this conversation before. She was Sharky’s beautiful best friend. He always found her lolling on the rock in the shipwreck’s shadow. Sharky gave her a look. “I don’t get it… What is a goldfish bowl, anyway? I thought it was a figure of speech.” “It’s like… well, you know…” She shrugged her bare shoulders and smoothed her hair. She thought she knew ...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Should I Ever Forget

Submitted to Contest #218

Ray thought ‘fanciful’ would impress Willow for their first date. Set up by a friend, they’d only spoken by phone. Once in the restaurant, he reconsidered. Willow was visibly uncomfortable in the whimsical surroundings. Playing it safe would have been better strategy. The waiter dressed as the Mad Hatter took it too far. Unless the trajectory made a radical shift, it would be their last date. Though they raced through dinner, neither had other plans. Presenting their best faces, and keeping vulnerabilities well disguised, they became carica...

7 likes 8 comments 8
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Speak Now

Submitted to Contest #216

Anticipation swirled about the church. No one remembered the last time it had filled to capacity. This would be no ordinary wedding, if there ever is such a thing. Not merely a gathering of family and friends, this was a major social event for the town and the state. People came from all over. Half the church contained people hoping to see the celebrities, whom they had never met. Local news trucks had parked outside. Two hometown luminaries were planning to wed. Tommy Carlson, the groom, was this year’s L.A. Dodgers’ number one draft pick....

12 likes 10 comments 10
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Haunted

Submitted to Contest #215

They had her kneel on the bare floor. Allie pulled the hood off her head and looked around. Three shadowy figures stood before her in the dimly lit room.Jason said, “Boo!”“Of course, Jason. I knew you had to be part of it. Where’s your goalie mask?”Diego pointed at him. “He forgot!”The three boys standing over her burst into laughter.Allie said, “Not wearing it doesn’t help you. Don’t leave home without it.”She and Jason dated briefly in their junior year. But his insecurity and immaturity formed a toxic gumbo.When they first led her in she ...

16 likes 11 comments 11
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The Barter

Submitted to Contest #215

‘Moby is dead.’ Jacob stared at his goldfish floating in its bowl. Tears streamed down his face. He was six. He’d heard the word ‘death’ mentioned on TV, but this was real. Searing pain cut through his world. ‘How can this be?’ His mother, Joanna, came to his bedroom door. She understood his sorrow and tried to console her young son. “But why, Mom? Why?” “I’m sorry Jake. Some things can’t be explained.” She thought, ‘Especially when you don’t understand.’ Joanna stroked Jacob’s hair, cooed loving phrases and offered to help lay Moby to r...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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