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Jonathan Page

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2023

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141 Stories

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The Mountain that Walked Away

Weekly Contest #233

I tie the Jerry Can to my back with a cloth belt, which hugs my thin shoulders like a noose. The morning commute to the riverbed is a test of endurance. At eleven thousand feet, the half-hour journey down to the river with the smelly, miserable cows and goats crowding along the roadway is my least favorite part of the day. The dry air and oppressive ninety-degree heat smother me. After school, in the afternoon, I will have to go back for more water, but the weather will be cooler by then.My mother, Nima, is caring for my little brother, Juni...

25 likes 12 comments 12
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The Lantern of Kaamos

Winner of Weekly Contest #232 🏆

The melting Arctic is a crime scene, and I am like CSI Ny-Ålesund. Trond is the anonymous perpetrator leaving evidence and clues for me to discover, like breadcrumbs leading back to him. “Jonna,” he had said, the day we first met at the research institute, “If you are going to make it up here, don’t lock your doors.” It seemed like a life philosophy, rather than a survival tip.It is ironic. Out on Kings Bay, the coal miners came first, then the science outposts. Trond was already out here mining the Arctic when I was still just a bright-eyed...

102 likes 66 comments 66
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Hopeless Aid Station

Weekly Contest #231

The thing about going the distance is that it is non-negotiable; you must take every miserable, unrelenting step on your own steam—like it or not. David had his hands on his knees, dry heaving, at the foot of the highest mountain pass in the Colorado Rockies. Dry heaving was nothing new. He could handle dry heaving all day long. David’s Garmin Sportswatch displayed the elevation: 9,983 ft. 2,617 feet to the top. The saddle was 12,600 feet. Should take about an hour and a half, he thought. If he didn’t collapse first.As his stomach eased, Dav...

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Second Chance Café

Weekly Contest #231

On New Year’s Day, a line of hopefuls seeking a second chance formed outside Joyce’s diner. Joyce believed that everyone deserved as many second chances as they needed to get through this life, but Joyce was surprised that no one had been willing to take a chance on her when she was first released from prison.A man with a bald, black-shaved head stood in line, shivering in the cold. Joyce immediately recognized him as the Shetani. The hair was gray and chalky, but it was him. A shiver of fear ran down her spine. She’d recognize him anywhere....

21 likes 15 comments 15
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Donna Makes the Grade

Weekly Contest #230

What would Donna do?Victor Herrera, the Business Department Chair, laughed, and said, “Wow. A 33% failure rate.” He flashed a shit-eating grin at me and leered, waiting for validation that was never going to come.“What is that,” I said, playing dumb and buying time. I had strolled into Victor’s office to brag about how I had finished grading all of my students’ finals and how well they had done. Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. Sheesh. Victor was off the damn reservation. Holy hell. He was nearly at the County Line.“Beth Michelle ...

18 likes 8 comments 8
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Checklist for Time Travel

Weekly Contest #230

1.    WWDBD: What Would Doc Brown Do?2.    Polaroid picture of yourself surrounded by immediate family members3.    Men’s lightweight packable puffer jacket in red4.    Pick-up lines proven to work on Margot Robbie (P.S. Make sure the writing room has determined that these really work, no time to waste here)5.    If Rachel McAdams is your wife in an alternate timeline, don’t screw up that timeline—also, why is Rachel McAdams always the wife in...

20 likes 11 comments 11
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Trials and Tribulations

Weekly Contest #230

The verdict must be unanimous, but we were down to twelve jurors, with one on his way out the door if a verdict wasn’t reached before the weekend. I did not want to see a mistrial. It had been a long two weeks. It was Friday. Everyone had enough. My face was directed at the jury, and I scanned their number with interest. It fell on me to make sure they arrived timely for the length of the trial, that they recessed for lunch at the appointed time, and returned at the appointed time. I alone ensured that they shuffled out during portions of th...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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The Gravity of Words

Weekly Contest #230

The day that gravity stopped working for words, Shawn climbed the fire escape to the roof of his walk-up apartment and screamed at the top of his lungs. He could feel the vibration of the sounds leaving his throat, but the scream never reached his ears. The heads of the pedestrians on the street below did not turn. No one could hear him screaming.Shawn had a deadline on his new EP. He was determined to record two new tracks for his album that afternoon, but it seemed that the world had other plans. How does one make music, when they can’t he...

23 likes 15 comments 15
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Stolen Belonging

Weekly Contest #230

The sheriff arrived with the locksmith before nine to change the locks and enforce the eviction order. Eve Weider was chain-smoking Marlboro 100 cigarettes in her kitchen and pacing. She had found an ashtray in the cabinet from the ‘90s, which was the last time Roy had let her smoke in the house. It was ironic that they had paid off the mortgage on the house, but got so far behind on property taxes in the process that they lost a lifetime’s investment anyway.Roy got the door and was affable as always. “Is it really that time, sheriff?”“Afrai...

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The Proposal

Weekly Contest #225

There had to be more to life than funding other people’s dreams. Rachel Zahara fixed her hair in the foyer mirror, spritzing Baccarat Rouge on her neck and wrists, careful not to wake Brian. She walked down to the Hudson Market with a spring in her step. Once her deal finally closed, Rachel would escape the cold New York winter and get away to Riviera Maya. And Brian knew that she was expecting a proposal when they got there.When she met Brian seven years ago, they both had great jobs and seemed so far ahead of the game. She’d dreamed of sta...

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The Mirror of Monte Cristo

Weekly Contest #225

It was a Thanksgiving like any other and Charles Scribe heated up a Hungry Man Roasted Carved Turkey dinner and poured himself a glass of Robert Mondavi cabernet in a plastic cup. Charles took his meal at his writing desk, as there was no dinner table in his apartment. Wine was reserved for holidays and though he had placed a bottle-stopper tightly over the wine bottle, it was still flat because it had been sitting in the refrigerator since the Fourth of July.The six-foot by eight-foot, forty-eight square foot writing nook by the far walls o...

30 likes 12 comments 12
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Third Shift

Weekly Contest #224

“Third Shift,” Jimmy says. “Up and attem.” I rise from my bunk and dress. Jimmy trudges through the bunkhouse jackhammering the wooden paneling with his heavy steel-tipped combat boots. The last rays of divine light dim to a palette of unnumberable oranges, sunset crashing through the bunkhouse windows. The bunkhouse is like that. Noise and beauty. Frenzy and leisure. Holies play cards, watch videos, and chat at the feet of the bunks, while their brothers sleep just feet away.“Big night tonight, moonie,” Jimmy says. “You’ve got two souls to ...

28 likes 14 comments 14
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Losing Pieces of Myself

Weekly Contest #224

I haven’t slept in twenty-three days. I know exactly what I want to say, but I can’t say it. Thank you, my love, I can do that, I think. My jaw just rattles up and down like a nutcracker. There are noises, but not the ones I intend. I can’t sleep, my love, I wanted to say, What I wouldn’t give for some sleep.Laurel takes a wet rag and dampens my burning forehead, giving me a healthy sip of ice-cold iced tea, which I try to lift on my own with my shaky left hand, only to send splashes of reddish-orange liquid over the sheets of the bed. At si...

25 likes 19 comments 19
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Bread and Circus

Weekly Contest #223

“Delivery, delivery, delivery – delivery is everything.” – Cicero * ** How would Cicero have handled this inquisition? Konkle, Whipple, Achebe, Hustis, Buttersowrth, Bartles, and Diamond. They are the Faculty Grievance Committee. I have affectionately nicknamed them the seven dwarves. Because either by nature or habit, each has a characteristic quirk, and they always stay true to character in these meetings. Konkle, for instance, is the Master of Ceremonies and the Disciplinarian. Bartles is the sardonic wisecracker. Achebe is the silent...

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Drawing a Blank

Weekly Contest #223

I am freaking out. How can I explain this? I’m in a full-blown It's a Wonderful Life scenario here but in reverse. I’m not seeing what the world would look like if I had never been born—I’m seeing the world where I was born—but the joke’s on me.You know, like when a guy walks up to you and addresses you by name and you’ve got no idea who he is. Now, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, right. Say, Who are you again? and you’ve offended the guy. Greet him like an old buddy and he’s going to expect you to comment on your shared pas...

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