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Katherine Howell

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2026

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12 Stories

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Squirrel Expectations

Weekly Contest #347

Don’t feed the squirrels. Who hasn’t heard that before? It is such a simple rule, and yet it once changed the course of the world forever.I had heard that rule ever since I was a young child. It was posted on every sign in every park across the city. The way it was repeated by both signage and my parents, you would think it was the most important rule of my life—especially when entering a park.That day, when I entered Trident Park, I passed by the first of many signs as I usually did. I hardly gave them a glance. They were everywhere, after ...

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No Place Like Home

Weekly Contest #346

I take the coffee from the barista and am immediately disappointed to discover it tastes just like regular Earth coffee. I had hoped for maybe something themed like the foam on top glowing bright red or the freeze-dried stuff the Smithsonian gift shop sold back at home. Nope. The coffee tastes exactly the same 140 million miles from Earth. Even the sleeve around the cup is the same, except for a tiny astronaut logo where a mermaid normally might have been. If I didn’t know any better, I would say it was coffee that had been pre-brewed back o...

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A Stroll Down Memory Lane (Observation Only)

Weekly Contest #346

John walked toward Gate 4: Personal Turning Points. Beneath the large glowing sign, smaller text read: Remember observation only. You are not really there. He had read that rule on the pamphlet, and then again on the signs posted on both doors to the terminal, and then at least five more times in the terminal itself. They were on screens, notice boards, and etched into glass panels positioned every few feet. The company seemed very insistent on drilling this fact into its customers’ brains. His friend Tim had insisted that the experience wor...

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The Last Day

Weekly Contest #345

My great-great grandpapa once said that when everything is crashing around you, everything becomes a suitcase or a briefcase. The one container that is truly yours and will always be with you. He had lived during the Great Depression, so I always took that saying with a grain of salt. Surely it meant something different back then, when few had a little and everyone else had nothing. He was full of profound sayings like that. The cardboard box was waiting on my desk. I began to pack up all the pieces of my life. Of course, I also had a briefc...

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The (Completely) True Adventures of 17B

Weekly Contest #345

Seat 17B was located somewhere between tragedy and the valley of death. Continue walking until you see human dignity. Then keep going. Take a left. A person could sit there, technically. A human body would fit. The promotional airline posters confirmed such, featuring a perfect smiling family who looked like they were on a Disney cruise. Even the baby was smiling. Correction: an average human of average size and height. She had been told on multiple occasions that she fitted this definition. She had learned valuable lessons over her many mil...

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I Hate Cake

Weekly Contest #344

I hate cake. I said it once when I was maybe six or seven. The frosting was too sweet and the colors far too bright for my liking as it sat in a neatly woven basket. The cake blade cut through so cleanly, and without a single trace remaining. The crumbs had stuck to my gloves, and I had to shake them off. I did not want them to leave any stains. I did not know that sentences could have a gift for traveling beyond your lips and taking on lives of their own. The tutors in the palace did not teach me that.“That didn’t happen,” my old governess ...

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The City Burned Anyway

Weekly Contest #344

I am the most beautiful woman in the world. This is not a boast. I don’t mean it in a vain way, nor in the hyperbolic way the poets do. It is simply tragically and completely true. It is what was decided. A thousand ships were sent for me once, or so they say. Yes—I know, I know—but we must begin with the ships. Always the ships. Although, it was more like a hundred or so. I counted each one as they arrived on the shores from my tower. Not all were warships. Some were merchant ships that had clearly been recently repurposed. One still had a ...

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The Pink God

Weekly Contest #343

The Pink God suddenly appeared from the skies, and the cathedral went dark. Then, just as quickly, the skies shone bright once more.“Why are you marrying your cousin?” The question came from the third pew. Viola looked up. “I’m not. Azrael is my cousin. Elijah is my lover.”“No. Elijah is your cousin. Azrael is your lover.”Viola went to shake her head but, sure enough, it was true. She knew it in her gut.“Don’t you hate him?” another voice called out from the sides. Viola shook her head again. “Why would I hate him?”“Because of the pregnancy....

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Airborne Adventures

Weekly Contest #343

Today, we are going to see our best friend. We picked out a good gift, and wrapped it crisply with the silver paper that shines like a mirror. We even added the more expensive black ribbons that curl in tight rolls when stretched with scissors for flair. We headed outside; it’s a beautiful crisp day, the kind that makes anything feel possible—or would at least make for a nice golf game—with a mild breeze coming from the west. I wonder what—A-CHOO!!The adventure begins as I am shot out with the force of an unstoppable phone update. For a dizz...

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Under The Bleachers

Weekly Contest #342

Do you remember your first kiss? I remember mine. It was under the bleachers as most things were, surrounded by hundreds of tally marks, each one a kiss, a makeout, or something more. Apparently that was the thing to do if the rumors and gossip were to be believed. It was under the bleachers (not on top of the roof, beneath the scoreboard, or beside the graffitied wall) because that was where they were supposed to happen, at least according to the sharpie notes written in the stalls of the girls’ bathroom.It was with the one who had the long...

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A Study in Penguins

Weekly Contest #342

Jessica Coolich did not believe in moon signs, if she was an Aquarius or a Taurus, or if a picked-up penny meant something more than an extra cent in her purse. She believed in heels that she could wear for more than an hour without blisters forming, in coffee and energy drinks that actually did their job, and people who would show up on time when they said they would. So when her friend Clara told her, “He is the one for you,” she did what any rational person would do: she looked for evidence to back up the statement. Evidence beyond Clara’...

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Four Rings

Weekly Contest #341

To the Crown[Delivered by hand. Noted the seal is unbroken, complete with the black wax of mourning.]To my loving family,It has been fifteen years (give or take) since I last walked your halls. I have hardly kept track. I hope you will forgive me the length of this letter, but when one has not spoken with their family for so many years, a shorter letter would feel both impossible and false. I remember thinking that exile—pardon me, “a thoughtful retreat”—should have been as dramatic as everything else in the court. Instead, it was quiet. I w...

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