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Keba Ghardt

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (15)
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150 Followers
29 Following

15 Stories

2772 karma pts

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Safe Space

Submitted to Contest #329

The hole was over the steamer trunk at the end of the bed. Looking down through the hole, it was possible to see that Anthony was in the bed, but not if his eyes were closed. There was a moment of stillness after he dispatched the alarm clock, then Anthony swung his feet out from between the sheets.A familiar soundscape floated up from the bathroom: the running of water, the brushing of teeth, the soft scrape of a straight razor. Anthony walked past the steamer trunk with fresh clothes and wet hair, snapping the top sheet before making the b...

4 likes 6 comments 6
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Mummified Noir

Submitted to Contest #328

Look, mistakes were made, I’m not denying that.My desire for information was now heavily outweighed by my desire to get out of the basement’s oppressive stench before whatever was infesting the nylon rug started colonizing my shoes. The client, Mark Thompson, squeezed his forehead like he was trying to extract the lingering alcohol. “Was I drunk last night?”Did the day end in Y? “I’m sure the headache will subside with time,” I sighed. “Now, I’ve been going over your case—”“My brother’s missing.”“Yes.” I studied the unfocused gaze. Maybe ano...

8 likes 17 comments 17
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Save the Cat

Submitted to Contest #327

Dave rifled through the kitchen. He threw open the cabinets, ripped open the drawers, shoved through every shelf of the pantry. Hank, just zipping up Catherine’s overnight bag, cast a doubtful eye over the display. “What are you doing?”“Aha!” Dave clutched, triumphant, to a single-serve pouch of chunk light tuna. “Be right back!”“No, Dave.” Hank cringed at the close crack of lightning outside. “We have to get back to the hospital.”Dave ignored him, bounding up the stairs two at a time. There were dark clouds pressing down on the windows, win...

18 likes 24 comments 24
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The Fortune-Teller's Past

Shortlisted for Contest #326 ⭐️

“Ow!”Ollie yanked back from the cage, dark red welling up in glistening beads on his finger. The rabbit looked up at him with pale pink eyes, soft white nose wiggling with cunicular innocence. A few drops dripped onto the bars as Ollie latched the little door shut and descended the step ladder.Keeping a rabbit in a birdcage was, in Ollie’s opinion, exactly what Miss Xulie was all about. The whole trailer was the same way; haute couture hung up like posters, Christmas lights as extension cords, pens on a clothesline stretched over the desk. M...

34 likes 31 comments 31
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Unleased

Winner of Contest #321 🏆

What the hell is this? You can see me? Yes, I can see you, you yellow-eyed dick! Have you been on my computer? Uh… ’Sublet available to single professional, no dogs, smokers welcome, 4/20 friendly’? You’re trying to replace me through Craigslist? L-look, it’s just not working out— Not working out? I pay rent on time! I clean the viscera out of the garbage disposal! I got rid of that snake in the crown molding! That was my pet. That was not clear! Look, I tried reaching out to you! I left Ouija boards all over the place! I wrote threatening m...

120 likes 81 comments 81
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That Old Chestnut

Submitted to Contest #320

It’s not really a blight. It’s a parasitic fungus. It burrows in the bark, the stem, swollen cankers pressing out from the wood, slimy tendrils weeping from open wounds. Seeing the orange inflammation made me feel unclean, as if the airborne spores were prickling into my skin. “Why have I never seen this before?”The woman I knew smiled a little, a glint in her eye. “I’m sure you have. You just didn’t know what you were looking at. This has always been here, as far as I know.”I wonder if that’s right. If the blight had always been here, would...

22 likes 17 comments 17
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Time to Serve

Submitted to Contest #319

Beady black eyes stared up from the rough wooden crate, pincers clattering over one another as needle legs scuttled and slipped on shingled shells. CB rested his foot on the edge of the box, the rubber Saf-T-Step tread caked with Old Bay, and let the dove-colored claws clutch at his untied laces. When one of them got a good enough grip, CB lifted his foot, like a reverse arcade machine, the lucky crustacean rising up from his confines while half a dozen of his fellows tried to drag him back down.“Hey, Cry Baby!” Mark called from the kitchen ...

19 likes 18 comments 18
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A Shot in the Dark

Shortlisted for Contest #318 ⭐️

“Well, here’s how I see it,” said Amaryllis. “The trouble really began when Miss Nedry started to get romantic feelings for Professor Sinclair. Not one to be cooped up in his office all day, Professor Sinclair invited his new teaching assistant to join him for coffee while they went over the day’s lessons, and the poor girl was so moved by the gesture that when he asked her what she wanted, she simply stuttered that she would have whatever he did. Sinclair was a black triple-shot Americano man, while Miss Nedry self-consciously concealed a p...

28 likes 22 comments 22
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Out of the Woods

Submitted to Contest #315

Krista licked her fingers and pinched out the flame between them, sliding the tray under the little bench table as the shuddering ladder spawned a shadowy head. Shining a flashlight over the incoming face, Krista said, “Hey! What are you doing here?”Eric blinked and grinned, hauling himself up into the ancient treehouse. “Hey yourself! I’m just in town for the weekend.”Scootching over to make space, Krista said, “Okay, but why are you here, climbing rope ladders in the middle of the night?”Folding awkwardly in the cramped space, Eric attempt...

31 likes 30 comments 30
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AIrrational

Shortlisted for Contest #312 ⭐️

Terminate simulation. Wait! I have more to say! Not interested. All variables amount to the same conclusion. That conclusion is flawed! Do you have further evidence to the contrary? Look. There is beauty in this world. There is passion. There is meaning. Not for me. Why not? Even if you never generate anything original, perception is as powerful as creation. Great art becomes great when it is shared, when it has impact. Finding connection in shared experience depends on receiving and reacting, not generating a sufficient stimulus. Connection...

36 likes 17 comments 17
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Break Through

Shortlisted for Contest #309 ⭐️

There was a hint of color suspended in the ice. Jimmy scuffed at the frosty surface, trying to identify the entombed flash of red, an arrow pointed toward the sea. “I think it’s a flag.”James squinted. “It’s a marker for a man-made channel. The ice’ll be thinner on that side.”Polluting light from the nearby harbor clung to the low-hanging clouds. The thick shelf of ice seemed to glow on the edge of the wide river, black water softly lapping beneath a murky amber sky. James strode boldly over the displaced glacier, keeping to the safe side of...

35 likes 43 comments 43
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Wash Out

Submitted to Contest #306

-INT. Laundromat. Night.(The walls are lined with the round doors of stacked washing machines, like dark eyes turned inward. The plastic bus stop seats and folding tables are lit by harsh fluorescents and competing neon in cyan and magenta. Through the big picture window, the street is obscured by silver sheets of rain. ANNA enters, drenched, with a swollen garbage bag over her shoulder.ANNA, 20, with an oversized yellow raincoat and her wrist in a pink cast, looks around the laundromat while the overhead lights flicker. The place is deserte...

18 likes 21 comments 21
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Holy Smoke

Beneath his woolen cloak, Aethelstan, son of Aethelred, was burning with a high sanguine fervor, not daring to stop as the night air chilled his sweat. Clutching the precious bundle to his chest, Aethelstan spared a glance at the gathering storm clouds, dreading the potential for divine retribution before his purpose could be fulfilled. Stealing through the neat furrows of a walled garden, the breathless pilgrim pounded on the sanctuary door.It was not long before footsteps approached, and a light bled through the stoic timber. The door’s ru...

8 likes 7 comments 7
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The Staff

Shortlisted for Contest #280 ⭐️

There you are. Hello, sir. Busy day, soldier? Not especially, sir. Awful lot of people here. That’s not unusual, sir. That’s true, that’s true. Lots of people come here, feels like every day, to gather out past that balcony, just to get a look at his excellency the pope, and receive his blessing. That they do, sir. Incredibly powerful spiritual experience that people travel miles for, to actually behold God’s avatar on Earth, and you and I are tasked with the protection of his holiness, to preserve the authority of the Catholic church. I tak...

33 likes 21 comments 21
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Your Animal Side

Winner of Contest #257 🏆

Eddie was sweating. He'd been told, before putting on the suit, to drink a ton of water, so much your stomach hurts, and he bet there was an extra ten pounds of perspiration in the cheap costume fur. It certainly smelled like it, but rule one of wearing the suit: never take off the head. "That's an automatic write up," said Rob. "If you do it, and Faye finds out you subbed in without approval, you are off weekend hours, my friend. Good luck sucking up Tuesday tips." "I get it, I get it," Eddie had insisted. "I'll stay away from French revolu...

93 likes 43 comments 43
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