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Lily Finch

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2022

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239 Followers
118 Following

133 Stories

4231 karma pts

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It's Probably Nothing

Jimmy had been missing for three days when Deidre and Vince found the cave.Jimmy was Deidre’s boyfriend and Vince’s first cousin. Twelve other children and teenagers had disappeared with him. The adults searched roads, houses, and abandoned buildings.Deidre and Vince searched for the Sandman.Jimmy had reached Deidre through dreams. He told her the children were hanging underground. He warned her not to touch the dust.Most importantly, he told her two things.Water hurt the Sandman.Moonlight revealed his trail.They had followed that trail to a...

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The Sandman; The Dust Trial

Weekly Contest #372

The night Jimmy vanished, Deidre awoke with sand in her mouth.It wasn't grit but something finer, like dust that had forgotten how to collect in the corners of children’s eyes. She sat upright, heart hammering, sheets twisted around her legs. Moonlight pressed against the window. The room smelled faintly of dust.She reached for her phone.No messages. No missed calls.She checked again.Jimmy always texted goodnight. Even when tired. Even when angry. Especially then.She opened their conversation.Nothing.Deidre crossed to the window. Snow glazed...

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The Visitor? or Live In?

Weekly Contest #372

The first thing he moved was a coffee cup.At least, that was the first thing Martha noticed.She came home from work, kicked off her shoes beside the door and walked into the kitchen. The blue cup sat beside the sink.Martha stopped.She always washed her breakfast cup before leaving for work. It was part of her morning routine. Coffee, toast, shower, dress, wash the cup, check the stove, lock the door.She picked it up.Clean.Maybe she had washed it and left it there instead of putting it in the cupboard.She put it away.The next evening, one of ...

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Forty Seconds

Weekly Contest #370

Paris, 1793 — 4:17 p.m.Pierre jerked his head back when he saw Jacques standing among the condemned.There were twelve in the tumbril, and Pierre had already looked over most without thinking much about them. He had learned not to look too closely at the people he was expected to kill. He checked whether they could walk without assistance and whether any might fight when brought to the guillotine.Then his eyes landed on Jacques.Jacques stared back, his face revealing nothing.Pierre looked away as the tumbril continued along the cobblestones t...

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The Wing With Her Name

Weekly Contest #369

STORY CONTAINS SUBJECT OF DEATH AND MOURNING.Ann and Mary had not always been close. Growing up, the two girls couldn't seem to get along. Their brother, Rick, had been closer to Ann because they went to the same parties and shared some of the same friends, while Mary had her own circle and interests. Somehow, as the years passed, the two sisters who couldn't get along grew into women who became the best of friends.They shared make-up secrets, discussed their health, and believed in doing good rather than doing harm. Both women loved animals...

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The Message on the Postcard

Weekly Contest #368

Amanda hadn’t planned to stop at the shop by the lake, where gulls squabbled over chip ends, and the air smelled of damp cedar and petrol. She had opened her bedroom windows that morning to let October in, but by noon her hands were sore from knitting, and the empty house had begun to bother her. She took the car out and followed the county road toward Lake Erie.She drove near the beach, parked, and kicked off her shoes. A flyer flapped in the dune grass: Wonder Cards. Unusual postcards. Something for everyone. The shop stood across the road...

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There’s No Going Back Now

Weekly Contest #367

Stephanie lifted one skate from the ice and began her spin.Glenn watched from the edge of the pond, her red scarf flashing each time she turned. Their friends clapped when she came out of it cleanly. She bowed, laughing, and pushed into another circle.The crack sounded like a branch breaking.Everyone stopped.Stephanie looked down. A dark line raced between her skates. Before Glenn could call her name, the ice gave way, and she dropped through.He reached the hole first. Her hands struck the underside of the ice several feet away, pale shapes ...

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THE SHAPE OF SILENCE

Weekly Contest #365

Her parents were proud of the daughter who worked beside them without complaint.She never chased after young men.Never spoke of dreams beyond Macaw's city limits.Never asked for a life different from the one she'd been given.To them, the grocery store wasn't simply a business.It was the family.It had fed three generations.It would feed the next.Luna had heard those words so often that she stopped questioning, "Why should I believe you?" and believed them.Each morning began before sunrise. She unlocked the front door while the village still s...

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Bev's Confession

Weekly Contest #364

Lieutenant Beverly O'Hare retired with every honour the department could bestow upon her. Her officers gave her a standing ovation. The chief presented her with a plaque honouring thirty-eight years in Homicide. That night, Detectives Duff and Cruise treated their mentor to a fancy dinner. They celebrated her career. They shared funny stories about troublesome cases and vowed their friendship would remain strong even after she retired.It hadn't.They continued to meet every other Wednesday for two years. One week, they met at a favourite dine...

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Shayne’s Unfortunate Choice

The water was already hot.Danielle held her hand under the tap, warming the palm, letting the water spill onto her wrist. There was no handle to turn; if she'd pretended she'd missed it, she hadn't switched anything on.She removed her hand, and the water ceased.A strip of light opened in the wall across the room, showing her clothes folded for her in her size. She closed the panel, but a neighbouring one slid open, revealing food arranged on a tray. The house had already decided hunger was next.Danielle locked the panel while the room held i...

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First loves are difficult to get over, so they say.

Weekly Contest #357

The mirror caught me before I was ready.Not all at once. First, the circles beneath my eyes. Then the mouth I had pressed flat for weeks. Then the look people notice when they ask questions they shouldn’t.“You okay?”People ask that when they already know the answer.I leaned closer.This couldn’t be happening again.Years had passed.A husband. A house. A life assembled carefully enough that nothing dangerous should have slipped through.Yet there I stood staring at myself because a man who no longer was mine had crossed my mind, and my body had ...

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I Married for Love

I Married for LoveThe first time I understood love clearly, I was standing in a grocery store checkout line with two small children and a cart full of food I could barely afford.My daughter and son helped unload the groceries just as they had helped with everything. They were fourteen months apart, a girl first, then a boy, and they were my world. We had already crossed paths with the couple ahead of us in nearly every aisle. They smiled at my children. My children smiled back.I kept moving because that was what I did then.I moved forward.Wh...

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Fire: Was It What They Missed All Along or Was It The Key To It All?

The last people who knew how to light a fire live among us in India and Iran. He is what we call a Zoroastrianist, and he is serious about it. It is not only his livelihood but also his first and foremost purpose in life. He believes what he does and does what he believes in. And all the while, he practices his faith while he does it. Nobody suspected that AI would move in and make people so complacent in their ways. It began so simple and unassuming. A button to open your garage door or gate to your driveway. Then it was a remote for the t...

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GREY

Liora stood at the edge of town, where the road ended and the forest began, and watched the sky remain unchanged.Everyone else had also arrived.They stood facing east, wearing coats and blankets. Old people used canes to help them walk. Babies slept on their shoulders. The dogs were quiet too, as if they knew something the people didn't. Nobody understood why.All the while, the sky over them remained a steady grey.Not overcast. The sky over them remained a steady grey, not dark as a storm. It felt vacant, as if someone had attempted to oblit...

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I Didn’t Think Much of It

Weekly Contest #351

I didn’t think much of it at the time.I stopped to sneeze.You know that feeling—when it builds slowly, taking over your whole face, your whole body pausing like the world itself is waiting?“Ah—ah—”I stopped walking.“—CHOO!”And then everything changed.The pavement cracked beneath me.The coffee in my hand burst apart, scattering into droplets that seemed to fall from very far away. Cars shrank. People scattered. The city folded downward, or I rose above it—I couldn’t tell which.I blinked.“Oh,” I said.My voice rolled across the skyline like thu...

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