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Maria Wickens

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2024

Stories (17)

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9 Followers

5 Following

17 Stories

314 karma pts

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Monkey Jungle

Submitted to Contest #329

MONKEY JUNGLE Trigger warning : Suicide “Your mother,” starts Jeremiah. There is a pause as he searches for an apt phrase, finally describing her as “quaint” in the same way he under-describes me as “troubled”.Ironic that I, not he, should be classified as delusional.Wherever would anyone get that idea from? My dead father’s ghost stretches his spectral frame out across the back seat of the car. He was always up for a road trip, so no surprise that he has joined us.He has haunted me since he killed himself with a tanto knife. Seppuku. A sam...

7 likes

Poison Pen

Submitted to Contest #323

My father read the daily Births/Deaths/Marriages with more focus on the middle column. Seeing a name he recognized, he would shake the mothballs out of the pocket of his only sports jacket, slick his hair into submission – with the exception of the cowlick that he willfully cultivated - and attend the funeral to pay his respects.Mostly.I remember vividly one time he returned home whistling happily, greeting my mother with a beaming smile.“Did your horse come in?” my mother asked dourly.“Jim Cruickshank’s funeral,” He poured a bourbon from th...

8 likes

A Perpendicular Universe

Submitted to Contest #309

"Sleepwalking!” the absurdly young cop exclaimed. “Maybe you sleepwalked into Mr Johnson's house”Translation: I don’t want to put the handcuffs on this nice lady wearing a floral nightdress and arrest her for trespass.Flo Evans took a breath as was her custom when forced to repeat herself multiple times.“This is my house. I was asleep on my sofa.”Lionel sniggered, shaking his head.“It is my ex-husband who is the intruder,” she said without pause for breath this time, because if she were in the habit of exercising pause where Lionel was conce...

8 likes

Frontier

Submitted to Contest #306

Frontier Sunday September 18I have buried my husband without a prayer. God is not listening. This place is beyond Gods reach.It is equally futile to hope.The baby fights but she is weak. The sweats will win. Just as they did with my husband. She is too small to win this battle.I regret I didn’t have time to name her.I regret I never asked my husband why.Why did he think this land could be tamed?Why did he bring me here promising a good life.This place eats life.I regret the fever hasn’t taken me too. Monday September 19The baby has succumbed...

9 likes

The Free State of Indiana

Submitted to Contest #291

THE FREE STATE OF INDIANA by Maria Wickens Outside the compound wall lies perdition. The howls of the unrepentant echo through the night. Padre Pete and the Warriors of the Light offer the community a safe haven, and all they expect in return is compliance. And hard labor. And on-demand sex. And a pleasant smile and a thank you at the end of it. I pace the perimeter wall of the compound. There is a world outside sanctuary, but nobody wants to go back there. “How do you know outside is so bad if you’ve never been there?” It is a blue sh...

10 likes

Pour Yourself A Drink, Put Some Lipstick On and Pull Yourself Together

Submitted to Contest #284

Trigger warning: Substance abuse, SuicidePour Yourself A Drink, Put Some Lipstick On and Pull Yourself TogetherCongratulate Martin who’s celebrating one year at Styx Ferryman.The words triggered a wave of loss and misery. She gulped down her gin and tonic and thus the spiral began.More than a year later and a stupid Linked In text notification could still do this to her.Typical Martin. He refused to approach his terminal diagnosis with anything but black humor. He changed his Linked In profile announcing his impending journey to the afterlif...

8 likes

Harbinger

Submitted to Contest #274

HarbingerDeath is absence, drowning in black. Clinging to the memories of people you love as they dissolve into nothingness.When I wake my throat is aching and my cheeks are wet with tears.“Oh,” I say out loud to my husband. “I do miss you.”Reaching out I am surprised to find he is lying next to me. He gives a grunt of a snore, unaware of the relief I feel.I am not dead. Just dreaming.The cat lying at the end of the bed lets out a cat snarl because my dead brother stands at the end of the bed, smiling.“I miss you too,” he says.I’m stuck betw...

13 likes

My Good Aunt

Submitted to Contest #274

My Good Aunt Trigger warning: Mental Health / Children's death Rooms full of medical equipment, are the only things left in the labyrinth of decaying structures. The faint smell of hospital food lingers in the kitchens where 100,000s of meals were prepared over the decades…The hospital where my mother resided throughout my childhood is under demolition. I learn this from a website article and it includes a virtual tour of the old hospital. I double dare myself to double click. But that mention of the smell of hospital food, lightly beaten wi...

12 likes

Run Rabbit Run

Submitted to Contest #273

Run Rabbit Run Trees were my only memory. I wandered through the woods for so long that all I remembered was fighting my way through branches. I had to reach a destination, although the location and my purpose were long since erased.I had hurt my head so badly that I forgot myself.Time was irrelevant. Not tired, nor hungry or thirsty. Day and night were indistinguishable. One foot after the other. Stay ahead of... what? Was someone chasing me? I just knew I had to keep going, hold back another branch and move onward.Onward?No. Stuck. Fl...

14 likes

Train Wreck

Submitted to Contest #264

Unnngahhhh. I’m alive again.Barely.My head is wedged under a dump truck. Pretty sure I’m weeping blood. And dear God, the back of my throat feels like I’ve gargled with squirrel turds. Especially nutty ones.I turn on to my back and wait… this memory foam is not remembering me. Whose bed is this?This is not my night attire. I usually wear the teeshirt from the day before and occasionally go to the effort of adding PJ pants. But this shirt is a different fabric altogether. And. Oh no. Man sized.Underwear?I can neither confirm nor den...

5 likes

Another FGI

Submitted to Contest #263

“Haz!” A short, sweaty guy with unblinking bloodshot eyes waits outside the cabin.Meeting up with a crazed little man sweating profusely has all the elements for a bad night in the boondocks. From the moment Harrison shouted at me to get in the car, it was clear there was a bad moon on the rise and I did not have my things together. Not at all.“Who’s Haz?” I whisper to my brother.“Me,” says Harrison. “Short for Hazard.”Oh yeah. Sure. That made sense.Short, dark and sweaty is Chaos. Another buddy from Harrison’s time in the dessert. They use ...

9 likes

Ninety-two degrees

Submitted to Contest #262

Trigger warning: Theme of Family violence / Sexual abuseIt’s the time of year when the depressing chill of autumn should be settling in, yet the sun is unrelenting stark radiance. No shadows, no perspective just a harsh white light providing a spotlight for my stepfather’s gaze as he watches us. I’m supposed to call him Daddy but under my breath I call him Kronos. Devourer of children. Unhinged titan. Seems more apt.He’s going stir crazy with the pressure of no work on the horizon. We’ve ducked his ill temper, dodged the petty arguments he t...

2 likes

Dear Valentina

Submitted to Contest #261

Dear Valentina,Thank you for the Samaritans brochure, helpline number and wristband. Your concern is appreciated.Janet.Valentina and I met on a work induction course. When Valentina suggested we escape early to get a drink, I accepted, thinking it was a kind offer from one newbie to another.It was not a bar I had been to before. It was quite dark and the walls were painted bordello scarlet and gold. Hanging above the bar was a portrait of a reclining naked lady. Moody black and white photographs of shirtless firemen adorned the walls.The bar...

5 likes

Happy Valentines Day, Ed

Submitted to Contest #260

Waking in a cramped wooden box in a shallow grave, I have to admit this is one of the worst first dates ever. It is not the absolute worst date - so that should tip you off my dating history is somewhat dark and hopeless. Still one has to believe in something and for me it’s que sera sera, what will be, will be, somewhere some time, I will meet that special someone.But clearly, not this time around.The signs started to mount up early into the date. When Mr Mystery Date opened the door it was apparent his profile photo was not so mu...

10 likes

It's Not About The Mini-Skirt

Submitted to Contest #259

Trigger Warning : Theme of Suicide Dad set a rule that we have to take breakfast together as a family. It dropped off when it was just my brother Jess and me at home, but after Harrison got back from Vietnam and Lane and Annie moved in the rule was rigidly enforced. Fatigue is a symptom of swimming through the quicksand of life in a small nothing happening town. I crawl my way to the breakfast room each day resenting every step. This is a sleep until winter’s over kind of tired. Hush! A piece of advice I picked up along my r...

3 likes