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Megan Cianfaglione

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2025

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22 Stories

422 karma pts

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TOO LATE FOR MAYBES

Weekly Contest #367

It was two in the morning. An empty bottle of Jack had been flung across the room, where it collided with the wall, fracturing into pieces. Cigarette smoke clouded the dingy motel room and empty packs littered the floor. It's fine, she thought; I won't be staying here much longer anyway. Another puff of smoke curled from her lips as she threw the used cigarette from her mouth and onto the floor to join a dozen more. Pictures were scattered across the bed, memories that hurt enough to keep her from undoing her decision. Her trembling fingers ...

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Parsley

Weekly Contest #362

It was the first cold day of autumn. Leaves had surrendered their branches, collecting in damp heaps across the frost-covered ground. Pumpkins crowded porches, and Halloween decorations began to sprinkle through the neighborhood. Maryse looked outside her foggy window and said, “I’m going to make some soup.”An hour after her trip to the grocery store, she sets the basket of fresh vegetables on the counter. Yellow onions, carrots, and celery sat patiently waiting for the knife. Maryse heaved a heavy steel pot from the cabinet and set it on th...

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Before Summer Ends

Weekly Contest #361

I floated in a hot pink glitter tube while families argued over sunscreen and kids screamed through cannonballs. No one looked twice at the girl drifting lazy circles in the deep end.That was the point.I only had one thing left to do before summer ended.Kill the man in Room 214.The motel pool smelled the same as it always had. Too much chlorine. So much chlorine I could taste it before I even opened my mouth. It burned my nostrils and coated the back of my tongue until everything tasted sharp and chemical, like someone had tried to scrub the...

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June

Weekly Contest #361

The thing about summer love is that no one tells you it doesn't always end with summer.They tell you the heat breaks. The evenings come earlier. The fireflies disappear from the fields, and life quietly folds itself back into routines. They tell you autumn has a way of making everything feel distant, like whatever happened beneath June skies belonged to someone else.No one tells you that years later, the smell of rain hitting hot pavement can still undo you.It always begins the same way.The air grows heavy enough to promise a storm. Cicadas ...

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Not Without You

Weekly Contest #354

As I stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the waves crashing below, I thought of you.Long, wavy brown hair with that reddish tint that only appeared in sunlight. Sincere brown eyes that always knew how I was feeling before I even spoke. Freckled pale skin. Stretch marks that lined your back like faded lightning. That smile.God, that fucking smile.It was always impossible to stay angry at you after you smiled at me. Even now, after everything, I could still picture it perfectly.A large wave crashed against the jagged rocks below, s...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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Wish You Were Here

Weekly Contest #339

The coffee pot used to empty faster when he was there.There were mornings when I didn’t even notice him pour the first cup. I’d be half-awake, hands busy, already moving through the day on muscle memory. Then I’d turn toward the pot and feel that small, irrational disappointment when it was lighter than it should’ve been.It became a joke, but also a comfort—predictable in the way that mattered. The way you don’t need to ask if something will happen because it always does. He’d lift the pot, pour the remaining few burnt drops into his mug wit...

17 likes 6 comments 6
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Out of Stock

Weekly Contest #338

Living in the South means winter is forty degrees on a cold day, with the occasional cold weekend. In recent years its become more common to issue tornado warnings during 70-degree weather in January. The alert hit my phone in the middle of the afternoon, vibrating against the counter like it was trying to crawl away.WINTER STORM WARNING.By then, the numbers had already changed three times. First, it was 18 to 24 inches of snow, enough to make people start buying generators and “getting ahead of it.” Then it was thirty inches, which sent eve...

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The Shape of Wanting

Weekly Contest #337

It started like any other summer night: crickets chirping in the tall grass, the day’s heat softening into something breathable, the faint smell of woodsmoke drifting through the air. We sat side by side on the concrete steps that sloped down toward the river, pretending this was just another night—another shared drink, another laugh that lingered a little too long.But I had been waiting for something. I just didn’t know what yet.There was a quiet electricity between us, threaded through glances and accidental touches, through the way time s...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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Ready to be Served

Weekly Contest #333

The sound of boiling water hitting the flames jolted me into action as I whipped my head around and lunged for the dial to lower the temperature. Where was the box of pasta? I found the dark blue spaghetti box on the marble counter. I grabbed salt, threw it into the boiling water, and dumped the pasta in, trying not to splash. Then I refocused on cutting basil.I moved through the kitchen on instinct, every motion practiced and quiet. The knives were already laid out in order of use, their handles aligned just so. Natalia liked things precise...

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All Parties Served and Consumed

Weekly Contest #333

My empty plate sat in front of me, as clean as a bone. I always finished my food too quickly, and my mother warned me about it. You’ll choke, she used to yell.As I sit here and think back to those moments at the dinner table, I wouldn’t mind choking to death around these people—snotty, unbearable, nepo babies. Meanwhile, I worked my ass off to get where I am today. I didn’t have mommy and daddy to bribe someone into passing me the bar exam or get me into law school for free. My eyes were fixed on my red wine when Barbara started clinking her...

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Blood Slushy

Weekly Contest #331

Snowflakes glittered in the moonlight as they floated to the ground. My breath fogged the windowpane as I gazed out at the freshly fallen snow—no traces of humans or animals on the powder. Snow was forecast for the next hour, and we were expecting 7 inches total. I sighed as I backed away from the window and collapsed on the bed. It was nearing midnight, and my thoughts had begun to spiral. One thought blended into another, crashing together until there was nothing but a blizzard within my brain. Soon, exhaustion took me away to sleep. Whoos...

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Summer Ghosts

Weekly Contest #328

The lake town looks exactly the same, which feels impossible. The same sun-bleached docks. The same cicada buzz. The same endless shimmer of heat over the water. Even the same red canoe, gently rocking against its rope as if someone left it tied up yesterday.She expects the memories to hit all at once—the laughter, the sunburns, the taste of metal from the old water pump. But instead there’s a hollowness, like the town is waiting for her to start remembering before it exhales. Even the air feels heavy, thick with damp heat and something she ...

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Peripheral

Weekly Contest #325

The doctor told him there would be floaters.“Just the brain adjusting,” she said, sliding the neural interface into its sterile case. “Your mind’s relearning how to see again. The peripheral distortions will fade.”Elliot nodded, though the word floaters felt wrong. They didn’t float. They crawled.The first one appeared three nights after the surgery. A glimmer in the corner of his eye while he brushed his teeth. It was a small, translucent thing like a spider made of glass. When he turned his head, it vanished. When he looked back, the air s...

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The Weight of Water

Weekly Contest #324

The sea was calm that morning, with whitecaps emerging in the distance. The horizon stretched endlessly in all directions, cold and relentless. Gray sky met gray water, and somewhere in between was my lifeboat, half-swallowed by waves. Despite the motionless oars and the salt-crusted handles, I refused to give in. My hands, blistered, bled, and went numb, but I persisted. I tried to count time by the sun's movements, but even that rhythm eventually felt off. Some days, the light never came at all.There’s a special kind of peace you make with...

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Hollow Fire

Weekly Contest #320

INCIDENT REPORT Agency: U.S. Forest Service – Region 1 Incident Name: Pine Hollow Forest Fire Incident Number: MT-2025-0917 Date/Time of Initial Report: September 17, 2025 – 18:42 hrs Location: Grid 7-B, Pine Hollow, Lewis and Clark National Forest Cause: Under Investigation Units Dispatched: Engine 42, Brush 16 Status: Personnel unaccounted for.Smoke rose through the tree line, contrasting against the orange hue behind it. The two-tone howl cut through the evening air, rising and falling in that practiced rhythm that meant only one thing — ...

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