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Michelle Oliver

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2022

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508 Followers
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83 Stories

5367 karma pts

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An Elephant Never Forgets

Weekly Contest #185

Miss Parker was the very definition of refined. That’s what my dad said anyway. I didn’t believe him, I’d looked it up in the dictionary and it said nothing about Miss Parker.She lived on our street, three houses down on the opposite side of the road. Her house had been there for forever, old, but not decrepit. A place that looked like a castle or a haunted mansion without the spiderwebs. The street-facing windows were gently curved in a fancy arch and high on the wall by the front door was a circular window, like a single large eye watching...

30 likes 16 comments 16
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All the Lonely People

Winner of Weekly Contest #184 🏆

MONDAY I tap my foot nervously on the shiny marble floor as I watch the numbers descend. I’m going to be late… again. It really wasn’t my fault. I’d had my hours swapped with George this week, so he could leave work in time to pick his kids up from school, while his wife recuperated from surgery. I now needed to be in the office by 10.00 instead of 8.30. You’d think that would make me early. However, since I was finishing later, I’d tried to get to the gym in the morning. Well that was a mistake. It was either shower and be late, or ski...

313 likes 223 comments 223
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In Too Deep

Weekly Contest #183

*Note: The following events are true, as remembered by me, aged 11.*Albany, on the southern end of Western Australia, is cold, windy and wild for most of the year. Yes, there is an exception of a few months where it is comfortable and rather warm, but there is very little time in the year where swimming, for a normal red-blooded mammal, is advisable.It was one of those times of the year where swimmers (the people who swim, possibly called ‘bathers’ in other parts of the country) had not yet begun to venture forth, even though the days were b...

21 likes 18 comments 18
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Eumelia and Kallais- A story in the style of Ancient Greek Mythology

Weekly Contest #182

Hera, goddess of women, I beg you to help me!But Hera had other issues to contend with. The desperate pleading of one little, abused mortal did not register with her as she raged at her faithless husband yet again. Eumelia was on her own, the man holding her down was simply too powerful. She was merely a woman, and as such, she was powerless to do anything but plead silently to the goddess for a reprieve.Artemis, please save me! Daphne had escaped the amorous advances of Apollo. She had run, cried and begged, and eventually he...

20 likes 12 comments 12
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Shriven

Weekly Contest #181

“Jesu have mercy upon my soul.” As he approached the locked door, he could hear the mumbled prayer from the other side, her voice was husky as if she’d worn it out with her incessant imploring of the Lord throughout the long night. Upon entering, William made his way through the suite to the Queen’s privy chambers with silent feet so as not to disturb her devotions. Her faithful almoner, John Skypp, Bishop of Hereford, sat beside her, his face weary and worn, but the Queen remained kneeling, her hands clasped together in ferve...

25 likes 18 comments 18
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Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Weekly Contest #180

Heads I win, tails you lose.I toss the coin over and over, it spins in the air to land in my palm before I slap it over onto the back of my other hand. When I remove my hand, Heads!- ‘May you Rest in Peace Your Majesty’, I think, then flip it again, heads-Her Majesty’s serene profile again. Flip, the silver spins and glints in the artificial light- tails, a little platypus swimming, frozen in time, the monotreme memorialised forever on the tail side of the coin. Growing up, my dad used the coin toss to solve all his paren...

26 likes 18 comments 18
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Losing Lucky

Weekly Contest #180

“What have you got in your mouth!”It’s not a game! Not this time! Bloody hell! Who the hell knew that owning a Labrador was like owning a vacuum cleaner with teeth? I dart around one side of the table, and he, like a black shadow with eyes, a maniacal grin, and what can only be described as an evil genius doggy laugh- mwhahaha, you think you can catch me! Foolish human!- darts the other way.“Stop! You bloody-” ooof! Nope. Slipperier than a greased pig- I wonder what a greased pig feels like? It couldn’t be slipperier than a La...

19 likes 14 comments 14
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‘Tis the Season

Weekly Contest #179

Mirror mirror on the wall… Lisa swiped her hand over the steamed up glass and surveyed the reflection. This was not the face she saw in her own mind. The woman who looked back was old and tired and, was that a grey hair? She leaned in further, nose a scant few inches from the glass. Another side effect of the ageing process was an inability to perceive fine detail, perhaps it was a blessing. There they were, the fine wrinkles and silver wisps that were visible upon closer inspection. She stood back and stared at her body, grateful for the bl...

16 likes 5 comments 5
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