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Nina H

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jun, 2023

Stories (48)
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91 Followers
30 Following

48 Stories

1635 karma pts

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Fiber, Fountains, and Fortysomethings

Submitted to Contest #337

I’m not quite sure when it happened, but at some point along the way, I became the kind of person who carries Tums in her purse, keeps nourishing moisture hand cream on her work desk, and Metamucil Fiber On The Go packets scattered everywhere in between. I became (cue suspenseful music)…old. Old age has crept in quietly, yet all the signs are there. In abundance. Have I just not noticed until now? It just can’t be ignored anymore. I mean, I just broke a molar while eating a soft peppermint. Soft! At this point, my dentist has added a n...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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Curtailed Kismet

Submitted to Contest #336

Recess, 4th grade, near the basketball court. That’s where I first met Paul. He was standing there kicking little rocks with his hands shoved in his pockets, his fingers still sticky with jelly from his sandwich. I know, because I walked over and introduced myself and shook his hand. “I’m Mike. You don’t play much at recess, do ya?” I’d said. “I’m Paul. Nah, nothing to do. I don’t like football, or tag, or chasing girls til they tell the teacher.” Paul had said with a roll of his light blue eyes. “Yeah, that’s so dumb! You w...

11 likes 2 comments 2
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Decidedly Lucy

Submitted to Contest #335

Lucy stared at the open laptop screen until her eyes unfocused, and all the pixels swirled around in front of her. How long had she been sitting here? Staring, unmoving? She wiggled the mouse up and down the screen like a tiny mountain climber to refocus her eyes, to look at something definitive on the page of emails. There was a sale at Marshall’s. Delete. Would she like to know her credit score? Delete. There’s a new giveaway for a book on her shelf on Goodreads. Delete. With a sigh, she scrolls back to the top of the page. She can’t keep ...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Frederick, Never Fred

Submitted to Contest #309

Frederick J. Tuftman was never late a day in his life. Even his birth was two full calendar days before his due date. Every project he was assigned since grade school was meticulously completed and turned in no less than two days early as well. This efficiency carried through high school, college, and eventually at his current (and first) job. “Frederick J. Tuftman - Junior Project Manager”, as his desk plate gloriously read. He ordered it himself the minute he landed the job one year, three months, and seven days ago. Not that he’s counting...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Something Brewing

Submitted to Contest #290

Trigger Warning: domestic abuse The stainless steel lock clicked abruptly in the front door, and Kathryn was bolted back to reality with a little jump.  “Whoa, you ok, Kathryn?” Mark asked from the next table. Both had been wiping down tables in the small coffee shop getting ready to close up for the night.  “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. I think I zoned out. I’m almost done,” she replied hurriedly.  “It’s ok, we’re in good shape. Why don’t you head out and I’ll finish the rest,” Mark offered and stepped closer.  Kathryn instin...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Cold Hearted

Submitted to Contest #290

Liza gently twisted the cold, plastic cap from the equally cold plastic orange container. She shook a small green pill into the palm of her hand and smiled. She finally found a way to get Jacob to take his pills, after trying every other method she could think of. She crushed them into his milk, and he spit it out. She mixed it into chocolate pudding, and he threw it on the floor because “it had crumbs” in it. She tried bribing with sweets, time-outs for refusing, and stickers on a chart. But now, finally, she was able to convince him to tak...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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Lost and Found (and Notarized)

Submitted to Contest #277

I’ve always wanted to be a nun. Growing up Catholic, I admired everything about them. I’d sit in Sunday school and dream of spending my evenings drinking tea and reading Bible passages. I imagined them meeting on sunny mornings and taking slow walks through gardens, pointing out the different hues of yellow and purple in God’s flower creations. Watching the birds, feeding them tiny seeds, and marveling at their ability to fly and sing so beautifully. I longed for their simple modest clothing, habits hiding their hair. Did they have gray hair...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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Willoughby

Submitted to Contest #276

When you die, you die. Your once warm, pulsating heart putters out, your once ballooned lungs leak air, and the unit that had operated as a whole perfect machine of parts and pieces ceases to be. The blood inside your veins stops moving. The electricity in your brain fizzles. And then it’s just a matter of time until the rigor mortis, the decomposition, the “dust to dust” exit from Earth. It’s science.  Or so I thought.  I was raised Catholic, and brought up with the ideas of Heaven, Hell, angels, and the afterlife. If you were goo...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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The Trappings of Fall

Submitted to Contest #274

The memory spider inside my brain spins her webs, silken threads of moments. She spins a colorful October of red, orange, and yellow. The colors fall around me, they float down the street, they hide under my feet. My October web smells of leaves, campfires, and sweet candy. My October web looks like glowing Jack-o-Lantern faces, full white moons, yellow glowing eyes of a black cat in the alley.  A sound makes my October web vibrate,rattle, and shake. It’s the sound of a child’s cry. A scream. I can’t get the scream out of my memory web....

13 likes 10 comments 10
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The Secret

Submitted to Contest #273

   The whirling winds gusted thrashing hands through the last leaves holding strong to their branches. The evening air was Fall crisp, not winter bitter just yet. Katherine and Nicole swung their arms in unison, speed walking through their quiet neighborhood just as the sun was setting on a week of soccer practices, piano lessons, and softball tryouts.      “Well of course Madeline is going to make the team. She’s the only one who can actually hit the ball out of center field,” Nicole said matter-...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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The Secret Ingredient

Submitted to Contest #273

(Jump to Recipe) [Link has been disabled] It’s getting close, my friends! The holiday season is closing in on us faster than my Aunt Trudy can say “fruitcake” and throw back a cocktail! So what does this mean for those of us doomed to put a smile on our faces while we welcome the in-laws, cousins, black sheep, and freeloaders? It means we scour the internet looking for the best recipes to impress even your mother-in-law, who is arguably more judgmental than an entire panel of Supreme Court Justices.  You may be wondering the secret of ...

12 likes 6 comments 6
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What I’m Grateful For

Submitted to Contest #261

   Welp. Here we go again. You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes right now. Why? Because it’s time once again to write the yearly essay of “What I’m Grateful For”, and then have my teacher paste the Quality Copy (not the Sloppy Copy! Never the Sloppy Copy!) to a piece of brightly colored construction paper, before hanging it on the classroom wall for Open House Night. It’s the same every year. Even now that I’m in 4th grade. Pretty much an adult. Or at least a teenager.      When I was in Kind...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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At His Will

Submitted to Contest #260

     One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breathe.      My chest tightens as it fills with air, breathing in the nauseating combination of odors filling the room. The unmistakable smell of blood. Whose blood was it? The smell of alcohol, burning in my nostrils. The dank smell of some kind of chalky smoke. That smell makes me sick, and my stomach turns.      I need a window. Fresh air. But of course this room has no opening to the outside.    &nbs...

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Fooling Fate

Submitted to Contest #257

   I sat in my car staring at the time. It was 8:47am, so I had 18 minutes until my interview. No, not 18, 13 minutes! Dang it, math was my downfall. Would always be. I gathered my folder, purse, and keys as I stepped from my car into the mostly empty parking lot of Dodson High School.      During the summer months, it was mostly administration that had to continue showing up while the students and teachers enjoyed their summer vacations. This was my first job interview after staying home for a ye...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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Pitched In

Submitted to Contest #256

   Brady’s mom never missed a sign-up, much to his dismay. Another soccer season loomed over his ten-year old head, as he laced up his cleats and secured two shinguards neatly into place.      The enthusiasm that five-year old Brady brought to the game had fizzled, sputtered, and ultimately gone out over the years, like a sparkler at the end of the thin metal stick inching closer to tender grasping fingers. It had been a fun game back then, with giggling teammates and practice sessions filled with...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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