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Squirrelly Writer

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2019

Stories (86)
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403 Followers
145 Following

86 Stories

2525 karma pts

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Tweakment Tower

Submitted to Contest #338

It made a change to see a man disappearing into Lauren’s room. The very glamorous ex-model usually had a succession of very glamourous current models traipsing into and out of the beauty parlour she operated from her flat in our block. Or maybe they were just women with enough disposable income to pay someone to make them look Barbie box-fresh on top of whatever it was they did for a living. They were more tolerant of Lauren’s new baby than I was, that I knew for sure. But then they only had to endure the screaming for an hour at a time. I ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Train of Thought

Submitted to Contest #335

On the train/under the trainOn the train/under the trainOn the… “Have we met before?” Sophie pauses her inner train of thought to look round to the speaker of the question. Short, puffer-jacketed, black hair, pale face. More of a penguin than a man, she thinks, unkindly. She can’t help it. Working in the beauty industry, she critiques appearances on autopilot. He is about twenty years her junior, but on a good day Sophie could almost pass for his age. Free makeup and skincare samples. Perks of the job. “No, I don’t think so,” says Sophie, t...

8 likes 5 comments 5
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Crunch Time

Submitted to Contest #327

CW: Physical violence, domestic abuse, animal abuse It began with a bang. No, not the fireworks, those finished hours ago. It was the kind of bang that makes you somehow certain that something just exploded out of, not into, existence. The sound of a crunch that sickens you, a reverb felt through wheel and seat. A meaty thunk that tries to push your insides outside. “Nick!” your girlfriend cries. Her name is unimportant – she won’t be around for long. “What was that?!” Always with the shrieking. You grimace. Your head is still hurting from t...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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I’m in Love with my Sleep Paralysis Demon

Submitted to Contest #325

I’m in love with my sleep paralysis demon. I’ve only ever seen him out of the corner of my eye. He freaked the hell out of me the first time he came to me. Tall – at least seven or eight feet, but hard to know really when you’re lying down, your vision is blurry, and your visitor will not stay still. I tried to scream but try as I might, I couldn’t prise my mouth open. My arms were glued to my sides. He was there, he was here, he was close, he was far. He was slow motion, he was fast forward. He was sliding across the ceiling, he was crawli...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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Buoyancy

Submitted to Contest #324

“UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA.” “Oh for God’s…” Maggie checked herself. It was both a Sunday and she was in public. Specifically she was in the Hatcham Lessco Superstore, which she’d forced herself to walk to. She needed to build up her 67-year-old bone health, her GP had warned. And her heart health would benefit too, her therapist had urged, a man seemingly still unawares after eight sessions that Maggie’s heart seemed to have gone the way of her dearly departed. Behind the curtain, up in smoke. What a wicked magic trick that had be...

18 likes 8 comments 8
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Staring at Circles

Submitted to Contest #321

My early life was somewhat lacking in stability, you might say. I never stuck around anywhere long enough to be the popular kid. I bet most of those I met as I went from school to school because of my parents’ jobs would be hard-pressed to remember my name now. And that’s okay. I’ve made peace with it. I’ve just stopped entering situations with the hope that I felt in the beginning. When a new start meant something. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. For example, a few months after six-year-old me started at Goldwick primary school (in t...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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Amanita Explain Myself

Submitted to Contest #320

My cap has flattened with age. The couples that pointed and blushed at what they thought my former beehive noggin on my stem made me look like now, for the most part, walk on by. How they would chuckle if they only knew my surname. Oh fine, it’s Phalloides. If I had legs I would run over and kick their sickeningly clenched hands apart. Like the one who tried to impress his date by calling me a puffball. I’d kick him in the nuts and then go and punch some puffballs themselves for good measure. Strange little smoky eggheads. The dog toys of ...

9 likes 5 comments 5
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Moving On

Submitted to Contest #317

When you moved in next door, I had to scrape myself off the floor. And you’ve been making me spontaneously burst into poetry like that for at least four months now. Of course, it’s not you. Not really. You stopped smoking. I gathered you got into the habit after leaving me for her, because it’s what she did. Those few times I saw her in person when visiting you on campus, her blowing smoke in my face to cover up her stealing of your heart. However, when I last trawled your eBay purchase history it was full of vaping devices. Looking so alie...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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Un-Wuthering Heights

Submitted to Contest #301

“It finally happened. He broke up with me.” Nicola spun around from where she’d been admiring the view from the London Eye as it began its rotation. She’d booked the trip for her and Saffy as an early Galentine’s gift. The sisters had made a pact to celebrate each other since they were 11 and 12, following the earth-shattering news that Chloe’s crush at the time was moving to another school. “Oh, Saffy,” said Nicola, pulling her sister into a hug. Nicola worked as a nurse on a Care of the Elderly Ward. The Powell family had always predicted...

12 likes 3 comments 3
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Bad Hare Day

Submitted to Contest #277

They called me ‘The Fox’. Like most of the imaginative names behind fables and fairy tales were wont to do in those days.But we foxes get a bad rep now, don’t we? Skulking round at night. Rifling through bins. Stinking up the place. It seems wildlife illustrators can never get enough of us though. I once saw a woman in the park out walking her dog, then yelling at the poor hound for rolling around in fox shit. After she’d blasted the eardrums of her pet and every other soul trying to soak up the peace and quiet, she reached into her handbag ...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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The Veiled Tavern

Submitted to Contest #275

Evan stood in the dark kitchen, watching the pub-goers file out, waiting for the landlord to dim the rest of the lights and lock up. He gave it five minutes before emerging from his aromatic (he judged burgers and chips had been on special that day) hiding place. Jeremy, the aforementioned landlord, was always paranoid that he had forgotten something, and was usually right. A side effect from sampling the produce during the day and indeed dabbling throughout the evening. Evan moved to the window and saw Jeremy driving away. He made sure Jer...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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Berth Place

Submitted to Contest #265

Milo winced as his punt crunched into its spot. He thanked his passengers – shouting it sarcastically after the teen who hadn’t followed his instructions and hopped out before Milo had had a chance to secure the boat. More quietly to the ones that disembarked with dignity. One woman in a yellow sundress (who appeared perfectly in control of her balance, even in kitten heels) rested her cool pale fingers in Milo’s palm a touch longer than was strictly necessary, purring her gratitude with an excessive amount of eye contact. There was always o...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Rate Your Stay

Submitted to Contest #262

1st July 2024 Vanessa: Hi! I’m looking forward to staying in your gorgeous, quiet cottage. I’ve booked it as a writer friend suggested a change of scene for me while I finish the first draft of my debut novel. I’m not purposefully being boastful by the way – the site was just recommending I introduce myself and give a reason for my stay :) Best wishes, Vanessa. P.S. If I get published, you’ll definitely get a mention in the acknowledgements! StarHost: Thank you for booking your stay at Acorn Cottage. Check in is with a lockbox. The code a...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Last Orders

Submitted to Contest #253

Char paid the taxi driver and turned towards the pub. The sign, marked ‘LINES END’ on a painting of the facing cliffs of Arrowick Cliffs, creaked in the cool breeze of the night air. She listened as the car crawled over gravel, sped up. She watched as it disappeared into the evening. The last journey. The pub door then slammed open, a mixed and messed up group in their twenties crashing out, comparing who was drunkest, where they ought to move onto next. The glow from the crackling fire of LINES END pulled Char in. She stopped pondering w...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Art for Beginners

Submitted to Contest #247

Room 19, level three. It would have been a lot easier for Jessica to find if the architect of the campus hadn’t seemingly been channelling M. C. Escher tripping on mind-warping hallucinogens. Or if the interior designers had been more direct with their signage, instead of littering the place with vague arrows. Was that one pointing to the stairwell, or around to the left? She’d finally given up when she’d found herself in the dusty basement, where a sour-faced janitor snapped out a route for her. “At least I’ve achieved my aim of speaking t...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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