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Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2021
Submitted to Contest #219
Her face remained totally stolid as the Number 26 rattled towards her. Quite how it was possible to ignore the noise of squealing brakes and loud horns blaring, but the whole queue never flinched or reacted and stood as if made of stone, lost in their thoughts. Standing at an unprotected bus stop in a traffic-polluted, grey, cold, wind-blown street, Sylvie’s expressionless, dead-eyed face never changed. Glancing at the other individuals in the queue, she seemed little different from her fellow passengers: hunched, pinched and ...
Submitted to Contest #216
Well, what a surprise getting a text from Carole inviting me for a coffee. It was bizarre to get a text when we had only ever emailed each other, but an invite for coffee, as such, wasn’t a total surprise. Of all the things we two women loved, it was good coffee. I remember our relationship sparked because Carole shared an essay describing her love of coffee. However, it wasn’t just the text that I found strange. It shocked me that Carole had journeyed to Thailand from the USA and hadn’t thought to pre-warn me that she was com...
Submitted to Contest #214
They watched the sun slowly dipping, unaware of the darkness gradually enveloping them. She could feel the comfort of his warm body sitting close to her despite their bodies not being close enough to touch. As she took one more deep, satisfied breath, she almost sobbed. If only she could stay here forever. She looked around and thought about the idyllic eight days of her holiday. The location, stunning amenities, hotels, and restaurants had all been fantastic, but the next day, it was time to go their separate ways until the next...
Submitted to Contest #213
‘Make sure you bring some paper and a pen’, said Lynne. We were off to a fortune teller called Ada. I always thought fortune tellers were rubbish, but Lynne was convinced they could predict our future events. I was in my early 20s and a dedicated people pleaser, and if Lynne wanted to have her palm read - well, so be it! ‘Why do I need paper and pen?’ I asked, confused by this request. It turns out I was supposed to listen carefully to Lynne’s reading and report precisely what the fortune teller had said. Lynne said that Ada ...
Submitted to Contest #204
Sharon was a tall, well-proportioned, stunning attractive woman who had recently arrived in Fort Worth from Hereford in the Texas Panhandle. She had met Phoebe one evening in a popular bar near the Stockyards where most of the cowboys went. Phoebe saw David chatting to the slim, sexy woman tossing her mane of thick, luxurious hair around, ensuring she was noticed by half the bar as soon as she had entered. ‘Damn’ thought Phoebe ‘c’est la vie.’ During the evening, David wandered over to say hello and brought the girl he was wi...
Submitted to Contest #193
This story mentions sex. The city Nathan and Heather lived and worked in had an international airport a mere 5 miles from where they lived. After a careful discussion, it was decided an airport only 5 miles from the office was not a good bet. There was instead an airport approximately 50 miles away - surely no one from the office would go there! Heather’s sister knew she was having an affair, and Nathan had recently moved in with her. The elder sister Bonnie had been having a sneaky affair for the last eighteen years and w...
Submitted to Contest #192
‘Oh look, here she comes. Look at the way she waves to ‘mummy’. Do you think she’s quite normal?’ The girls stood at the street corner in their school uniforms hitched, pulled, and twisted to try and make them look appealing, sexy and fashionable. They stood around looking at her as she ran past them in her little girl’s dress, too neat, too clean, with her beautiful, youthful skin and short shiny hair. The girls, treading on their cigarette butts, with their spotty complexions and long dull-looking hair, uncombed and...
Submitted to Contest #190
This story mentions sex. ‘Oi, who the hell are you?’ Sonia shook the inert sleeping body. ‘Wake up! Speak to me!’ In the dark of the bedroom, she could hear the sheets rustling. It was too dark to see the body's outline, but she felt sure it was a naked male. Sonia had had enough. Suffering from terrible jet lag, dirty and exhausted, an electricity blackout, and now someone in her allocated room. ***** Sonia arrived much later than planned but managed to rush to the Property Manager, anxiously waiting to shu...
Submitted to Contest #188
This story contains swearing. One day Wendy, the woman from the Human Resources department (whom I loathed), leaned over me while I worked through the hundreds of emails pinging into my Inbox, all demanding immediate answers. ‘Have you heard the news? she asked. ‘No’, trying to keep the dislike and coldness off my face. ‘I’m going to Namibia to dig toilets’. Horror struck; I stopped typing and looked at her full in the face. ‘What d’ya mean? Going to dig toilets?’ ‘I’m taking a senior gap year.’ A year off to dig t...
Submitted to Contest #187
Skip the Life FantasticMy friend Sheila asked me if she could write my life story and post it on the Reception’s notice board. She thinks it’s a beautiful story and should be shared with potential adoptees or foster parents to know how life was before I was rescued and brought to the Shelter. Sheila apologises for any inconsistencies that may have occurred in the translation between my feline communication and Sheila’s human language.My life started on the damp streets; they always felt wet, even on a dry day. I’m honestly not...
Submitted to Contest #184
A hot afternoon in New YorkIn the searing heat of an August afternoon in 2003, I popped into a Barnes and Noble bookstore near Broadway in Manhattan. I was at the end of my initial two-day visit to NY before meeting with Will and his wife to swap locations and go to Avalon, New Jersey.The plan was to meet Will at the World Trade Centre (WTC) on Thursday, 14th August, after he’d finished work, at about 6 o’clock. We both worked for the same global financial company. I was located in London, and Will was based in our new corpora...
Submitted to Contest #182
This story contains stalking and potential threats to a juvenile.Even in my teen years, I found Cardiff (the capital of Wales) too small for my ‘adventuress spirit’, except Friday nights as these were booze nights. In my heady youth of the late 1960s, the law stated that only 18-year-olds were allowed to buy alcohol or set foot inside a pub. But when I was about 15 years old, my friends and I saw it as a badge of honour to lie to our parents regarding our whereabouts and get into a pub without being challenged. We were considered h...
Submitted to Contest #181
I always thought that I would have naturally achieved an omniscient knowledge of just about everything by the time I retired. Still, surprisingly, I am on a journey of continued discovery. Although none of my new knowledge will radically change life as I know it, my continuing enlightenment never ceases to amaze me. For example, I have recently learned the difference between hiking and walking. A hike to me meant a hearty constitutional that takes place off tarmac roads; ‘sturdy’ shoes are probably needed, possibly a hat, a bottle of wa...
Submitted to Contest #179
Each day was the same, and every year was the same. Claire shared the house with her long-standing miserable ‘husband’ Tony. They decided to sleep in separate beds on New Year's Eve a few years ago. Well, that’s not strictly true; Tony moved into a separate bedroom from Claire. This wasn’t following a lengthy discussion highlighting his poor sleep patterns resulting, regretfully, in a decision to sleep in separate beds. No! One December afternoon, he made up the bed in the spare front bedroom, and when it came to bedtime, he w...
Submitted to Contest #177
Before arriving in China, the reality of experiencing a significant language difficulty never entered my mind. I truly believed everyone spoke English - if not fluently - enough for the essentials to be understood. Previously I’d worked in a zoo in Malaysia and had experienced no communication difficulties at all. Of course, this was because an English charity had set up my placement in the zoo and an English speaker looked after me. But, taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur could communicate tolerably well in English, and the vast Sh...
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