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Tanya Humphreys

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Mar, 2021

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118 Stories

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They're Not Lobsters

Weekly Contest #374

A soft sploosh sounded to the couple’s left. The young woman clutched her paramour’s arm. “What was that?” “Just a gator.” “Aaa---gator?” The young man held the shivering woman in his arms closer to him, his plan was going splendidly. Her breath was rapid and hot in his ear. “Look. See there,” He pointed towards what appeared to be a log with luminous golden eyes just over the surface of the lagoon. “He’s just off hunting for his supper---frogs and eels and whatnot.” “Not people?” He laughed. “Not people. They pretty much avoid us on land.” ...

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Imelda

Weekly Contest #373

On a shelf over a small white desk sat a row of dusty books with colorful spines. A green monkey bookend peeked around the last book and on its other side sat Imelda, queen of the room. She’d been Juniper’s mother’s and her mother’s before her; she was over 100 years old. Her porcelain skin was pale cream, her full round cheeks held a hint of the blush painted there so long ago. The small bow-tie lips were tinted the same peachy-pink color, they were posed in a solemn shape---not smiling. Not smiling either were the eyes---Frosty faded blue...

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Doracesos

Weekly Contest #371

They were out there, waiting. The grizzled young man peered between the boards nailed over the window as he did every hour or so when their sibilant whispers hissed through the deserted town outside. And…he saw nothing and again anguish squealed deep in is throat. The place had been a small Quick Mart in another lifetime ago. Boasting cheery fluorescent lighting, highly polished linoleum floors, and shelves stocked with an impressive variety of colorfully packaged snack foods. The man sat with his back against the wall amid a nest of fleec...

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Reddy

Weekly Contest #368

From my perch atop the tallest redwood tree in the forest, I could see the roofs of the farms that lay a half mile away. The sun was setting; as the rays blued into the ultraviolet of twilight my vision expanded to include the yellow grass fields beyond the woods to the east and the Spanish moss bearded mangrove trees to the west that bordered the marsh. “Whooo-hooooooo,” came the eerily lilting voice of my cousin Pepper, a small Pygmy owl who sat in a tree down by the farthest yellow field. I “Whooo-hooed” in response. As night descended l...

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The Head In The Bag

Fishman pulled his non-descript Ford sedan into the shadowy car park of a cheap motel with an old-school sixties vibe that called to him. The Stargazer. He needed sleep desperately, his bones felt wonky in his skin. He grabbed a black wheelie suitcase out of the trunk. As he passed the passenger side of the car, he pulled out a bowling bag. It was navy blue, with a white Nike swoosh in one corner. As he dragged the rolley, he hefted the bag’s straps over his shoulder and carried it like a lady’s purse. It weighed twelve pounds. He pulled sun...

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The Flying Dog

Weekly Contest #365

Step One of Bobby Skully’s weekday daily routine was SCHOOL and at the age of twelve, Step One was an obligatory grind that he tolerated. His grades were pretty good, and he got a kick out of learning something new, particularly in the sciences, history, and English classes. The kids all called him Skully, which he secretly adored; they teased him about having a wooden leg and often threw in plenty of ‘arrrrrs’ and yarrrrrs’ when speaking to him. He wished he had a parrot but drew the cliché line at wearing an eyepatch. Kids mostly avoided ...

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A Dog's Road

Weekly Contest #346

As an angel, I hear lot of confessions. What some would do differently. What some would take back. What some would amend if given the chance. My job was to escort the newly departed to their new station in heaven. I’ve been in purgatory, which is the place between souls wandering aimlessly on earth, and heaven; being able to help rising souls find their place is a joy to me as well as a duty. When I meet a certain quota, I will be admitted through the pearly gates. They aren’t exactly ‘pearly’ by the way, but tall columns with no apex, lik...

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Starling

Weekly Contest #344

I stared through the chain link fence unsure of what I was looking for; Their faces were as grey as the clouds above that gathered like lint, both grew heavier, the former heavily drooping to their thin chests, the latter drooping heavily with rain. Rain as chilled as the dank puddles of medieval dungeons would not cleanse this place of its evil. Would I even recognize the face of someone I knew once? A loved one even? These were skeletal with dark haunted eye pits and mouths downturned under cheekbones that looked more like elbows. They wer...

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Question Mark Tails

Weekly Contest #343

‘What is it about that mouse that drives me so nuts?’ I thought for the tenth time today. Or maybe the eleventh. ‘She’s got the same pale grey fur as I do. Only softer and thicker, like she’s brushed it with a bur while counting a hundred strokes.’ I crept along the floorboards of the old church on her trail. ‘She’s got the same polished onyx eyes as mine. Only they twinkle like stars when she smiles.’ I peeked around the corner. Nothing there. ‘She’s got the same pink paws as me---only finer when she beckons me with a single finger for me ...

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Gambolini

Weekly Contest #335

The boys raced through the alley hollering like crazed hyenas after a small rabbit. Marcus Gabolini---The Great Gambolini---wasn’t so great and certainly wasn’t a rabbit though he was their prey. Every day after school, the bigger boys tormented the smaller one. They took his books and flung them into puddles, they took his glasses and stomped them, they even took his shoes once. Marcus’s father was perpetually angry with his son. “Stand up for yourself!” he’d shout. “Put up yer fists for a change!” And just the night before he’d said, “I s...

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Wendigo

Weekly Contest #334

The young lad sighed at the sight of his empty snare wondering how the rabbit had gotten away. He stared down the path for a moment, his wide blue eyes searching the low, snow-covered hemlock boughs for a shiver. As he lifted the rim of his woolen tuque from his ears to hear better, the pom-pom on top bounced over his sheepskin collar. When he looked up, snowflakes fell to his face like bits of lace made of ice; they clung to his eyelashes, melted, and became like tears down his cheeks. “Hmph,” he muttered under his warm breath, “silly to b...

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Winter Wolf

Weekly Contest #332

The buildings along the street were the same silvery shades as the low banks of clouds above. Their faces revealed dark windows and funereal emptiness. The muddy, snow-slushy street glowed faintly. The world here was in black and white. Though the storm had passed, the town was unnaturally subdued. There should have been bluster and people shoveling and sweeping. ‘Not right for December, with Christmas just two days away.’ Faint fiddle music grew louder as she came to the end of the street and turned the corner onto the main street where t...

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Hellpico

Weekly Contest #326

The box of kitty litter thudded onto the driveway. There it could stay. I would have kicked the damn thing but that would only break my foot. Amazon drivers carry shit like this all the way to the front door…good thing I’m not an Amazon driver. I giggled to myself, “Heh heh heh.” We uttered this phrase around the office daily. It was always good for a laugh. It was starting to drizzle. Let it get wet. I hopped back in my mail truck and continued along the route. At the office, my boss came out of her office and said, “The old lady at 5585...

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James, Jimmy to His Friends

Weekly Contest #325

The nurse, making her rounds, peeks into the dimly lit room and gasps. She turns away and pads as silently down the hallway in her crepe-soled shoes as the cat. Seeing the cat always gives her a little start though by now you’d think she’d be used to seeing him in the hospice care facility. The warm yellowy light emitting from the nightlight by the bed was no match for the crisp white moonglow beaming through the curtains framing the open window. Gertie was one of the old-timers who welcomed the cat’s final visit so she always slept with he...

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The Interloper

Weekly Contest #317

Moonlight on the wet cobblestones glistened like silver fishes skimming along the surface of an onyx river. The tall brick walls like crusty black sentinels, that enchanting cool blueish light shone in the uppermost windows enhancing the stony giant guardians with eyes like the eyes of God. Halfway down this alley sat three dumpsters like sleeping hulking beasts…the one in the middle seems to be waking up as the lid slowly lifts---just an inch, then two. A small grey arm reaches out, at the end is a little hand that pats around the edge of ...

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