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Tricia Shulist

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021

Stories

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126 Followers

17 Following

150 Stories

1727 karma pts

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I Object!

I OBJECT I thought about the summer I killed my parents. Not literally, but figuratively—emotionally. Jeez! I’m not a monster! It was the summer between high school and the rest of my life. We’d been on pins and needles all spring, waiting for the university acceptance letters. If it was a big package, then it was an acceptance package. If it was lettersized, then it was a rejection letter. So, we waited by the mailbox every day, fingers crossed. And, yahoo, I got acceptance packages from each of the three schools I’d chosen—well, ...

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KABOOM!

Reedsy #509, the Big Break with London Writers Centres, 2026 Jun 19Prompt #2: Start your story moments before everything changes. KABOOM! I was so angry I could spit. No, take that back. I don’t spit. It’s gross. I was so angry that I could swear like I was raised by Osbournes. That’s better. I’d stomped out of the house, leaving Trent sitting on the couch, smugly smiling, like he won something. He’d been so condescending, so arrogant, so supercilious, that I wanted to kill him—literally strangle the life out of him. So instead of do...

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The Man With the Gold Earring

THE MAN WITH THE GOLD EARRING Everywhere Tally looked, he was there. Home, school, library, at her part-time job. At least she was pretty sure he was a he. There was no way to tell without getting closer, but there was no way she was going to do that! Stranger Danger! So, she set out to ignore him. Pretend he wasn’t there. But it was hard. She never saw him in her house—he wasn’t that bold, but she only saw him outside—across the street, walking by her house, parked in a creepy van around the corner from her house. Once, she was sur...

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Chemical Bonds

CHEMICAL BONDS Some people tell me that I shouldn’t have made it out. But I did. It took everything that I had, but I was successful. I made it out. ***** “Okay, class, today we are going to learn ... ” Every time Mrs. Carter started with “today we are going to learn …,” I blanked out. Not literally. That would have been weird—sitting there, paying attention-ish. Then she says “today we are going to learn” and I’d be passed out at my desk. Like the words made me faint. No, it wasn’t like that. It was just that Mrs. Carter’s classes...

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Second Banana

SECOND BANANA It’s really hard being the second banana. You know, where they tell you how great your best friend is, even though the two of you do everything together—cuz you’re partners. Ray really is amazing. He’s the best. He deserves the recognition and platitudes. Honest. ***** “Unit K-9—Dispatch. 10-76 reported at 2459 Keeler Street. Suspect is a male, dark clothing. Code 2. Advise when 10-23.” “10-4. Code 2. Unit K-9 is 10-17.” Ray looked at me. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a prowler.” I kinda like prowler calls. The s...

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Kindred Spirits

KINDRED SPIRITS “Next!” I glared at the guy standing beside me. He shouldn’t have been beside me, he should have been behind me. I knew it, he knew it. I squinted my eyes, took my two fingers, pointed them at my eyes, then at him—I’m watching you—and walked forward to the check-in counter. Flying was enough of a pain in the butt without having line jumpers to contend with. Jerk. Check-in went smoothly. I only had carry-on luggage, and it wasn’t too big, wasn’t too heavy, wasn’t a roller bag that could be commandeered into checked lugga...

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Poor Tony Bassinet

POOR TONY BASSINET The forest was quiet. Wonderfully quiet. The light filtered through the trees, creating dancing patterns of light and dark. The air was filled with that intoxicating smell of damp earth and new growth. It was an idyllic place. A place a person visited to calm their soul, and settle their brain. But it was not where I needed to be right now. I needed to be on the road headed into the city. I had a deposition that I needed to conduct, and a boat-load of pre-trial preparation that needed to be finished in time for op...

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R.I.P. Janelle Chalmers

R.I.P. JANELLE CHALMERS To look at the people assembled for the funeral, you would have thought that Janelle Chalmers was a well-loved pillar of her community. There were mourners from all walks of life—people of stature from the local government and civic groups, people from the various charities she volunteered her time for, her employees, as well as her friends and family. Every person attending the service looked heartbroken. Tears were shed, sniffles were heard, tissues appeared out of handbags and pockets to sop up the grief. A few ...

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The Fixers

THE FIXERS “So, you can fix it?” asked the kid. The old man nodded his head. “I can.” “Wow! That’s amazing.” The old man shrugged. “I don’t know about amazing, but it’s not that complicated. The hardest thing is finding parts.” The kid looked from the machine to the man. “How did you learn how to fix it?” The old man’s eyes glazed over, just a bit, as he remembered. “Well, it’s been a really long time. Our family has always been in the business. I repair them. My mother repaired them, and her father before her repaired them. Our ...

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Dancing Fool

DANCING FOOL I am soooo embarrassed! I’m not sure that I’ll be able to show my face in public any more. Colour me mortified! ***** I was sitting in the waiting room because I needed to see a therapist. That’s not something that is usually done in my line of work. Usually we just power through our problems. But this time, not so much. I was leafing through a four-year old copy of Harper’s Bizarre magazine, wondering if I was making a mistake—not for reading the magazine, but for actually considering therapy. “Devlin DeMon?” I looked up,...

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Colour My World

COLOUR MY WORLD It wasn’t always like this. But, I’ve been this way for so long, it’s hard to remember what it was like before … Before the bus hit me. ***** It was just a normal day. A normal Tuesday. School was over for the day, and a bunch of us were waiting at the bus stop, student passes in hand. We were chatting. There were seven of us. We all took the same bus home every day after school. Status quo. I remember I was talking to Renee, I just can’t remember what we were talking about. I’d said something I found witty, and she ...

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Joy to the World

Weekly Contest #351

JOY TO THE WORLD “Come on, Janice! You can’t spend all your life moping around. It’s not healthy!’ Janice looked at her friend Joy and sighed. “Yes, Joy, I can spend all my time moping around. A good moping gives you perspective.” She let out a long, sad sigh. Joy crossed her arms, looking at her friend. They were in Janice’s bedroom. Janice was laying on her bed, in the fetal position, sniffling. A box of tissues was on the bedside table, a scattering of wet, used tissues surrounding it. The room was dark, the curtains pulled tight...

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The Lake House

Weekly Contest #350

THE LAKE HOUSEThe family reunion happened every year. Why it was in April, no one knew for sure. It was one of those mysteries, one of those traditions that made no sense now, and the reason was lost to the winds of time. But that’s what happened every year, the third weekend of April—everyone got together at the lake house.. MaisieMaisie was soooooo excited. She loved going to parties. These family ones were fun! Mommy told her they would be visiting for the entire weekend. That meant a sleepover! Two nights! Yay! Maisie loved, loved sleepo...

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The Things We Do for Love

THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE Flavia knew they had to leave. It was getting cold, and there was no more heat. The same as there had been no lights, no refrigeration, and no WIFI because there had been no electricity since spring. It was as if the world had been hurtled back into the dark ages. Without electricity they were cut off from the rest of the world, and only heard about what was happening in the world from travellers, or from those odd people who had CB radios. Information was scant and travellers were very few and far between. T...

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Alone

ALONE I can’t believe they’re all dead. We were fine, then we weren’t. It happened so quickly. So very, very quickly. My life shouldn’t be able to fall apart that quickly. Everyone I know shouldn’t be dead. I shouldn’t be alone. I knew the world was getting dangerous—doomsday clock dangerous. Super powers sabre rattling, threatening mutually assured destruction. Threats of annihilation. Attempted assignations of global leaders. Governments were becoming more and more unhinged. People were frightened. Reports were spotty. There ...

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