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Zack Powell

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2021

Stories (46)
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812 Followers
135 Following

46 Stories

5677 karma pts

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Friendly Advice

Submitted to Contest #142

Content warning: Mentions of miscarriage"You should read The Light Between Oceans," someone will tell you, six months after you miscarry. They won't know what you know now, the myriad ways your own minefield of a body can betray you. You'll stand by the stove preparing dinner, the landline cradled between your shoulder and ear, and feel the steam from the boiling water scald your face. You'll watch the bubbles rise from the bottom to kiss the surface while your friend goes into detail about the novel."The couple in that book had two miscarri...

32 likes 52 comments 52
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Return to Sender

Submitted to Contest #141

Content warning: Some swearing Dear Ms. Huxley, Listen carefully. Well, I guess you can't very well listen to a missive, can you? Read carefully. This is a ransom note. I have your son.  Don't believe me? Then how would I know he's five years old, skinny as a Twizzler, his name is Timmy, and he never shuts the hell up? Oh, sorry. Five and a half. As for how I got ahold of him, let me say this: Maybe you should consider choosing a better preschool. I mean, I didn't have to show my ID or anything. Just pointed to the kid...

30 likes 25 comments 25
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Poor Unfortunate Souls

Submitted to Contest #140

I remember other things about that year too. That was the year I stopped getting an allowance. The year I turned ten and my mother signed me up for Girl Scouts to teach me a lesson. It was the year I had my first kiss. But that's never what people want to talk about. Whenever one of us mentions that year, 1990, twenty-five years ago, we're really talking about Freddie.***Kayla's tenth birthday party came during the middle of May, a day so hot you could taste the promise of the upcoming summer vacation. The Louisiana air was heavy with the ki...

32 likes 36 comments 36
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Adam and Evelyn

Submitted to Contest #139

Content warning: Child lossAnother apple disintegrates under the weight of Evelyn's boots. It is the third one in the five minutes that they've been in the orchard, and it does nothing to quell her nagging suspicion that this whole excursion is a mistake. The mushy fruit clings to the sole of her shoe like a beggar, but she refuses to fall any farther behind.Already ten paces ahead, her wife, Gloria, whips through the row of apple trees with the same pinballesque efficiency she uses when stuffing bills and magazines and credit card offers in...

21 likes 28 comments 28
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The Best Years of Our Lives

Submitted to Contest #138

Friends, faculty, alumni, and fellow classmates, good afternoon and thank you all for coming to my TED talk. Only kidding. Just a little valedictorian's joke to kick things off before we all disperse into the world to work at high-paying prestigious institutions like McDonald's, or, if we're lucky, Starbucks. That's also a joke, mostly. Peter Springer, if you're listening, I'll have two Big Macs and a venti cold brew.But seriously, thanks for coming out today. It means a lot to me. You all, of course, had no choice in the matter if you want ...

43 likes 54 comments 54
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To Whom It May Concern

Submitted to Contest #137

June 12, 2100To whom it may concern,My family is no longer dead. That, of course, is a subjective word: "dead." In my heart, they've always been alive, always been with me, though I do acknowledge the facts: that their spacecraft collided with a wayward asteroid last summer, that they flared up like a Roman candle in the night sky, burning brighter than the constellations surrounding them. I suppose some people might call that death; I am not one of them.The package arrived two days later. When I returned home, my voice still hoarse from spe...

27 likes 27 comments 27
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The Guide to Being Yourself

Submitted to Contest #136

"You'll never know unless you try." This coming from your friend Jorge, one of the lucky ones. Ever since he did it, you've quietly observed his metamorphosis from the sidelines: the bright fingernail polish, the rainbow pins decorating his backpack, the braces-bound smile that never takes a day off. He's emerged from his cocoon but forgot to take you with him. "Just look at me." You yearn to say those words too, breathe them in like your mother's perfume, taste them on your lips like warm horchata on a snowy day. Just look at me.  ...

21 likes 22 comments 22
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The Blind Date

Submitted to Contest #135

As soon as I enter the building, a voice in my head tells me that it's not too late, that I can turn around right now, scurry down the sidewalk, scalp my ticket to the first person I see, and save myself an hour or two of embarrassment. I know how these things end. But then the ticket taker holds out his hand, clammy in my own when we exchange the paper stub, and the art museum welcomes me back. Inside, the world is drenched in color. The walls are dyed a muted shade of blue, crammed with portraits and landscapes and tableaus, hues so rich...

23 likes 25 comments 25
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The Mistakes We've Made

Shortlisted for Contest #134 ⭐️

Content warning: Some swearingThe only problem with breaking into your neighbor's house is if someone else beats you to it.The Mastersons are gone for the month, summering in Fiji or Acapulco or wherever people go when they're filthy rich and can afford to flaunt it by using words like "summering." Before leaving, they'd asked me to watch their house. For free, of course. I smiled and told them they had nothing to worry about. It wasn't until their blue Bugatti sped down our dead-end street that I finally uncrossed the fingers hiding behind ...

48 likes 43 comments 43
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Love and Chocolate in Five Easy Steps

Shortlisted for Contest #133 ⭐️

Content warning: Language and mentions of abortion.Hey there! It's your girl Tahlia here, and I'm back to bring you another slam dunk recipe. Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so today I'm gonna show you how to make your very own chocolate bars for that special someone in your life. Because, ladies, if your man is anything like my boyfriend Marcus, he's gonna want some chocolate. And if he's like Marcus, once he gets a taste, he'll probably want a little something extra on the side, if you catch my drift. Sadly, I can't help you wh...

36 likes 44 comments 44
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Where I Am Going, You Cannot Follow

Submitted to Contest #132

Content warning: Homophobia My family is moving today, and they're not taking me with them. From the bottom of the staircase I watch them shuffle in and out of rooms, hear them opening cupboards and drawers and closets, double and triple checking. My mother moves with the passion of a triathlete, crossing items off her laundry list. When my father trudges down the stairs and bumps into me with a heavy cardboard box, I am the one to apologize. For being in the way, for taking up space, for driving them out of this place. They tell me they...

38 likes 20 comments 20
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Love Ain't Blind, Grief Is

Winner of Contest #131 🏆

Content warning: Cancer, language, and death. Dad begs to be cremated but Aldon won't hear of it. Never mind that he's saying this at the table right in front of our old man, or that he has less money than the rest of us to spend on a casket and burial plot. As the oldest son, he thinks whatever he says goes. "It's not right, being cremated," he tells us. He's got this look on his face like Dad just asked him to eat some roadkill. "It's just not right. And besides, you should want to be next to Mom. Did you forget we buried her too?" D...

187 likes 165 comments 165
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I Dreamt of Heaven

Submitted to Contest #130

I know what you're thinking, Mrs. Galloway. I imagine you rolled your eyes when you read the title of this personal essay. Maybe you sighed and shuffled my paper to the bottom of your grading pile. I wouldn't blame you. You told us not to squander these essays writing about our dreams, to use them only to reflect on stuff that actually happened to us—I know that, I do— but please make an exception. Just this once. This dream of mine happened last Friday, the day after my weekly therapy appointment. To tell the truth, I forgot that I even c...

25 likes 6 comments 6
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All's Fair in Love and Spar

Submitted to Contest #129

Glenn, our marriage counselor, self-proclaimed relationship expert, repeated herself: "I said, have you two ever considered boxing?" Tim and I exchanged glances. We were both thinking she'd lost her mind. It was the first thing we'd agreed on all day. "No, I can't say that I have," Tim said, emphasizing the second I. He turned back to Glenn and added, "But I can only speak for myself, right?" I shook my head no, both in response to Glenn's question and Tim's passive-aggressiveness. Glenn tapped her pen on her clipboard, uncrossed her...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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The Bully

Submitted to Contest #121

It's been a while since I've been in detention, but it's exactly as I remember. Black marker smudges clutter the whiteboard. The clock on the wall is running two minutes behind, even though it's digital. There is still the empty hamster cage by the sink. Mr. Wheeler, my warden, sits behind his desk and adjusts his posture to accommodate his big belly. Some things never change."Come take these," he tells me when I enter, pointing to the edge of the desk. He's been staring out the window this whole time, probably wishing he didn't have to spen...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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