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Aiden Mars

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025

Stories (5)
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10 Followers
6 Following

5 Stories

80 karma pts

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The Speech

Submitted to Contest #306

The ballroom ceiling was a long-ignored mirror, warped with years, but still capable of catching the glint of champagne and poor decisions. A pair of pale pink spotlights drifted like searching eyes across the lacquered floor, grazing sequins and shadows with equal indifference. And right there, under a chandelier that trembled like it might leap to freedom and end it all in a shower of crystal, stood the least likely person to be holding a microphone: me.“Hi. Wow. I didn’t even plan anything. Which—if you know me—is deeply in character.”Lau...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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Leave to Lead

Submitted to Contest #305

Dale stood in the break room, watching his leftover salmon circle slowly inside the microwave. It steamed inside a stained Tupperware he didn’t recognize. The smell had already settled into the ceiling tiles. It was 10:04 a.m.The employee bulletin board beside him offered nothing useful. One flyer: “Q3 Wellness Push: Hydrate With Gratitude.” Above it, another: “De-Escalating Workplace Feedback With Smile-Based Language.”The microwave beeped. Dale opened the door. Steam hit his glasses. He dug in a fork, blew once.The break room door swung op...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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Clock Me In, Clock Me Out

Submitted to Contest #304

Trent hadn’t slept in thirty-two hours. His fingers trembled over the keyboard, not from the triple espresso he'd pounded at 2:41 a.m., but from the mortal terror of missing the deadline for the ThistleCraft Rebranding Campaign—a PowerPoint deck, of all things. The kind of job that could get you fired for a bad kerning decision. The kind of job that made you want to marry a toaster.Across the office, the motion-sensor lights flickered back on as Trent waved his hand in front of them like a drowning man begging a helicopter to notice. It was ...

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The Line Uncrossed

The first bullet had missed by inches. Not that it mattered. The second didn’t.Elias Harper collapsed in the snow, the high beam from his truck casting his falling body in an unnatural white. His wife, June, stood beside the road, the gun still warm in her gloved hands, her breath rising in sharp little clouds.She didn’t shake. Not yet. That would come later, when the fire in her chest gave way to the collapse of everything else.Earlier that week, June had sat across from the sheriff, nursing a styrofoam cup of diner coffee. “You’re not goin...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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The Smile Tank Diaries

Shortlisted for Contest #303 ⭐️

I didn’t have a choice.I know that sounds dramatic. Everyone says that when they’re trying to sound like a victim. But in my case, it was literally true. I was legally required to participate in the Personality Compliance Program.Because I failed the Empathy Calibration Assessment. Twice.I know what you’re thinking: How can someone fail empathy? Easy. They ask you to watch a video of a cartoon otter losing its job at a tech startup and record your “emotional reactions” while measuring your blood pressure and brow micro-twitches. I blinked at...

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