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Author on Reedsy Prompts since Jul, 2024
Submitted to Contest #287
With steam billowing in my face, I asked myself, what kind of psychopath orders hot tea on a thirty-five degree summer day? How off your head do you need to be to also request seating in the garden!? Some people just defy all reason. I took a deep breath to try and calm my unsolicited rage, but it continued to brew as steadily as the tea upon my silver tray. I impatiently watched the leaves swirl and spread amber within the glass pot, until it was finally, just the right golden shade to serve.“That one’s for table nine, Luce. Might as well t...
Submitted to Contest #286
Wilder gripped the stern taffrail and stood firm in his decision. A stray wind caught the few strands of his black hair that had fallen free of the sailors braid, which tightly shackled the rest above the loose linen shirt that billowed over his bare chest. His knuckles were white and unyielding against the timber that rumbled under his grip; the railing undulating with every wave that cut around the impressive ship. Across the rising and falling seascape, he could still make out the shadowed line on the horizon that was his homeland. He had...
Submitted to Contest #285
Trigger Warning: Crime scene, murder, suggestion of sexual violence.Douglas hadn’t felt his stomach stir on the job for years, not since he was green out of the academy. Something about the blood spatter against the kid’s toys though. It had sent his head spinning, dizziness threatening to undermine his hard-won reputation. The bright, dancing geometric shapes that adorned the red-stained sheets and curtains were not helping matters. Thankfully, the girl’s body had already been removed. He averted his gaze to the ceiling and traced the lines...
Submitted to Contest #284
Spam and concrete. I looked around at the sad state of affairs and knew immediately something had gone very wrong. The grey box I was presented with paled in comparison to the Christmas I had left behind. The warm lights, smells of cinnamon and table laden with steaming dishes were now miles away, locked behind the door of my mother’s house. Carols and laughter were left dwindling in the cold winter breeze that had chased my exit.Dad had claimed New Year’s Eve as his own, years ago. He knew Mum would have fought tooth and nail to retain Chri...
Winner of Contest #282 🏆
Cade steadied his horse with a squeeze of both knees, keeping her dancing legs in check and protecting the dusty mounds below from wayward hooves. The four lines of raised dirt sheltered the still-warm bodies of his dead friends. The new mount had a sure spirit, along with an insatiable lust for speed, but she would have to wait a few moments longer before indulging in the open road. Black spots peppering her stark, white hide made the beast the most beautiful he had ever owned, but also the least likely to go unnoticed. She would have to be...
Submitted to Contest #281
Trigger Warning: Suicidal ideation and candied violence.I remember being made. A sting of stainless steel cut my shape from a sheet of dough and as soon I was released from its embrace, I was aware. Heat filled me next, radiating from the dark void, suffusing my fresh body with the warm air of life. Gentle hands, with a power beyond my reckoning, gifted me further senses with the painting of my features and attachment of my candied eyes. The first thing I saw when my vision adjusted to the blinding light of day was her face, Amanda; my creat...
Submitted to Contest #280
“Welcome back to the land of the living! Now that you’re awake, sit up and put your seat belt on lad. There’s still a long road ahead.”“Wha…Dad? Is that you? Where are we?”“Heh! That must have been some nap! Give yourself a minute to come around.”“Is this…this is my car. Why are you driving? I never let anyone drive…my car…”“Don’t I know it! Yep…she's a little beaut. They don’t make them like this anymore…a VW Golf is a perfect first car, especially an old one like this. She’ll serve you well and keep you safe. You’ll learn a lot from your s...
Submitted to Contest #279
…Hello? Is anybody out there?……Does anyone read me?…God dammit!Theres got to be someone…please!?………sigh…I thought the analogue signal from this radio might have reached other like-minded folks by now. I guess I was wrong…or perhaps the range is just too short…I just don’t know. The machine must purely use digital signals…otherwise it would have tracked me down by now, with all the attempts I have made with this dusty old thing.……My name is Marcus…and this will be my last recital. What follows is a broadcast, detailing a true telling of the h...
Shortlisted for Contest #278 ⭐️
Tommy’s bright blue eyes followed the slow drift of the important papers over the water’s surface. They looked like the toy sail boats on his favourite lake at the park. Each leaked his multicoloured markings into the bath water, making pretty patterns that moved and changed. Now that his anger dragon had retreated back into its cave - words his Papa had taught him to explain the big feelings he sometimes had - he wondered how it had all happened. He had just been so MAD! When the bathroom door behind him eventually swung open, he accepted t...
Submitted to Contest #277
Raulin’s eyes watered from an eternity of peering along the arrow’s shaft and into the Huntsman’s gaze that was locked at its base. Every blink felt like inviting death. The icy cold of a mid-winter evening dried his lenses during the long periods between the meeting of his eyelids. It would take only the slightest lapse in his attention for the savage human to grasp an opportunity to release the deadly dart. At this range, it would easily pierce a pelt as worn and grey as his. He may be a wolf of advanced years, but he had no wish to depart...
Submitted to Contest #275
He led, I followed. It had ever been the way of things. The tiny slip of a feline slinked across the leaf-littered dirt. He wound his way beneath the tree cover, tracing a line along the hidden forest path without looking back. So confident was he that I would always trail behind. Golden leaves crunched under my feet, rocks shifted and wet mud slid, my clumsy advance spoiling his silent grace. The jet black, sleekness of his form moved with less impact than the light breeze that pressed itself to my skin. A musky smell of earthly life hung i...
Submitted to Contest #274
Gareth ripped his hand away from the sharp pain that cut across his palm. The instinctive reaction likely saved his fingers from his own stupidity. He dropped the pair of pruning shears to the ground and pulled off the thick gardening gloves, sending a splash of his own blood to paint red across the fruit tree’s blossoms like some twisted version of Alice in Wonderland’s roses. He let out a relieved sigh to see only a minor slice to his palm and shook his hand out in an effort to dispel the throbbing, which only served to further splatter th...
Submitted to Contest #273
Trigger Warning: Death, Grief.The coffin wasn’t right. Austin raced through a mental checklist, assessing each detail of the wooden box before him. The ache in his shoulder confirmed it was oak. It’s dark stain contrasted beautifully with the purple flowers arranged on top. The curved, brass handles followed the lines of the timber perfectly. Everything was as she had specified, so why did it look wrong? What was out of place? Then it hit him, it was the trim. His eyes widened in realisation. It had the right swirls and beads, but the patter...
Submitted to Contest #272
Trigger Warning: Suicidal ideation, slight gore and violence, fertility. I no longer wanted to live my life, but neither did I wish to die. So I resisted the temptation of the eternal abyss, knowing that any afterlife would hold no consolation. In effect choosing a living death. Achieved by numbing my senses against the world and disappearing within.By day it was books, movies, video games; anything to place my mind in the body of another. Transporting my consciousness to a plane where there were strict rules and the main character always tr...
Submitted to Contest #271
My worst nightmare stretched before me, from which there would be no escape. Encased in metal and already beginning to accelerate, the torture chamber clacked and rocked as if taunting me with it’s mechanical laughter. The orange fluorescence it generated fought back against the assaulting darkness of the night and the air screamed as it was sliced into by my speeding dungeon.“Ding. Next stop Truro. Estimated arrival. One hour and nineteen minutes. This service terminates at Penzance. Please ensure you take all your belongings with you when ...
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