Rachel Nel
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redsaid1.bsky.social
Rachel Nel
@redsaid1.bsky.social
170 followers 160 following 110 posts
South African inventor of the limesick (an ill-composed limerick) and writer of tiny tales of exactly 140-characters long for #vss365. Every doggo is a friend.
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redsaid1.bsky.social
In trembling fists, it rattles. From unfurled hands, it is scattered. Guided by ancestral whispers, the ancient bones foretell many futures.

#vss365 #vss #bones
February 9, 2026 at 9:07 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Her blind date is deathly pale. "Are you sick?" she asks. He seems offended. The Maître D' approaches: "Your table is ready, Mister Reaper."

#vss365 #vss #pale
February 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
For seventy years, my hands have cooked, cleaned and comforted. And now I’m scrubbing away what else they've done, blood circling the drain.

#vss365 #vss #blood
February 7, 2026 at 2:27 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
He promised paradise. So, I gave up my teen rebellion, mini skirts, my family. Now a black-clad ghost, I am stuck in hell as a Jihadi bride.

#vss365 #vss #ghost
February 4, 2026 at 12:11 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
The conversation flowed. He seemed to look into the depths of my soul. Later, he removed his sunglasses, revealing his milky, unseeing eyes.

#vss365 #vss #soul
February 2, 2026 at 5:49 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Shackled to him since birth, I need a map to escape and finally be free, as not even nighttime provides enough respite for a shadow like me.

#vss365 #vss #shadow
February 1, 2026 at 8:17 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
I was missing. Feared dead. I cannot recall where I'd been. In my dreams, a woman soothes me with fronds. I wake smelling forest on my skin.

#vss365 #vss #soothe
January 31, 2026 at 7:35 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
She takes aim without quiver or arrow. Her Cupid's bow lips stretch into a naughty grin. Bull's eye! She pierces the last of his good sense.

#vss365 #vss #quiver
January 28, 2026 at 4:46 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
The moon waxes and wanes among the stars. Twice a day, the sky's ablaze and tides recede and advance. Nature chronicles time's onward dance.

#vss365 #vss #wane
January 27, 2026 at 11:30 AM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Zozo consults my palm. "You're on the cusp of a big change."
"What kind of change?" I ask.
"You'll be hot from... Menopause!" she exclaims.

#vss365 #vss #cusp
January 26, 2026 at 6:36 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
They all fell for my ruse and got into the car to help find my lost dog. The next day, I'd be called to the scene to catch their murderer.

#vss365 #vss #ruse
January 25, 2026 at 7:53 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
She opens the door wearing a stained slip. A wave of body odour and booze hits us. Next to me, my posh future in-laws recoil from my mother.

#vss365 #vss #slip
January 24, 2026 at 8:02 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
If I glimpse my prospective suitors and deem them undesirable, I drizzle Tabasco into their tea. My parents don't know why I'm still single.

#vss365 #vss #drizzle
January 23, 2026 at 10:59 AM
redsaid1.bsky.social
I watch as they unmoor the dhows. "One day I'll go along," I say. An old man laughs at me. "We're called fishermen, not fisherwomen, child."

#vss365 #vss #unmoor
January 22, 2026 at 8:46 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
We're tall. But here, we bend and bow to try and make ourselves unseen. If we could have, we would've scrubbed the otherness from our skins.

#vss365 #vss #bend
January 21, 2026 at 7:18 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Every bead she weaves onto the loom is like a word in an ancient language. Fluently, she creates intricate stories, defying her illiteracy.

#vss365 #vss #loom
January 20, 2026 at 6:18 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Our taxi veers into oncoming traffic. My scream is drowned out by Bollywood tunes and honking horns. I brace for death, but arrive in Delhi.

#vss365 #vss #veer
January 19, 2026 at 6:17 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
They murmur condolences. "Your wonderful dad saved our lives in Iraq." We don't tell them that he spent the rest of his life at war with us.

#vss365 #vss #murmur
January 18, 2026 at 6:35 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
On a whim, I remove the makeup he has never seen me without. Will he recoil from me? Or will he still take a bride who's dappled with scars?

#vss365 #vss #dapple
January 17, 2026 at 6:28 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Like a beckoning ghost, tendrils of steam curl from the chalice. She lifts it to his mouth. The liquid sears his lips with a poisonous kiss.

#vss365 #vss #sear
January 16, 2026 at 8:35 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
My speech to the media's heartfelt. "We're doing all we can to find her." I grin at them as I caress the victim's lock of hair in my pocket.

#vss365 #vss #heartfelt
January 16, 2026 at 4:09 AM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Now that there are pills to nourish us, there is no need to cook or eat. Productivity has soared. Our bodies are lean and stoop like commas.

#vss365 #vss #stoop
January 14, 2026 at 4:08 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
It began badly. "Your kid is not hitting unmissable targets and is the laughing stock at the range," the instructor told Annie Oakley's mom.

#vss365 #vss #unmissable
January 10, 2026 at 8:20 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Enunciate. Be natural. Decades on, he still recalls his Drama prof's advice. His delivery is flawless as he recites the specials of the day.

#vss365 #vss #delivery
January 9, 2026 at 1:04 PM
redsaid1.bsky.social
Posters of local stars adorn bare-brick walls. Bra Hugh. Miriam. But when the girl on stage sings Summertime, it feels like I'm in New York.

#vss365 #vss #adorn
January 8, 2026 at 5:08 PM