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Riot 45

Author on Reedsy Prompts since May, 2025

Stories (8)

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6 Followers

8 Following

8 Stories

149 karma pts

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Eyes Wide Open

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #313

It’s Friday, and the macaroni’s crusted over like a scab. Joanie picks at hers with a plastic fork, chasing a cold bite around the tray, one shoe half-kicked off under the table. Her braids are tied high today, a puff of defiance on her crown, and the way the sun cuts across her face makes her look carved from something ancient and golden. I walk up to her empty table.“Can I sit?”“You looking for trouble, or for company?”“Both, maybe.”Joanie side-eyes me, then scoots over just enough to make room on the concrete ledge. “Shit, Ellen, you look...

3 likes

Funerals Are for the Living

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #311

(Content warning: abortion [moderate], abuse [minor] discussed, mentioned or implied) I am no murderer. But the steam rises in the corner of the kitchen like smoke, and I cannot tell candlelight from hellfire. She shakes on the floor, head buried in arms as the shivering womb of her throat softly cradling my name.“Ellen,” she says. “Ellen, baby, I’m so sorry.”“I know, mama. It’ll be alright.”Her name is Ruth Jones, though the state’ll tell you it’s Whitlow, and no God I know could call her a sinner. She is my mother, and my pride and joy, an...

7 likes

Sub Mari Silentium

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #307

All places have a sound, and I've learnt to recognise them instantly. Some are quiet, humming, omnipresent but invisible. The common room after lights out. The East Wing hallway after lessons end and the practice rooms are empty. And some; some are unflinchingly, orchestrally deafening. Brighton Pier is the latter, and I prefer it that way. The sea, grey and roiling, crashes against the rock in foaming waves, the rides sing, oil sputters and the gulls scream like something's dying. It’s not quite summer yet - the April wind still bites throu...

3 likes

In Memoriam

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #307

I don’t think Marla hears the first knock. She dips her fountain pen again, dragging a line of cursive across the bottom of the page — Chaucer. The ink bleeds slightly. She winces, stretches her fingers, and keeps going.So I knock again, still standing on tiptoes, peering through the frosted glass of the Head Girl’s chambers. This time, she looks up. Her face softens. It looks like pity, before she's even seen me.“Come in,” she says, tying her hair up in a ribbon.The door creaks open. The room is immaculate. Books stacked in precise, spine-a...

18 likes

Glossolalia

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #307

Julian Moss has always smiled. On stage. In photographs. In victory, and once, just once, in grief, at his mother’s funeral, the corners of his mouth twitching upward like it was a nervous tic he couldn’t unlearn. He smiles because the world smiles back. Because it’s easy for him.He smiles at me now, as the May air hums between us, muggy warmth and the premonition of rain rippling throughout the courtyard. He wears James Miller’s blazer, the same way he always has since Halvorsen gifted the uniforms of the first Head Boy and Girl of St Anne’...

5 likes

Sapientia per Sacrificium

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #306

“Good evening, faculty, families, and fellow graduates.My name is Marla Holloway, and I have been Head Girl here since September of this year.Our school, Saint Anne’s Academy for the Gifted, was founded in 1883. Its motto? “Sapientia per Sacrificium.” Wisdom through sacrifice.Knowing this, I’d like to start with a moment of silence for those who could not make it today. For all family, friends, staff and siblings with whom we cannot share this celebratory moment. And of course, for my late counterpart, Julian Moss. As some of you may know, w...

9 likes

Prologue (Draft Script 1)

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #306

WIP TITLE: “THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED”Draft - script 1A 3D rendered narrative driven choice-based adventure game. ***FADE IN:EXT. AN NEAR-EMPTY MOTORWAY – DUSKGrey skies bruise the horizon. Wind dances through hedgerows and fields. The road is vast and grey, stretching onwards. The odd car speeds past. A STRANGER (a boy, late adolescence, dressed in worn layers) walks slowly by the roadside, silhouetted. He carries a large backpack.CLOSE ON:A BLACK DOG — still, lying half in a ditch.THE STRANGER, kneels beside it. His breath fogs the air. He s...

10 likes

All Six

Riot 45

Submitted to Contest #305

(Content warning: substance abuse [heavy], sexual assault [moderate], suicidality and HIV [minor] all discussed, mentioned or implied) I am three minutes into Tuesday the 22nd and exactly where I’m not supposed to be. When we walked out of the clinic on Monday evening, I was fine. You hugged me - hesitated - smiled, and bought me a coffee, ordered under a fake name like you always do. That day, you were an Aaron, and I burst out laughing behind you in the queue - it wasn’t you at all. I didn't want it, but it cost you a fiver, so you tried ...

7 likes

Author bio

Rio - (he/she) - UK based

Please go check out my gothic academia series:
1. Sapientia per Sacrificium
2. Glossolalia
3. In Memoriam
4. Sub Mari Silentium

Hi, I've loved writing for a very long time now, and have only just decided to get back into it on here. I've used Reedsy prompts in various forms before, but I've decided to get a bit more serious this time. I tend to lean more dark, sardonic and fantastically-edged with my writing (it's where I'm strongest, and will likely make up most of my paid submissions), but I've have really been trying to get to grips with the more mundane, less intense, comedic and light-hearted styles of writing, though the fantastical edge will likely remain - I love a good dramatic character study. Any feedback is much appreciated!