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Cedar Barkwood

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Apr, 2023

Stories (17)

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32 Followers

45 Following

17 Stories

569 karma pts

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The Pretty Place

Trigger warning: themes of violence and death of children.You blink slowly, tearing your eyelids apart, they flutter, drooping as you look around.You are on a train, your cheek pressed against a frigid, clear surface, maybe a window. The cold burns into your cheek. Like a cat, it crawls into your flesh and settles deep inside your bones, refusing to move. You pull your face away with a shudder, wiping water off of your cheek.You blink, feeling rather than seeing the water on your hands. You look back at the surface and find ice where you tho...

6 likes

Drowning In the Milk of the Moon

Submitted to Contest #282

I try to roll off the checkered blanket as Daddy desperately tries to wipe the sticky drips of mint-chocolate from my ice-cream coated face before it reaches the new white blouse left exposed to stains.“I promised your mom I wouldn’t stain your shirt before dinner.” He said, leaning down to whisper the words in my ears.I giggle, squirming in his arms. My eyes drift past the nearly empty playground to a pair of eyes in the bushes. The setting sun makes them glow.“Daddy look! The bush has eyes.”He glances at where I’m pointing, and the eyes di...

27 likes

Dead Girls Don't Care

Content Warning: Loss of a child I've been dead for fifty hours and thirty-four minutes, and when they find my body. Only an hour ago they officially reported me missing. The pair that find me freeze, horrified by the mangled destroyed condition of my body. I can hear them whispering through my... I guess the only word for it is dead. My dead state. "We have to call the police. Oh my God. Is she dead? Please don't tell me she's dead. She looks so young." The woman in the pair is sobbing hysterically, she's already vomited once. Now she's pul...

11 likes

The Psychic

“Come in! Come in! Let me tell your fortune. No tricks, no lies, just step right in and pay a small fee of fifteen dollars. I’ll have your future laid out for you in just a few minutes!” “Bullshit!” “Well good sir, there’s only one way to find out. Step right in, I’ll tell your future for that small fee of fifteen dollars. Such a business-man like you can surely be interested in your career.” “How did you know I was a business-man?” “Why good sir, I’m a psychic, I know things others don’t.” “Fine. I’ll try it. How much do you say? Fifteen do...

9 likes

Mothers Instinct

TW: Filicide and mental instability ------------------------------------- Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘face your fears?’ I’m sure you have. Or something of the sort. However, have you ever stopped to wonder when a fear is too bold to face? What happens then, if you face that fear? How many people get hurt? ------------------------------------- I’m sitting in a chair, wrist raw from the restraints that I’d thrashed against. They removed them, when I refused to talk. Now I’m staring at judgemental brown eyes tucked behind horn-rimmed...

9 likes

Counting by the Second

CW: Teenagers dying, something that resembles suicidal thoughts (sorry I didn't know what else to put, see authors note in comments if unsure).In a cell with two other people, you learned many, many things, but only one thing stuck with you.You were made to be destroyed, by the hands of your creators, you would be locked up, and eventually, killed. There was a timer, a ticking clock dictating how many times you would be allowed to breathe. Laugh at a joke. Smile at a friend, each of you only had so long to live. The timer on the ceiling of t...

6 likes

If Only

Content Warning: Contains kidnapping, murder, swearing October 27th: 9 years and 3 months ago A shrill scream pierces the air. It snakes down the stairs from Lily’s room. Not a second later the chiming of shattered glass hitting the floor drown out the scream. “Lily?” I call, already running up the stairs. “Lilly?!” I’m screaming now, swinging around the rail and launching myself towards her door. Locked. It's locked. Shit. I kick the door. Over and over. Right above the handle where you're supposed to. Crack. Click. Door flies open. ...

8 likes

Ground Beef

Submitted to Contest #270

When I come through the door, Amy is laying on the couch, the news lighting up the living room, weeping into one of Jason's shirts.I do my best to ignore her, ignore the grief welling in my own throat, and head to the kitchen. I reach in my bag as I start to lay out all the ingredients that I brought. I glance up at the television, Jason's missing person picture and information flashes across the screen. Amy lets out a strangled cry.Frustration bubbles up in my chest. If she would just put in an effort to find him, he was her son after all.I...

17 likes

Writers Bleed on Paper

Note: This story is inspired by Romeo and Juliet by the poet and play-writer William Shakespeare, only parts of the story in this story (quotation or general plot) was written by William Shakespeare. TW: Mentions of suicide and murder. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sure you've heard the phrase, 'writers bleed on paper.' I'm the result, I am the character that dances on the ivory pages of the stories you read, I am formed through the hundred black stains that make word after word. But I'll tell you some...

9 likes

The Case Of Iris Craw Sandlers

TW: Abusive relationship, partner violence. The following speech was written 37 hours before the wedding by Adam Johnson Sandlers, (the husband). The strikeouts were found on the original copy, it is copied exactly as it was found. I would like to propose a toast to the deadly beautiful woman in white. Today, she will no longer be just my girlfriend, my fiance. She'll be my monster. My murderer. My end. wife. And as scared thrilled as I am for this moment, I would like to recount a memory before the ceremony. When Iris was a little girl, I...

7 likes

Hello Mary

Submitted to Contest #261

TW: Kidnapping, abuse, pyromaniac tendencies and masochismDear Mary,The doctors are asking me to write notes. Notes to people, to say thank you for things, and you are obviously my first choice. Thank you for teaching me how to fold origami. In every fold of the paper, I found immense comfort, I do it now that the doctor said I am stable. They forced some food down my throat and told me a bunch of lies. Now I fold origami and argue with doctors, not a very interesting life. I wish they would let me talk to you.-Aubrey, September 19thMary,The...

22 likes

6 Reasons To Die

I know that there are 3 things I can rely on. 1, I am human. I know this because when I found out that my existence was a lie, I screamed until I couldn't breathe. I bled, and I felt completely, earth-shatteringly weak. The weakness, the helplessness only a human could feel. Because we aren't really made for anything, we are made to go through the motions, labor, laugh, love cry, all for it to end. For us to be erased from the planet. And I felt all of this, consequently, I know I am human. 2, most everything I have been told in life is a l...

6 likes

I Always Know Who's Watching

TW: Stalking, armed robbery (gun), not sure what this falls under but the main character is insane. Occasional vulgar language (minor). I have to do it carefully, or he'll stop following me. I can still imagine the high that I get when I feel his eyes groping me. I barely restrain the sort of laugh that makes people creep away from me. Walk carefully, you can't look like you know. I pulled out my phone and found a bench to sit on. Carefully, I arrange my body, making sure the highlights could be seen from behind. He's looking. Don't smile l...

7 likes

The Wind In The Willows

Submitted to Contest #248

Trigger Warning: non-graphic torture/death--------------------------They say that The Wind tells you things, stories. The stories whispered in the breeze. They say that those who can’t bear to stay away seek it. Even knowing that The Wind wasn’t a solution. There wasn’t a fairy-tale ending for those associated with The Wind. Yet, being away from it was unbearable. So I will tell you the story of a little girl, who tried to seek The Wind.--------------------------In a little town, there was a little for...

15 likes

Agent 127

Submitted to Contest #246

Trigger Warning: Death, violence, suicide, swearing, murder, abandonmentClide was sitting on the swing set, waiting for me. I could see in his eyes that he hadn't failed this time. Slowly, I walked out of the trees, my feet didn't make a sound on the summer evening grass. Yet he knew I was there before I had gotten as close as fifty yards."It's done." He said quietly. I walked quicker now, making no attempt to hide my footsteps."That's what you said last time, we had to go back and check. He wasn’t dead yet." I said."I did it this time, watc...

22 likes