William Riling

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Sep, 2023

Stories (5)

5 Stories

93 karma pts

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“RNJ” by William Riling

Submitted to Contest #257

Newsflash – June 16th, 2024, Dateline: Verona, Wisconsin—16-year-old Romeo Montague and 14-year-old Juliet Capulet were found dead today in the parking lot of Verona High School, the result of an apparent suicide pact. Texts of their final moments were found on the star-crossed lover’s iPhones but not released to the public. Funeral services are pending. In lieu of flowers the families are asking donations to be made to Suicide Prevention Hotline of Verona.---------------------------------------------------------------- (Transcript from...

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“White Privilege” by William Riling

Submitted to Contest #256

Every game felt like a symphony to eighteen-year-old Kelvin White. The chirp of athletic shoes on the parquet floor. The rhythmic drumming of a basketball pounding wood, building tension as he planned his approach to the hoop, surrounded by a cacophony of whistles, whoops and thunderous applause inside the Lower Merion High School Gymnasium outside Philadelphia where, in this orchestration, Kelvin was the conductor, leading the players down the court, directing the drive with a pass here, a pick there, finishing off with a cymbal-like crash ...

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“Deirdre's Denial” by William Riling

Submitted to Contest #255

“Twenty-three years of wedded bliss, things couldn’t be better if we had won the lottery.” That’s how Deirdre Efram would describe the current state of her marriage to the clutch of housewives and recently divorced lady friends gathered for their quarterly Girl’s Nite Out at the patio bar of Westlake’s Four Season’s Hotel. This was before her third Appletini. By her fourth and fifth, you’d have thought she was Donna Reed married to David Beckham. Who could blame her? Her best friend Freda Dinkins recently regaled the table with tales of her ...

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“SEVEN SECONDS IN HELL” by William Riling

Submitted to Contest #253

Garret Lipman was thinking he must know how Adam felt in the Garden of Eden when Eve tempted him with the apple. After all, the fruit was plucked from the tree of knowledge and insider knowledge meant everything to a young day trader at Goldman Sachs. It wasn’t just the attempt at insider trading that had placed Garret in his current predicament. As with most things in his life, it was poor decision making that put him in a situation where he had no idea how to extract himself from this singular moment of time where he finds himself staring ...

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“Chemical Reaction” by William Riling

Submitted to Contest #250

“911 What is your emergency?” The stoic female voice crackled from a cellphone speaker. With trembling hands, Thirty-nine-year-old Megan Lowry’s finger fought to lower the sound on her Android. She had dialed 911 after clearing her head, trying to absorb her current situation. Holding the phone close to her mouth she whispered in high pitched staccato breaths. “Hello? You have to Help me! I’ve been car jacked!” Lit solely by her phone, Megan lay balled up in the dark confines of the trunk of a car, her own car. A bag of groceries she had jus...

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Author bio

Animation Story Artist and writer interested in short stories and presently working on my first novel.