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Write about a character who receives an anonymous or unexpected gift.

Posted in Short Story on Nov 28, 2025

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✍️ 30 stories

The Globe That Wouldn’t Stay Broken

Submitted to Contest #331

Alone in the charity shop, Karen watched the snow fall against the window, each drifting flake a reminder that life had a way of delivering things you hadn’t asked for. She was counting the minutes until closing when the door opened, and the man in black stepped inside—the one who always arrived too late and lingered too long, a small frustration in a day already full of them. The last globe had been perched precariously near the door, and when he brushed past, it toppled. He stooped, long coat obscuring the breakage, and even offered to pay...

37 likes 18 comments 18
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The Paper Swan

Submitted to Contest #331

The swan arrives on a Tuesday, which is the day I've designated for falling apart quietly. I find it in the pocket of my corduroy coat, the one my mother used to call my "archive jacket" because I keep everything in its pockets: receipts from coffee shops that have closed, fortunes from cookies I don't remember eating, a ticket stub from a concert I attended alone. My fingers brush something that wasn't there yesterday, and my heart does that stuttering thing it does whenever the universe reminds me it's paying attention. A paper swan. Perfe...

29 likes 9 comments 9
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Frostbitten

Submitted to Contest #331

Romy awoke to a sting as sharp as a cold snap - her arms shot out, shoving a box of complimentary Ginseng Zing Zen Bars off the desk and ejecting them across the atrium floor. ‘Oww…’ She rubbed the back of her head, turning. A young woman, smiling, dropped a damp towel back into the guests’ discard box. ‘Gross, Bethany. That could be anyone's.’ ‘Even your biggest fan.’ She mimed a pointy chin. Romy's eyes widened. ‘Ice bath guy.’ ‘Sorry, would you rather I left you out cold on the reception desk?’ Bethany asked, picking a bar out of a eucaly...

24 likes 8 comments 8
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Toughen Up

Submitted to Contest #331

The package arrived on a Tuesday, wrapped in brown butcher paper and too much tape. His mother-in-law's handwriting sprawled across the label like she'd written it in a moving car. Without much thought, David brought it in from the porch and set it on the kitchen table. It's from Mom," Karen said, already reaching for the scissors. "She told me she was sending something for Ollie's birthday." She had that softness in her voice she always got when talking about her mother, three states away and close enough to miss, far enough to rarely visit...

19 likes 3 comments 3
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The Secret Samaritan

Submitted to Contest #331

Ben trudged down the hallway and paused by the loungeroom door, ears attuned to his boys, feeling every bit of his thirty-eight years. He peered around the doorframe to watch. Lying on his stomach, eleven-year-old Harvey sprawled on the floor in his pyjamas, note pad in hand, chewing the end of his pencil. “Whatcha doin’?” asked three-year-old Curtis, also in his pyjamas. “Thinking about what I might get for Christmas. What are you doing?” asked Harvey in return. “I just came in to see the tree,” Curtis whispered. “The decorations are prett...

19 likes 6 comments 6
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An Unexpected Gift

Submitted to Contest #331

The gift wasn’t wrapped in paper or tied with ribbon. It didn’t come in a box left on a doorstep or inside a card slipped under a door. It arrived quietly, like a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding, released just in time. It wasn’t anonymous; I know exactly who sent it, but it was unexpected. A kindness from a higher power I had spent years pushing away. God, patient as ever, must have looked at me in all my stubbornness and said, “She’s still mine. Watch what I can do.”I’d spent a long stretch of my life running, numb, reckless, and c...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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Cat Gifts

Submitted to Contest #331

It all started last Thursday. I remember, because that was the day I found out about the serial killer on the news. I was sitting on my couch, watching the local head of police announce that there’s a serial killer in town, so be on high alert.“High alert?!” I shouted at the TV. “What good is that going to do? I’m a 66-year-old woman living alone. No amount of alertness is going to stop a murderer, I’m easy pickings!”That’s when I heard the clawing at the front door. My heart jumped inside my chest. I swear I could have died right then and t...

16 likes 4 comments 4
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Sweet Potato Weather

Submitted to Contest #331

Snow is falling hard enough to blur the parking lot. Big lazy flakes cling to the wipers and turn the world still until the plows ruin it. I stand under the neon Laundry Express sign a second longer than I need to, letting the cold find the gap at my collar and settle in like it’s claiming squatter’s rights. Nights like this make me feel younger and older at the same time: reckless enough to be out, tired enough to want bed by nine. I’m forty-nine. It’s half past eight. My fingertips are already going white. Six years without a washer means ...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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The Fifth-Floor Ledge

Submitted to Contest #331

The parcel shouldn’t have been there.That was the first thought.It was a Thursday, and winter had finally taken the city by the throat. Snow drifted sideways past my fifth-floor window, catching in frantic spirals before sticking to the glass. I came home from the late shift at the bookstore, kicked the front door shut with my heel, and dropped my bag with a thud that echoed down the narrow hallway.I was halfway to the kitchen when I saw it: a small dark shape sitting on the outside of my living-room window ledge.My building doesn’t have bal...

16 likes 2 comments 2
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A Black Feather in the Snow

Submitted to Contest #331

Korax woke to the sound of falling snow.It was a soft, constant hush against the tent canvas, a high-mountain whisper that had wormed its way into his dreams and dragged him up from them. The fire outside had burned down to embers; Apollo’s occasional snort sounded louder than the crackle of flame.He pushed himself up and ducked out into the cold night.The camp was a small island of life in a sea of white and dark. Three tents with his men sleeping in uneven heaps with cloaks pulled over their heads, chasing scraps of warmth. One low fire wi...

15 likes 0 comments 0
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A Very Unexpected Christmas Dilemma.

Submitted to Contest #331

A Very Unexpected Christmas Dilemma. By Christopher Harris. It was the sort of Christmas Eve scene that belongs on a cosy Christmas card. The roaring fire, the ancient stone walls hung with quirky vintage artefacts, the warm laughter and seasonal goodwill from familiar customers, anticipating tomorrow's day of joviality. The Red Lion in Denham, East Sussex, looked and felt like the beating heart of a perfect English village. But behind the bar, Martin, the bearded landlord, was anything but jovial. It had been the worst trading year he could...

15 likes 1 comment 1
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The Gift of Clarity

Submitted to Contest #331

(Trigger Warning: domestic violence, child abuse/neglect, childhood trauma) I am five years old and I live with my Mommy. Sometimes, my Daddy can be scary and mean so he lives in one house and we live in another. Almost all of the girl’s I know have a Mommy and a Daddy, all except for Nicki. She is my cousin ‘cept, I’m older than her. Her Mommy and Daddy live in different houses, too. Her Daddy can be scary and mean, just like mine. I like Nicki. I like her Mommy, my Aunt Patsy, too. I spend the night with them at their house a lot. I sl...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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A Christmas Accord

Submitted to Contest #331

My back aches whenever I wear this jacket. The slippery exterior is a poor anchor for my heavy backpack. It’s also shedding down feathers like a Christmas goose and isn’t warm enough for the snow. I tug the zipper up to my chin and shove my hands in the pockets. Despite its flaws, it’s vintage. It was my Mom’s. I love it. Sometimes love is like that: even in the face of imperfections, you can’t help who or what you get attached to. Like right this instant I’m standing in the freezing cold, waiting at the third spruce back from the gate. It’s...

14 likes 5 comments 5
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Image

Submitted to Contest #331

Image It was early May. Winter had almost completely melted away, the only remnants of the particularly harsh season were the patches of dead garden that had yet to grow back. The lawn itself, however, was in full bloom, attracting the copious amounts of songbirds that had come back up North during their spring migration. I was sitting on my porch, admiring the dark yellow feathers of the orioles as they quickly scooped up the birdseed I had scattered about when I heard the phone ring from inside. Pesky telemarketers. I stood up from my ch...

13 likes 0 comments 0
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The snow globe

Submitted to Contest #331

The snow globeThe Mils mansion always looked haunted. At the end of the street, the old building loomed with weathered walls, ivy crawling up to a brown roof where tiles were missing, and branches scraping against rattling windows. Across from it stood the village church — a strategic location, as Mrs. Bloom often said, since the church provided food and clothes for the orphans. On the other side was the school, close enough that the children could walk there in minutes.Mrs. Bloom, one of the two women caring for the orphans, was a sweet, ch...

13 likes 2 comments 2
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