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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of american short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

150+ American Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for great American short stories you can read for free? Whether they’re written by American authors, set in the USA, or just have that ever-elusive quality of Americana, this is the page you’re looking for.

American Short Stories – Page 5 of 10

I Should’ve Known

Lily Finch

Weekly Contest #350

All I needed was groceries. Nothing fancy—just a few things. I even promised myself that I would adhere to the list this time.I had a list once before. It didn’t go well.It all sounded simple, which, thinking back, probably should’ve set off some kind of alarm.Inside, I grabbed a cart and did the usual routine. I walked up and down the aisles, putting things in, taking some out, and second-guessing my actions. Nothing unusual.At least, nothing unusual at first.Except the cart.It had a mind of its own. Not in an obvious way. It didn’t squeak ...

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Three

Gemma Vail

Weekly Contest #350

Three. That’s the number of people in my room. I don’t recognize them. Their faces and voices are scary. Loud and speaking words I don’t understand. I look down to the blanket over my lap. It’s my favorite color. Blue. Like the sky. I look back up and see that now there’s only two people in my room.“She doesn’t know any better. You can’t blame her.” It’s something I think I’ve heard before. People pretending I’m not in the room when they talk about me. It makes me sad.“Just because she doesn’t know any better doesn’t excuse the behavior!” th...

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Me Break Vase

Matt St.Hilaire

Weekly Contest #350

It come down hard and Me not know what doings help vase. Such big beautiful vase. Supreme Elder Ultric hate Mefor break big beautiful vase. Me know. Me try and take vase piece and put other piece on to vase piece but vase not go back to what vase was before. Vase stay broke. Me feel like luck not find Me. Me stuck with bad luck. Like Elder Reemly. Elder Reemly not hurt people. Elder Reemly help people. Elder Reemly help people and every people like Elder Reemly. No people hate Elder Reemly. But Elder Reemly die. He die by large lion from sea...

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Starzy Przestępca

Adam Coze

Weekly Contest #350

Stary Przestępca never expected to live to be 200 years old. He took a gap year in college, putzed his way to a business degree and moved back into his parents basement. He had a hard time finding a job, and got an impromptu teaching license when the government threw some incentives into the mix to balance out the perpetual shortage. He taught for 32 exhausting years, never had kids nor married. and tiredly retired at that magical age of 67. He’d never been particularly healthy, and he was sure being diagnosed with goold-ol’ stage three woul...

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Daisy’s Friend

Beau Roberts

Weekly Contest #350

Wind blew past the fields with ease, in the summer time in rural Missouri. Each day that went past, felt as fast as her Father was when he illegally sped down the interstate 44. Though as young as she was, she would not know of this detail. You see this girl, Aged Eight, was named Daisy. Now, unfortunately for Daisy she’d been caught by her parents the previous night, eating, and partially somewhat destroying, her younger brother Kyle’s birthday cake. Her mother caught her exclaiming,“Damn it Daisy, you dang’ sure are grounded!”Conversation...

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they might steal The Son Because The Priest is bunting

Nick Matsas

Weekly Contest #350

I hope one day they’ll raise the draft age and I can die somewhere outside Tehran, as a conscientious objector, subjected to helping the wounded of the current administration's policies, which is why I believe life is already carved out for you when you’re born. I will not die in Iran, though I wish to, and though I will do what I can to make that happen, I will continue to live in Southern California, in a beautiful house with a garden, and the weather that suits my tan. Sometimes I have 10 dollars, and sometimes I have 7,000, and I have ne...

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500 Pills, 2000 Days

Joan Cino

Weekly Contest #350

It was just an ordinary day at the Center View Apartment Complex in Turner, Louisiana, a suburban neighborhood, fifteen minutes from New Orleans. I had been the property manager at the community for six years. It was like any ordinary apartment complex; some of the residents are great, and others you quietly hoped would move out sooner rather than later. It was late afternoon, close to five o’clock, the time I was supposed to get off, although it was usually closer to six by the time I left to go home. It was easier to get my paperwork done ...

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Robert George

Nick Matsas

Weekly Contest #350

I don’t see much, and I can’t hear a goddamn thing unless they yell at me, which they rarely do, I think. My thinking’s good. Real good. The best. That’s all I really do, and I like it. I had a Burmese neighbor, Hein, who was Buddhist, and he told me that some people get stuck between living and being dead, and that's sort of where I feel like I’m at now. It’s peaceful, to tell you the truth, which I always do. The last thing I heard clear as a Daisy was that my Granddaughter was flying first class to Japan with some guy named Joe. I remembe...

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Old Geezers and Lightbulbs

Carol Maust

Weekly Contest #350

Old Geezers and Lightbulbs By C J Maust Aging is challenging, yet, in retrospect, perspective is the key. This is one of the funniest things I’ve witnessed lately. One section of our kitchen's fluorescent lights went out. A few years ago, it was no problem for my husband to bring in the ten-foot ladder, climb up, remove the cover and burned- out bulbs, install new bulbs, replace the cover, and we would have light. It’s a different story now. This time, it took him three days to acknowledge my statement that the kitchen was too dark. Another ...

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Unrestrained Joy - Please Use Sparingly

Greg Lang

Weekly Contest #350

The first notice was a warning.Not a fine, not yet. Just a gently worded letter from the Homeowners Association informing me that I had been observed “experiencing my property in a manner inconsistent with community standards,” which I had not previously realized was something a person could do wrong.I read it twice.Then a third time, slower.Caroline was in the kitchen, rinsing something that didn’t need rinsing.“What does it say?” she asked.“They think I’m not enjoying myself correctly,” I said.She dried her hands and took the letter from m...

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The Permit

Weekly Contest #350

The letter comes on a Thursday. Frank Hook reads it standing at the kitchen counter, holding it the way a man holds foul, to be gotten rid of, to be set on fire.Dear Mr. Hook,It has come to the attention of the Briarwood Heights Homeowners Association (est. 1974, formerly the Briarwood Mutual Aid & Dock Authority, formerly Whitmore & Sons Coastal Trading Co., Ltd., chartered 1809) that you intend to construct an outbuilding on the aft portion of your vessel. As you are aware, any modification to the displacement profile of a register...

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Minor Inconvenience

Weekly Contest #349

Today is April 31st...That's what the title of the news article that popped up on my phone said. I shrugged and swiped it away. What was the big deal? It was just a day like any other. I still had to get up and do the same thing I did every day. I sighed and got out of bed, had a quick breakfast, and hopped into the morning shower to wake up. Last night was so weird, I saw strange lights and sounds from outside my apartment. I didn't even bother to look. Why would I? There wasn't anything I could to stop whatever they were. As I am stepping...

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He lived

Jodie Jones

Weekly Contest #349

The world didn’t end loud enough for anyone to understand it was over.No sirens. No final warning. No desperate voice on a radio telling people where to go.Just silence.Deep under the prison, Walker felt it before he understood it. The hum in the walls—the constant electric pulse that meant control, order, surveillance—died.Then the locks opened.One by one.Metal clicking down the corridor like something counting backward.Walker didn’t move right away. He sat on the edge of his bunk, listening.Men shouted in distant tiers. Steel slammed. Foot...

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Muddy Creeks

Weekly Contest #350

Muddy Creeks By Ronald K. Buckinger © 2026 Freshwater fishing seemed much simpler in the 1950s. Back then, all you needed was a short paragraph or two of instructions to know the rules—no thick handbook required. I remember heading out on summer mornings with my father, confident we understood exactly how many trout we could keep, as long as they were above a certain size. The limits were straightforward and easy to remember. Today, regulations are far more complex. Modern rules specify limits based on combinations of species. For example, ...

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BREAKING: US Military Draft Extends to Women

Weekly Contest #349

TW: Coercion, exploitation Today is April 31. Let that sink in. For those who never paid attention, for the past four hundred-plus years April has comprised 30 days. However, the government’s recent installation of an extra day in order to fulfill its promise to amend the Military Selective Service Act prior to May 1 to replenish a severely depleted military has resulted in a change to the Gregorian calendar humans have been using to track and plan the passage of days, weeks, and months since 1582. One wonders—“That’s enough,” the secretary ...

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