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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

Black Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Discover the best new stories by Black authors, written to themed prompts and curated by our judges.

Black Short Stories – Page 2

Colored Central

Weekly Contest #352

May 2001, Central High School Tuscaloosa, Alabama, AP Stats "You should definitely stay put," said Janiyah. "Why would you change and then risk getting the wrong door?" Mr. Nade had assigned the Monty Hall problem for homework the night before and his small class of three juniors, Janiyah, Amina and Thomas, were passionately arguing if it was mathematically correct to stay on their selected door or change to the unopened door. "Because you probably got it wrong in the first place." said Amina dismissively. "What is that supposed to mean?" re...

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Just a Sky

Bran Saw

Weekly Contest #352

The first time the train came, I thought it was thunder.I was standing on my back porch, staring at a sky so clear the noise felt like a mistake. But up was still the first place I looked. It was just a sky. Clear dark blue, that had no reason to be unsettling. Head tilted all the way back, I looked for a change in the weather, like it had made a secret decision I couldn’t know. I stood there waiting for rain that never came.Then, the wires above the street started humming. I heard it again, closer this time. Somewhere past the trees, someth...

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The Sun's Great Descent

Racquel Lee

Weekly Contest #352

The only thing I can manage to do in this moment is look at the sky, at the sun, at that over-encompassing plaster of color, and grand, imposing ball of light that makes its steady descent to the great below. It’s the only thing I can manage as the smell of nicotine curdles in the air, swells from Jalen’s lips, then back to mine, settles in that fabric of the car seats with a familiarity that I’m starting to mourn growing used to.“We can’t keep doing this, Eli,” is how Jalen starts this conversation, low, with a timbre that’s light and gentl...

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426: Fade to Black

Kim Walker

Weekly Contest #352

426: Fades to Black While in a coma, I dreamt about things that had happened on this date throughout my life; although I didn’t know it was a dream, it looked like a movie in vivid colors.My mother was 5’2“tall, 110 lbs., soaking wet, and carried a “Dirty Harry” .38-caliber revolver. I remember the day she picked it up from the gun shop. I was only 12; she said, “I’d rather have it and never need it than need it and not have it.” All I could think was that it was too heavy for her little body. I saw her put the fear of God in Cousin Lisa’s f...

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In the kitchen of Madame Noro

Nirina Simonella RAKOTONDRAMIARANA

Weekly Contest #351

In THE KITCHEN OF Mme NORO The house was smelling very good. The delicious odor emanated from the other room. It was apparently the kitchen after a glance at it. Not the sort of ultra-modern kitchen of the rich people nowadays. When you enter in Noro’s kitchen you would see that it is marked with the touch of simplicity. It is just quite lovely, quite clean and always having this special Malagasy food smell you couldn’t find anywhere. It was spacious and warmly honored by the splendor of mister sun. It was the second time Mitia came in ...

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Misunderstood

Marie Diaz-Cervo

Weekly Contest #350

The bell rang, and Room 12 settled into its usual hum—pencils scratching, chairs shifting, quiet whispers floating like dust in sunlight. In the back corner sat Eli, small for his age, hood pulled low, eyes fixed on the edge of his desk.“Stay there,” Ms. Carter said without looking at him. “You’re on timeout.”Again.Eli didn’t argue. He never did anymore. At first, he used to ask, “Can I come back now?” But the answer was always the same—not yet, or no. So now he stayed quiet, shrinking into the chair like he hoped he might disappear.The othe...

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Stress Test

Maria Vasilyeva

Weekly Contest #350

God slid his glasses down the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh. The celestial conference room was white, almost sterile, with a large glass table in the center.“Listen,” he said, addressing the man in the black-and-red suit, who was impatiently checking his watch, one leg crossed over the other.“We’re currently restructuring the architecture. Trying to move away from… manual control.”The man in the suit looked up and gave a disdainful snort.“During the last performance review, the team and I came to the conclusion that some functi...

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“The Girl Nobody Came Back For”

La'Crecia Curtis

Weekly Contest #349

“The Girl Nobody Came Back For” Envy Leeown learned how to measure time by abandonment. Not in minutes. Not in hours. But in how long it took for hope to start hurting. She was ten the first time she understood that waiting could become a place—a quiet, stretching place where promises go to thin out and disappear. The bus station carried the smell of wet pavement and worn-out lives. The kind of place where people didn’t look at each other too long, just in case they saw something familiar. Envy sat on a hard plastic bench, her legs swingi...

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DO YOU REMEMBER HIM? A POLICE NOTIFICATION AND MEMORIES COME BACK

Anna Cuccuru

Weekly Contest #349

On March 6, 2026, a notification from the state police arrived at the apartment in Centocelle, in a small and quiet street close to the main street of Via Castani. Via degli Olivi was a strange one that went rather unnoticed even by local petty crime. A notification of a trial charge on charges of battery. The protagonist of this story is a former roommate, usufructuary of the apartment in Rome and who worked from home earning unfortunately too little.-From victim of beatings and injuries and theft of keys to defendant? - thought the protago...

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Words Made Things Stay

Bran Saw

Weekly Contest #349

Today is April 31.I write it the same way every morning. Even though the days don’t move like they used to and no one is checking. Even though the numbers have started to feel like guesses more than facts.I still write the month out. April. All the way through. Momma used to say numbers could slip, but words made things stay where you put them.You watch me when I do it. Not the writing itself. Your eyes don’t follow the page anymore. They stay on my hand, the way it moves. The way I press too hard sometimes, like I’m trying to carve the date...

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Pawnshop & Prejudice

Julian Benn

Weekly Contest #348

“Was I born only to be unloved? As soon as they see my skin—” The boy’s thoughts were interrupted by the rope tightening around him, cutting into his arm. “Still think you’re better than us?” Mickael growled as he struck the young boy in the face. S’agenouiller (pronounced /sahzh/noo/yay/) spat blood at the feet of his attackers, glaring with contempt, the corners of his eyes dewing. The five of gray-skinned men had tied him to a tree and were taking turns beating him. S’agenouiller had been minding his own business collecting junk on the si...

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Humanity: Is It Me or You?

Jazzy Jay

Weekly Contest #348

CW: Emotional distress UmmHumanityIs It Me or You? Is it me or you?Remind me. Is there something wrong with me?I’m going to admit it now.I’m not gonna hide behind the truth.I’ve been hiding so long I forgot what my own face looked like without the mask. The truth was a blanket I pulled over my head, thinking if I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me. But they always see. They always know where to find you when you’re trying to disappear. So I’m done with that. I’m standing here, no blanket, no truth, just skin and bone and the thing ins...

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Wishes

Safara Chambers

Weekly Contest #347

Krystal, 25 I treated myself to some M&M ice cream with caramel sauce for paying my credit card bill and my student loan bill on time. It was also my dinner because I didn’t have much else to eat. Given that the company I worked for had to cut everyone’s pay to settle a legal dispute, I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough to pay all of my bills this month. I really needed to find a new job. I was looking, but it’s hard to break into a new career field, and it’s even harder when you don’t know what field you want to break into. I picked up my ...

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The Heart Posture for True Love

Selena Williams

Weekly Contest #347

Vikie and Tonya have been best friends since they were 5 years old. Their parents always told them that when they got older, they would become wives and have a family of their own. So, when Vikie turned 25, she was tired of her family asking her when she was going to get married. She pressured her boyfriend to marry her, or she’d leave him. After a four-year-long relationship with her boyfriend, she finally got engaged. Tonya, on the other hand, had never been in a relationship; her family even questioned her sexuality, but Tonya didn’t let ...

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Here.

Bran Saw

Weekly Contest #346

Text Message- 6:42 pmHereDelivered Text Message- 6:47 pmI parked on the streetDelivered Text Message- 6:47 pmI didn’t want to take your spotDelivered No response Missed Call- 6:49 Voicemail (0:27)“Hey… I, uh, I know you’re not gonna pick up. I- I just… I said I’d tell you when I got here, soooo… I’m here.(long pause, throat clearing)Hey, wha’chu got me saved as, right now? You used to always change my name based on how mad you were at me. *laughs* Text Message- 6:52 pmThey cut down that treeDelivered Text Message- 6:52 pmWe made up so many ...

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