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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ Contemporary Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. All the newest modern day stories to thrill and inspire, all in one place.

Contemporary Short Stories – Page 2 of 10

Beyond Heaven’s Door

Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane

Weekly Contest #345

On her first day at her new job, Joanna Fan stood at the front door of a white clapboard church in the shadow of its soaring steeple. She raised the brass knocker on the red front door, and let it fall against the wood where it clanked like Marley’s ghost, echoing in the pit of her stomach.No answer. She knocked again, swearing under her breath.Still no answer. She peeked in a side window and saw a shadowy form flitting about. She made a fist and rapped on the glass. After ten minutes of fruitless effort, she sighed and returned to the front...

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Fifty-Eight Kilograms

Weekly Contest #345

I’m not a tall woman, quite short. Muscular build, shoulders broad. But I’ve weighed about fifty-eight kilograms since I was twelve. The fat migrated (to more flattering quarters, I hope) but the number itself has held.I take a sip or two (or a cheeky three) of Lupilus, wolf down the frothy beer head, and pull the photos, matte finish, from the paper envelope once more. Browse through them, careful to hold only the edges, not to smudge the surface (you know, as though they’re worth preserving, worth remembering – they’re not). They came out ...

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And now you must run

Amy Arora

Weekly Contest #345

The disaster has arrived. A war, whirring in drones piloted by men with sparkling white teeth, a million miles away. A flood, a tsunami, rising waters ready to lay waste to your world. A shaking of the earth that threatens to topple the towers of your life. Whatever it is, it is here, and now you must run. What do you grab? Perhaps you saw this coming. Perhaps you are politically informed, prescient, perpetually prepared for the end. Perhaps you live in contingency plans, with wads of cash stuffed into your safe. You packed a bag weeks ago,...

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The Ocean's Cradle

Rhen May

Weekly Contest #345

[Content Warning: Sensitive content, domestic abuse, mental health]. When I wake, my bed seems to be moving, tottering over craggy midnight ocean waves carelessly mimicking the swimming blue that blankets our town like a warm, salty canopy over a baby in its bassinet.My sister and I are sardined fish in a tin bed, tucked prudently by our mother, who sits at the foot, driving—awake but tired—into a sea with no compass or satnav; she restlessly taps her hands against the wheel.I look out the window to see street lights, harsh and hazy, zipping...

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“Sometimes, paths cross sooner than one may expect.”

Michaela J

Weekly Contest #345

The train couldn’t depart sooner, could it? Stella sprinted through the Kufstein train station, dodging people like a professional alpine skier, her trench coat flying behind her. She was already damp from the spring rain, which had caught her off guard; she couldn’t miss this train, too. Breathing hard, she finally reached her platform, and, making a mental note to bicycle more often, jumped into the vehicle. Not three minutes after she leaned against the wall, the train departed. She made it just in time. Thank You, God. It was eight in t...

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the long walk home

Jane Stephenson

Weekly Contest #345

To say he had packed in a hurry would be an understatement. He’d stripped the pillowcase off the bed and flung his toilet bag and clothes into it. He opened the window and judged the distance to the flat roof of the outhouse before swinging his legs over the sill and launching himself forward. He allowed his knees to bend on impact and put out one arm to steady himself, clutching the stuffed pillowcase in the other hand. The row of wheely bins abutting the back wall broke the drop from the roof of the outhouse to the ground. He stood in the ...

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Eighteen Years and a Third of a Suitcase

Dave Bede

Weekly Contest #345

I’ve done my fair share of lying: I told my mom I’d gone to my physical for the Army, but really I never even called a recruiter. There was nothing Will didn’t share with his best friend Andrew, whom he’d known since the second grade. Including that bit of news, which he’d included in an email he’d sent on Friday. Two very long days later, Will was still trying to figure out how he’d neglected to consider that his mother probably monitored his emails. But it was too late to kick himself anymore over that. He kept the suitcase hidden under h...

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Seventeen Steps to Freedom

Daisy McCurtain

Weekly Contest #345

Voices screaming so loud they could be heard clear at the end of the block. Doors slamming hard enough that the hinges rattle and squeal in protest. Boots stomping against hardwood floors with enough force one would expect the walnut boards to splinter. Such pandemonium had become the soundtrack of Aspen’s daily life. Not a single day was spent in serenity or comfort. Anxiety clawed through her chest like a parasite, keeping her eternally tethered to the edge of unease. It had become her baseline mental state, never being granted a single m...

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The Last Day

Katherine Howell

Weekly Contest #345

My great-great grandpapa once said that when everything is crashing around you, everything becomes a suitcase or a briefcase. The one container that is truly yours and will always be with you. He had lived during the Great Depression, so I always took that saying with a grain of salt. Surely it meant something different back then, when few had a little and everyone else had nothing. He was full of profound sayings like that. The cardboard box was waiting on my desk. I began to pack up all the pieces of my life. Of course, I also had a briefc...

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The (Completely) True Adventures of 17B

Katherine Howell

Weekly Contest #345

Seat 17B was located somewhere between tragedy and the valley of death. Continue walking until you see human dignity. Then keep going. Take a left. A person could sit there, technically. A human body would fit. The promotional airline posters confirmed such, featuring a perfect smiling family who looked like they were on a Disney cruise. Even the baby was smiling. Correction: an average human of average size and height. She had been told on multiple occasions that she fitted this definition. She had learned valuable lessons over her many mil...

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Consider the Betta Fish

Charlotte Waldo

Weekly Contest #345

Betta fish are a popular breed of freshwater fish from Southwest Asia that are known for their colorful fins. They are easy to take care of and prefer to be alone, so they make great pets! Take yours home today! $7.99 In the beginning, there was darkness. Then a cup. A splash of tap water. A white lid with holes for pellet-shaped food. A cardboard box. A shipping container. A steel shelf. Then there were flashes of color. Action refracting through the walls of a plastic cup. Mold creeping across the underside of the lid, his only companion....

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Eight Objects

Rebecca Thompson

Weekly Contest #345

There are eight objects. All of them must fit into a suitcase. The suitcase cannot exceed the dimensions of the underside of an airline seat and must weigh only twenty pounds. The first: A baby blanket. One of the edges is badly chewed. Another is stained black, and crumbles when touched. She cradles it, one hand tucked beneath, as she settles it into the corners of the suitcase. The blackened edge is gathered under, out of the way, where it will not be jostled. The second: A sewing kit. The case is battered, cracked plastic. The threads...

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The Fires of Yesterday and Tomorrow

Ethan J

Weekly Contest #345

Throughout these sullen years I’ve figured that my call to adventure would arise in a pillar of smoke, perhaps comparable to the raging fires of Troy. Whether or not that would be a good thing is of little importance to me; I suppose that in some form I was right -- I see the smoke in the distance. But for now, I see only the troubles that lay before me, small and incomparable to what’s to come ahead. I’ve lived in this house my entire life; all my memories lay dormant here, and the few that lay elsewhere die slowly by the day unl...

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Carry-On

Kelli Finger

Weekly Contest #345

Karen traveled light. One suitcase. One blazer. One sturdy pair of shoes, one laptop. One hotel room with the bed sheet corners tucked tight and a lemon-clean scent that never quite faded. One compact rental car with someone else’s country station still programmed into the radio. She unpacked only what she needed and left the rest zipped.At the small regional airport, she moved with the herd of passengers through the narrow corridor, the carpet thin enough to show the concrete beneath. A vending machine glowed in the corner beside a faded mu...

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Windows to the Soul

Helen Tynan

Weekly Contest #345

I ring the doorbell, my suitcase hunkered beside me on the footpath, a black, sullen thing. After a few moments, the door swings open. Jane, my eldest, looks surprised to see me. “Mam,” she says. “What are you doing here?” No how lovely to see you or I’ve missed you. She hasn’t come to see me once since she left, years ago. She eyes my suitcase on the pavement. “I’ve come to stay,” I say simply. “Stay?” she says, not understanding. “With me?” I nod. “For the weekend?” she says. I shake my head. “For as long as you’ll have me.” We look at ...

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