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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 3 of 10

Lefty

Submitted to Contest #330

He’s always doing things like that. The cookie jar’s toppled over and several kitchen cabinets are open from his searching for and stealing the things he wants. He’s nowhere near the mess but sitting half on the shelf in the kitchen where I have the cereal boxes, peanut butter, spices. I think to myself that he’ll probably try to get his fast little hands into the cereal box next since that garbage is so packed with sugar and he does have a sweet tooth after all. I’m watching a movie on the kitchen television about a woman whose brother gets...

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Greeted With A Kiss

Submitted to Contest #330

Several nurses walked out of the mental health hospital at 8:00 a.m. Sarah noticed the UPS truck drive up to the hospital. She recognized him. It was Ralphael. Ralph and Sarah have spoken and had conversations, but her schedule changed due to a shortage of staff. She didn’t get to see him. She was tired, but wanted to speak to him. She walked over to the truck. She could hear Ralph getting the packages out of the pack. She waits for him. He opens the back door of the truck. He steps down with the dollie. The boxes are at the edge of the do...

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Nice Day

Submitted to Contest #330

NIce Day “Have a nice day!”, one of the passengers called out to me as they were leaving. The elevator hummed with its machinery as it lifted me upwards several stories high above ground level. I wasn’t alone, but I may as well be. Deidra from Accounting cast some quick glances my way, then looked away, pretending to be focused on the rising numbers displayed above us. I felt the elevator give a small bounce as it stopped on the seventh floor and let her off. “Have a nice day,” I called out. She gave no response at all as she walked ou...

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Broken Mother

Submitted to Contest #330

No wound cuts deeper than the words of a spiteful childSpoken with malice Spoken in hasteSpoken foreverLeaving a bitter tasteRosa knew what love was for the first time when she laid eyes on his perfectly tranquil form. Eyes fluttering beneath tightly shut eyelids. He smiled in his slumber as though in a world beyond this one. She knew then as she knew till the very end that she would love him forever in this life and every other that follows. The softness of his skin as she held him close to her halted her breath in mid-intake. His smell, th...

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The Weeping Widow

Submitted to Contest #330

“The Weeping Widow” by Murray Knock She stared intensely at the willow tree. Its leaves had turned a myriad of shades of yellow, red, and orange as the season spectacularly transformed from summer into autumn. One leaf fell gracefully from a higher branch and floated like a parachute on the breeze as it was gently carried this way and that. Without any coaxing it landed on her shoulder. She held the delicate leaf in her hands. Its texture was smooth as she carefully ran her fingers over it, admiring its beauty and youth. Its veins formed rid...

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The Gift of a Day

Submitted to Contest #330

She arose before the waking hour, eager to hear the deep, baritone voice that started her day with a burst of joy. He waited as the light faded into night, dozing occasionally, yet elation and anticipation kept him awake. His mobile phone rang through the quiet of the night, breaking the silence with a welcomed melody, a familiar ringtone he set just for her - Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’He answered after a single ring.He smiled at her voice, she smiled at his.They chatted for hours about everything and anything, their sh...

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A Winter's First Kiss

Submitted to Contest #330

A Winter’s First Kiss The air was cool and crisp—cold, but not as bracing as late February in West Virginia could be. Silver clouds stretched lazily across the sky, and light snow flurries drifted around us, settling softly on my hair and shoulders. Each flake felt like a whisper, delicate and fleeting, dissolving the moment I touched it. We walked slowly through the black iron gates of a small park. The smell of damp earth mingled with the faint pine scent lingering from the nearby forest. It wasn’t a typical park with bright playsets or t...

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Love At First Sight

Submitted to Contest #330

Some people don't believe in love at first sight, but Naomi and I are proof that it exists. From the very moment our eyes first locked, we both knew nothing would be the same. We met when I was young. I'd been through a lot in the short time before she came into my life, but I'm grateful for every second of hardship because it all led me to her. And she is my everything. I'll never forget that first day we met, our walk through the park together. It was a beautiful spring day and the scent of fresh flowers was thick in the air. There were ...

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Star Shine

Submitted to Contest #330

STAR SHINE She pushed her things into a bag and slammed out of the door. I ran after her down the path leading to the jetty and grabbed her arm. ‘You can’t go like this.’ ‘Let go of my arm,’ was all she said, and she looked out to sea where the boat was approaching. I had joined The Interplanetary Society in the summer of 2025 and enjoyed the scientific discussions and the lively social contact among like minded people. It was there I met Jo who seemed a kindred spirit, she was not a science graduate, but an eager personality who loved o...

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This Time for Love

Submitted to Contest #330

This Time for Love“You should’ve had a whole life, little guy,” I murmured, nudging him with my boot toe, my mouth folded into a frown. “So sorry this happened to you. It’s a tough life out here.”That’s what I said to him the morning I first scooped him off the ground, sure he was dead.I saw his parents wheeling in the cold spring sky, black wings spread wide, their tails wedge-shaped, marking them as ravens. They were upset about something, crying their angst into the wind. I glanced around. Most likely a red-tailed hawk, looking to rob a n...

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The Hours Before Midnight

Submitted to Contest #330

Nikolai Polivanov leaned against the cold stone wall of the bridge, scratching his beard, pulling his hat down tight, staring at the restless water below. The Thames wasn’t shimmering like in the postcards. This evening it was the colour of hammered iron, swollen by the rain, restless, attacking its banks like a prisoner rattling his bars.He’d felt like that once—powerful, driven, dangerous. It was after the books, after the fame, but before he’d traded it all to chase a second dream. A dream that began to rot the moment it became real. Tols...

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In the End

Submitted to Contest #330

No one had ever told me that a heart crushing made no sound.I had expected a hard, shattering moment. Even a bit of drama. A scene like in the movies, when the main character would scream to the heavens and ask the why.Well, I knew the why.Perhaps that explained the silence. My heart—it just pulverized. And in that precise moment, when he finally went back home—a thousand miles away—and left me, I finally understood. My eyes were opened to the hard truth. The reality I didn’t want to admit to myself became obvious.Again, they did not choose ...

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Seasons in Change (Chester Hoffman at Thirty-Three)

Submitted to Contest #330

CW: Some language and drinking Note: Wrote this as a companion piece to a few other stories posted here, but this is intended to be enjoyed as a standalone story. Chester Hoffman, now aged thirty-three, stood half cast in shadow from the dusking sun, split equally under the doorway, one foot slightly out and the other in. Faint and hushed chatter reverberated, but didn't speak coherently, and instead was akin to static. "Chester," Chester's mother, Rebecca Erickson said, coming next to him. "Chester honey, I'm heading out now. Are you...are ...

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Aloha, or: Written all over

Submitted to Contest #330

Aloha Timmy. That’s how I first started the letter I’d write you. But then I’d second-guess myself, toss that. I’d rewrite, start over. I’ll figure out the beginning in a later draft. So, Timmy. It’s been a long time. What I read in the papers referenced you by your full name now. I read a lot of course, as I’m sure you can imagine. Quite the emotional journey you all had. In my mind, you’re still Timmy Denello from elementary school, whose family moved all the way to Hawaii. Who I never heard from again. Right, Timmy? Back then, boy, did I ...

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Love at Last Sight

Submitted to Contest #330

Of course, Logan and Hermione knew each other. With only 2000 fellow students on the Occidental College campus, they had some kind of connection to everybody. During Logan’s second year, he dated one of Hermione’s roommates for a couple months. The next year, she was temporarily serious with someone on Logan’s intermural ultimate Frisbee team. They passed each other at parties, and after they both picked Economics as a major, sat through plenty of lectures together. Nearly every Econ class during their senior year featured grou...

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