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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ Creative nonfiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. The creative nonfiction stories on this page deliver exactly what it says on the tin: true stories told in weird and wonderful ways.

Creative nonfiction Short Stories – Page 2 of 10

There's Still A Lot of Things I Need To Say To You

Submitted to Contest #335

Trigger warning: Mature audiences only. Contains explicit sexual content and death. She had looked forward to cooking Thanksgiving Dinner, for him and for her entire family, but when he cancelled, because his football game got moved to the following weekend, she was kind of glad she would get him to herself when he visited. She hadn’t been going to football games at her college. Instead she went to rugby games because she was dating one of the players. In her next letter, she asked him if she would be able to see him much when he was in tow...

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A Senior's Journey Of Finding Love In The Digital Age

Submitted to Contest #335

Imagine a senior person who, when they were in school, there were no computers or cell phones, and was trying to keep up and learn new technology. People were quietly thinking that this person had an intellectual disability. And yet this same person had run three successful businesses without a computer or cell phone. It's not that this person didn't want to learn something new, and wanted to stay in the past. The world is changing by the minute, and if we don't change with it, we become extinct like a dinosaur. But there are a few things wi...

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The Saviour’s Tax: The Final Breath

Submitted to Contest #335

CW: Mental health, substance abuse I. The Stranger in the Hallway They don’t tell you that when a White Knight saves you, he might eventually send you a bill. They don’t warn you that some rescuers only pull you out of the fire so they can keep you in their own private cage. The first lesson I learned—the one I am still swallowing like glass—is this: the price of "free" help is often your soul.I stand in the dim, grey light of the hallway, leaning heavily on my cane. The air in this house is thick, smelling of old wood, stagnant laundry, an...

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For Some Future Friend...

Submitted to Contest #334

December 14, 1861Camp Billy Williams, KentuckyIn August, when I left East Tennessee for Kentucky, we thought the war would be over by Christmas. Recent events let me know it may go on much longer. So, I feel I must gather my remembrances for some future friend. They may find my time in the war interesting, whatever it may bring.Pa warned me to be careful about how and who I talked and who I talked to once the rebellion started. On my way to KY to join Wolford’s Cavalry, I saw the rebel flag raised. Never did I feel the danger as thick as whe...

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In a Land Far, Far Away

Submitted to Contest #334

In a Land Far, Far Away... “Brr! It's so terribly cold. Snow is falling, and it's almost dark. But shops are open late here in Vail so we'll get checked in at the Lodge then hit some shops to find some skiing attire like I promised you, Meredith.”“So glad we met up again collecting our gear at the carousel, Whitney. I'm registered at the Lodge, also, so I can ride the same shuttle. Don't want to go shopping with you but am willing to meet you for hot chocolate at the Gorsuch Ski Cafe. I've heard its the best place for cocoa.”“You're correct...

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A Year We All Still Feel

Submitted to Contest #334

I don’t usually find a need to date my journal entries, but this year was a bit different. This year, people around me knew it was me. You see, I’ve been keeping an online diary for the past 6 years. It began as something anonymous; however, people around me started realizing that I had been up to something. Some began to investigate. My secret was no longer secret.16th March 2020Things have changed. The air is a bit different. They’ve told us we’re on an indefinite spring break. There’s an insurmountable amount of confusion; everyone has a ...

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Fat Tuesday

Submitted to Contest #335

Warning: This piece includes medical crisis, emergency surgery, and explicit physical suffering. There’s mention of addiction-adjacent behavior, hospitalization, and a line about wanting to die. Fat Tuesday Years ago, before the real launch of the internet and absolutely before cell phones were a thing, I flew to a tony resort town in the middle of Baja Mexico with my then boyfriend, Esteban. It was a last ditch effort to mend the scrappy tatters of our long-term love affair already unraveled from too much work and his deep love for alcohol...

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Prayer Shawl

Submitted to Contest #335

The kitchen no longer felt like a sanctuary; it felt like a pressurized cabin moments before the oxygen masks drop. Tate stood in the center of the room, his energy displacing the air, vibrating at a frequency that made the magnets on the refrigerator hum. His face was flushed, a high color rising in his cheeks that matched the startling, electric intensity in his crystal blue eyes. He didn’t just look at me; he bore into me, searching for a spark of the fire he was currently drowning in.“Mom, they’re doing everything they can to tear us apa...

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The Way Back

Submitted to Contest #334

CW: addiction, self-harm, mental illness, inspired by true events From their earliest days, children learn through what adults do and the silent lessons they convey. They notice laughter after a glass of wine or stress eased by a drink. To young eyes, it seems harmless—just part of adult life. Yet, these early observations can quietly take root. Children often inherit drinking habits silently, learning from parents without noticing. What begins as simple imitation can grow into addiction, hidden by routine, until it becomes a lifelong strugg...

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The Boy Who Turned Into a Ghost

Submitted to Contest #334

Once upon a time, in a kingdom where the days were harsh and colorless, there lived a boy who did not fit.His father was a man of storms, unpredictable, dangerous, the kind who filled rooms with thunder even on clear days. The boy learned early to make himself small, to move quietly through the house, to wish he could disappear entirely.And so, like many children who grow up in houses made of fear, he made himself a promise:I will never be like him.It was a good promise. A protective promise. The kind that keeps children safe when the adults...

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Khabib, The best Gift of My Life _ In Fur

Submitted to Contest #334

Khabib The Best Gift of My Life—In Fur! Age: 5 yearsSex: MaleWeight: 10 poundsBreed: Tuxedo- Alley cat KHABIBThe best gift of my life—— In Fur!This little creature taught me lessons that life itself had never managed to show me.Khabib, the cat wasn’t just an animal to me—he was a silent mentor, a tiny soul with a spirit far greater than his size. He carried an energy that filled every corner of my world: intelligent in his instincts, unwavering in his focus, and graceful in the way he moved through life. When Khabib decided he would do some...

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Prelude to Joy

Submitted to Contest #334

A PRELUDE TO JOYBy Carolynn McCully Some folks would call what I am about to tell you a ‘fairy tale,’ but to me, it's more like ‘only once in a lifetime.’ A phrase, in fact, that, to this day, gives me cause to pause, just long enough to put a smile on my face, rescuing me once more from feeling overwhelmed with grief. Every time my mind goes to this magical memory, I know that there is some truth to fairy tales, the kind that changes sadness into happiness, until death do us part. I sit alone, my heart aching, as I relive our journey tog...

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Circle of Wagons

Submitted to Contest #334

The realization did not arrive like a polar vortex—shattering glass and howling through the eaves. It settled over me like a cold, steady snowfall, the kind that begins in the middle of the night and transforms the landscape into something unrecognizable by dawn.I sat at my computer in the corner of our bedroom. The house was a tomb of shadows, the only light being the harsh, clinical white glare of the monitor. It illuminated the dust motes dancing in the air, and the fine lines around my eyes reflected in the glass. For years, I had been a...

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When the Darkness Set In

Submitted to Contest #334

When the Darkness Set InIt was terribly cold.Snow was falling, and it was almost dark.Not the gentle kind of snow that feels quiet and soft,but sharp, stinging flakes that struck the skinlike reminders that the body was still herewhether the mind wanted to be or not.The snow was ice-cold,like the feeling this darkness had cast into my heart.This was not the kind of dark that falls across the earthwhen the sun goes downand the world simply turns its face away from light.This was the kind of dark that sets inwhen you realize time has run out.T...

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Will Travel for Beer

Submitted to Contest #333

There is something deliciously intoxicating about finding yourself in a foreign land, as you sit with the anxiety and anticipation of the unknown yet to reveal itself. From the moment the plane lands and you follow your weary seatmates toward an unfamiliar airport gate with its own variety of chaos, you know you are about to have an “experience.” Whether it will be sublime, horrendous, or somewhere in between is yet to be known. As you consider your fate, it becomes clear that you have no other choice but to surrender to the whims of the tra...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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