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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.

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

Karate Mug

Weekly Contest #367

*Note: Sensitive themes include profanity. Trigger Warnings include: Unstable relationship with parent, unstable narrator, explosive reactions, deep loneliness. I raise the mug and throw it down onto the orange hardwood surface of the living room. Upon impact the ceramic mug shatters into irreparable splinters. My heart drops & my face goes cold. I raise my evil hands to my lips, my eyes are as big as deer's & the icy blue roads we drove at dusk in Oregon. “no…” I whisper. “no, no, no, no, No, No!” I reach dow...

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When The Screen Goes Dark

Weekly Contest #367

At nine o’clock on Saturday morning, the day still belonged to her.It stretched ahead, clean and generous, filled with the quiet promise that Saturdays carried before anything had happened to them. Sunlight entered the kitchen through the half-open blinds and drew pale golden lines across the table. The window was open just enough to let in the cool morning air, along with the distant sound of a bicycle bell and someone dragging a wheeled suitcase over the pavement.She wrapped both hands around her coffee cup and breathed in the deep, roaste...

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A Whimper or a Bang /Short Letter to my dead ex-husband

Weekly Contest #367

CW: Coerced abortion A Whimper or a Bang /Short Letter to my dead ex-husband A Whimper or a Bang  A month before his death, my ex-minister-husband texted me. “I would prefer that you not attend my funeral.” I wanted to text back, “Gracious as ever, on your way out,” but I went with the decidedly more Christian, “Of course, I will respect your wishes. God bless you.” That would be a wrap if there were such a thing.  If he hadn’t made his dying request or if I hadn’t agreed to it, I would be sitting in the corner of the last pew...

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Momma's on a Mission

Weekly Contest #367

It’s been two years since a drunk driver killed my 17-year-old son, Freeman. Two years of anguish. Two years of meaningless existence trying to figure out where I belonged, what my purpose was. Today would be different. I parked my car and walked toward the building. The heavy prison door closed behind me. I was in. Between the rush of air behind me and the force of the door pushing my back, it gave me no choice. Damn, these doors were heavy. The institutional smell struck almost immediately. Concrete and iron. The distant sound of inmates ...

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For Now

Weekly Contest #367

Rachel waved goodbye to the receptionist and walked into the bright sunshine. The automatic doors of the nursing home shut behind her. She sat in her car for a minute and thought about what had just happened in there. Was she really about to do this? Was she a terrible daughter? She knew in her head that she wasn’t. But her emotions told her something different. How do you end a relationship with your mother who is 87 and in a nursing home? Who does that? Evidently she does. Does she? She stopped at the store on her way home to pick up so...

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The Black Sock

Weekly Contest #366

Drake folded his arms again. In fairness to the hospital, this is the first time he’s been kept waiting, the treatment is always short so appointments usually run on time. But today is clearly different. Now a uniform comes over “We’re running behind today, we have a new machine installed so we are taking some extra time with each patient. It might help if I go over the instructions with you now. This machine is more powerful than the one that you are used to so you need to be prepared if it gets a bit warm. To be on the safe side, for this ...

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Knots, Knovels, and Kneecaps

Weekly Contest #366

Wedged in between the various courts and fields belonging to Maple Ridge Middle School and Silver Creek High School lies the nondescript Oakview Park. It contains a lone gazebo, a smattering of trees, and a slide. To this park, I owe a great debt as it was responsible for introducing me to the wonderful world of novels. Well, that and crutches. It was a warm day in February in Sage Valley, California, and several of us sixth graders had headed to the cool shade the park offered. Billy Parker, the cutest boy in our class, motioned for me to c...

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The Greatest Poverty Is the Absence of Mercy

Weekly Contest #366

I may one day forget that I gave food to an old woman, but I will never forget the way she looked at me and cried. That was the day I understood something I had never understood before: hunger is not the most terrifying thing in this world. The most terrifying thing is when no one sees you as a human being anymore.This memory has never left me. Time did not erase it. It remained somewhere deep inside my heart—quiet, still, and painfully alive.Last year, when I was going to university, I used to see an old woman sitting by the roadside. She h...

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The Golden Rule

Weekly Contest #366

I’d visited Mom many times over the last 20 years and knew from experience that whatever peace of mind I had gained meditating with the Dalai Lama’s group exiled in the foothills of the Himalayas would be challenged as soon as I walked in the door. Our relationship was based on an unspoken agreement to lie to each other and say, I love you. We lied about a lot more than that, we lied more than we spoke truth. She called the shots. I did my duty.She’d emailed me in India and asked me to come ‘home’. I came. She lived in a townhome that she ha...

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The Dog

Weekly Contest #366

I should have known better. I was midway to the gate, running towards my car as best I could while managing my heavy home health bag on my shoulder. The snarling Rottweiler-German Shepherd broke free, hurtling towards me like a rocket. Its sidekick, an annoying Pomeranian that fancied itself bigger than it could ever hope to be, had already been nipping at my heels.Remembering what my Red Cross-trained husband had taught me, should I ever face down a dog like this,I suddenly whirled around and abruptly faced Zeus. I pointed my finger at its ...

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The Autonomy of the Present: Safeguarding Cognitive Momentum

Weekly Contest #366

The grey stone tower inside Julian’s consciousness was constructed from three winters of defensive geometry. It did not exist in the physical world of timber and mortar, yet its weight pressed against his ribs with a density more real than the cedar shingles of his cabin. Every evening, as the light drained from the mountain crevices, the copper bells of his memory chimed. They rang out with the precise timbres of old schoolmasters who had predicted his ruin, former business partners who had tallied his deficits, and the low-valley neighbors...

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Uh-oh

Weekly Contest #366

For a moment, I thought his head might actually begin to spin. He was propped against the headboard, his broken foot elevated on a lopsided stack of pillows, a law school textbook spread open across his lap. The room was quiet except for the low hum of the air conditioner. I had only come in to tell him that my mother and sisters were driving up for a visit. He said he needed the apartment quiet so he could study. I told him we were going out and wouldn’t be staying there. They were coming anyway. That was all it took. His face changed so qu...

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Forever

Weekly Contest #366

**This story remarks on the struggles of foster families and effects of trauma** Forever By Dana Wagner For my husband, it was her spunk, her laugh, her high energy. She was everything he never thought he wanted. She was just feminine enough, but not so much that she was afraid to get dirty. She brought out a sparkle in his blue eyes that I hadn’t known they’d been missing. I watched him with her. He chased her and her giggles mingled with his laughter. She grabbed a garden hose and soaked him with it. His shirt clung to a muscled bod...

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Seine River

Weekly Contest #366

It was April when I hit the breaking point. I looked him in the eye when I told him he is impossible to work for. I’m typically one to keep my two cents to myself when I’m getting paid enough but a person can only handle so much bullshit. It was long since time to leave. The stress was too much. It had taken over my life, coming home with me everyday. Keep the money, it ain’t worth it.I didn’t think about the next step but here I was taking it. I knew I’d need to find a new job. Consider this bridge gladly burned but there are still bills to...

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INTO THE DARK

Weekly Contest #366

“Right, that’s it I’m off, I can’t take any more…..life is quite dull here, and it’s not like before “!“Maybe a change of scenery is just what I need,and I need to go now, and in transport of speed”! So I went to the train station, because train travel had ‘more scope’, and maybe travelling somewhere else would give me hope?The ticket prices were beyond my means, and I couldn’t go far,’in fact’ I could go further if I drank several pints in the bar”! ’I can have more trips in here, and all for a fraction of the price,and I don’t need ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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