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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 6 of 10

A Teachable Moment

Kim Walker

Weekly Contest #342

CW: Grief A Teachable Moment Yes, I’ve been seeing him in the sandwich shop on the corner for months. The Everything Bagel with Chicken Salad is the sandwich we fall back on. We’ve exchanged pleasantries and lingering gazes, with the vague excuse: " Oh, I’m sorry, I was thinking about something I forgot to do at work. When he wasn’t looking, I admit I let myself dream, fantasize, and even say "hmmm." Should I or not? You know that mystery is tantalizing. Will it be as good as you hope? He’s definitely my type: tall, dark, and breathing.Okay,...

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The Man Who Measured Miles

Gina G

Weekly Contest #343

There once was a man who loved control more than he loved air. He did not begin this way. He was born on a moshav in Israel, where citrus trees split the heat with their sharp sweetness and dust clung to ankles. His father ran a girls’ school — posture, discipline, straight lines. His mother worked for WIZO and believed nourishment was proof of love. As a baby, he sat in a wooden highchair in a narrow tiled kitchen. The spoon came whether he opened his mouth or not. “Eat.” If he turned away, the spoon followed. If he gagged, it pressed deepe...

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Connect the Freckles

Michael Jefferson

Weekly Contest #342

Everyone has a motivator who has the raw energy of a cattle prod shoved into their naughty bits. Katherine O’Donnell was my cattle prod. We met in the third grade when I was a stuttering, insecure, buck-toothed bookworm hoping to find anonymity in the school chorus. I figured I’d been found out as a vocal imposter one day when our music teacher, Mrs. Herbert, stood next to me with her head cocked in my direction. Mrs. Herbert then announced that I would be the soloist for our next concert. On the ...

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Unicorn Life - The Beginning

Tim Carlson

Weekly Contest #342

Unicorns are interesting (albeit mythical) and magical creatures. They appear regularly in dreams, fairy tales, and other fantastical stories. They are universally accepted as symbols of love, goodness, and joy. While I’m not in the “unicorns are real” camp (if there is such a thing), I know that there is no harm in believing in something whose sole purpose is promoting good. I live a life that feels equal parts unbelievable and fantastical — what I’ve come to call a “Unicorn Life.” Give me a couple of minutes to tell you the story of how it...

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Brothers

Nancy Dalle

Weekly Contest #342

Words are rarely understood as meant; they are filtered through the personal history and context of the speaker and the listener. Kipling called them a powerful drug, and Hawthorne, a force for good or evil. Never underestimate their impact. My brother and I drifted apart a long time ago because of the things we said—and the things we didn't. Our parents used to say that 'words are all we have,' but I was too young and stubborn to understand what they were trying to say. I’d lash out at my brother and say horrible things, convinced he wasn't...

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❣️You Are Invited to My Pity Party❣️

Franki K

Weekly Contest #342

Roses are Red.Violets are BlueNiki, Darlin’, my love is true. I read about this serial cheating celebrity husband. That’s a tongue twister. This fella reportedly gave his soon-to-be ex-wife 10,000 heart-shaped balloons for Valentine’s Day. Although 10,000 balloons is clearly an exaggerated number, the video shows he did give her a boatload, making for quite a video. Someone joked in his comments that he gave her one balloon for every day he cheated. I laughed so hard, I folded in half. That’s a lot of cheating. Speaking of cheating, I must ...

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The Ghosts of Loss

Bob Ferrari

Weekly Contest #342

We are ghosts, we who grieve, and we dwell among the spirits. I thought I heard your voice today. You were upbeat in your “How’s it going” way. But you weren’t here. Well, not exactly not “here”. You are always here, somehow, just to the side, but when I turn to look, to sense you, you’re not there. I hold you within me though I no longer have form. That nighttime call. Could you feel it when she said you were gone? Were you floating near me but I couldn’t sense you? Did you also shatter? You must have. This known universe was torn. It ...

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First Kiss

Yc Ballard

Weekly Contest #342

FIRST KISS: I found boys or they found me. I never had the birds and the bees sex conversation with my mother, so I didn’t know much about anything. I went to a Catholic school so even talking to boys was a big deal. It was the 1960’s and times were different. Easier, or so it seemed. We only had one car and dad took it to work at his corner bar every day so I walked to and from school with my six siblings. We crossed busy streets and took quick glances into dark bars that smelled like cigarettes, stale cherries and alcohol. We passed groc...

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My Mother Was White

Elizabeta Zargi

Weekly Contest #342

My father was a fraud.Everything about him suggested revision. His name, softened at the edges. His biography, carefully abridged. His vowels disciplined into compliance. Even his pauses felt intentional, as though silence itself had been rehearsed.When he died, the hospital returned his belongings in a transparent plastic bag.Keys. Wallet. A receipt for light bulbs. A folded handkerchief creased with mechanical precision.The nurse apologised in a voice accustomed to endings.The real remains were in the kitchen.That was where he had assemble...

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For God Loved Me: He Gave Me a Second Chance with a Second Heart

Jennifer Parker

Weekly Contest #342

For God Loved Me: He Gave Me a Second Chance with a Second Heart July 2005, life was supposed to be exciting! My oldest daughter was preparing to go off to college with all the dreams of college life. We were preparing for her orientation, and this was a proud and exciting moment. I on the other hand would have a life-changing event happen within a week’s time. A week before the trip to orientation/registration, I noticed some abnormal bleeding. It wasn’t painful, just unusual. I was already three months late for my yearly physical, (very ...

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Forever Lasts Only Seconds

Elle Tee

Weekly Contest #342

CW: Toxic relationship, mental health The command was a sudden vibration against the wood of the coffee table, a digital tether pulling me back into his orbit: “Meet me now.” In the world of online dating, people usually drag things out for weeks. They hide behind curated personas and polite small talk, but Jameson wasn’t "people." He was a gravity well. He was a dom, and I was submissive and compliant, so perhaps that helped the slide into his world, but the truth was simpler: he said go, and I went. I didn’t feel the need to say no. I jus...

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The Last Kiss

Weekly Contest #342

The last time I kissed my grandmother, she tasted faintly of peppermint and tea.I didn’t know it was the last time. If I had known, I would have stayed longer. I would have let my lips rest against her papery cheek and memorized the warmth of her skin. I would have breathed her in—the lavender lotion, the starch of freshly folded sheets, the sweet, dry scent of the biscuits she always kept in the tin shaped like a blue cottage. I would have pressed my face into the soft hollow between her shoulder and neck the way I did when I was small. But...

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Everything except…

L Moon

Weekly Contest #342

We said everything except… Well, you know.That.But it was, wasn’t it? I mean… I said “I don’t know if I could make it in the life it would take to be with you. But if there’s one man I’d try for, if there’s one man I’d be willing follow across the world it’s you”And he said “I find myself thinking about you. Thinking about how you would handle each situation I come across” And I said “I feel crazy. I can’t look at another man until I know what’s happening with us”He said “I like you enough to try this, but I also like you enough that I don’...

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Oh, it's you

James Crofts

Weekly Contest #341

(*Name has been changed to protect real identity) It was her.I hadn’t seen Wendy Black* since my high school crush days and there she was on the Trax train traveling downtown. She still had curly, light brown hair, perfect lips, a slightly almond shaped face, and blue laughing eyes that drew me in like a moth to a hundred-watt incandescent bulb. Her hair went down almost to her elbows, thick and flowing.She was wearing a white and dark brown striped blouse, with cherry red lipstick, while she talked on the phone. New blue jeans covered he...

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Total Acceptance of Everything

Andrew Franzese

Weekly Contest #341

There came a day when I looked at myself in the mirror with total disgust and contempt for what I saw. Like every other human, my life has had its share of challenges. Some would say I have faced a disproportionate amount of significant challenges, both of my own creation due to the consequences of my wrong actions, and by what life threw at me. From an early age I faced significant mental health issues. The most troubling and life disrupting was Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD. BPD is developed due to growing up in an extremely inval...

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