150+ Best Fiction Short Stories to Read Online for Free - Reedsy Prompts

Say Cheese

Submitted to Contest #337

Lies. Cheese. And a lot of emptiness. That is how I’d summarise the history of the universe. Let’s begin with the lies, shall we? All the knowledge we’ve accumulated since the dawn of understanding is, at best, an approximation. I don’t need to bore you with the details but let’s just say the fruits of science were nothing but shadows on the wall inside a cave. Scien- “Woah, hold on right there. Are you serious right now? This is how you’d like to record such a historic moment?” asked Scrimtar. “Why not? I need to be honest, don’t I? Also, w...

5 likes

1 comment 1

Read story

The Club

Ricky Bryant

Submitted to Contest #338

Drannen was the kind of city you could get lost in, or disappear in, depending on who you owed money to. What started as a company town for the Rendall corporation quickly grew into a metropolis that spread out over a hundred kilometers in all directions. I was only a child when Drannen was founded so by the time I arrived on the scene it was already a well established hive of rampant consumerism and crime. At least it was on planet Stiga. Back on earth the holo-vids painted a different picture. “Come to Planet Stiga! Make your fortune in D...

5 likes

1 comment 1

Read story

The Last

Matthew Weber

Submitted to Contest #337

# The Last Day 47. Or maybe 48. The chronometer stopped working three days after the crash, and I've been counting sleeps ever since. But sleep comes irregularly here on Kepler-442b's moonâ€”what I've started calling Desolation in my head, though Command designated it K442b-Î± in their sterile catalog of celestial bodies. The wreckage of the *Magellan* spreads across the ice plain behind me like a child's broken toy. From my vantage point atop this ridge of frozen ammonia, I can see the entry burn scored across ten kilometers of pristine wh...

7 likes

2 comments 2

Read story

The Monastery of Lost Time

Brian DiPaolo

Submitted to Contest #337

Part I: The First Days “Look, I can’t be eating dry sausage and potatoes every day. I need variety!” Brother Kevin’s complaint echoed through the stone refectory, his frustration evident in every syllable.Brother Mortimer, ever the voice of patience, responded with the measured tone of a man who had weathered far worse.“Patience, Brother Kevin. If variety is what the Lord had planned for you, he wouldn’t have sent you up to our mountain top begging for redemption. This is not uncommon. We’ve been through worse spells in the 500 years this co...

7 likes

2 comments 2

Read story

The two of us

Utibe-Abasi Anwanane

Submitted to Contest #337

Uwem, a civil servant who worked and resided in Nigeria's Capital, was happily married to the woman he so loved and desired. Mfon, the wife to Iuwem, was a school teacher who taught in one of the public schools of the country's capital. Even though Uwem and his wife had a modest flow of income, they were happy and contented with what they had. They both had toddler son, and his name was Akpan.Uwem really loved and cherished his family. He would give them the best of everything he had, just to make them happy and keep them comfortable. Uwem a...

0 likes

0 comments 0

Read story

Overjoyed

Eddie Collins

Submitted to Contest #337

The stack of papers shook the cubicle as they collided with the desk.The impact sent tremors through Chance's forehead, causing him to recoil in the roller chair.Chance pulled down at his face; rubbing the oils on his shirt as he sucked his teeth and squinted at the computer screen.He turned to Darrel; forearm resting on the cubicle wall with a wide grin plastered between his ears.“Wh-what’s this?” Chance asked. He flipped through the stack of papers with his thumb. “It’s ten minutes before my shift ends.”“Yeah, about that. I need this data ...

4 likes

0 comments 0

Read story

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle

Gareth Johnson

Submitted to Contest #338

Danny closed The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle and tossed it onto the coffee table, where it landed next to a half-eaten gas station burrito and three empty Monster Energy cans. The book had been zero help. Chapter seven promised "Practical Tips for Maintaining Human Relationships," but it was mostly Victorian-era advice about not drinking your servants and shit about finding discreet donors at opium dens."Opium dens," Danny muttered to his empty apartment. "Yeah, let me just head down to the Tucson opium den. It's...

6 likes

2 comments 2

Read story

The Farm

Sasan Sedighi

Submitted to Contest #337

Jero was asleep on his inexpensive bed in his small, cramped room, which measured only about six square meters. The space was cluttered with a jumble of belongings he had gradually accumulated since moving in. Suddenly, he jolted awake at the sharp ping of a voice message notification. He wondered who had sent it as he stirred. He blinked blearily and asked, "What time is it?""It's 6:05," Alice, his companion AI, replied."Who could have sent me a message at this hour?""It's from Petro," Alice replied. "Should I open it?"Although he desperate...

21 likes

5 comments 5

Read story

In The Crack Where Life Thrives

Alicia Feng

Submitted to Contest #337

After the tomb-sweeping day, it rained more. Sometimes, it drizzled; sometimes, it showered. The mists lingered in the valley for days, wrapping the mountain in its arms. The sludge along the way seemed to swallow every step, making it hard for Lan and other villagers to walk. Each foot had to be pulled out speedily before stepping into the bog again; otherwise, you could never wade across the mud. Lan sat on a stool at the door, waiting for the shower to stop. Her mother’s tomb was just in the thicket behind Lan’s house. On the headstone, ...

15 likes

11 comments 11

Read story

The Bends

Nina Chyll

Winner of Contest #337 🏆

_October 10, 1045 Earth EST, 1920.2 Europa LST_Dear Bob, this is going be so bizarre for you to read, but I am 35 now, have rewritten this LSM at least a hundred times, and you have a 6-year-old daughter. I am so sorry you are finding out this way. People here have recommended I help you acclimatise with what you may experience. Confusion, anger, bittersweetness (apparently this is a legitimate feeling), regret, or maybe disappointment (this will depend on whether you feel like you have done something wrong — regret, or whether you will feel...

71 likes

30 comments 30

Read story

Memory

Robyn Little

Submitted to Contest #337

Memory. That is what passes on into both history and legend. Recounts of traditions long gone and best left forgotten. One young girl recalled slightly cool air with the sun glaring down when she rose well past noon. Her mother had already left, but her aunts were there to see her off to her class that day, armed with her lunch, usually a concoction of leftovers from the night before or breakfast. It would either be history or art on the third day. The fourth would be sums or physical training. Her walk to and from was swift, but her mind c...

0 likes

0 comments 0

Read story

Exposure Therapy

Becca S

Submitted to Contest #337

A pair of crows sit in the tree at the corner of the neighbors yard. The street below hums with car engines, human chatter and the distant sound of construction. This doesn’t seem to phase them, the pair sit calmly together atop a swaying branch, taking turns preening one another. She watches the birds from an apartment window with a pit of jealousy that sits in the depths of her stomach. It seems so unfair that these birds can exist so peacefully above such a loud world. But maybe that's just it she thinks, they get to live above it while ...

6 likes

1 comment 1

Read story

In The Rearview

Scott Soodek

Submitted to Contest #337

Your hands trembled as they reached through the car window for the dollar bills, cracked and weathered now, the same hands that once shot three pointers and palmed exam cheat sheets with ease.I remember those hands from seventh grade, carrying your tray at lunch period, when you sat down at my empty table without asking. Not the popular kids’ table where you belonged, but mine, the one by the emergency exit where I ate alone and sketched in the margins of my notebook.“You drew that?” you asked, pointing at my cartoon of the lunch lady as a d...

26 likes

18 comments 18

Read story

Survive

Ben Hammott

Submitted to Contest #337

The ship was already dying when Toby realized his father was afraid.Not the sharp fear of alarms and explosions—that had been constant for hours, but something quieter. Something heavy. His father’s hands trembled where they rested on Toby’s shoulders, gripping too tightly, as if afraid that letting go would break the universe in half.“Listen to me,” his father said.The command cut through the chaos more cleanly than the alarms.Toby looked up. Firelight painted his father’s face in violent orange and shadow, turning familiar lines into somet...

7 likes

0 comments 0

Read story

Six-Seven

Jo Freitag

Submitted to Contest #337

Little Plump Jo had returned to Malory Tennyson’s Cloudbank Cabin for Arthurian Studies from her week away visiting family interstate. She spent the first day unpacking, doing three loads of washing, cleaning the cabin, catching up with emails and work projects, and taking several nana naps. And now it was time to get back to her writing.She was well aware that there was an expectation that she would use her time as Artisan in Residence at Cloudbank Cabin to produce something which would be worthy of being added to the extensive existing can...

2 likes

0 comments 0

Read story

Discover weekly, the best short stories

150+ Fiction Short Stories to read

Fiction Short Stories – Page 10 of 10

Say Cheese

The Club

The Last

The Monastery of Lost Time

The two of us

Overjoyed

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing Your Undead Lifestyle

The Farm

In The Crack Where Life Thrives

The Bends

Memory

Exposure Therapy

In The Rearview

Survive

Six-Seven