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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

Happy Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. A good story doesn’t need a devastating twist. Nor does it have to plumb the darkest depths of the human conditions. These happy short stories might be exactly what you’re looking for in these uncertain times.

Happy Short Stories – Page 2

Moon Dust: The Time Keeper

Angelus Rose

Weekly Contest #368

The moon is strung up by a rope and sways like a balloon. It would lift into the abyss if the thread severs. Old as time, the moon is crusted with age and fragility. The crescent compartments are joined with sticky moon dust but even that cannot withstand the power of time. From the adjacent World Clock Lookout, Laurent watches the crescent light glitter across the sky. His webbed hands are balled into fists, from which his head rests atop. Fuzzy antennas from his forehead buzz with heat as time creeps up. He returns his gaze back to his wor...

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A unicorn’s dream.

Mason Ward

Weekly Contest #368

“What are you doing Sliver Dancer?” “Huh! Isn’t it obvious Snow pea, we’re just two unicorns standing on a cloud on the edge of a sunset. Any way wasn’t it you that said ‘Questions ruin everything?’ “Yeah suppose your right, hey lets get out of the darkness.’’ Snow-Pea replied, striking his front hooves against the clouds. The cloud re-acted like a trampoline bouncing them toward a formation of pink cloud. The unicorns stood in silence, as their cloud floated towards the darkest. “Come on this clouds turning grey!” Snow pea yelled break...

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Chuckles & the one-way decision

Ken Gordon

Weekly Contest #367

Chuck was ten, which meant he was old enough to know better but young enough to ignore that fact. His friends called him Chuckles, partly because he laughed at everything and partly because he made everyone else laugh too. Living in the “boring” town of Gusty Patch, sometimes fun had to be made.  He had a talent for turning ordinary days into stories worth retelling.On the last Saturday of summer break, Chuckles stood at the edge of Gordy Creek, staring at the rickety rope swing tied to the old sycamore. The rope was frayed. The creek w...

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By Feel

Niveadita Razdan

Weekly Contest #366

The box came wrapped in a plastic shopping bag inside a courier bag inside a cardboard box.Meera set it on the kitchen table and did not open it for four days.On the fifth day she cut the tape with a knife and the box exhaled: turmeric, old paper, the mustiness of an old steel cabinet. She had expected a recipe book. Something with a spine. Instead the box tipped sideways and papers spilled out across the table. A school notebook with a fat cartoon cow on the cover, spiral bent out of shape. A stack of paper napkins, translucent with old oil...

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A Moment Something Happened, What Happened, Where It Happened, But Maybe Not Why It Happened

Christopher Hatefi

Weekly Contest #366

(This was one of my earlier attempts at implementing strategic ambiguity into a story. Please feel free to provide feedback on what works, what subjective interpretations are possible, and what could be improved upon. I thrive on feedback. It is my melange; the spice that makes it all possible.) Dedicated to Joyce Carol Oates The town of Bellevue was nothing new or unique. The downtown library was filled with the same books that have been rented and returned generation after generation while the school had the same paint job since the princi...

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The Bare Essentials

Michael Pettifer

Weekly Contest #366

It happened more or less at the same time -night time.All was fine during the day. It would happen at night. The day in themonth could vary, as would the frequency. But the time never changed-night.I had lived down in Surrey BC for several years and needed a change,not out of the Province just somewhere a little less commuter belt and Iwas in a position to make a move.The benefits of the move were many. I decided to ditch ‘stuff’ that I hadfor years never used or worn. ‘Stuff’ in cupboards and roof areasgathering dust while retaining the mem...

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The War of the Dead Unburied

Finn Boyle

Weekly Contest #366

Ardman was a soldier of Quezetûna, Bennurás, fighting against the corruption and dogma of the Usunderians of the Desert Onama. He was the most loyal soldier of Fedërú, King of Naugh-Elvir, the Forsaken Highlands, located far in the East.This war—officially named Nonu-a’-Týlvanor, the War of the Dead Unburied, dubbed the battle of the millennia—was a deathly long and gruesome battle between two races of Men: one of whom wanted to rule the world, the other of whom wanted to stop them in their attempt.Those attempting to rule the world were the...

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Ordinary Jane

Lucy Walker

Weekly Contest #366

Jane was very ordinary, and her days frustratingly so. This day in particular was cast in grey before she even opened her eyes. The window beside her bed glowed silver with sunlight that forced its way through the thick blanket of clouds covering the sky. As she did wake, her eyes slowly blinking to bring her bedside clock into focus, she realized she was very, very late. Jane was up in an instant. And as an ordinary rushed morning goes, it was quite the disaster. Before she could even begin, a sharp pain pulsed through her big toe as s...

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The Big Bad (Good) Wolf

Puggy Bear

Weekly Contest #365

“Raaaaggghhh!!!” The roar of defiance echoed throughout the stadium like an organic thunderclap that was quickly matched by the crowd’s cheer that boomed just as loudly as hundreds of voices rang out as one. The posterboard signs they flashed with vigorous enthusiasm showed their allegiance to one of the two sides. And they were overwhelmingly on the side of my enemy. The chants and howls of his name by the small army of spectators began to shake the studio. “Toa! Toa! Toa!” They called to him as if he could make out e...

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Buon Appetito

Weekly Contest #365

“There’s a reason I’ve asked for you both to come here,” Mr. Perroni stated as he sat down at a familiar table, setting his cane down next to himself. “I’ve gotten a bit old, you see. And I’ve been considering selling the biz, but I don’t wanna just give it to some shmuck.” There had been rumors about Mr. Perroni talking with big prospects interested in taking over the business but wanting to completely revamp the place. It hadn't changed in thirty years. The same old red brick facade stood out from all the newly renovated black-and-white sh...

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Invisible String

Elizabeth Harris

Weekly Contest #363

Time is a funny measurement of our existence here on earth. It shapes our lives and helps us organize what exactly is going on in this wild world of ours. We spend so much of that time finding connections and getting pulled into different places. Places on earth and places in time.A college student might be excited to finish the last semester of school before Summer break while a science professor is excited to share all he knows about The Summer Solstice to his students. The college student is young and ambitious, ready to explore, but movi...

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Childlike Winter Wonders

Weekly Contest #363

The crunch of freshly fallen snow can be heard underfoot as pointed crystals dangle tauntingly out of reach of tiny hands. The frozen icicles were just begging to be licked like a popsicle or used as a makeshift sword to do away with an annoying older brother. The latter would be preferable because I can already hear Mom’s words: “Do not eat the snow!” or “Get that icicle out of your mouth!” Alas, the hope of one falling is slim, but eventually the drowsy sun will peek out from the wispy winter clouds, warming the dry air enough to give the ...

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The Snow that would have Glowed

Kashvi Singh

Weekly Contest #363

I was happy — I was sad.I tried my best to give a real smile, but in reality, I was lonely. As long as others thought that I was okay, my actual emotions never mattered. I hardly smiled anyways; I was always stoic and reserved and stayed aloof. If my eyes were up and wide open, people would think that I was happy. If my eyes gave a negative vibe, people would think I was not happy.I lived in a village where it snowed half the year. A few years ago, the snow used to glow. But after a certain incident, it stopped glowing. I couldn’t remember n...

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A Prayer Before The Sea

Ben W

Weekly Contest #363

His blue-gray eyes stared out at the equally blue-gray sea which, though the waves rose and fell with a roaring might only the gods could manifest, still created a sense of peace within him. A peace that will soon end, Tutomaros thought as the anxiety, fear, and rage that had been consuming him for years flared to life once more. It had been worse these last few months as news of the Roman build up on the northern shores of Gaul flew across the sea and echoed in every Cantiaci hall and was whispered about by every hearth with a mixture of fe...

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A Thief in the Archives

Cecelia Hutnick

Weekly Contest #363

Hattie Plonk sat on the floor of a cramped utility closet with her knees scrunched to her chest and tried to ignore the smell coming from the damp mop under her left butt cheek. She had a persistent cramp in one calf and her car keys were digging painfully into her hip but she didn’t dare move. Outside, the searching beam of a flashlight swept lazily around the room as its owner verified all was as it should be in the basement floor archives of London’s largest and most prestigious Natural History Museum. After he finished his nightly sweep...

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