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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ Indigenous Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From folklores to modern tales of native people’s struggle to be heard, our indigenous stories have something for everyone.

Indigenous Short Stories – Page 2 of 10

Amp and Cara help prisoners being hunted by hybrid dogmen, a Slay Inc. story

Submitted to Contest #320

Cara is gathering her things for an assignment. It has been weeks since she has seen Amp, but she is happy that they have an assignment together again. Slay is being good to its slayers. She and Amp made a good team, always moving in tandem, and she knew Amp really liked her. He had a hard time hiding it.She put her brother Kalen’s slingshot in her jacket pocket. It was the first time she had touched anything of her brother’s since his death. Her emotions were still raw and jumbled over the biggest loss of her young life. It wasn’t just abou...

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Elizabeth Irene

Submitted to Contest #319

Hello, my name is Alice. You can call me Ali for short. Lately I’ve been having dreams about an ancestor whose name, I dare to say, is Elizabeth Irene. I’m going to call her Eli for short. I do not know her last name. my mother’s name is Elizabeth and my sister’s name is Rosa. My father’s name is Henry. We are a happy family living in Connecticut. We, according to my mother, have been in Connecticut since the 1700’s! I cannot believe that! My mother’s people are from New York and came to Connecticut in the 1780’s; however, my father’s people...

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Some Bones Were New

Submitted to Contest #320

“What stalked the woods was not known, only guessed at.” I recalled one of my favorite excerpts from Ghosts of the Pineywoods as I took the first few steps through the treeline, the air shifting around me in response. I’d come alone- contrary to conventional wisdom- because I was determined to make every aspect of this excursion mine. Just last week, I’d graduated high school with honors. In lieu of attending the ceremony, my father gifted me the funds for a trip to any destination I chose. He knew my passion for the supernatural, with my l...

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Into The Unknown

Submitted to Contest #315

Luna cascaded her waves along the shore while Amore caught herself squandering. Water flowed between the sacred soles of her feet that calibrated with the earth. There is nothing like being lit up under the comfort of your Mother’s spirit. This was her final attempt at rejuvenating her mind, body, and soul to embody the her she knew. Or thought she did. The flintknapping continued, stone against stone, shaping her own tool of survival, sharpening her soul.. "One thing is for certain; this is monotony in motion," she gently muttered to hersel...

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A Hot Summer's Day and the Nightmarchers

Submitted to Contest #314

It was so hot! Elena was sweating so much that she took three showers during the day before sitting outside on her porch. Hawaii is like that -- hot and tropical, meaning humid. Plus, the sun is bright during the summer. She sat on her porch chair facing the mountain that rose at the end of the street about two blocks away. There was just enough room for her chair in front of the screen door. She gazed at the fruit trees in her yard and then turned to look at the huge avocado tree near the street. None of them moved. There was no breeze. Dur...

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The Boy with the Bubblegum Hair

Submitted to Contest #313

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Kai. I know we haven’t talked in a while. I just wanted to let you know I’m scared about school tomorrow. I don’t have any friends here. Could you please maybe send me one?”Kai opened his eyes and unfolded his hands. He looked at his new bedroom. It was smaller than the room he grew up in for the first eleven years of his life, but he liked that it was a cozier shade of blue. The mattress on the bedframe was bare, its linens sitting in the unopened box next to him.***Kai woke up the next morning and opened his p...

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Second verse of the river

Submitted to Contest #313

The sun, a slow-burning ember, crested the jagged peaks of the Guardian Mountains, casting long, purple shadows across the valley. Below, the village of Oakhaven stirred, not with the hurried clatter of industry, but with a quiet, purposeful reverence. Today was the Day of the Vespera, a tradition as old as the village itself, a moment to honor the great river that was their lifeblood.Just as the villagers began to gather, a small group watched as Elara and Joric stood before a freshly tilled field. Joric held a hand-carved plow, a tool pass...

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Among the Bunians

Submitted to Contest #313

The first thing that she smelled was incense, with a mix of earthy and woody scents, with a slightly bitter aroma that woke her up from her deep sleep. The smell hung in the air, clinging to the back of her throat like a half-spoken whisper. How long has she been asleep? She tried to reach for the light, but it was pitch black. She could feel soft fabric, damp with breath and sweat, pressed around her eyes and wrapped around her head. It was a disorienting experience trying to shake the darkness away. That knowing alone sharpened the edges o...

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The Wellspring

Submitted to Contest #313

It was the scent that hit her first, before the dust in her throat, before the sun on her scarred cheek. A clean, sharp tang of ozone, like the air after a lightning strike, but without the accompanying thunder. Beneath it, a profound, earthy musk, the smell of soil drinking deep, of roots awakening, of water finding its way through ancient veins of stone. It was a scent that didn't belong in the Barren Lands, a land perpetually choked by dust storms and scorched by a relentless sun. It was the smell of life, raw and potent, a scent so alien...

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THE GITCHIGUMI AFFAIR

Submitted to Contest #313

Roland "Roly" Winarski was a star athlete at Gitchigumi High School. He was the star running back on the football team since his sophomore year. He was also a starting point guard beginning in his junior year and played first base on the baseball team every Spring. Tall, blonde, and muscular, he was the heartthrob of every teen girl in the county. Although he dated several of his classmates, there was one who was his favorite. He even fantasized about marrying her and raising a family. Jeanie liked Roly but had no intention of marrying a "jo...

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Field Notes on Fire Mummification

Submitted to Contest #313

It was only four in the afternoon but Dr. Gabriel had already decided he would have to work through the night. The opening ceremony was a mere 48 hours away but there was still much to be done. He had a staff of five including the two interns, but he did not trust them to get his life’s work right. He rearranged several leaves on a low table and dropped some of them into a wooden mortar. He posed the pestle on top, partly to keep them from being blown away. He adjusted the information card.The leaves of bayabas, tibig, patani, and besudak ar...

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Hooking Captain Hook

Submitted to Contest #312

A fishing city in the boonies of Alaska with a population less than 9,000 nearly burned to the ground during the riots. Government buildings still smoldered from the riots. National Guard humvees rumbled through the streets, and heavily armed law enforcement strictly enforced the buffer zone in front of the courthouse. Inside the courtroom, the prosecution’s murder case limped to the finish line. Again. For the fourth time. They believed they finally captured the infamous “Captain Hook” killer, who’s believed to have butchered upwards of 1...

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Slay Inc.: Cara's Tribe and Their Sadness

Submitted to Contest #311

CW: Human trafficking, attempted abduction, violence After returning from the recon job to the wendigo realm, Cara had to get back to work quickly. She heard from the tribal sheriffs that a few strange trucks were seen coming through town. Late at night and not stopping for gas or food. That was off pattern from normal, almost everyone would stop to pick up a few souvenirs or at least a snack. About 100 miles north of the reservation, a young girl had gone missing. Not native, a white girl, but it was alarming. So the town was on the lookout...

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The Day I Remembered Myself

Submitted to Contest #311

By Jenniqua Lopez There wasn’t a parade or a flash of light when I awakened. No crowd cheering me on, no sign from the sky. Just a quiet morning. I stood in front of the mirror, brushing my hair, when something inside me finally said, “Look again.” And this time… I did. For the first time in what felt like forever, I looked past the face I wore for the world. I looked into the eyes of a woman who had lived. Not just survived, not just endured—but lived. And in that reflection, I saw every version of myself stretching back through time like a...

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Saving Ancestors' Stories Forever on Voyages of the Destiny's Dreams

Submitted to Contest #310

Even the stories, themselves, were afraid of being forgotten. They needed to be remembered forever, whether by oral telling or by written word. The stories carried the uniqueness that made Mariposa's people distinctive. The wisdom in the stories inspired, uplifted, and guided their lives. The beliefs gave their lives meaning, purpose, and sacred connections. For thousands of years, the stories and wisdom of Mariposa's ancient ancestors flowed through the spirals of time and space, passed along by the spoken word. Then Mariposa's generation p...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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