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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

Sad Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Do you ever need to break your own heart? We see you. Grab a tub of ice cream or a box of tissues and settle down with some of the best, really sad short stories to make you cry.

Sad Short Stories – Page 7

Cotton candy bed.

Eninca Mshighati

Weekly Contest #356

It isn’t true that my mattress is made of cotton candy, I have poured water on it a lot of times to prove the point, yet I find myself needing to prove it again and again.“Are you sure? why don’t you check one more time?” the voice of doubt speaks to me.“No” I shake my head.“Yes” it protests.It makes me uneasy, somehow I get physically ill, going in this back and forth I get nauseous, I curl into a ball pulling my arms and legs together, I shut my eyes and immerse myself into the darkness.But then it makes the voice more scary, and the room ...

5 likes

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Convergence

Jessica Villanova

Weekly Contest #356

As the morning sun broke through the bedroom window and found the sliver where the curtains succumbed to its piercing rays, its fingers poked into her sleeping eyes. She knew right away, the way that you sometimes knew when it was going to rain before the clouds roll in, or the way that you knew you forgot something before you knew what it actually was, that it was going to be a bad day. Good days. Bad days. She knew somewhere along the way that the cliche simplicity had become the full-bodied definition of their lives. What had it even bee...

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SAINT OR SADDIEST

Weekly Contest #356

Michelle and Felicia love for each other is tested when a death in the family opens old wounds.Old wounds made by lack of communication and the unwillingness to take responsibility for damage done. Uncle Bob funeral was packed with family, friends, and coworkers he had worked with through the years.Robert Ice was his real name and everyone called him Bobby for short.Robert Ice had been a doctor for over 50 years and delivered most of the children born in the community.His status in the community was never questioned nor were his words.Rober...

1 like

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Sign Wars

Kate Winchester

Weekly Contest #356

When you eat here, you’re royalty. Burger King Who needs royalty when we have Wendy. Wendy’s We have crowns. Burger King You know where you can put those crowns. Wendy’s Americans are crass. Eat Italian. Olive Garden We’re Italian too. We have the Force. We’re Pizza the Hut. Pizza Hut Jabba was not a Jedi. The force isn’t with him. Wendy’s Besides, you’re not real Italian PH. Olive Garden Neither are you. Burger King We’re the Italian OGs. Olive Garden Americans and Italians letting you down? Eat Mexican. Taco Bell Who wa...

20 likes

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Ruhe

CC CWSCGS

Weekly Contest #356

October 12, 1823 Samuel Ruhe had spent the morning sorting through his mother's belongings. Outside, the maples had turned brilliant shades of crimson and gold, their leaves drifting lazily across the yard and gathering against the stone wall beyond the garden. The house had settled into an unfamiliar stillness, as though even the walls were holding their breath. It was broken only by the hushed voices of his younger sisters downstairs and the occasional knock of a neighbor carrying a loaf of bread, a pie, or a few words spoken softly at the...

15 likes

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With rosemary and rue

Nana Lemon

Weekly Contest #356

Dearest Laura,It was so lovely to see you again. And your party was great! I haven’t had so much fun for ages. You know with the kids and Martin … but that’s not what I want to write about … no whining.How’s the renovation going along? It already looked so cozy. I always loved your visions. Send me some photos as soon as you are done, will you?-----The letter has been lying around for a week. Simon interrupted me. Then Sophie was sick. Martin I think I won’t be able to write more any time soon. Sorry.I hope to hear from you, nevertheless.Lot...

12 likes

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My Dearest John

Tiffany Jenkins

Weekly Contest #356

Trigger Warning: Mental health mentioned, Suicide mentioned, Miscarriage mentioned, Death mentioned March 1, 1962My Dearest John, I have grown tired of waiting for day and night for you. You don’t come around like you used to, like in our younger years of marriage. Many nights I have pondered this, but alas, my feelings on the matter have grown cold. Then, out of the blue one day, after our nightly fighting, I saw you downtown going to a hat shop. I would have thought nothing of it if you didn’t have that blonde tramp hanging off ...

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@Mods, She Wrote

Weekly Contest #356

TadGhostal asks: How do I train my dog to lick things? Should I use peanut butter? ->GromitsGF1990 3mo“Kisses” is an easy enough to teach. I did it for my dog Gromit Jr. It’s like showing them hold, woah, and heel. You don’t need peanut butter because licking is how they greet anyone. Plus, peanut butter is super oily and messy (trust me I know since I babysit ither dogs). If he’s wary, bond more with your dog rather than bribe them. You can also do “Hug” or “Selfie” once you finish up with that! Those are fun one I taught Gromit Jr --&gt...

4 likes

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Messages From a Watery Grave

Louise Chambers

Weekly Contest #356

She bit her lip hard, wincing at the pain. A trickle of blood ran down her chin. She did it again this time ignoring the pain, if she could feel it, she knew she was still here. Whether she wanted to be or not. It made no difference anymore either way. She could smell the saltiness in the air, feel the breeze moving her hair around her face, but her heart was empty.The sky was the brightest blue she had seen it for a long time. The grey storm clouds a distant memory. She absentmindedly ran her palm over the wooden bench. She wondered how man...

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Spirals of Grief

Isaac Nash

Weekly Contest #356

The walls of my apartment were an ill fitting container, unable to hold my grief. I could not bear another sunny afternoon indoors, and the thought of another moment on the couch was only exacerbating the anxiety I felt, the wrongness of the loss. Knowing there are words forever left unsaid. My apartment could not contain me and so I found myself walking, almost pulled, to wander the trails near home. I had spent a year living in a small lake town, a year spent a mile from the shore, and this would be my first time I would approach it. The...

13 likes

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The Scarf

Alexis B.

Weekly Contest #356

“I’m tired”, I plea to the millions of stars that hang above me so effortlessly. “I’m tired and I can’t do it anymore” my plea turns to cries as I fall to my knees with my palms to my face. The cold air freezes my tears and I feel as though I will forever be cold. Without his hand to hold mine and his voice to speak my name, I will never know warmth the same. “Please”, I continue my plea, “take me too. If you can’t give my baby back to me then just take me too!” I scream to the moon, the stars and the rest of that empty universe. Without my ...

13 likes

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Family Fortunes

Squirrelly Writer

Weekly Contest #356

Family FortunesTrigger warning: portrays grieving. “No point looking for her in there, old boy,” Roger advised his best friend. Berny was sniffing around Roger’s wife’s dressing room. An extension Roger had had constructed for Maureen for her 50th birthday. If he’d known it was going to be the last milestone of hers they’d celebrate together, he would’ve built her palaces instead, with all the trimmings for every stop on the world cruise he would’ve taken her on. “Shouldda wouldda couldda,” Roger grumbled to himself as he swung his matchsti...

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To Dive Again

Adrianna Carlson

Weekly Contest #356

We lay in the shade of the willow. You’re on the red scratchy picnic blanket with my head pressed to your chest. Our eyes close listening to the sounds of nature: chirping frogs, rustling reeds, the hiss of cicadas. They are an orchestra lulling me to sleep, along with the thumping of your heart. The rise and fall of your chest. Your breath rustles my hair like wind, and your body molds around me like moss.I imagine this is what it's like being swaddled and rocked as an infant.A splash crashes like cymbals.Boys jump from a rope tied to a tre...

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Forlorn with Flowers and Forgiveness

Weekly Contest #356

Prompt: Write a story about a character finding something unexpected in the snow, grass, or water.Secondary prompts: Start of end your story with a sensory detail (something that evokes scent, texture, taste, sight, and/or sound). Write the story about the aftermath of someone’s sacrifice. Forlorn with Flowers and Forgiveness The arid breeze was making breathing difficult for Mary Magdeline or Mae as her late father called her. Her nostrils flared at the scent of the earth, dust and metallic odors coming from the rocks and sand of the d...

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Snow

Weekly Contest #356

Betty looked out over the crisp morning, the rooftops of the colonials and ranchers covered in snow, like a scene from a picture book. But the snow at her feet was already drab from the commuters and school buses. Nothing ever stayed pristine in the suburbs. Betty had chosen her house because it was near good schools and public transport but now she wondered if she should have chosen one with better snow removal. Her socks were wet and she was cold from standing in snow drifts waiting on the dog to do his business. No one that lived in the h...

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