5010+ Inspirational Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From tales of the miraculous to stories of extraordinary people overcoming incredible odds, you’ll always find something uplifting in our collection of inspirational short stories.

🏆 Winning stories

“Vegan Hamburgers” by Ariana Tibi

🏆 Winner of Contest #233

Vegan Hamburgers February 1st 11:11pm WOW. I cannot believe that just happened. I went to AJ’s studio and almost walked out with a record deal. I was sober, too. He started rolling a joint and offered me some but I immediately said no. Last week, I had drinks at Lighthouse Studios and the executive was totally judging me when...

77 likes 24 comments 24

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“The Lantern of Kaamos” by Jonathan Page

🏆 Winner of Contest #232

The melting Arctic is a crime scene, and I am like CSI Ny-Ålesund. Trond is the anonymous perpetrator leaving evidence and clues for me to discover, like breadcrumbs leading back to him. “Jonna,” he had said, the day we first met at the research institute, “If you are going to make it up here, don’t lock your doors.” It seemed like a life philosophy, rather than a survival tip.It is ironic. Out on Kings Bay, the coal miners came first, then the science outposts. Trond was already out here mining the Arctic when I was sti...

89 likes 63 comments 63

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“The Porcelain Village” by Jonathan Page

🏆 Winner of Contest #213

My clay hands are becoming solid porcelain. I have always had potter’s hands. The throwing water absorbs the moisturizing oils of the skin. Leaves the hands rough. The clay paste dries and cracks the skin. Leaving it red. But now my hands are hardening. In the bisque firing, my hands harden like porous greenware. The cremated carbon and sulfur escape, exhuming my soul from the earthen clay, little by little, drawing it back to its source. The soul stews out in a boiling whistl...

135 likes 90 comments 90

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“Catalyst” by Nicole Ashcraft

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #243

The truck jolted over another crater-like pothole as the pungent odor of rotting fish filtered into the cab, mingling with the salty air scratching at the back of my throat. I grabbed my grimy steel travel mug from the busted cup holder and took a swig, gripping it tightly to protect the precious brew that had been cold for hours. As much trouble as the old diesel gave me, she could navigate anything but a sinkhole. Over the years she evolved into a fortress of jagged rusty metal, deterring thieves and most everyone else, too. I named her Ma...

17 likes 12 comments 12

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“My Father the Artist” by Isabella Krieg

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #236

It had been sitting on my kitchen table for about two months now. It slowly cemented itself in place as unopened letters, shopping catalogues, and magazines slowly piled around it, until only my face was left, reflecting on the small part of the screen which was still visible. After Mom died, I took the computer along with boxes of other things without really thinking. It completely slipped my mind that it needed a passw...

24 likes 10 comments 10

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“New Year for Me” by Cassie Chapman

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #231

I take in a cold breath to steady myself as the crowd around me quietly chants. "10...9...8...7" "8 months, 7 days" I whisper under my breath. My private count this last year. "6... 5... 4...3..." "251 days altogether" The metal of my necklace feels like ice. "2... 1! Happy New Year!" The 20 or so with me on this cold rock cheer. "252...." I finally bre...

14 likes 5 comments 5

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✍️ All stories

“A Chance” by Nastia Marmuzevich

Submitted to Contest #246

There was a single piece of paper in front of Helen. It wasn't even half-filled. She looked up at the administrator and asked, “That's it?”“That's it.”“I was ready to read two hundred pages, so I’m a bit surprised to see just a couple of simple phrases already known to everyone.”“Mrs. Howard, it's only a game, but the stakes are high. The value is obvious, and you're either willing to play or you're not.”The room was filled with doubt. The administrator proceeded, “I can leave you alone for a moment. I have no right to persuade or dissuade y...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Swinging” by Louise Tawfik

Submitted to Contest #246

It was a quiet Saturday, and the sun warmed their shoulders like it did when they were children. Bill and Frank; two friends who’d travelled together through the years, sometimes side by side and sometimes apart. They’d met as scrappy boys in the playground, chasing each other with dirty knees and shirts untucked. Vegemite sandwiches for lunch and long afternoons walking home, talking incessantly the whole way. Families, careers, homes, trips far away, all came and passed. Time chased them but neither noticed the changes in each other; the w...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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““Scales of a Surgeon”” by Brandon Cratch

Submitted to Contest #246

In the hushed corridors of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, where the air was thick with the scent of antiseptic mingled with quiet hopes, Dr. Alex Freeman was a burst of unexpected laughter. As a pediatric surgeon, his presence was like a ray of sunshine in the often-somber environment. His scrubs, festooned with cartoon characters, and his stethoscope, which he called “Mr. Whiskers,” rarely failed to draw a smile from his young patients. Alex had grown up as the only child of two renowned surgeons. From a young age, he was steeped in an atm...

6 likes 4 comments 4

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“Best It Can Be” by Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #246

The eight of us gathered, lost souls one and all, at the recruiting station. We were waiting in a light rain. Every Sunday morning at 10:00 am our district had a drawing, but rumor said the number of groups to cover all the days, and even the hours of every day, were growing more and more.This morning, Adam had come down with me. He tilted his head back like he does, his eyes a little too wide open, so I could tell he was scared. The last time we'd both gotten notice our numbers came up '1' and '2'. Can you believe it, our numbers '1' and '2...

28 likes 30 comments 30

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“All of Them” by Ester Segal

Submitted to Contest #245

“You AT LEAST have to admit that it would make you get out of bed. Even if it was just for the 8 ½ minutes.”“Oh take a hike Charlie. You act like it matters anyways-” He paused to exhale a loud, empty breath, “whether or not I get out of bed.”“For Christ’s sake, Seth, I don’t even like you and I think it matters.” Charlie plopped himself down on the bed and went on, “You’ve been keeping yourself hostage in this room- which smells like absolute horseshit by the way- for the past goddamn MONTH. Because of what? Because of all that student...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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“Ups and Downs” by Charli Adams

Submitted to Contest #246

*Trigger Warning: This story contains sensitive content including self-harm, substance abuse, physical violence/abuse, and mental health issues. My best friend and I watched each other bob up and down in turn, bouncing slowly together on the seesaw. We both paused at the bottom to give the other a moment above the noise. There was nobody else in the playground with us, but it was getting towards dark, so that wasn't really all that surprising. Soon we'd have to leave or risk a fine ourselves. In the meantime, anybody other than a cop walking...

7 likes 0 comments 0

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“Starry Vigil” by Ava Morgan

Submitted to Contest #245

It’s been four years. 48 months, 208 weeks, and 1,460 days. It feels like I’ve hit a milestone that with each passing day, wrenches my heart and slowly begins to rip it in half. It’s been four years without her smile, without her laughter, without that gleam in her eyes that lit up a room brighter than any star could.  Four years and I miss the storyteller she was, laying down next to me, without a book, but instead she spoke words poured directly from her heart. I miss the adventurer she was, the way each night, she took...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“La Luna - A Grand Night Out” by Kaitlyn Wadsworth

Submitted to Contest #245

My name is Lynley, and I am eleven. I am interested in all things biological and scientific.My mother calls me her difficult child. The one who quickly gets distracted or left behind, examining ants on a trail, a spider forming a web, or some other exciting phenomenon. The world around us contains an abundance of interesting plants, insects, and creatures. I like checking them out.I am sitting in a tree, watching a tiny caterpillar measure the leaf he travels over. “Inch worm, inch worm . . .” Stretching out his front legs, creeping his stic...

13 likes 21 comments 21

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“The Dancing Wish” by Amanda Alexander

Submitted to Contest #245

Today, my son and I are visiting my father. My seven-year-old mini-me loves coming over and listening to his stories. My father is a great storyteller. When I was young, he would read out of dusty old books most nights while tucking my sister and me in our beds. He read to us a lot. Some stories he read so much he memorized them and can now recite them with ease. Today is the first solar eclipse passing through our city in the last decade. Luke is fascinated with space and plan...

6 likes 1 comment 1

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“The helmsman and the astrologer” by Edoardo Garavaglia

Submitted to Contest #245

The gentle crackling of the sand was the only audible sound keeping company to the helmsman after all the crewmembers went searching for shelter in the lower deck.Only a lone dwarf, hand on the helm and mind lost somewhere on the horizon, would have been held responsible for any issue arisen over the night, apart from a man and a woman whispering pleasant words to the dice in a pathetic attempt of stealing the salary of the others.Their muffled voices were nothing but a mutter for the stoic veteran, fully absorbed by the act of handle the bo...

3 likes 2 comments 2

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“Sister Song of the Solar Eclipse” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #245

Serena was the female god of the sun. “Goddess” somehow sounds diminutive, so for the purpose of the story, we will call her a god. She had powers that reached beyond any that preceded or followed her. She’d carried the responsibility of giving light since before her birth. Her father had been a lowly peasant, but her mother was a fire goddess, and her light and heat were passed onto her daughter and multiplied a thousand-fold. Serena was born with a halo of light surrounding her. She was hot to the touch. Her parents had to move her onto a ...

14 likes 8 comments 8

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“No Mere Mortal” by Myranda Marie

Submitted to Contest #245

“The eclipse has come and gone, and I for one am so grateful.” “And why is that?” “People like me are often affected by celestial occurrences. This one was intense.” “How so?” “It started about a week ago; low energy and high anxiety battling for dominance. Have you ever wanted nothing more than to sleep, but couldn’t turn your thoughts off long enough to nod off? When I would finally pass out from sheer exhaustion, the vivid apocalyptic dreams would infiltrate like a jolt of frantic energy, causing me to awaken abruptly with no chance of fa...

17 likes 17 comments 17

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“The Eclipse that Almost Wasn't” by Mary Holley

Submitted to Contest #245

Elisa Jones had been wanting to see an eclipse since she was a child. Her father, James, had told her stories of the eclipses he had seen and the big one in 1989 when Elisa had been two-years-old. She didn't remember, however, her father regaled the entire story. The trip they had taken to see the solar eclipse in Baja, Mexico back in February of 1989. Her mother, Carmen, had been alive, and the three of them had traveled to the East Cape of Mexico from their small working class suburb of Los Angeles. They almost didn't go because b...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Legends of Maclaughlin Lake” by Roger Skrypczak

Submitted to Contest #245

As the big day approached, excitement about the pending total eclipse of the sun was building. It was early April, and several of our neighbors were heading South to get closer to the path where the moon would be directly between the Earth and the sun. That was not in my mom and stepdad’s plans, however. Nolly and Rob headed North to MacLaughlin Lake, where our family-owned cabin was located. It was time to de-winterize the cabin and get it ready for the beginning of fishing season. MacLaughlin Lake has been in the family for nearly one...

9 likes 1 comment 1

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“Chasing Her Storm” by C.N. Jung

Submitted to Contest #244

The world has a way of taking a peaceful life and bringing into it storms of turbulence. Skies once clear and cloudless overtaken by a dark overcast of depression. Rains of doubt and winds of worthlessness screaming down until they destroy everything in their wake.Every feeling of hope and every ray of sunshine blotted out by a thunderstorm of the worst life has to offer.When I was eight, that was before the clouds started to roll in on the horizon. When I was eight, I had a toy astronaut. He had a shiny, silver suit and a space mask. His na...

11 likes 7 comments 7

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