Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ American Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for great American short stories you can read for free? Whether they’re written by American authors, set in the USA, or just have that ever-elusive quality of Americana, this is the page you’re looking for.

American Short Stories – Page 10 of 10

Between The Lines

Submitted to Contest #302

Elena Santos gripped the armrest of her seat as the plane descended into Tokyo’s Narita Airport. The hum of the engines vibrated through her, amplifying the nervous energy that had been building for weeks. In her lap, she clutched a sleek translation device, its screen glowing faintly with Japanese phrases she’d practiced during the 14-hour flight. She’d taken a crash course in Japanese before accepting this one-year assignment as a cultural liaison for an international education exchange program. But as the plane touched down, she realized ...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

rocky ridge resort

Submitted to Contest #302

The Callahan family’s rusty, beat-up Valiant rumbled and wheezed down the long and winding road, a cloud of dust coming out of the exauhst. The engine coughed like an old smoker every time Dad changed gears, but he didn’t seem to mind. At the wheel, he whistled happy, off-key tunes from his youth, tapping the steering wheel with his thumbs like he was performing in front of a cheering crowd.Next to him in the passenger seet sat Mum, frowning down at a road map so faded and wrinkled it looked like it had survived WW1 (and 2). She rotated it l...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Spy who Wasn't

Submitted to Contest #302

Have you ever had something bad happen and wished that you had a superhero in your corner? It’s a rarity for me and I’ll admit that given a minute to think this through, I may have done everything differently. I drive a school bus and have a lot of time on my hands between my morning and afternoon runs. I read a lot and love spotting grammatical errors and telling myself that I could write better than that. This is how my interest in writing a book started. I did a little research on how to become a novelist and how to publish a book. My res...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

What We don’t Say

Submitted to Contest #302

What We Don’t Say “I don’t understand,” she said. Three words. Just five syllables. But they landed like stones on the quiet surface of our kitchen, rippling through everything we hadn’t said in weeks. I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how. Instead, I looked down at my coffee, which had grown cold and bitter, much like us. The fluorescent light above us buzzed in that annoying way, casting a faint halo over her bent head and mine. The kitchen table between us was small, but it exaggerated the gulf that separated us. She waited, eyes looking an...

7 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

Jimmy and Dev

Submitted to Contest #301

Jimmy did not have many friends. After he graduated from college, he broke up with his girlfriend and started hanging out with this kid Zach who went to the Hyde School at the time Jimmy was there. Zach was in a friend group with a couple of other kids, Dev who did not work, Liam who was an exterminator, and Evan who was trying to become an EMT but was having a hard time passing the initial exam. Jimmy started hanging with this group, and in particular, Dev. The Hyde School was that boarding school in Maine for kids who get...

2 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Even at My Worst It Still was a Beautiful Day

Submitted to Contest #301

Prompt: Center your story around something that doesn’t go according to plan. Even at My Worst It was Still a Beautiful Day There was persistent ringing in my ears. I just needed a few more minutes to rest my weary soul. I clumsily reached for my phone to silence the menacing buzz. I thought one of these days I need to change my ringtone. No sooner had I turned it off, I felt a tugging at my ear followed by loud incessant purring. My bleary eyes revealed my catatonic state to my annoyed observer. Toby, my lifelong feline friend, ball of ...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A MODEST WALL

Submitted to Contest #302

(For the Lovers of a Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift here is a relevent update for the modern erra…you have been warned.) My dearest friends and compatriots of a true and real America, we have been in a crisis. Our resources, jobs, and even our very existence are taxed beyond what should be allowed. A strong country, we are not without limits. We have carefully structured our wealth so that we can afford to give ten per cent of our populace two million or more dollars to live for a year. Not to be elitist, forty percent of people receive n...

11 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Myra and The Big No

Submitted to Contest #301

Myra boss-walked through Farina's Sports Bar and Grill, partially because she was late meeting her sister but mostly because the numerous televisions were causing her to feel overstimulated and she was concealing this with authoritative and deliberate motions. She stopped as she neared the bar, realizing she had forgotten to look for Rozzie. Several men turned from their barstools to see who was walking behind their backs. She was caught off guard by their astute situational awareness, felt uncomfortably conspicuous, and began to scan the ro...

4 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Morbidity and Mortality

Submitted to Contest #301

Alex inhaled deeply and reminded himself what he had to do. Turning the knob, he entered the Department of Surgery conference room. Two people, seated on opposite sides of a large mahogany table, stopped talking and looked up at him. The table rested on a thick paisley carpet, surrounded by leather upholstered chairs. Closest to him sat Dr. Murray Caldwell, head of vascular surgery and Vice Chairman of Surgery. He was mid-sixties, Black, with salt and pepper hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. Known as a pioneer in endovascular techniques, h...

6 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Capital Gains

Submitted to Contest #301

Thursday, August 9, 1984I made an honest mistake. I was going to Boston for a deposition of a key witness in an upcoming trial. After forgetting to wind my fickle alarm clock, waiting for traffic and a long search for parking, I was late, running through the terminal with a briefcase in one hand and a gym bag stuffed with a change of clothes in the other. The doors to gates E and F were a few feet apart, and I saw the last of a line of people going into the door on the right. I joined the line. If I tried this today, a hundred safeguards wou...

4 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The Mascot

Submitted to Contest #301

I was in the fifth grade. Three years before the masks and mandates. Before the roll out of shots, histeria, and unexpected toilet paper rationing. My parents separated, I guess you could say I had a head start on having my world turned upside down. I was already in a state of confusion and melancholy. I stayed in the house with Mom when Dad moved out. He found a small, run-down apartment in the city. We visited one time to drop off a few boxes and his keyboard. When we returned to the car Mom said with a voice of fear and anger, " Sam, we a...

3 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Seventy Mile Per Hour Blur is the Big Event

Submitted to Contest #301

I drank a vanilla milkshake at the Dairy Queen, walked down the sidewalk to the liquor store, bought a fifth of Cutty Sark scotch, went back to my motel room, stripped off my clothes, and lay naked on the bed. I hadn’t touched a drop the whole way out here, but now I needed a shot or two to fall asleep.For the past two days, all I wanted was to see was the world streaming past me from the cab of my pickup, the steady growl of the engine purring in my ears like a big cat. I watched the tree-covered mountains of northern Georgia flatten into t...

8 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Het Cingel

Submitted to Contest #301

This isn’t what I signed up for, not even close—internalizing now the soon realized sentiment. Lance Fortnite watches; Wall Street sizzling in debauchery, all too manipulation, greed, and corporate theft. Thinks, pays well yes, but morals that float afar from its compass never maintain. As well being an African American in the late 80’s he could not blind eye the related trauma of deception, only now he sits on the scopes “other side”. Morals shaken about as if cupped in the palms of dice players rolling for wins—lucks assisted fortunes.Octo...

3 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Gremlins of Fate

Submitted to Contest #301

“Wait, you’re charging me $2,150? Seriously?” The service associate behind the counter kept his cool and tapped the customer bill with a manicured nail. “Yes. Parts, labor, shop fees. Your car was leaking oil, so we had to replace the head gasket.” Like everyone should know what a head gasket is. Isabella gulped. Staring at the total—$2,150—didn’t help. Nothing changed. With her MasterCard close to maxing out, she had to do something. He handed her the bill. “I just need you to sign here, please.” She went for a pleading puppy look, eyebro...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Sound of the Broken Glass

Submitted to Contest #301

It was a regular Tuesday at the end of summer in Winter Park, a typical small village lost in the hills of Colorado. Children attended kindergarten and school while their parents worked in stores, markets, etc. The town was bustling with its usual activities.Anna woke up early, her mind filled with the day’s tasks. Monotony settled over her as she thought about her daily routine. After completing her hygiene chores, she mechanically prepared breakfast for her children. It was such a smooth-running occurrence that she could do it with her eye...

4 likes 4 comments 4
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.