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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ Bedtime Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Everybody loves a story before bed, and our collection of bedtime short stories has got you covered.

Bedtime Short Stories – Page 6 of 10

NOVA 3000

Submitted to Contest #287

I drink coffee all day, maybe too much, but I can enjoy a good cup of tea in the evening. Honest-to-goodness tea, real tea, the type that looks like twigs! But with flavor. I’m not talking about those bags in a box, mind you. But I do keep a few around the house for emergencies. We visited a few historic places on a recent vacation to Jamestown, and I picked up a few loose teas. I have a little left and I savor the flavor. My go-to tea is Earl Gray, a black tea that is very flavorful. A close second is Lady Gray. Lately, I have found that si...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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DAWN OF NIGHTMARES

Submitted to Contest #287

DAWN OF NIGHTMARES GRIFFIN, GA – 1942 The ghost of infidelity lingered like a spectral presence, haunting Lucille’s thoughts, and planting seeds of doubt in her mind. Holding back a storm of resentment and discontent, Lucille greeted David as he arrived home. Standing at the door, ready to leave the weight of the world behind, David was eager to kiss his wife. He reached for Lucille wrapping his arms around her waste but wasn’t prepared for the stoic frozen hug she offered. Pushing away, Lucille vanished into the kitchen shouting “you did no...

5 likes 0 comments 0
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The Girl as Bright as the Sun

Submitted to Contest #286

Once upon a time, there lived a Girl as Bright as the Sun. Having been raised in a town where the northern lights danced across the frigid winter's sky and where she learned the true meaning of family. Having been surrounded by friends and loved ones and a support network as large as the mountains that encircled about her quaint little northern valley home. Having had great knowledge on the privilege it is to love and be loved by so many, wherefore, choosing of her own free will to share the light she'd received over the course of her life, ...

7 likes 4 comments 4
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Corrugate

Submitted to Contest #286

It’s cold outside today. In the corner of Jenny’s bedroom, a single strand of spider web dressed in grey dust hovers, caught momentarily by a wild, invisible draft. Jenny lies supine on her bed. Her mouth is dry, eyes stagnant glassy orbs, with her body relaxed yet holding a thin tension she isn’t quite aware of. Her mind is on other things. She says aloud “Well I would love to- I would like to, like to yeah but I don’t think- I can’t, I can’t afford it right now. I would need to- would need to cut back a bit.” She rolls over to fa...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Sleep Whispers 'Come'

Submitted to Contest #285

Now I can't return to the patio bar. I can't remember the way. Perhaps I want it too much.He leaned in. His body. Bergamot and citrus. His muskiness. A curl falling before my eye, a knuckle pressing upon my temple. Studied grace. Sleep whispered, ‘come.’ Coruscating tikis. His stubbled jaw, now a hooded eye. Moistening breath warm on my neck, bittersweet. A smoldering cigarette. A Sazerac melting the rocks in a low ball on a high top. I rise from bed. Pink slippers, slightly soiled, spilled coffee. Taking up my fraying shawl, quiet...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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Family Hill

Submitted to Contest #285

Family Hill I am sitting with my father. He is furious. We’re at a small coffee table by the side of a wide street. It’s not a highway, but the kind of boulevard where cars pass quietly, not in a rush. His eyes are sharp, piercing, tracking every move I make. His tension fills the air, suffocating me as if it’s another entity sitting between us. He confronts me about my messages. He reads them out loud, repeating my words like accusations. I don’t know how he got access to them—my texts, my phone calls with Luca—but here they are, thrown bac...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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Clock or Cake

Submitted to Contest #284

Hoo! Hoo!Brandon looked out his bedroom window. The setting sun radiated pink through the leafless trees as it crashed into the horizon. It was pinker than usual, or maybe Brandon hadn't caught the sunset in a while. He always meant to watch it, everyday, but it slipped by.Brandon rolled away from the nuclear explosion of pink. The clock his mom got him for his twenty-third birthday projected the time onto the ceiling. His eyes adjusted to the dim blue numbers: five PM exactly.It was handy, Brandon thought, but is this what his mom envisione...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Jeopardy

Submitted to Contest #284

“C’mon Hon, show’s about to start.” Milton knew his wife hated missing a second of Jeopardy, she enjoyed the opening spiels, she rooted for the contestant she related to the best. Given the choice between a local from Pensacola or a black woman from Alaska, she’d choose the black woman every time.Milton’s own cousin had been on the game show eight years past and did Velma root for him? No. She cheered for the elderly black woman in the floral mu mu.He had said, “Really Vel? Have you ever seen a parade float win?”Velma had scowled and growled...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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Passing Time in Silence

Submitted to Contest #284

The distant sound of a closing door and its metal locks woke me. Blurry eyed and dazed I grasped at my blanket as I slowly removed it from me, body shivering as winter chill ran its hands over me. With a grumble I let my feet hang over the bed's edge, reaching for my slippers that I had haphazardly kicked off last night before I had settled in.  “Of course.” I placed my feet down on the cold wooden floors and leapt to my slippers, sliding my feet into them as fast as I could. As I grabbed my padded hoodie from the bottom of the bed fram...

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Back to the Start

Submitted to Contest #284

“Mom!” I called into the vacant house, “I’m home!”  I must’ve called it a thousand times, but this time as the word left my lips it didn’t feel quite as right. Home was a foreign concept, so lost within my mind that even as my mother embraced me, warm and loving as ever, it didn’t sit right in the air. Some deep tugging sensation to my core told me that home was no longer the word used to describe this place.  Dad came up from the basement, smiling warmly at me. He leaned against the counter as mom cooked and asked me his million-l...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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Stranger for a day

Submitted to Contest #283

This story contains profanity and minor sexual content. 1. Write a story about two characters who surprisingly end up spending a holiday or event together.Strangers No MoreThere was little I could do to avoid the big event of the next day, my birthday. I’m suddenly realizing that I have less years to live than I have already lived, and I may be destined to live those days alone. I needed something or someone to take my mind off this day. I didn’t want to leave my home, because I’ve already changed into my after-work worn-out sweats, but...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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What Really Happened

Submitted to Contest #283

I woke to the most delicious warmth so I kept my eyes closed at first. And the smell of, what was it? Oh, cinnamon, the best spice of all.I almost fell asleep again, but the cheery jangle of a bell woke me up. I opened my eyes as a draught of air came across me and the warmth ebbed away in a blur of movement and brightness.Then I was lifted up and put down again on a cool surface, as a woman said, “I’ll have that one, he looks jolly.”Fingers reached for me and the face of a young lass loomed over me, smiling and saying, “Yes, ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Season's Greetings.

Submitted to Contest #283

I don't know about you, but I used to really enjoy sending and receiving Christmas cards. When I was in college, I got dozens. Then at work, I always had ten or so. Now, not so much. Slowly, but steadily, over time the number dwindled to all but a handful.December 22 of this year was slightly different.I arrived home around 6, excited, and shamelessly optimistic to see who, if anyone, had me on the nice list this year.Three Charity begging letters, a card from my Dentist,one from my sister in Ohio, and one more.It was a local postmark, so I ...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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The Black Rose A Christmas Sea Tale

Submitted to Contest #283

This happened to me when I was a little one and I only knew the whole story when I met an old sea captain who explained how it came about. And this is how he told it to me. It was like he was there. I know I was. The storm had slowed its pace and finally broke into easy winds and slowly mounting swells. The skies were streaked with grey clouds over grey seas and all around under that was deep blue with white crests breaking but with little force. The sea was becoming a kitten once more and it was just in the nick of time. The crew were exhau...

5 likes 3 comments 3
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The Sun's Grand Journey

Submitted to Contest #282

Once upon a time, living high above the sleeping planet in her preferred corner of a golden cloud palace was Sol, the young sun. Every morning, she would get out of her comfortable bed of warm light, a perfect circular nest of golden rays, that had been hers since she was born, and start her trip across the heavens just as her mother and grandmother had been doing, before her, since the beginning of times.But this particular morning something felt different. Sol peeped over the eastern horizon and saw shadows darker than usual and areas of t...

8 likes 7 comments 7
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