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

1080+ 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 72 of 73

Jonathan the Duck

Submitted to Contest #61

The door squeaks open, revealing the dark, stuffy attic we visit once in a blue moon. A treasure trove filled with history buried in every brown box resting in a forgotten corner. The floorboards creak beneath me when I shuffle to the window. Muddy pink curtains are lazily hanging on the nook, lint and dust bunnies decorate the old curtain, complimenting the holes the moths made. I pull the curtains open and allow the sunlight to pour in. The room is a little brighter now, light peeking through the windowpane. My husband slides beside me, of...

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The Shirley Doll

Submitted to Contest #61

My mom passed away at age 94, having lived a full and beautiful life. After taking some time to grieve, I pulled myself together and, as Trustee for her estate, started taking care of her affairs. In different waves, I worked with my sister and brother and also with my own kids to meticulously go through all of her belongings. My mom was very organized, there were no piles of old magazines, or stacks of unopened mail lying around. In fact, in her later years, she was always on top of things – no longer the procrastinator she was in my y...

12 likes 3 comments 3
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Her essence

Submitted to Contest #61

It was another cold dreary November day. The trees looked dead and lonely from the loss of their leaves and nothing to look forward to until spring. I felt just like them alone and waiting. Waiting to run into that special someone, actually anyone. It had been a long time. Oh yeah since Her. I pushed her out of my mind instantly, I needed to forget. So here I am in the stupid mall again. Shopping for little things trying to forget Her. She violated my brain again. It was over, she had made that clear. So I had to move on and now I was ok ...

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Seeing Red

Submitted to Contest #56

Once upon a time…In a pretty little house in a pretty little wood there lived a pretty little family. The family consisted of a mother, a father, and a little girl. The mother was called Clara, the father was called Jonas, and the little girl was called Red. The little girl was not named Red, for her name was Jennifer, but she’d been called Red ever since her grandmother, who lived a little ways away in the same wood, had given her a red jumper that Red had refused to take off until it fell to pieces. Even now, Red loved the colour red; she ...

32 likes 9 comments 9
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Libra

Submitted to Contest #51

I looked up to see the sky with twinkling stars smiling down on me. I snorted when I noticed that I began making patterns and connecting random stars. I then see the constellation, Libra. I paused and thought about how different we were. She is said to be graceful and fair-minded while as I am clumsy and indecisive. I stretched my right arm as if trying to reach the sky. It's so far away. As if it's an unreachable goal. I let my arm down and let out a sigh. What a pretty sky. A rustle of leaves made me twist my body and rest on m...

18 likes 3 comments 3
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Broken Memories

Submitted to Contest #51

"Tell us another one, Mama!" Mia, Mrs Ryder's youngest daughter urged."Yeah!" Sarah joined. "I love your stories! They're really magical!" she squealed.Mama tutted. "Girls, you have school tomorrow, one story is enough.""Please, it doesn't have to be about fairytales. It can be about...about, your village life when you were a kid!" Sarah cried, her eyes glinting.Mrs Ryder turned ghastly and pale. "Who told you that I lived in a village?" she choked.Sarah shrugged merely. "I heard you and Papa talk in the room."Mama stood up abruptly. "S...

81 likes 42 comments 42
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Eternal Starry Sky

Submitted to Contest #51

"It's so nice to be out here tonight..." Mother said, her arms linked behind her back as she looked up at the sky.  I stopped abruptly when we reached a familiar place. "Mom," I said, as I pointed towards the school park, "can we go there? I haven't been on a swing for a long time!" I looked at the swings, remembering just how much I loved going on them back in daycare. Mother sighed. "We came out here to walk, not to play on swings, Inari." "Aww, but I wanted to swing on them too!" Satoshi exclaimed.Mother looked at my brother and ...

27 likes 5 comments 5
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Intermezzo

Submitted to Contest #49

"This way please!" said an aircrew member , as she ushered Brooke to the waiting lounge. After a fourteen hour lay over , the foyer seemed swarmed with people who couldn't wait to reach home . Right in front of her was a class of students,in a vigorous discussion about their excursion. She passed by them and without noticing,entered into a confraternity of smokers . Brooke paused a second to push away the cloud of smoke blinding her sight. Her left ear picked up the confusion of architects and her right, the clashing of economists. She took...

18 likes 4 comments 4
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The Mighty Mortimer

Submitted to Contest #48

Mortimer Macklin didn’t think water had ever tasted so good as he slurped from a clear mountain stream below the family campsite. Just as he was about to wipe a hand across his mouth and stand up refreshed, the creek surface glittered with bright colored light. Mortimer fell back onto the creek bank tilting his head up just in time to catch remnants of a shooting star in the dark sky above him. Mortimer hadn’t seen but three shooting stars in all his twelve years but knew this one was different. It looked like it was dragging ...

10 likes 0 comments 0
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Rainy Days and Lemon-Yellow Umbrellas

Submitted to Contest #47

Dear You,The sky was grumpy. The clouds were shaggy like the grey mane of a wolf. Underneath the shaggy clouds was a glowing red button. The clouds would cry occasionally and freckle the yew trees with thick water. The tree-scented droplets would drip onto your lemon-yellow umbrella.I watched you.I watched you as you curled into a little ball, and tucked yourself under the eaves. I wanted to run to you. I wanted to hug you and comfort you and tell you that you'd be alright.But I couldn't.So I watched you from afar.I love you because when you...

43 likes 19 comments 19
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What's a friend?

Submitted to Contest #40

Kate wandered longingly down the path. Her big eyes hovering over anything that looked interesting enough. Little half-moons of green green clovers and little melodic bluebirds hopping along the branches.She had left her glossy green-apple sided house.In search of a delicacy, she hadn't ever tasted.She needed information on this important subject, desperately.Her first stop was Aunt Marie's home.It was a fiery redbrick house with a glossy brown porch adorned with warm red flowerpots stroked with rich ambers. The flowers grew quietly and beau...

18 likes 0 comments 0
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Sunrise of a Lifetime

Submitted to Contest #39

One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east. “It was a momentous occasion. It was the very first sign of what would come.”   “Keep going, Grandma!” You encourage. She manages a weak smile, and in a few minutes, continues;   “And absolutely nobody noticed.” “What!?” Grandma grins.   “I suppose i’m stretching the truth. Quite a lot of people noticed, but for the first few hours, nobody spoke up. See, the sun didn’t just decide to come back up the other way, it took a few days. First, they noticed the sun began to shift...

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Her Little Warriors

Submitted to Contest #39

Elizabeth walked into the still forest. She could push away memories of ash and the crumbling asphalt and breath in the cool air, forget her joyous house that erupted in flames. She could think about her thoughts as if they were the most important in the world, be selfish and . . . . . forget.  She staggered underneath the silvery shadows of the cedars. She inhaled the warm May air and made her way down the grainy path. She passed yellow primroses that looked like liquid sunshine and bluebells that were catching the moonlight in their w...

19 likes 4 comments 4
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Reach for the Stars

Submitted to Contest #39

Hundreds, thousands, millions more. Billions upon billions of lights line the shore. All so far, but to reach out and touch just one, maybe two? Impossible! Inconceivable! That’s what they say. But I know I will reach the moon and count them all someday. Someday. “Will you come in here already? It’s freezing out, and you’re not wearing a jacket.” A father’s voice rang heavy and low to his sweet little daughter. She put her pencil down and looked back up at the sky, counting. Counting?&nb...

30 likes 2 comments 2
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Dreaming in Lilac

Submitted to Contest #36

11:10pmWell, here we are again, diary.Thanks, I’m great, you?No, I haven’t taken my sleeping pills, and I won’t be taking my sleeping pills. The last time I took them, I tripped balls for three days. During the day. At work. Everyone thought I was possessed, or just that I’d finally tried going to the gym and had broken myself.I’ve been very good, actually, I’ve only checked to see if he’s messaged me twice. Ok three times, but one of those I was brushing my teeth, so it doesn’t count cuz I was multitasking.Maybe I should check again.No, he ...

10 likes 1 comment 1
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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