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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 8 of 10

What Others Have Forgotten

Submitted to Contest #280

“What does ‘hardihood’ mean?” Glen’s voice carried softly through the great cave to where Steelio sat on a fur seat, dozing.      Steelio Windfacer hated children. He hated crying and giggling and kid-germs and everything else about them. As a rule, he wouldn’t even talk to someone unless they were old enough to grow a beard. But despite his disdain for younglings, this one was his own. The child, Glen Copperfield-Woods, was not Steelio’s child by blood. He was the son of a young couple of musicians who liv...

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Labyrinth

Submitted to Contest #279

LabyrinthHalf man/half bull, he was the most famous mutant of them all. Asterion’s existence had come about when the Queen had mated with a beautiful white bull on the island of Crete. Regarded as a freak of nature, he was contained by the queen’s husband, King Minos, in a series of elaborate and confusing chambers constructed somewhere beneath the royal palace. The mutant’s prison became known as The Labyrinth.***On returning to their clifftop eyrie, the eagles deposited a sheep as a reward to Minna, the young dragon, for guarding their egg...

30 likes 17 comments 17
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Sleep, perchance to dream

Submitted to Contest #279

This story contains personal information about mental health, that some readers may find difficult to process. It is said that sleep is needed so that the cerebral fluid can wash away all of the waste products of neurochemicals deposited between synapses during the waking hours. This purging of the fluid that surrounds the brain flushes away all wasteful and repeated thoughts and enables the brain to renew itself, establish new connections, abandon old ones. Dreaming may well be the result of this washing away, as new connections are formed ...

11 likes 1 comment 1
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The Whispering Nightmare

Submitted to Contest #279

I was in this small, quiet town. I was walking down this street and saw this house that had a large sign saying, “stay out Dangerous” It stood at the end of a lonely street, its windows dark and its walls covered in creeping ivy. A cool strange breeze was blowing around me. It appeared to be spooky and haunted by the spirits of those who had once lived and maybe died there.  Being young and stupid I moved into the house. I thought I inherited it from a distant relative and, despite the warnings, decided to make it my home. I was young a...

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A Soapy Nightmare

Submitted to Contest #279

Under a brilliant crescent moon, in a small suburban house nestled between two tall oak trees, a young puppy named Rocco stirred in his bed. Rocco was no ordinary puppy. Though barely six months old, his world was one of deep contemplation, rich imagination, and, most importantly, anxiety-ridden thoughts that often spiraled wildly out of control.Rocco, a caramel-furred ball of fluff with floppy ears and wide, expressive eyes, had recently overheard something dreadful.“Tomorrow’s bath day,” his human, a cheerful woman named Kate, had declared...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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Goldilocks and the Wolf

Submitted to Contest #277

The wolf liked chasing this particular boy. He helped the three little pigs, didn’t he? He helped them rebuild that house of straw and that house of sticks every single time. Otherwise, the wolf might have had more chance of piglet for lunch—or maybe several lunches if it was the really plump juicy pig—long before now.Close enough that he knew the boy could smell his hot breath, he enjoyed inhaling the tempting aroma of fear as he chased, even if experience told him that he wasn’t likely to be able to bite that ankle or that leg or anyt...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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The Whispering Woods

Submitted to Contest #277

Jezzy, was a practical girl with an impractical name living in a world where the forest held secrets and stories long forgotten. Jezzy, a young writer, found herself wandering through the dense trees, searching for inspiration. The sunlight was filtered through the leaves, casting playful shadows on the ground. As she walked deeper into the woods, a strange stillness enveloped her, making each step feel heavier. Until, she was forced to stop and pick up a stick. Why was she forced to, you ask? Well, because she heard someone yell to her, “Wa...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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This & That in Jakob Grimm’s Notebook

Submitted to Contest #277

Jakob Grimm presented at the Guttenberg Fairy Tale Symposium on October 15, 1862. Dear brother Wilhelm Grimm passed from this earth three years previous, so Jakob stood alone. “Here is the story of Drizella’s Toe, an odd tale of authorial prerogative and scholarly judgment. I ask you to hear the story and decide whether we were not most ardently faithful to the original tale as told to my late brother and me. Here is what occurred…” Once upon a time as I stood in deep contemplation before a churchyard grave, I heard a voice through the mor...

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A Wicked Whisper in the Wood

Submitted to Contest #277

Once long ago, in a time since forgotten, in a land since lost, lived a King and Queen who wanted desperately for a child. After much loss and tragedy, a son was born. The Kingdom rejoiced and was in much celebration. “Behold the Prince!” Shouted the King with much happiness and proud delight.“In one week’s time, “The King proclaimed, “We shall have a feast for the whole Kingdom, a grand time will be had by all in celebration of the Prince’s birth.” News of the feast spread far across the kingdom to every man, woman, chil...

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Bad Hare Day

Submitted to Contest #277

They called me ‘The Fox’. Like most of the imaginative names behind fables and fairy tales were wont to do in those days.But we foxes get a bad rep now, don’t we? Skulking round at night. Rifling through bins. Stinking up the place. It seems wildlife illustrators can never get enough of us though. I once saw a woman in the park out walking her dog, then yelling at the poor hound for rolling around in fox shit. After she’d blasted the eardrums of her pet and every other soul trying to soak up the peace and quiet, she reached into her handbag ...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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BLUEBEARD'S LAST WIFE

Submitted to Contest #277

BLUEBEARD’S LAST WIFE          It is true. The beard, the prodigious wealth, bartering for a bride, the key…even the cupboard I was not to open.         Na Cealla Beaga means little cells. The townspeople say it is for the monks in their beehive cells outside the walls.  Others swear it is for the caves dotting the cliffs hanging above the frenetic ocean waves.  Wise women ofNa Cealla Beaga know the cells are the endless rooms in the manor of ...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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The Realm of Redemption.

Submitted to Contest #277

In the heart of a dense, ancient forest lived a peculiar wolf named Lupin. Unlike other wolves, Lupin had a fondness for human culture and an odd fascination with the lives and habits of those who lived in the nearby villages. His curious nature often led him to explore human abodes, not with malice intent, but with a strange, almost innocent desire to understand and experience their way of life.One crisp Autumn morning, Lupin's sharp nose picked up the scent of freshly baked bread wafting from a quaint little cottage nestled at the edge of ...

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The Evil Queen

Submitted to Contest #277

In Real World: A mom is getting her daughter ready for bed. The daughter asks her to read a Princess story which she often asks every night, but the mom decides maybe it's time to read another story. A book called The Evil Queen, but the daughter doesn't like the evil Queen because she's mean and scary. She knows the story the evil Queen wants to kill the Princess because she was jealous of her beauty. The mom explains that is one side of the story there are two sides. The daughter doesn't understand, how could there be two sides? The evil Q...

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Little Red Riding Hood (as Told by the Wolf)

Submitted to Contest #277

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (AS TOLD BY THE WOLF)ALICE WOOTEN           Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard of the story “Little Red Riding Hood”…cute little girl with a red cape. Sounds pretty innocent, right? Well, all that shines is not gold is what I say. You’ve heard it said that there are two sides to every story, well here is my take on this precocious, little cutie.           So let me start by setting the stage. My name is Lone Wol...

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Snowman

Submitted to Contest #277

SNOWMANED WOOTEN     Hello, my name’s Burt, but my friends call me Burr. You’ve seen my image on numerous Christmas cards. You know, the one’s with glistening snow in front of a cabin with smoke coming from its chimney, a celestial sphere in the night sky, and of course, me…a snowman. That’s me to the right in this nostalgic Christmas card that you can find in most Hallmark Stores.      Please pause now and “oohhh and aahhh” about the card’s picturesque image before I bust your nostalgic...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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