10000+ Contemporary Short Stories to read

I feel the JACKAL sway below me, the dust-red road unrolling in front and the stunted mahogany scrub flashing alongside. We pass women bent double under towering loads of firewood and are passed by young men on mopeds in turn. I make it a point to always wave - with my left hand only, the right stays welded to the .50 cal. You can always tell there’s a village ahead because the trees start to thin and the umber houses begin to multiply. They could have been built yesterday or a hundred years ago and the only thing that changes is the age of ...

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“They haven't even won my heart and mind” by Maxwell Brooks

Submitted to Contest #276

John Montague lived alone. While he had lovers in his younger years, he had never settled down with any of them and as middle age set in, he found that he was quite content with his lot. A successful software engineer, he had purchased a private home tucked away in a quiet corner of a popular neighborhood on the edge of town. Some nights, he lay awake thinking of the nightlife downtown and considered getting a Lyft or Uber to a trendy bar to recapture the exploits of his youth, but he always decided he would rather just stay home and watch T...

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“Alone at the End of the World” by Matthew Henry

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #268

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“Stranger Danger” by Kyla Davis

Submitted to Contest #276

In late August 1982, I traveled with my parents to visit my grandfather, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and needed long-term care. What was meant to be a long weekend stretched into an extended stay, leaving me to fly home alone to return to work. My mother, anxious about the idea, was relieved when a middle-aged man we met at the airport—a fellow passenger—offered to look out for me. I saw him as a father figure. I was mistaken. It was a mistake I had made before—and would repeat again over the years. I wanted to bel...

Contains sensitive content relating to mental health & abuse. On paper, Edward was everything I wanted. Since then, I have rewritten, burned and sprinkled the ashes of that paper all over the very idea of “a type”. If a type can be flattened to paper, the likelihood is the embodied personality will be two-dimensional at best. At worst, they will be an Edward. We were set up by my parents, so I suppose there was a baseline level of trust that was unwarranted. For the most part, Mom and Dad had stayed far away from my love life but ...

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“The Subtle Irk” by Anna Fothergill

Submitted to Contest #276

This is the confession of an addict. I will admit that I have spent a lot of time not writing about my love of jogging, or running (both words mean different things to me; I will explain them later). Running was one of the things in my life that I came to completely on my own. It was never something that I was encouraged to do. I never did track and field in school (never even made it onto a team of any kind). I saw no one in my family who enjoyed going for a run. And it was not something that I ever suspected would change my life. But it ha...

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“On the Run” by Kendall Defoe

Submitted to Contest #276

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“The Math Teacher” by S.d. Schwarz

Submitted to Contest #276

“What should I write about? You know all my deepest, darkest secrets.” I sent the text to Alisha along with a screenshot of writing prompts. Prompt four, to be exact.Her response came instantly. “What about Valentine’s day three years ago? That random you hooked up with?”Oof. Did I want to relive the worst sexual experience of my life?“Or that one coworker of yours that was cute and flirty. The skater boy.”Oh, Mike. A scrawny guy two years younger than me whose immaturity somehow made him the most likable person I worked with until I quit.I ...

[references casual sex, and surviving car accident] Once, in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm leaving work on a Friday night. That day being at a dungeon where I've had a notably fun session with a client. Kinda in the mood, I have this yearning for excitement and satisfaction—but figure I should just get to bed: I have six hours of physically demanding art modeling poses the next day starting 9am, and then plans for a date with a woman whom I've promised playtime with. So I bike to the nearest subway thinking, let it go....

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“Be Bold” by S Q

Submitted to Contest #276

Looking over my shoulder, I walked fast, faster and out of the establishment, a well-known bar in West Hollywood named “The Rainbow Bar and Grill". I began running, I slightly sped up on the sidewalk a little faster, still looking back and suddenly came to an abrupt halt. “Ouch” I said, “what the hell”, I had run into someone on the sidewalk. A tall man standing solidly grounded, body firm posture, outside the building next to the Rainbow. I thought “damn” because I kept looking backwards instead of in the direction in which I was running, I...

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“Suddenly We” by Claudia Batiuk

Submitted to Contest #276

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“Another Origami Nothing” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #276

Gypsophila paniculata, commonly known as baby’s breath, grows in harsh environments, among sand and stony fixtures. In the world of floristry, it often finds its place as a bed of contrast for other brighter and more elegant flowers. In some places in North America, it’s identified as an invasive species, toxic to surrounding plants and even some animals. It’s my favorite flower, I think. I use it every Sunday. She and I fought so much over the course of our relationship that m...

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“Growing Anyway” by Conor Smith

Submitted to Contest #276

How did it happen? It was one of those bright spring mornings. You could almost hear the resin rising in the trunks of the trees overhanging the streets. I was on my way to shop at the local market. I had just turned down a narrow street when I noticed a young woman standing in a doorway. She appeared to be waiting for a taxi. I did no...

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“How did it happen?” by David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #276

I met Folagbade in the strangest of ways. And let me tell you, I am no stranger to meeting charming men in unexpected places and in unusual ways. But I digress. When I met Folagbade, I was on my way to Nairobi to attend a conference on behalf of my employers. My work hours were long and brutal, and the role was challenging, making me question my entire life and exciting in a way that made it impossible to turn down weekend assignments and after-hours tasks. I ended up in the airport lounge by chance. After I cleared security, I went o...

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“Spoiler alert” by Lady Kay

Submitted to Contest #276

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“They haven't even won my heart and mind” by Maxwell Brooks

Submitted to Contest #276

What images spring to mind when you think about libraries (if you ever do)? Shelf upon shelf of musty books - loose pages and old bookmarks drifting languidly to the ground as you browse the coffee-stained contents? Bulky filing cabinets that ominously threaten crush injuries, as their rickety drawers are slid open and index cards rummaged? Perhaps vigilant, careworn mothers, trying to do “the right thing” by immersing their toddlers in literature, while desperately hoping to escape before the next meltdown disturbs the smothering silence? F...

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“Shh… Confessions from the library” by Sarah Jupp

Submitted to Contest #276

The ChoicebyBurt Sage I want you to give me a very short oral biographical sketch of who you are,” Edith said to William. “How do you describe yourself?” Edith, a marriage counselor with three decades of experience, was meeting with William Randolph Pierce III and his wife, Susan, in her meeting room. Susan had requested the session, and William had reluctantly agreed. “My name is William Randolph Pierce, III, and I am a tenured Professor of Physics at Dartmouth University,” William began. “I am one of the youngest tenured professors at Dar...

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“The Choice” by Burton Sage

Submitted to Contest #276

So Far Away Five decades ago I was completing my senior year at college. As was customary back in those days, I lived in the dormitory for the duration of the four years while I was seeking my Bachelor’s Degree, at what is now called Kean University, in Union, New Jersey. I thoroughly enjoyed the college experience. The classes and professors were intellectually stimulating, as was the era when I attended, being the late sixties and early seventies. &nbs...

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“So Far Away” by Marion Cohen

Submitted to Contest #276

Three months ago I didn’t understand bikes. All I saw were: pedals and handlebars, one very awkward saddle, wheels, frames. Bikes were fiddly constructed vehicles from which I had fallen off countless times and into which my father would shove a wooden stick when, unfailingly supportive, he tried to teach me to cycle. And yet, one golden day in a land of everlasting autumn I rode on the rack of a bike – murderous pain stabbing my back – with a friend of mine sweating profusely behind its handlebar, I finally understood.Through toil...

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“Murderess back pain” by Hanna Brauncajs

Submitted to Contest #276