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10880+ Contemporary Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. All the newest modern day stories to thrill and inspire, all in one place.

Contemporary Short Stories – Page 2 of 726

On Second Thought ...

Submitted to Contest #297

ON SECOND THOUGHT…Steve McCluer Some might argue that beer drinking and skydiving should not be associated with each other. But they usually are . . . although usually not at the same time.The guys at the front table had obviously started their beer-drinking game well before the sunset jump. I gave them a wide berth and looked for my group in a tavern filled with skydivers. I found them in the back.Beer in hand, I took a seat at the table and joined one of several conversations going on at once. Minutes passed before I notice Jim Porter s...

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The Unwanted Kittens

Submitted to Contest #297

The Unwanted KittensIt was just before midnight, and I was walking home from my friend Tonya's party. I lived ten blocks from her house and thought walking home would be no big deal. It would only take a short time to walk to my house.I was fine for the first two blocks. The streetlights led me down the sidewalk, but when I turned on Moonlight Avenue, there were very few lights, and it was so quiet. All I could hear was my heavy breathing. As I walked in the darkness, my imagination started playing tricks.While I was walking down the street,...

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My Brother's Book

Submitted to Contest #297

Clara sat upright in her bed. She leaned heavily on the pillows, wistfully penning a poem about her brother.‘Oh holier than thouYou leave your markA snail trail across my years of growthConvinced and convictedWe stare across the voidOf natureUniverseThrough lives spent in recoveryHave we, though?Recovered?Each of us choosing a salve of different colorsA collection of beliefs that forgeOur way forwardWe wonderWe reach acrossAnd yet, and yetPlease…do not pray for me.I've never shared my beliefs orWants, or desires. No. Not with youThe judge, ...

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Sat. 11 am: Willow Point Park- SINGLE DADS CLUB

Submitted to Contest #297

Sat. 11 am- Willow Point ParkSINGLE DADS CLUB4:26 amHe cleaned the dishes. If I were to be kind about it, it only took him a year. I’m too drained to be petty. Hell, I’m too tired to continue even thinking about it. The throbbing hum quieted once I stepped into our apartment, kicking off the orthopedics that fused to my soles within the past 20 hours (but who’s counting? My paystub better be). I wind up my good shoulder, and chunk my trusty-Tired.Excuse me? I look past the kitchen and squint, hissing, try beloved-A cough seemed to come from ...

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Killing Time

Submitted to Contest #297

I tap my screen twice. Selecting the order and opening it. Donk. Cold air. The sliding window’s door hits the ends with a noise seared like a brand into my mind. “Hi!” My voice is the best simulacrum of enthusiasm that I can muster. It’s hollow, I know my smile doesn’t meet my eyes, and as time has gone on I’ve started to pitch my voice up too high to be welcoming, it’s edging on accusatory now. Unfair to the entirely placid woman sitting in her car across from me. To her, this is her first time having this interaction in at least a day, pro...

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What Do You Have Available?

Submitted to Contest #297

I never really thought about destiny until I met Kate.Destiny. Fate. Those were things they talked about in the movies.It wasn’t real life.Twenty years ago, I was twenty-five years old.And if you ask me how I was, there wouldn’t be much to say.I was living my life like it didn’t matter.I got up. Watched T.V. Ate. Went to bed.I drove for Uber when I needed to pay the rent and that was all.Most people would think there had to be a reason for this sort of behavior.There wasn’t.I just didn’t care.About anything.At 11pm on June 25th 2023, I was s...

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12:24 to Infinity

Submitted to Contest #297

Whether he was conscious was up for debate. I received the news from my mother a day after my father's trip to the ER. It had happened before. He was a chronic smoker, and even after the first time, needing to receive a little metallic device inserted into an artery and bleeding with the tiniest scratch, he still didn't live any differently. Then there was the second time. I barely remember what happened. He returned just the same. So it goes. "I see," I said. "No," Mother said, "I think it's real this time." "You think so?" "Do you want to ...

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A Day As Dark As Night

Submitted to Contest #297

Meredith opened her eyes and yawned. The room was heavy, dark, and gray and matched her mood. I still have two hours until the alarm goes off. I should be asleep, but apparently, my mind disagrees with my body. Stretching languidly, first twisting her body from right to left, then from left to right, she threw off the thick purple bohemian-style duvet and sat up to pull on her fluffy beige Uggs slippers. Chilled by the cold night air in her short-sleeve hooded pajamas, Meredith admired the faint streaks of dawn chasing away the darkest part ...

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What time is it Anyway

Submitted to Contest #297

‘What time is it?’ She asked, no one in particular, just looking down at her watch, shaking her head in disbelief, and glancing up at the clock on the wall to confirm.‘Are you kidding me, why is an hour working here taking three hours’ throwing her head down on the bar beside the register, she gave a moan.These over-night shifts at the bar and gaming room were an absolute killer. If only she had napped earlier today like she normally did before one of these over-night shifts, but no she had chosen to go shopping, have her nails done, have lu...

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Four O'clock Appointment

Submitted to Contest #297

Four O’Clock Appointment I had a four o’clock veterinarian appointment for my aging black Labrador Retriever Jordan. It was a ten-minute drive from our house in Chugiak to Eagle River. It was late summer which meant the Fireweed was going to seed, a clear sign winter was not far behind. There was plenty of room in our van for Jordan to lie on a blanket in the back.“How are you doing, girl?” I asked, but she did not respond, preferring to sleep instead. This would be a very difficult appointment. It was hard to believe she had been with ...

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Three Little Words

Submitted to Contest #297

Three Little Words by Alan Hancock2 520 words Back in the days when she took an interest in what I did and said, my wife gave me a book to read. I didn’t get very far with it. The bit that stuck with me was where the writer said how important it was to tell the truth. All the time. Doesn’t matter how messy things get. Tell everyone exactly what’s on your mind. If you don’t then all this bad energy builds up inside and fucks up your life. That was the message as far as I could understand it. I meant to ask her if she’d tried it out herself a...

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I Touched His Face

Submitted to Contest #297

I ran into the house through the garage door. Michelle, my spouse, called me sounding frantic as I was pulling into the driveway. Vic? Nick is in the bathroom on the floor. There is vomit everywhere. I looked into the downstairs bathroom, the one with the washer and dryer and the extra shower. My son was lying across the floor, on his stomach, face turned to the side, rhythmically moaning, “uhnnn…uhnnn…uhnnn…uhnnn, incoherent, eyes closed, vomit on his blue sneakers, vomit on the walls and all over the fl...

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Stiff as a Board/Light as a Feather

Submitted to Contest #297

Sensitive Content Warning: This story involves characters who use fatphobic language and engage in fatphobic mindsets. The fatphobia in this story is there to bring attention to the issue, not to endorse these attitudes. This story also contains details of severe mental illness, as well as references to suicide.I am Stiff as a Board: The World in GrayJuly 3th, 2024My favorite superhero movie is Spiderman: Across The Spider-Verse. I am fascinated by the idea of parallel universes, that certain events in our lives are canon, and that maybe som...

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I’ll Remember April

Submitted to Contest #297

Summer, 1995Who ever thought my first love affair would occur in what we called the jazz shack—a once-proud open air chapel in the middle of the forest that Boy Scouts had repurposed with makeshift plywood walls? I also never imagined it would be with a piece of music, but that is truth. It's possible to fall head over heels in love with a melody. For me, it was I’ll Remember April, that ballad made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and countless jazz legends.The wind blew right through that chapel's gaps, carrying with it an assortm...

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All in the Mind

Submitted to Contest #296

Seconds probably seem like minutes to us both as I stand just staring.“…What?” she asks.I still don’t immediately answer. How can I? The answer is grave.Her eyes widen to signal she waits for it still.“Ummm, nothing,” I finally say. “Just gotta head to work soon.”“Yeah, well, it definitely doesn’t look like ‘nothing’.”My eyes try to communicate to her she’s right, but ah, what’s the use. I can’t even tell my own mother what’s really on my mind and has been for…far too long.“How about I make you a nice, warm cup of hot cocoa before you head o...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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