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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

11110+ 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 675 of 741

Crossroads

Submitted to Contest #75

I am still confused about how to deal with the impasse and what to make out of the situation. I am always the one who needs rescuing from love’s mess. I never thought I would have to play the savior one day.Yes, I played Cupid for them. I always have, for many. So, when it came to my two best friends, it went without saying that I would be the one bringing them together. But it never changed the fact that I sucked at love. I still do.Forever confused, forever messy, either my love interests left me, or I did, out of boredom or out of a missi...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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I CHOOSE YOU

Submitted to Contest #75

While you were bent on doing the wrong thing I made sure to send my soul to you. I wanted you to see me in you. I wanted you to really get a chance at being the best version of you. Sometimes I felt you pulling me to the other side of the world. A world where all things were wrong. A world where you pretended to be at peace just because you were doing what people wanted you to do.It felt all wrong but you insisted on doing it. I put up all signs to show you that you deserved a better life but you clearly became blind to all these signs but I...

5 likes 4 comments 4
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Good Old Joe has Something to Confess

Submitted to Contest #75

You can call me Joe.It is not my real name, but it is a good name.It is an everyman name.Joe can have almost any identity, be any shape, age or size.Joe steps over the divides we erect between ourselves.Whether it be Regular Joe, G.I. Joe or just your run of the mill, Joe Blow; there is a space in all our lives for Joe. We can even wake up in the morning and drink a cup of Joe. Anyway I promised you a secret, something nobody knows about me, so to make this easier to tell, we can pretend it is just happening to Joe. Good old Joe, who just li...

26 likes 16 comments 16
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To Know Success

Submitted to Contest #75

The clang of the hallway clock greets the cool air like an old friend. The sound hums through the space into the room and her lips quirk in satisfaction. She leans back against the cool leather of the chair, letting it sway to the left, to the right, and she closes her eyes. The room is still, peaceful. Just the slow swish-swish of her skirt crossing the base of the chair each time she passes over it. Swissh. Quiet. Swissh. Quiet. Vaguely, in the distance, there are some fireworks going off, but not here. The only other sound is the buz...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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SEEKING HELP

Submitted to Contest #75

Lokesh was searching for a document which he thought he had kept in the drawer. It was needed urgently in connection with approval of his plans for widening of his Lottery Ticket shop. While pulling out things from the drawer, he got an old letter folded into four flaps. He knew what it was. Still, out of curiosity he opened the letter and ran a cursory glance over the contents. It was a letter written by him to a cinema star Sonu Sood, though he did not post it. Thank God! He did not send it to the star. He felt quite ashamed now to have wr...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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Daddy’s Mystery

Submitted to Contest #75

Blood...blood... That’s all that I saw...It’s just blood everywhere.... Suddenly,everything turned black and all I can heard was the police siren outside... Then,I heard a voice said “There someone in here!” And the next thing I knew I can’t hear or see anything... At the moment,I thought it was the end of everything... My life... My journey... Out of the blue moon,I saw a light... I told myself “This is it...Your in heaven now...There’s nothing that can hurt you anymore...Your fine..Everything is gonna be okay...” But as I walke...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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Girl Emancipated

Submitted to Contest #75

Another woman came in between her parents. Another woman built a wall of divide between them. She made sour the love they shared. He pointed accusing fingers at his wife, that she was the cause of the turmoil. He said it was all through her their marriage hit the rocks. If she had complained a little less and been appreciative, probably they wouldn’t have been separated. These her father told her elder brother. Her mother left when she was six. She was left alone with her dad and her siblings. Though her step mum also kept company but i...

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Killer

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: childhood abuse “What is it you’re doing here again?”  Layla Cross was not having it. She hadn’t been taken from her already congealing five am breakfast to sit across from this woman who looked pained and drawn, like Layla was doing something to her instead of the other way around.  “I just want to ask you some things. Get to know you a little. It’s part of the process.” “What process is that?” “I think I can help you.” She barked out a laugh. “What are you, a lawyer or something? You’re about ten years too late.”...

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Tom and Jerry

Submitted to Contest #75

Abiye wondered if the first person to say never judge a book by its cover went to hell like they should have.She hated it— an understatement. It was disgusting. Nothing like she imagined. Horrific. And she was going to give Juliana an earful."It's not just what I had in mind," she told her editor over the phone."I prayed you wouldn't say that," Juliana answered and a strip of guilt trickled into Abiye's defense."It's not that I hate it," Abiye began slumping down on her lonely couch. "It's my first book Juliana. I want it to be good." Perfec...

2 likes 2 comments 2
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The Longest Journey Begins with a Single Step

Submitted to Contest #75

The Longest Journey Begins with a Single Step  These days the phrase ‘reinvent yourself’ is bandied about. There are endless self-help books and blogs which argue that it is possible to leave your old life behind and start a completely new one. Fiona Harrold’s book, ‘Reinvent Yourself’ sets out seven steps to reinvent yourself. You have to ask yourself, ‘who are you now, who do you want to be, be authentic, what do you want, fake it, look the part and finally, move on’. These books are very valuable and they certainly help some people...

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Pellucid Plans.

Submitted to Contest #75

“My story is scary, horrifying, and sadly true.So, when I was little my grandfather kept coming after my sister and doing ‘very bad things’ to her that I didn’t understand. I knew she didn’t like it and I had to protect her. I found a pocket knife in the garage of their house — one of those little red swiss army ones.I pocketed it and decided I would do what’s right.Next time he came for her, I defiantly pulled out that knife and stood between him and her saying he couldn’t do those things to her anymore. His face filled with hate and venom....

20 likes 10 comments 10
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Worlds Apart

Submitted to Contest #75

Worlds ApartA short narrative inspired by Reedsy’s Weekly Writing PromptsWritten byRobin GoodfellowHer heart surged with activity as the metal door with a glass pane slid over her. A hiss of air rushed out. Effectually Entombed she thought to herself. She would have shouted but no one would have heard her. Or at least paid her any mind. She was of course here on her own volition. It was the string of hope lent down by Grandmother spider to free her from herself.There were a few other bodies in the room clad in stereotypical lab attire. ...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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A New Life

Submitted to Contest #75

At cocktail parties, I’m often asked what exactly it is I do and my response is always the same – that I help people to leave their old life behind and to start a new life. “Oh, so you’re a shrink,” some would say. “Well, I suppose in a certain way I am,” I would say. “Or are you some kind of guru or mystic, who lives in an ashram in India?” they’d ask. With a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other I’d say, “Well, let me tell you then.” And so, like that I’d begin to explain what it is I do. But first I’m always careful to look around...

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Smells Like Opportunity

Submitted to Contest #75

Get Out More. That's it, my big challenge, yet of all the fabulous awe-inspiring New Year's resolutions out there, this one paled in comparison. I mean, the effort required to achieve it would be as easy as stepping out of my house and well, getting out! That however wasn't so, and it hadn't been for years now. I cannot remember the exact day or time I became shut out from the rest of the world but I remember the events that lead to it. Being the country bumkin that I inevitably was, the excitement that came with moving to a new city w...

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A veiled epoch

Submitted to Contest #75

Clinging vessels were as usual the wake up call for Chinna. He lay on a dried palm leaf mat covered in a faded thin .He could see the clear white sky through the cracked terra-cotta roof. Last night he slept holding his kaleidoscope .. the one he had made from scratch,now lying safely next to him. The other boys laughed when he told them his plan to make one and today he would prove them wrong. Drops of excitement slowly formed on his otherwise painfully deserted heart. He sat up.. the kaleidoscope safe and secure on his lap as he folded his...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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