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11160+ 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 693 of 745

Pleasant Company

Submitted to Contest #73

Aunt Rowena’s stooped but ever-imposing shadow lingered at Tessa’s back. The elderly woman’s weak vision followed her niece’s every motion: adding another plop of golden mashed potatoes to her plate, taking a sip of champagne, then tilting her head to smile through the previous spiteful commentary. Rowena slammed the end of her cane against the pink quartz floor. Having purposely missed the immaculate runner rug, the resulting crack reverberated off the high ceiling and bounced between the walls and tall, pristine windows. The twel...

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Workin’ on The ‘Bird

Submitted to Contest #73

 “It’s inside the distributor, there.” Leaning under the hood, De’Veon used a long brown finger to point at the back of the air filter housing. All his fingers were long and brown, dark on the tops and a kind of coffee brown on the undersides with darker lines at the creases. They extended out from giant palms on the ends of his long arms, yet everything about the man was in proportion. He was just very tall, and lean with it. I remember when we brought the ‘bird home this time last year, the week before Christmas. From the passenger se...

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Forthy's Burden

Submitted to Contest #73

The bird's voice, amazingly human-like, but way too loud, filled the studio apartment with a cacophony of words that Jim Forthy did not understand but whose volume had sent him to the edge of a severe headache. The creature, an African gray parrot, was screaming words in Swahili and French and would not stop. Forthy, a young man of mild, but unambitious disposition, had begun seriously entertaining bird recipe thoughts. The parrot, with the packet of literature that came with it, was described as “an unsurpassed talker.” That was manifest...

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The Adventures of Bella Easterbrook

Submitted to Contest #73

It was still early, the feeble wintry rays barely penetrating through the grimy windows, when I shivered out of my troubled sleep. The pet shop was shadowy and cold, the silence interspersed with soft hisses and murmurs as the animals were waking up. Pericles and Artemisia, the pair of tortoises who lived in the terrarium, were still slumbering inside their carapaces, immobile and inert, and Aaz, the giant boa constrictor, was already in hibernation mode. Ara, the giant Amazon, was coughing and hawking, his feathers ruffled, his mien bleak. ...

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On the Fifth Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me…

Submitted to Contest #73

           The first time a guy got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, I was five years old. He was six. Max Wade, with his cherub dimples, encyclopedic knowledge of Saturday morning cartoons, and a slight lisp from an ironically missing set of two front teeth. He lived next door. Our families had been friends forever: backyard barbeques every summer, tandem camping trips or sledding excursions, and yes, and annual Christmas Eve party.        ...

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The little drummer boy

Submitted to Contest #73

“Just go, we’re all going.” Josh nudged at Roland, “It’ll be fun, mate.”  “No thank you, I bloody hate parties, with a passion.” Last party Roland attended was in his younger years when the band visited Germany for a gig. He got way too drunk and made a complete arse of himself, and he was not going to do that again. “Mandy is going to be there.” Peter rang in, the bassist of said band. “We need our drummer, or there’s really no point in going.” Roland shook his head, “Get Parker to fill in, he was with you guys before I was anyways.” J...

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The King of Carrion

Submitted to Contest #73

Although he loved her from afar, she sized him up fairly quickly, determined him to be reliable, then volunteered him to watch her cockatoo for the holiday break. “I’ll be back next week. Its food is in the plastic bag. If you could, give it some fruit once or twice a day,” she said breezily over her shoulder, as if parenting parrots came naturally. “What type of fruit—” he tried to ask her. As the door slammed on her way out, the parrot gave an ear-splitting chirp. He looked at the bird, waiting for it to stop. But the bird chirpe...

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4 Times She Thought is Was a Proposal and the 1 Time it Was

Submitted to Contest #73

She's always been way too smart for me. She knew all of my next moves before I did. I don't think I've managed to surprise her at all in the years that we've been together. I was devastated when she told Jess that she had a feeling I was planning to propose soon. I had at least held out the hope that I could pull off a proposal without her finding out. But obviously, I was still going to do it. Sure, she had figured it out, but I spent a lot of money on the ring and I had been thinking about this moment for weeks. That's when I came up...

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Grace of the Bard (Part the First)

Submitted to Contest #73

I wake up to my phone beeping a steady rhythm. I groan. I've been on tour with Rosaline Height for six days, and I'm so tired I could sleep for a week. It doesn't seem that hard to get out there and do a few dance steps, but if you do that for six hours to your least favorite songs (sorry, Rosaline) in the middle of the night, then it gets you pretty tired. I don't even sleep well anymore. Every morning we fly to a new location, and every night we perform. I don't even get my spotlight-- I'm a backup dancer. The alarm keeps going. And then I...

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Exodus

Submitted to Contest #73

At each performance of the “Nutcracker” here in America, I have one of the best seats in the house: off stage at stage left. I get to watch the dancers float in from off stage and then back off stage again. I get to watch the prince and Clara as they sit in their throne-like carriage. I get to watch the different curtains rise and fall, slide across the stage and back again. I get to watch the lights above the stage change colors to match the mood of each scene. It is always magical and I never get bored of it. I think only performing back i...

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The Assignment

Submitted to Contest #73

(Warning: some strong language.)It was the third day before Christmas and my true love send to me… a grumpy guy making a delivery.Actually, my true love didn’t send me anything. I just thought it made for a nice rhyme. Who am I kidding? It was a shitty rhyme! Also, I don’t have a girlfriend. I don’t have anyone. To be fair, that’s what happens when you’re a contract killer. Not a lot of people lining outside your door to apply for the best friend position.And, well, the delivery part was actually true. The guy made such a sour face while dro...

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A Chaotic Christmas

Submitted to Contest #73

“You nine ladies dancing are rocking it tonight!” Amanda Sings encouraged. “Patty, can we have a little chat?”        “Sure thing. What’s up?”        “Well, I know you were looking forward to some time off this Christmas, but I really need you on stage with me. I’ll pay you double the rate.”       “I don’t know. I need time to do my shopping and decorating.”        “I’ll give you the next three days off, rota...

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Dreams

Submitted to Contest #73

Bianca Hawthorne loved music. Ever since she was a little girl, she always turned up the volume on either the radio or TV and danced along to whatever was playing. She wasn't all that fond of country songs, but there were a few exceptions. Her favorite type of music was pop rock.She could watch programs like MTV for hours. She scribbled lyrics on paper. Melodies were always churning around in her head. For her 15th birthday, her parents bought her a drum kit. From then onwards, she was hooked. She had enthusiasm and even took lessons, which ...

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Overworked

Submitted to Contest #73

Doseok had been working hard this month. He had gone to a Christmas party on the sixth of December and had been given many opportunities for different jobs. He had taken as many as he could because he felt that he should make a special effort on Christmas. He loved to bring joy to people and that was why he chose to be a musician. Doseok had to turn down multiple jobs because, starting from the eighteenth he would be going on a short tour as a backup dancer for a group of semi-famous musicians. He had been approached at the Christmas pa...

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The Bird and Me

Submitted to Contest #73

Across my five-hundred-ten square foot apartment on the twenty-third floor of an early-1980s utilitarian building at the southern end of the Bronx come a few staccato chirps and whistles of the American goldfinch that now resides with me. His name is Charlie.I open my eyes. I'm in bed. On the ceiling above me there is a faint crack in the plaster. It starts about an inch from the wall straight above my right shoulder and then winds its way in a jagged pattern toward the center of the room, where it disappears briefly behind the light fixture...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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