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10900+ 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 722 of 727

Maybe Tomorrow

Submitted to Contest #54

You want to learn how to knit. Why? You have no clue.Okay, that’s incorrect. You do have a motivation that marginally makes sense.The reason is this.Actually, to know the reason, you have to go back to Stage 3 of whatever this funk is, somewhere between Day 133 to Day 152. You have to sit and marinate in the stew of emotions before you can try and fail to put it into words.Ready? No.Stage 1 is denial deception.It’s fine, you’re fine, everything is fine. You respond to texts asking hey, how are you? with utterly fallacious, exuberant, positiv...

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When the Dark Things Come

Submitted to Contest #54

The sun isn’t even awake yet, but she’s already a failure. It’s the formula this time.  She mixes the powder and water and realizes too late that she has grabbed a bottle from the dirty side of the sink. She has to start again.  As she dumps it, she does the quick math in her head; 29.5 ounces in the can.  The can was $34.99.  2 ounces in the bottle. How much money per ounce? It doesn’t matter.  It’s liquid money oozing down the drain.  Money that they hadn’t planned for and definitely didn’t have to spare.&nbs...

20 likes 4 comments 4
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Back to you.

Submitted to Contest #54

After six long years of devastating losses,I had finally decided to go back to the only place that held happy memories for me.Being back in this town gave me a feeling of nostalgia. I had always wanted to come back...If only we hadn't left in the first place,maybe my parents would still be here;among the living,but as they say,that's a story for another day.The people here were still as friendly as I remembered, the scenery was still breathtaking if not even better,but mostly;HE was here and he had crept his way into my mind everyday since I...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Second Chance for Love

Submitted to Contest #54

When I first heard about the new reality show, I thought it was ridiculous. Why would I want to go on a show to find love? Everyone knows those shows are not “reality.” Also, most of the couples break up after a short time. Only a really desperate person would go on this show. Right? So I ignored the call for contestants. So imagine my surprise when I got a call from a producer, telling me they loved my entry. I was going to be on the show “Second Chances.” “But I didn’t apply!” I said. “Your friends sen...

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Bailing

Submitted to Contest #54

Bailing A short accompaniment to This Darkness is Mine By Mackenzie Littledale 8/7/2020 Michelle downed the last of her Chianti and paced Joe’s living room. “It’s time for me to apologize to your friend and his wife,” she said, racked with guilt. Joe put down his highball of whiskey on the wood and glass coffee table. “I was wondering when you’d come around to that,” he said, rolling his ‘R’ in his heavy Cuban accent. She let out a heavy breath, wishing for more alcohol, but it was almost bedtime, time to take her medication. “I couldn...

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Jonathan

Submitted to Contest #53

Jonathan Dryden’s red popsicle was melting. It dripped through his fat fingers, and when he wiped them on the front of his faded old tee shirt it looked like blood streaks. Jonathan probably did that on purpose, though. Jonathan always did weird stuff like that.  “Tell them the werewolf story, Jonathan,” said snotty little Randy Bates, who had been following Jonathan around for most of the summer. “Jonathan saw a werewolf last year, guys.” Jonathan smirked and puffed out his chest a little bit as he tossed his popsicle ...

15 likes 2 comments 2
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The Taste of Good Food

Submitted to Contest #53

The sun shone brightly from above while the streets down below lay abandoned, ghosted by its inhabitants. A young boy slowed his pace as he frantically licked the ice cream that he held. He had just bought the popsicle a few minutes ago and yet it had already been reduced to a sticky liquid that was crawling down his hand. ‘Better risk saliva on his hand than waste all that ice cream’, the boy thought. It’s not every day the boy can eat a popsicle. He had been out throwing trash for a young lady when she gave him an extra 20 pesos to bu...

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Johanna and Flora in the Forest of Flowers

Submitted to Contest #53

The icy pole packaging said that it was blueberry. It was tasteless though, and melting, spreading a sticky layer of sugar and ice over my skin. The beach for me, was a place where I always got sunburnt, despite smearing SPF 100 sunscreen all over my freckled skin, where I was marred by tan lines for months. It was a place I imagined myself going to when I realised the futility of self-actualisation. A place where I could try and do yoga with the waves lapping at my ankles, somehow get drunk on lemonade and high on icy pole. It was the ...

48 likes 25 comments 25
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Death of the Fairies

Submitted to Contest #53

A few weeks with the parents in Michigan seemed like a good way to spend the summer. Classes were over and Jen had saved enough money during the school year to take a two-and-a-half-month vacation until work resumed in the fall. Her students had also bestowed on her several gift cards for coffees and small purchases at retail stores, on behalf of their parents, who made more money than she did. On holidays and other special occasions—like the end of the school year—she could always count on such small tokens of appreciation for watching thei...

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Summer Dreams

Submitted to Contest #53

“Tell me again why living in Florida during the summer is a good thing,” I said, turning on the garden hose. “It's nothing but nonstop heatwaves.”Sitting nearby on a lawn chair, my roommate and best friend Crystal let out an exaggerated sigh. “I would but I’m suffering from heatstroke so hurry up and hand over the water.”“You don’t think this is a bit pathetic?” I adjusted the flow to an easy stream before handing the hose to her. “Sitting in our backyard, dressed in hot pants and tank tops while soaking each other with a garden hose?”“You g...

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My final days before going away to college.

Submitted to Contest #53

I would describe my last week home before leaving for college as chaos. This year is going to be my Sophomore year which makes it a little easier compared to last year since I know what to do and what to expect but still, I was in two minds the entire week. Fortunately I had Stephanie, my best friend and college roommate to help balance the insanity. We were roommates last semester so it only made sense that we paired up again. A great roommate can make all the difference in school so when you find one never let them go. Bribe them to stay. ...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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22

Submitted to Contest #52

“So what exactly do you want?” It is, of course, a loaded question.  The list of things I want is long and complicated.  I want to go back in time to when our lives didn’t revolve around the great and terrible WE. WE are so excited for Christmas.  WE are hosting game night.  WE love Grey’s Anatomy.   I want the girl that lived above the 8th street laundromat and cooked terrible Indian dishes and had actual feelings and independent thoughts and a unique personality and didn’t care about linens or flowers or types of...

16 likes 0 comments 0
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Worst in Might

Submitted to Contest #52

All my life as a virgin, I wished that any man who would marry me should never have tasted the best of a woman. As a working-class lady, I gave my whole life on work as if without it I cannot live. Many of my friends were so jealous of my commitment to work. “Bissi, why are you always at the top of everyone in this company. I wonder what your fate will be if at the end you are fired from service,” Dorothy asked her during lunch break. Bissi love having fun after lunch and her co-workers draw to her because she's eloquent and elegant looki...

14 likes 6 comments 6
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HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

Submitted to Contest #52

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS:It was March 2003, and we’d just moved to Colorado from California, to be closer to my parents. My father had been unwell so we’d made the decision to move closer so that we could help support my mother. We’d only been there a week, so we’d had a busy time moving in and making our new home comfortable and livable.I remember the day clearly; it was a Monday morning. My plan was to drop the kids off to their new school and then call mom to tell her that I would be there for lunch and I would be surprising them with a treat, ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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Memories That Smell Lakey

Submitted to Contest #51

The smell of the lake is hard to describe. It permeates the air the minute you step from the car, thick and moist, fresh and murky. Lakey, for lack of a better word. A sense of anticipation grows as we drive through the tunnel of cottages: a long, green canopy of drifting leaves, rows of small, picturesque houses lining either side. We are almost there, transported to what feels like another realm, away from real life. With that first breath, deep and bracing, something down inside me settles, content, at peace. This is the place where a hun...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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