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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.

150+ 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 8 of 10

The road to Tickety-boo

Submitted to Contest #306

Kangaroo Point, April 1983We are about to leave Kangaroo Point in Brisbane and continue our journey north. The nights are getting cooler now and the sleeping bag is not enough. We need extra blankets. I let the sun warm me as I sit on the step outside the flat, sipping tea and looking out at the frangipani and paw paw trees where the fruit bats have done a raid through the night, leaving half eaten fruit all over the ground. We have spent almost four months in this old wooden collection of buildings from the 1920s, built on stilts to keep th...

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Communication

Submitted to Contest #306

Communication without a series of emails, calls and text messages.My early life was a nightmare. I had a drunk father. Within three years of my parents' marriage my mother had thrown him out of our two bedroom apartment in the Pigalle area of Paris. Mother then without the support and warmth of a man started to slide in a deep depression. It was not long before she lost her job. In order to maintain the minimum income to live in the city she turned to prostitution. Consequently there always seemed to be numerous male friends invited to our s...

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Diary for My Daughter

Submitted to Contest #306

NOTE: This story contains themes of grief and loss, and a mention of domestic violence. TUESDAY, 10th of June. But in life, there are no what-ifs, just what is. My beautiful Beck. I wish you could read this. I know people aren’t supposed to read other people’s diaries, but heck, Beck, I read yours. After you left home at fifteen, disappearing through your bedroom window. At first, I couldn’t understand, and then later on, I could. You were tangled up with the wrong crowd. Wrote about things I never expected to read. Our close mum-daughter re...

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Urban Threads

Submitted to Contest #306

Note: this story contains verbal abuse... Stella: Hey Lake, I’m at the mall. 👜 Lake: cool. could ya get a couple t-shirts and socks for the girls? They’ve outgrown all of theirs. Tx Stel. You’re awesome. Xx 😎 ps. Sizes 6 & 8. Stella: 👍 Stella: Got em. Close call. they checked my bag coming out of the dept store. Good thing Tammy sewed the secret section into the bottom. It holds a ton. Phew. 😬 Mum: Hi Stella, we haven’t heard from you in a while. Will we be seeing you over the holidays? You can take the train from Manhattan. We’ll pick...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Explaining Myself to my Ghost One Entry at a Time

Submitted to Contest #306

1st entry.Hello me. I know we haven't always been a ghost. COVID did that to us. One day we had a career and focus, optimism even. Then the world changed and dragged us along. I admit, we have been a bit of a frog in our focus on how to effect genuine social and environmental change.Our friends always seemed to agree we need kinder, cleaner, more effective ways to make a living in order to function more consistently at peak energy.Then one day my optimism crashed. I realized we wern’t going to get there. Plastics and forever chemicals are in...

9 likes 8 comments 8
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Grocery List

Submitted to Contest #306

Content Warning: This story contains potentially triggering material, and includes themes of mental health, poverty, and substance use (alcohol and cigarettes). Bread. I need to get bread. It's completely out. It's easy to make sandwiches when you can’t make anything else- but not if there's no bread to make them. What else do I need to get? My cupboards and fridge have been empty for too long. I can’t live on ketchup packets and corn tortillas. No. I need to brush my hair, find some decent clothes, and go to the store. Peanut Butter. Thank...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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Screaming Lasagna

Submitted to Contest #306

Allowing my hairy paws to trample through the early morning dew on the spring grass. I'm used to it. Must be early May, feels like summer must be on the way. My golden coat of fur to warm my exterior wealth. Went by Jessie's she must of overslept. Not a chance of romance early today. I'll catch her a little later. She always needing a cat nap or two, three. I had to stop off at old Romone's though, Mr. Devineer, show star. Had a late niter out with the boys. Looks and sounds like I missed out on a real showstopper of a good time down by the ...

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The Inescapable Phone Call

Submitted to Contest #306

“This is the last time that I am calling you and tell you to come home.” The voice of my mother is shrieking at me. “As usual,” I think, “she is on a good one and hysterical." I stay quiet and let her scream. It's easy now because she is thousands of miles away from Los Angeles.I am sitting in our Hollywood apartment on Franklin Avenue, on the couch. My four Swedish roommates and I stole the couch out of the lobby of a building on Hollywood Boulevard. I am smiling, about the couch and what my mother would scream about knowing that the couch ...

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Our Life

Submitted to Contest #306

OUR LIFE Written by: Thomas SmithEditing Note: Bold letters indicate changes from the final version 4. INT. LIVING ROOM – DAYLana sits on the sofa; Emma and Lauren by her side, eating popcorn. EMMAAre you excited for your date, Lana? Lana smiles dreamily into the camera while Lauren pokes her reddening cheeks.LAURENOf course she is. Paul is literally her dream man. The doorbell rings, at which Lauren and Emma kiss Lana on the cheek, before leaving to their respective rooms. 5. INT. LIVING ROOM – LATERLana and Paul sit in the sofa. Pa...

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Poison Poison

Submitted to Contest #306

EXT. BEACH ATLANTIC OCEAN - DawnThe light of a new day is just breaking over the horizon coating the beach in a soft glow. With her back to the camera, AMELIA, 29, sits on the sand, watching the waves crash. Her knees are pulled in tight and her arms are wrapped around her bare knees. She takes a deep breath in. In the distance, THEO, 36, walks towards Amelia, who turns her head when she hears his approach, resting her cheek on her knees as her hair blows in the salt breeze.Theo sits next to Amelia and mirrors her position. THEO(with a sligh...

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Click

Submitted to Contest #306

Click. The computer screen says it’s 10:00 p.m.Click. I type in my password.Click. My right hand embraces the mouse.Click. I open Solitaire. Click. I start to play.For three days, I have played Solitaire.Why haven’t I turned on my cell phone, looked at my emails? Click. I win the first game.Click. Play.Click. Wait! The stupid game wants me to play an ad. I refuse to pay to get rid of ads, so I’ll just have to put up with them.Like most bipolar people, I know there are no good reasons not to take my meds; I just don’t get around to doing it s...

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Overstepping

Submitted to Contest #306

Subject: Request for Appointment and Supervision Inquiry for Bachelor Thesis 20. From Sullivan, Finley, <finley.sullivan@farberginstitute.edu> 04.06.2024, 07:27 Dear Kim,I’m honestly speechless. It deeply pains me that you chose to use this very thread of emails, our shared space of communication as evidence against me. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive that.I suppose this is the end of what we had. It saddens me to say it, but this isn’t how a relationship, any relationship, should end. I’m feeling incredibly frustrated an...

11 likes 4 comments 4
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Recipe for a Hot Mess

Submitted to Contest #306

Recipe for a Hot Mess:‘Motherhood Edition’ Serves: Everyone, all the time (plus baby). Prep Time: 9 months (sometimes a few weeks over.) Cook Time: One sleepless night, or ½ a day to reach 'Hot Mess' peak. Ingredients: Substitute with whatever seasoning you’re in (pregnancy, newborn, toddler, child, teenager, flying-the-nest). 1 cup of sick, snotty toddlers. Throw in baby spit-up for extra flavour. 4 heaped sink loads of dishes (bonus: if it’s Weet-bix or dried porridge). 2 overflowing hampers of dirty clothes—any type. A 'Hot Mess' isn’t pi...

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Poured Over: Sylvan Esso’s Recipe

Submitted to Contest #306

You will need:Water.Fresh Ground Coffee. Remember the first date with Ryan where he took you to Blue Bottle, back before it became what it is now? He asked if you knew what a siphon was, pointing to the blown glass exhibition. You did, but couldn’t spell it if prompted by that follow-up. Someone probably tired of cleaning the brown film from inside that coffee-marble-run, all its loopdeloops. The bow, the dip, the woo. Dating him was like that. First crushing on someone in the sunshine, at a day-date, down an alley, inside a place that echoe...

21 likes 13 comments 13
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Questions of Infinity

Submitted to Contest #306

Stardate 01.07.2157 // 19:42 “We’re tracking it, but it’s not on a standard path. It keeps making adjustments…” Mr. Williams stated clearly. “I’m aware,” Jane replied calmly into the terminal built into her desk. The feed was wavering due to the outdated tech. “Then you know it’s heading to the asteroid belt.” “I’m well aware.” She cleared her throat and sipped her wine. “Skip it, Howard. What’s the game plan?” “We don’t have one. We hope your deep space scanners picked up more than we have.” “Of course you don’t…” She clicked her tongue an...

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