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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

150+ Creative nonfiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. The creative nonfiction stories on this page deliver exactly what it says on the tin: true stories told in weird and wonderful ways.

Creative nonfiction Short Stories – Page 2 of 10

DAYS AFTER

Submitted to Contest #306

DAY 1-MondayAnswer Machine: Hello. You have reached Marcie and Tom. We can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message after the beep, we will get back to you as soon as possible. Have a wonderful day! BEEEEP Me, leaving message: Hey, Mom. Just calling to say hi. I know you aren’t in right now, but figured I’d leave a message so you would know I called. By the way, I didn’t realize you still had Dad’s name on your voicemail recording. Has he been on the message this whole time? I know you miss him. Me, too. Well, I won’t chang...

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The Good Daughter Diner

Submitted to Contest #306

The Good Daughter Diner“Food is never just food. It’s memory, it’s history, it's love, and it’s loss.” —Padma LakshmiChef’s WelcomeI used to believe that moms should love to cook. They should pour their love for their families into baked goods and family dinners. Love should be a seasoning you could taste in the food, like salt or rosemary.My stepmother wasn’t like that.I thought I had lost my chance at having a real mom; she died when I was too young to remember, but in my mind, she smelled like birthday cake and warm buttered toast.Now my ...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Recipe for Disaster

Submitted to Contest #306

Recipe for DisasterI love mashed potatoes, there – I’ve said it—boring, white, fluffy, buttery, mushy mashed potatoes, steaming from the pot. My eldest daughter, Jessica, also loves mountains of mashed, earthy potatoes. Jess is unable to chew functionally due to a rare chromosome deletion and developmental disabilities. When her food is not a proper consistency, it can be a Recipe for Disaster. Mashed potatoes are her ideal food. Recipe: Mashed PotatoesIngredients:4 pounds of russet potatoes2-3 cloves of garlic, optional1/3 cup butter melted...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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A Man and His Music

Submitted to Contest #306

A Man and His MusicJeaninne Escallier KatoSet Up (Act I) Flashback: 1956 Suburban Van Nuys, California, dotted with old citrus ranches, duplex apartments, and new tract homes.On a warm spring day, Marilyn rushes to the local Catholic school to catch her son’s kindergarten performance. She is late because her two-year-old daughter pulled the iron off the ironing board, slightly burning her arm. Marilyn doesn’t drive, so she pushes her crying toddler in a stroller. When she tiptoes in through the back auditorium door, she sees her young son, A...

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Footsteps of Heroes

Submitted to Contest #306

Kids' faces press against the windows as our old van maneuvers the hairpin turns. Lupines carpet the canyon slopes, and our eyes feast on the spring green. North Idaho’s high-elevation plateaus drop abruptly to precipitous chasms, canyons once gouged by the onslaught of melted glaciers. And deep in their bottoms, the rivers rush with the sound of the ancient monster’s roar.This is Nez Perce country, a country once belonging to a people whose creation story began at the Heart of the Monster, an unexplainable landmark, a mountainous heap of ea...

17 likes 14 comments 14
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Eggplant Parm Lasagna: Eventually.

Submitted to Contest #306

Introduction: You Want the Recipe Right Away. Too Bad. I know you came here for the recipe. You want me to skip the sob story and get to the part where I tell you how many cloves of garlic to use. Spoiler alert: zero. Because this recipe uses garlic powder. If that offends you, I suggest you click away and go cry into your imported truffle oil. I know you’re looking for my recipe for eggplant parm lasagna. You probably are expecting company or want to impress someone and have turned to the internet for help. Everyone loves lasagna. It’s com...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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A Taste of Guatemala

Submitted to Contest #306

A Taste of GuatemalaWelcome to Guatemala! My name is Carmen and I’ll be your host today. My job is to introduce you to a variety of excursions you can take while in this beautiful country. We have several specials today. I guarantee any of them will be like nothing you’ve cooked up at home! •For a prepared quick local dish we have — La Antigua: You can stay in Antigua for a few days and from there take a shuttle or public transportation to any of the other points of interest. Or you can do a round trip 1.5 hours each way with a seven hou...

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The Smarter Choice

Submitted to Contest #305

The Smarter Choice I made a life changing decision a long time ago. I found myself at a crossroads in the middle of a below freezing winter night, I was on my way home, and I met someone. He was hanging out at the corner watching the gusts of snow. As I got closer, he said ‘hi’, and I said it back. Neither of us seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. So we stood on the sidewalk talking for a while and casually eating my left-overs from the bistro down the street. I had just left what was supposed to be an “anniversary dinner”, though I a...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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Finishing Nail

Submitted to Contest #305

Finishing Nail John was preoccupied. He had to work from home today, again, because his daughter was sick. His boss was sick of it. This had already happened on two other occasions this month and a deadline was looming. He reached for another file while keeping his eyes on the screen. He yanks it from the bottom of the stack and hurriedly opens it just as his full cup of coffee lands on the floor spraying him and the light grey carpet with a heavy dose of caffeine. “Shit.” He had run into the other room to check something real ...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Tipping Point

Submitted to Contest #305

Prompt: You know what? I quitTitle: Tipping Point I looked at each section of the room as if I had just opened my eyes for the first time. The stack of old books piled without color-coding, directionality, or bookend support. The bookshelves were crammed with curiosities that found a place to display themselves at the altar, but were made to scoot over instead. A picnic basket, a lemon-shaped watering can with matching salt and pepper shakers, a yellow Dollar-Tree sign that said Sweet Summertime with a yellow lemon traced in pink glitter, an...

4 likes 4 comments 4
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A second of desperation

Submitted to Contest #305

“Boarding starts in 5 minutes.” The voice over the speaker sounded muffled. I am aggravated because I am still tired, well, I am hung over from the night prior. It is only six a clock in the morning. I am still in Austria, and I am waiting to board a plane to Los Angles. My friends are sitting right across from me. We made the decision to run away from home. Our Parents did not know that we planned on never coming back.The constant arguments with my abusive mother amongst other family and social factors have finally taken its toll. I am done...

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A second of desperation

Submitted to Contest #305

At the intersection, I could go right and head home — but turning left would take me... At the intersection, I could go right and head home - but turning left would take me to a place of no return. The tickets for the plane were in my right back pant pocket, my passport was in my handbag. It would take one second to make a different decision. Once second to choose going home over leaving a country, a continent, a so-called home. I think: "Whatever, goodbye to all the people who are not helping. I love this land, and I love the culture but t...

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Nine months later

Submitted to Contest #305

Sometimes we have to do what makes us happy... It was my dream job. It had cost me my time, my health, and —let's be honest —a big chunk of my principles, but nothing mattered anymore: I'd made it. I was a mid-to-upper-level manager in a large company, one of those that shape the world and make your curriculum something to talk about, even with strangers who have no idea what you talk about at those fancy dinners people invite you to from time to time. I was a medium shot on my way to becoming a big deal. I had survived the Corporate climb d...

9 likes 4 comments 4
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Paper Skin: The Journal of Moon Hae-won

Submitted to Contest #306

Prelude: The Forgotten War of the East Oftentimes, the Second World War is remembered as a European conflict—an arena of white armies, white victims, white heroes. We are taught to chart its beginning from 1939, with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. We learn of Nazi death camps, Allied resistance, and the fall of Berlin as if the world outside Europe were only a backdrop.Japan is mentioned—briefly. Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, maybe the Rape of Nanjing if the syllabus is generous. But even then, Japan is cast as an antagonist whose atrocities are co...

8 likes 8 comments 8
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Ashes And Ink

Submitted to Contest #306

A story told through the journal entries of a dying man. ⸻ [Journal Entry: March 2, 2024]The doctor said six months. Maybe more, maybe less. Stage four. Liver. I asked if it hurt to die from this, and he nodded like someone who's told too many people the same thing. I automatically knew this was my karma for what I did to you, son. I came home and opened the old drawer where I kept this journal. Ruth, your mother, used to buy me a new one every year. She's been gone almost a decade, but I found this one half-full, leather-bound and soft arou...

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