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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.

5300+ 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 33 of 354

There is absolutely nothing that God cannot do

Submitted to Contest #276

Note: Contains mention of drug use and mild reference of trauma and mental health issues and swear words"For with God nothing is ever impossible." -Luke 1:37"Anything is possible," I say around 2003 long before my hospitalization during my stint as a graveyard security guard at a pharma lab in Irvine. "I mean Beyonce can just walk right in."I mean theoretically it's not improbable. Just like the odds of being dealt a royal flush is 1 in 649,739, or 0.000154% or as much as statistically impossible it is, people do still get it you know.T...

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Weird Date

Submitted to Contest #276

The cafe buzzed with the low murmur of conversation, the clinking of cups, and the hiss of the espresso machine. Sunlight streamed through the large windows, casting a warm glow on the mismatched furniture and scattered patrons. I nervously tapped my foot against the leg of my wrought iron chair, my eyes darting towards the entrance every time the bell above the door jingled.This was it. My first foray back into the dating world after my divorce, and I was already feeling the familiar flutter of nerves. I adjusted my scarf, hoping I looked...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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The First Pancake Rule

Submitted to Contest #276

The idea behind the first pancake rule is that it’s okay if the first one doesn’t turn out. It’s a do-over. The first one is the practice round for getting the cooking conditions just right. The adjustments you make will lead to perfect pancakes afterwards. It’s a strategy that encourages learning through practice, feedback, and continuous improvement. As a tool to aid in developing skills and expertise for any business, the first pancake rule can be useful. Encouragement to improve, forgiveness of failed attempts, support and advice on what...

18 likes 17 comments 17
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The Wooden Duck, the Flashlight, and the Chew Bone

Submitted to Contest #276

My morning routine is simple. Before my feet hit the floor, I thank God for waking me up today. I thank Him for His love, another day of life, and whatever it may bring. I thank Him for my well-being and that of my family and friends.      After that, I make my way to the kitchen and start the coffeemaker. I love my morning coffee! On my way to the kitchen, I pass two tall bookcases in the living room. It’s still dark, so the only light I see is the glow from a salt lamp, which I notice is slightly illuminating ...

10 likes 7 comments 7
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Knowing Jane

Submitted to Contest #276

I never imagined being best friends with my ex-husband’s first wife. We bonded after I divorced him and moved back to Jacksonville from Chicago. To my amazement, Jane became a curative person in my life. Jane One (she was his first) shared openly with me (Jane Two), her successor, about the husband we had in common.At first, Jane One and my stepdaughter Lauren lived near us in a beach town bordering the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, I felt grateful to have a good husband, the opposite of my gambling, womanizing father. I believed him when he ...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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Forgiving Your Monster

Submitted to Contest #276

Forgiving your monster is something that is not new to those who have created one before. Yet, the experience is just the same I’ve learned and calculated. Experiments with different names but similar traits that make me think that I can cure any kind of illness, mental or otherwise, with time and my care. My most prized experiment that left me not only with the most amount of data was the one that also left me with the most amount of scars. My own Frankenstein… Frankenstein reached out to me after his last outburst that left me in shambles ...

7 likes 1 comment 1
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Call From The Vestibule

Submitted to Contest #276

On January 3, 1984, I started a new job, which I hoped would completely change my life. No pressure. At 7:55 a.m., with butterflies dancing in my stomach because this new role would challenge me, I opened the door to the office building’s vestibule. The cold, spartan room contained two plastic chairs and a small table with a beige push-button phone. I pressed the buttons for my supervisor’s extension, and the phone rang and rang and rang. Even if it wasn’t my fault, I absolutely, positively couldn’t be late for my first day on the job. ...

16 likes 11 comments 11
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Echoes in the Café

Submitted to Contest #276

Echoes in the Café That small corner café had been my refuge for years. Since I began working for the local newspaper, I would come here whenever I needed inspiration or just a break from my mind. The café’s comforting familiarity - the rich aroma of coffee, the murmur of conversations, the worn wooden tables polished by years of hands resting idly on them - had always been a balm. But that day, for reasons I couldn't quite explain, the place felt different, charged with an indescribable energy. I sank into my usual corner by the window, inh...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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The Prometheum Pyramid and the Astronaut

Submitted to Contest #276

In the year 2024, I went with Sally Padeira, an investigator with the Canadian Spacetime Agency, who led a research team to the Nazca region, tasked with documenting the apparently ancient Pyramid that had puzzled archaeologists and together we uncovered a statue within composed of a rare, meteorite-based alloy known only to a handful of scientists worldwide. She intended to bring back video footage and as much scientific data as possible on this unprecedented find.The statue stood in the heart of the Pyramid, so to speak, with its strange, ...

6 likes 0 comments 0
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An Open Letter to a Lifelong Love

Submitted to Contest #276

Dear You,Yes, I have always known that you were with me. How could I ever ignore that honey sweetness that coats every single inch of my mouth with a mellow warmth when I speak to you? How could I deny the rush inside me every time you sweep me in the powerful yet refreshing whirlpool of your majesty? Is there even a way to hide how a giggle bubbles up inside of me – minuscule at first, then, slowly encasing me in prismic wonder --- every single time I recall how I sometimes stumble and stutter, all because of your golden presence? No, ...

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Mother/Daughter relationship

Submitted to Contest #276

It's that time. Time for my mom to give birth to me. A six-pound, twelve-ounce baby girl born to happy parents. My mom told me she had a hard time coming up with a name for a girl, so she named me after her uncle’s wife, Shermayne. As I look back on my baby photos, it was clear that I spent a lot of time with my grandmother growing up, whom I absolutely love and adore. She has her flaws, but that’s another story for another day. My parents ended up splitting when I was very young, around the ages of two to three, leaving my mom to become a s...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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Even the lost can be found.

Submitted to Contest #276

(Trigger warning: This story depicts mental issues, drug abuse and homelessness.)It was early evening when my phone rang. I answered to the frantic voice of my ex-girlfriend's current partner. "I need your help. Dee has been gone for three days." My heart sank.I knew before she told me Dee must be on a binge. Dee had a drug issue. When we dated it was alcohol, but after the break-up she turned to harder stuff. Of course she tried to blame me, the breakup, anything to not take accountability for her own actions. ...

8 likes 3 comments 3
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The Eskimo Sister

Submitted to Contest #276

Trigger Warning: Themes of a painful breakup and aggression. The Eskimo Sister: An Unlikely Encounter Marie was a good girl. A low drama pragmatist who was a staunch supporter of her female friends and valued justice, fairness and integrity above all else. She was always on her friends' side; Listening, offering advice, encouraging them to find their worth so they could hopefully stop dating Losers. But Marie was also a dreamer. She dreamt of a life full of travel, adventure, new experiences and of finding a relationship that made her feel a...

5 likes 0 comments 0
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I'm Glad It Was Me

Submitted to Contest #276

“I wish it was me.”It never occurred to me when I told Ms. Dot that my father had passed away that she would be jealous, but in some small way, it made the news I was sharing a little less painful. I, still being a young man, viewed death as a tragedy but to people like my father and Ms. Dot, it was a relief, a welcomed end to a life longing for completion. I guess her subtle comfort shouldn’t have been a surprise, after all, Ms. Dot had been looking over my wife, daughter, and me since we moved next door to her almost seventeen years earlie...

22 likes 5 comments 5
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The Lifechanger

Submitted to Contest #276

It was a freak event that I couldn’t fathom when it occurred as being much of anything, but somehow, it turned out to be a big deal in more ways than one.  After an accident that left me with a traumatic brain injury, my therapist thought that I should try to get onto some writing sites and start writing. I reluctantly agreed since my last encounter with writing was at university, and I had a few papers published while working with professors.  But it had been even longer since I wrote a short story that involved good writing and a...

21 likes 13 comments 13
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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