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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

18860+ Drama Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Being one of the most popular genres among the submissions to our weekly contest, the drama short stories collected below include riveting works you won’t want to miss.

Drama Short Stories – Page 1155 of 1258

The Chinese Room Problem: >./experience seed=MARA.txt

Submitted to Contest #58

Mara has red hair in the picture I keep on my nightstand. It’s 2012 and she’s leaning against a brick wall, smoking a cigarette, trying to look cool in her favorite red and black flannel. She was wearing that shirt when the accident happened.  She died badly, half of her body pinned beneath our overturned car, a stupid accident turning us upside down. She was screaming in pain at her ragged upper arm, absent its lower half. The world smelled of gasoline mixed with the copper of her blood.  Small rocks on the pavement dug into m...

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Absense

Submitted to Contest #58

I'll meet you halfway father. Thanks to your absence, my love life is a pig, slaughtered; with juicy red blood makes the animal look hotter. No amount of makeup or hookups or do ups will heal the crooks that steal, beg for appeals only to later steal your zeal. Dudes don't care to set fire to your rare sense of self. They act like an elf on the shelf, judging until that nudging is shoving you into a devil's pit. Thanks to your absence, I've been battling moonlit pricks delusional to the spit and rips on my self esteem. It seems to be that ...

13 likes 3 comments 3
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A Poor Man's Gifts

Submitted to Contest #57

In a cottage by the wailing sea,  An old man, a poor man, Wears his coat nearly seventy years old, His deathbed made two weeks early, Fresh linens draped over the pillows.  He sat, somberly satisfied, Raspy coughs churning in his belly, A visit, Maybe one last visit to a special place.  Somewhere he needed to go. Poor man, rich man, He smells the air ‘round him, Takes in a breath, realizing, He is at the train station, Pen and paper in his pocket, Waiting and watching for the right time. There is nobody who can find him, S...

68 likes 11 comments 11
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WHATEVER WILL WILLS

Submitted to Contest #57

The lawyer arrived early that morning, just as William had requested. He had very little time left to put his house in order, and he was eager to see to it that his estate was distributed according to the will he had prepared that morning. Will had been battling the disease for many years, and although the doctors had given him a clean bill of health a little over a year before, the disease made a swift return. It returned with vengeance. In a matter of weeks, Will was paralyzed from his waist to his feet, and the paralysis would have spre...

9 likes 0 comments 0
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Dialling Back

Submitted to Contest #58

It's oranges I miss the most. Mandarin. Navel. Blood oranges, though I never did taste one of those. I would in a heartbeat now. I think of all the times I could have eaten one but didn't. Chose an apple, if anything, but mostly ignored fruit all together. Now I think of Christmas oranges tucked into the toe of the kids' stockings. I can see the two of them unhooking those socks from the mantel, stretchy woollen tubes with their names embroidered into the band around the top, Claire's name bright red, Hal's forest green. I see them seated by...

15 likes 3 comments 3
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An A.A. Story

Submitted to Contest #57

“My name is Marshall and I am an alcoholic!” I announce to a room full of strangers. “Hi Marshall!”“I recognise that my story might be different, or maybe not, who knows. I sure as hell have never met anyone else in my position.”My intro seems to have caught a few people’s interest, while others are still absentmindedly gnawing at their stale donuts. A pale looking man whose right foot is tapping at the speed of light, probably nervous for lack of substances, appears to recognise me. Something about his grin says he knows who I am, but ...

12 likes 7 comments 7
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The Foolish Painting

Submitted to Contest #57

 She was painting in her room when suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. When she opened it, she wasn’t surprise to see it was her mother. Her mother took one glance around the room and threw a bunch of matchsticks on her bed and left without saying another word.She was always used to this.But this time, instead of hiding it under her bed, she used it for burning all of the law and medicine books her parents gave her as birthday and Christmas presents. Why, she thought as she stifled her tears, why did I have to be born in a fam...

10 likes 10 comments 10
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One Too Many Hands in the Bowl

Submitted to Contest #57

Do you ever just get that urge to smash something? The feeling that you simply have to grab the nearest breakable object and send it careening towards the hardest available surface with as much force as you can possibly muster? You imagine it colliding violently with the floor, the wall, the counter; you see it shatter into a million tiny fragments, destroyed beyond any hope of repair.  No? That’s alright. My mother wouldn’t have understood it either, which is why I was forced to resort to some very desperate measures after I became th...

90 likes 60 comments 60
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Hitler is Back

Submitted to Contest #57

Preface The story is about a man named Der Führer or more commonly known as Adolf Hitler.I am sure you would have heard of that name, if you haven’t then i doubt you are from this planet .Do you have thoughts that what would he think if he travels to the future and sees how he has been remembered? then this story has been made for you because he has come back (in this book thank god not in real life) and gone to the future with a bookworm named Noah and an admirer of him also named Adolf.I hope you will enjoy the story and it is for entert...

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I Am Glad I've Moved On

Submitted to Contest #57

I don’t know how I got here and I don’t know how I’m getting back. Am I going back? It’s a strange predicament I seem to be in and I’m not sure quite what to do. I don’t really know where I am but things seem vaguely familiar in a way. I see an overweight elderly lady, rather ‘well to do’ by the look of it. “Excuse me” I begin and she ignores me. “Hello” I repeat louder this time. But there’s no reply. Not even a look towards me. She must have heard me as I’m not very far away. I’m not used to being ignored. I’ll try this lad carrying his sk...

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The Will and The Dog

Submitted to Contest #57

“Pat, please read where I left off?” asked Mrs. Finch before wheezing and coughing violently“And so, this is my last will and testament.” Pat began “I know none of you will understand nor appreciate my humor as much as I currently am. But I know that this all is for the best. Oh, and know that I now can die happy.” Pat stopped and turned to Mrs. Finch“I stopped there, Pat?” asked Mrs. Finch“Yes ma’am. All that’s needed is your signature.”“Hmm,” Mrs. Finch hummed thoughtfully while signing “I want to add one more detail.” Mrs. Finch said reac...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Defying Custom

Submitted to Contest #57

The room seemed to shake as Grandfather raised his voice. ‘Give Maleeka your property? Have you gone crazy, Faris?’ A vein pulsed at his temple as he glared at my father, hands clenching my father’s will. His face, darkened with rage, made me shudder even as I watched from behind the curtain. I watched my father in awe as he stood his ground, features set in a determined and confident stance. ‘Father, I have made my will, and I will not change it for you, or for any of my greedy brothers. I don’t care about your traditions. God has given me ...

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A pomegranate and a painting

Submitted to Contest #57

Have you ever wondered why there’s a pomegranate in Salvador Dali’s painting “Sting Caused by the Flight of a Bee…”? You know the Spanish artist? I’m sure you’re familiar with the picture I’m talking about, or maybe not. After all, it’s pretty complex to explain (that’s perhaps why you don’t remember it as well as say those warped watches and time pieces in the most well-known of his paintings, “The Persistence of Memory”), so let me describe it to you. Right slap bang in the middle (well okay, a little towards the bottom) there’s a naked ...

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A Loss and a Change

Submitted to Contest #57

Sitting in the study of his mansion in New York City, billionaire Noah Johnson was preparing his will. “I’m bequeathing this company and all my wealth to my son, Aaron T. Johnson.” He knew that this would cause some backlash by company directors as well as the public. But Aaron was his only son and Noah loved him.“WHAT?!?” protested Bill Nelson a heavy set, short and bald man who was also there with him. He was Noah’s personal confidant and friend “Noah this is insane. You know very well that Aaron is nothing but an irresponsible brat who th...

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The Choice we make

Submitted to Contest #57

Each time I saw the headline or post; #1 New York Bestselling Book: The white horse by Teen-Nigerian writer, Laura Orah; a literary success! I fell apart.  Though things weren’t always mild for I and my mum, we led a comfortable and calm life even in dad’s absence. Together with my nine-year old brother, James, we lived four miles away from my college in Adankolo. Many students found that unbearable but it wasn’t the case for me. Mum was scarcely around all the time and when she was, you barely noticed. She was a quiet woman while James...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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