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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.

19070+ 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 1238 of 1272

The World is a Little More Beautiful Today

Submitted to Contest #49

“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”  Martha looked up at the woman smiling down at her. She was about the same age as her and was also dressed in her Sunday best, a floral dress with a straw hat. She was leaning on a cane with her left hand, while Martha leaned on hers with her right. They could have been sisters, a thought that sent a pang through Martha’s heart. “No. Please, be my guest,” she said as she pulled out the chair next to her. “Thank you so much,” the woman said, easing into the seat. “I’m Agnes, but my friends call me...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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Traces of Lavender

Submitted to Contest #49

The clock across the room won’t stop its idle ticking. Seconds are ticking their way into minutes. Minutes will blend together to form an hour. The ticking reminds me of the first time I was forced to play the piano by my mother. When my fingers first glossed over keys of black and white, I failed to find the right melody. Frustration from my many failures followed me home. The first few days of halfhearted practice were filled with a disappointed mother and noisy, unpleasant sounds emitted by my angry tapping against ivory keys. The Roma...

90 likes 25 comments 25
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The Imps on our Backs

Submitted to Contest #49

It smelled like a Band-aid. Why is it that all doctors’ offices smell like Band-aids? After handing back the redundant medical form that they painstakingly make you fill out before every visit, I had nothing left to do but nervously rap my fingernails against the uncomfortable plastic seating. Staring into the distance, I began testing my vision, reading different sized lettering. It was my way of psyching myself out before seeing the eye doctor. Every time I went in for a check-up, I had this compulsion of first assessing my own vision. Tho...

14 likes 2 comments 2
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The Honeybun Show

Submitted to Contest #49

At 6:14 a.m. Fiona opened her dark brown eyes. She remained motionless, anticipating the nausea that plagued her every morning like clockwork and threatened to replace her daily alarm. It never came and her smile grew like slow moving molasses. She dwelt for a few moments in the peace that had eluded her for the past few weeks.  Fiona tried to roll over and grimaced as she was impeded by her fiancé’s large bicep crushing her waist length dreadlocks. She gently massaged her scalp and turned fully onto her left side to take in Caleb. Be...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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The Only One I Trust

Submitted to Contest #49

He debated running when he saw her. His stomach urged him to flee, but the mental image of him slipping in his brand new dress shoes and cracking his skull on the tile floor stopped him. That was all he needed, to go into the ICU on the day of the hearing.  Kathryn waved him down from the end of the busy courthouse hallway. She hadn’t changed much in the last decade. He wondered often if she had come out of the womb in a sensible pair of orthopedic loafers and a gray knee length skirt, the social worker uniform. She was still wearing ...

13 likes 16 comments 16
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Shrodinger's ICU

Submitted to Contest #49

Every second was an eternity, but ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. As Ella waited for the phone to ring, trying to decide what she would say when the moment came, she felt acutely how terrible it was to be caught, trapped, between the world of knowing and not knowing. The impending collision of these two worlds was imminent- the next ringing of the phone would be the warning shot- and not knowing exactly when that would be was its own type of torment. There was so much work to do: an admission note, an event note, a ...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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Waiting Room

Submitted to Contest #49

I had expected it to be unexpectedly ordinary. But it’s not. It has curtains, which are dark red velvet. It even has candles, on the floor perched on empty chairs, which is dangerous. I’m surprised she’d put real ones there. The chairs are velvet-cushioned in red as well. Their legs are made of brass-coloured plastic, which looks a bit cheapy, but if you forget about that it’s like one of those witch images my daughter would search online. The candles are white. One of them has dripped wax right onto its chair. That’ll take scrubbing to get ...

7 likes 0 comments 0
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Splendid

Submitted to Contest #49

He could hear hundreds of train wheels gliding over the tracks as he strolled through the busy station. The number of trains and destinations the huge place supplied never failed to amaze him. So many places to go, yet he was headed for only one. The man’s suitcase clicked against the cement flooring as he headed to Aqua Gate #7. It was not hard for him to tell that he was going in the right direction; the walls were painted in a bright green-blue color, with the words “AQUA GATES” written in a striking black for those who were colorblind. ...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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She Did It

Submitted to Contest #49

I’m disgusted by her doe eyes and half grin that she had plastered onto her face during the entire trial. She’s a psychopath, possibly demon-possessed. I’m the only one who knows the truth. She knows that I know. That’s why she was able to bat those flashy eyelashes and look everyone in the eye in the courtroom, the judge, the jury, even my husband’s mother, and never once could bring herself to look at me. She knew where I was sitting because I sat in the same spot every day of the trial, my grieving mother-in-law t...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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THE STOIC

Submitted to Contest #49

"What do you think he's waiting for?" Life is the oldest thief. Uncompromising and cryptic. The cold hand takes without ceasing. It cares not for our feelings. Indifference is the only way to cope. That's how the stoic feels. That's how everyone should feel it seems. That's how he felt anyway. David came to this small, brightly-lit hospital waiting room at the oddest times of the day. It was 2 AM, but we doubt he noticed. He was a good-looking man of average size, never overly fit nor overly fat. However, the stress of living weighed on him ...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Strangers

Y N

Submitted to Contest #49

Each day is an ordinary day. I would walk through the school hallways and see you, and you would always wave hello. I would always awkwardly wave back with a smile on my face, not letting you know the uneasiness every time I see you. When we had class together, you sat behind me, always trying to strike a conversation I was never prepared for. It makes me wonder if I wished none of this had happened. It makes me wonder if I wanted us to be nothing close to friends, and be more of strangers. Things weren’t always like this. There were days...

10 likes 8 comments 8
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The Last Ticket

Submitted to Contest #49

        Dark. Cold. Emptiness. That’s all I felt as the life flowed from my submerged body and mingled with the frosty water that surrounded me. Those last moments of life were sharp and vivid in my mind. The cracking of ice, falling, thrashing, screaming. How the frozen water seemed to claw at my clothes and hair, drawing me further and further into its cold embrace. It was only a matter of time until my life gave out, like a fragile chair supporting too much weight.      &nbs...

18 likes 1 comment 1
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Bus-Stop Acquaintance

Submitted to Contest #49

The bus-station this particular morning was deserted save for a few people dotting the concrete seats built into the walls of the station. I knew that I had to take the 4.30 bus to Kandy, but I didn’t know which exact bus to take. I was in the mystical foreign land of Sri Lanka that my ancestors had under their grasp a few decades short of a century; however, people that could converse well in English (and not send you on the wrong route, speaking from personal experience) were almost nowhere to be found. Undeterred yet, I decided to ask the...

9 likes 2 comments 2
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The Glass Room Mystery

Submitted to Contest #49

The two children awoke suddenly with a jolt and when their eyes adjusted they realised they were alone and not at home, they were in a glass room. The children were twins and only at the age of six, but they were no fools and soon realised things were very wrong. Through a combination of fear and confusion at how they had gotten there they decided to do nothing and they sat and waited for a very long time. Most kids probably would have been curious, and decide to go on an adventure like always seems to be the case in movies from the eighties...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Opportunity can strike out of the blue

Submitted to Contest #49

It was early morning and the sun shone brightly. A man waited before a writer's office where he was called. He was tall and handsome with a round face. It was a tall office and one could see the entire city from the roof. A man who was inside the office, came and opened the door.   The man asked,"why are you here, Sir?". "The famed author Hearth William had called me", the tall man replied. "What's your good name, Sir?", asked the man who looked like the guardian of the building.  "I am Billy Henriques", the man replied. "...

154 likes 118 comments 118
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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