Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

37140+ Fiction Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. If you’re looking for the best fiction short stories to read online, we’ve got you covered. Wide-ranging and ever-curious, these free short stories will meet your reading needs.

Fiction Short Stories – Page 521 of 2476

Protocol

Submitted to Contest #247

The instruments are supposed to help me understand what I’m seeing, but they fail tremendously in this regard. I learned very quickly, yet quite a bit too late, that their data collection was not in service to me but to those back home. The instruments produce calculations and extrapolate theoretical what-ifs to translate to scientists millions of miles away. They then transmit it away, as if I’m not even here. The reality of the situation is that I’ve been training my whole life for this. Ever since I was small. I would look up into the sky...

15 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

A Mahogany Bench

R K

Submitted to Contest #247

The park was cold and empty, but I still thought it would be a greater comfort than my room in my parent's house, where they would glance at me accusingly as I tumbled up the stairs. My friend Sian was with me, and much less drunk than I was, which would not have been too difficult. After a treacherous five minute walk out of the taxi and towards the park's entrance, we arrive at Sian's favorite childhood spot: a mahogany bench. The seats are red and probably filthy, and when we sit down on them, Sian has puts his head on my shoulder. “...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Clara's Melody

Submitted to Contest #247

He had found the stone brick tower overgrown with moss and ivy. This was strange since it was currently wintertime and the earth was swaddled with a blanket of snow. Even stranger was the feeling of warmth that the boy gained as he entered the tower. It was like spring was trapped here, existing forever in this place. The tower was in a deprecated state. There was little inside besides a few closets and a large staircase that went up.What perplexed the boy the most were the stacks of papers. Some were torn, others stained. The sheer amount ...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The House at the Edge of Shadows

Submitted to Contest #247

The House at the Edge of Shadows“YouTube videos make it look easy. Trust me; you can’t refurbish an old house with DIY videos.” Priscilla said.The house had been on the market for well over a year. Built-in the 1600s, it stood like a forgotten sentinel, its time-worn facade weathered by storms and secrets. Nobody wanted to touch it. Not after the haunted rumors spread through the town.They said the house had an eerie atmosphere as if it was inhabited by unseen spirits. It carried memories too heavy for mortal minds to comprehend within its d...

19 likes 14 comments 14
Read story

Outside the Fence

Submitted to Contest #247

"Need I remind you of the severe penalties we face if we're caught outside the fence?" Rignon was barking at Caprin through a clenched jaw. She looked over at him and smiled. A glistening sheen of sweat streamed down his forehead and temples. "If you're nervous, just go home. I can manage on my own." She gazed out at the fields beyond the fence, savoring the beating of her own heart, soaking in the still morning air. She'd spent the better part of the last year finding every opportunity she could to stand at the fence and gaze out at the lan...

21 likes 20 comments 20
Read story

Five Days to Bliss

Submitted to Contest #247

The crickets chirped in unison, their lively crescendo fleeing the darkened forest, making me wonder, not for the first time this week, if this were the life I'd have chosen all along had I known this place existed. The heavy thud of a boot propping up on the cooler beside me doesn't detract from the beauty of the dark, whispering trees. Five days. It's been five days, and already I'm listening more closely, attuned to and relishing every sound, every symphony of the universe. Magpie's heavy boots, the glug glug of the wine sh...

29 likes 28 comments 28
Read story

Maternity Leave Goals - Learning Something New

Submitted to Contest #247

Sabrina stretches her spine tall in her desk chair and nervously feathers her unkempt bangs with her left hand. She hasn’t showered in three days and she feels bad about it. She feels greasy even with the dry shampoo she loaded into her hair.Her dominant hand grasps a freshly sharpened pencil and she taps it nervously on the crisp notepad she bought from the store yesterday. She felt proud for making it out of the house.Her chair teeters and totters on the uneven parquet floors in her makeshift office that is really just a corner in her emba...

12 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

Outside

Submitted to Contest #247

The man with the black tattoo lettering on each side of his neck reading 24731-JAM, known to his small circle of friends simply as “Jam”, awoke at the same time that he did every day. The clock on the wall read 06:00 but that was a purely arbitrary number that simply signified when the strobing fluorescent overhead lighting and the piercing audible alarm would simultaneously activate, ending his all-too-brief daily respite from the sweat and the toil and the tedium of his waking hours.He sat up, cleared his throat slightly, took a sip of bot...

14 likes 8 comments 8
Read story

Runaways

Submitted to Contest #246

Trigger Warning: Car Crash For years it was all just a joke, something stupid we said to pass the time. Daydreaming of a life that was yet to come.  “It’s all fun and games” We said deep down we knew it was something more. Something pulling us in. We convinced ourselves that it was a joke until that night. Something clicked in our minds and the pieces of what felt like a lifelong puzzle were put together. We sat on the swings outside of my old elementary school. The summer breeze sailed by as the sun set and the street lamps turned on....

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Up and down

Submitted to Contest #246

“He killed a man.” “Oh, come on, that was years ago!!”“Okay, and? It still happened,” said the first man on one end of the purple, rusted seesaw, as he forced his body down, propelling the second man into the air, his legs dangling. “And pretty serious that it did…”“But it was out of self-defense,” said the second man, pushing himself downward, as the first gave way some of his resistance and went up. This continued as they continued. Although they’ve played this many times before, it somehow is still just as exhilarating and inten...

12 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The Politics of Duck-Duck-Goose

Submitted to Contest #246

Blue sky with barely any wisps of cloud stretches above me. But it doesn’t stretch forever. There are hills where I live, always going up and down. And on almost all of those hills, there are trees. So if you get to a place where there aren’t any buildings in the way of your eyes, you won’t see a horizon. You’ll see hills and trees. A field where we can play is never flat. There’s always a little slope, if not a big one. Go far enough in a straight line, and you’ll have to walk either up or down a hill, even a little one. The summe...

7 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Farewell Echoes

Submitted to Contest #246

The evening dipped low on the horizon, casting a warm orange glow across the landscape. An old wooden swing, weathered by time and perched at the crest of the Grand Canyon Hill, swayed gently in the breeze, its rhythmic creaks blending with the distant sounds of nature. Jeryne and Sofina sat side by side on the weathered wooden swing, their feet brushing against the soft grass below. Behind them, the quaint village of Hailswood sprawled out, its rooftops adorned with ivy and its streets winding like the threads of an ancient tapestry.“Do you...

5 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Wolves and Sheep

Submitted to Contest #246

I couldn’t have dreamed of such an atrocity.Clothes in tatters and blood-soaked. No flesh, no face. Mutilated. Unrecognizable. It's the last trip before we toss our hats and scatter across the globe, before we exchange our sneakers and Birkenstocks for less comfortable, albeit shinier shoes, before entering the real world. Though most people opt for warmer spring break destinations, which are inarguably enjoyable, the beaches and the entire scene become grossly overcrowded during this time. After some deliberation, we determined that a ...

5 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

The Ups And Downs of Life And Love

Submitted to Contest #246

The frozen gate latch to the entrance of the chain link fence was a torturous testament to all that had changed. The icy grip on its internal mechanism was a wry reminder of both a painful past, and the pernicious present that lie ahead.  A final pent-up blast of energy to the lever shattered the frozen crystals into a hundred shards, paling in comparison the thousand pieces of her heart that he left on the floor months before. The metal barrier separating their past and present now vanquished, there was no going back. Now, only the sea...

6 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Cost of the Game

Submitted to Contest #246

The Holy Fire fleet flew through the rubble of their enemy’s vessels. From the ships covered with engravings of birds and feathers emerged the Thunder Falcon teleportation ships, making their way down to the surface to engage their foe. The Falcons entered the lower atmosphere before hovering in midair and opening their wings. Blankets of lightning emerged from them opening up the teleportation link from the ships in space to the surface and the Fire Forces began to appear in the field. In the distance was the castle where the Pale Prince sa...

4 likes 0 comments 0
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.