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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

6010+ Inspirational Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From tales of the miraculous to stories of extraordinary people overcoming incredible odds, you’ll always find something uplifting in our collection of inspirational short stories.

Inspirational Short Stories – Page 400 of 401

Embers of a Semicolon

Submitted to Contest #36

Thursday, May 12, 2005One night, I can’t sleep. I don’t know if I will ever be able to sleep peacefully again. If I can’t sleep through this and I was – am your cousin then how in the world is your mom feeling? I bet she won’t be able to sleep ever again without being completely haunted. Why? Why did you have to go? I can’t help but wonder what we did or didn’t do to help. There are so many what ifs. It’s too late now. All I can do is sob into my pillow and hold onto your memory. 22 years is too young. Why?One day, I think back to the first ...

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Kiss of the Snake

Winner of Contest #36 🏆

Yellow Day Today is a yellow day. The sunlight sneaks in through the window, writhing on the floor like a snake. Outside, the leafy pecan tree shakes in the wind. To be honest, I do not write. When I do, it is facts and information. In the city I did not have time for poetry or pretty words. No one wanted pretty words or expected it of me. But now, alone with the cold stone and cold yellow light and snakes made from the sun, I have time. I can hear humming in the restless air. The entire compound is apprehensive. It is because we are expecti...

295 likes 133 comments 133
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Lion Bark Garden

Shortlisted for Contest #35 ⭐️

The dogwood trees bent gracefully, their flat layers of bursting fat blossoms arrayed as far as the sky climbed. Lined along the gravel path were the crabapple and pear trees with their juicy green leaves showing off around the apples and pears. Following the path were half-eaten and broken fruits, leathered and wormholed and dripping with juice. The air was cold but the kites didn’t care. They danced high along the tops of the redbud trees, knocking the thick pink flowers to the ground. Chill breezes spun and laughed and swept the paper and...

52 likes 2 comments 2
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Sunday Dinner

Submitted to Contest #31

“It smells a little burned, babe.”She sighs. It’s louder than she intended, but she can’t help it. He doesn’t seem to notice.“It’s not burning.”She hears the oven door open behind her, because of course he has to see for himself. She can feel the dry heat radiating throughout the small kitchen; buttery, smokey scents of rosemary and grease coming with it.  “It looks a little burned, babe.”“It’s not. Please close the oven door.”  “She says it’s not burning, Ma!” She hears the distinct crack of the Coors...

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The 6 W's of Doing Laundry

Submitted to Contest #31

It’s midnight, and I really need to find my favorite shirt. I fumble my way through all the potential places in my living quarters where my shirt could hide. The drawers full of once neatly-folded clothes? Nope. The pile of clothes thrown on top of my dresser after being worn once? Not there either. The mess of clean clothes on the couch that I hadn’t gotten to folding yet? Sadly no. The stack of seemingly unrelated clothes in my hanging clothes organizer I bought from IKEA? Unsurprisingly no. Oh, I almost forgot - the assortment of clothes ...

9 likes 6 comments 6
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A PARTNERSHIP WITHIN THE GARDEN

Shortlisted for Contest #31 ⭐️

A modest little house stands alone, surrounded by a disorderly sea of green. Not that its garden is completely unkempt, but it is hardly a neatly regimented English garden, nor is it a beautifully manicured Mediterranean oasis. It is chaotic, colourful and cheerful.   Behind the house, small square paving stones lead upwards past a pergola which leans over to one side under the weight of a well-established wisteria and is framed by clusters of tall papyrus stems. Beyond, there are smaller randomly-placed bushes and plants. Frankly,...

25 likes 20 comments 20
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Going Through a Loss Unexpectedly Caused Me to Lose a Part of Myself

Submitted to Contest #28

Are you the type of person that is fight or flight? Well, I flee. I know that running away is not always the best option, but that is my first instinct. If there is a large bug in the office I run far away until a co-worker assures me the situation has been taken care of. I usually flee unless someone needs help and then I am usually right there because compassion outweighs my fear.The year of 2017 was a time I wanted to flee. I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how. Part of me didn’t care while the other part cared too much. All I wanted to...

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The Last Gift

Submitted to Contest #26

It had been when I was young that everyone told me that I would grow up to be a doctor—that, in language that five-year-old me could understand, I would fix people and make them better. Pretty much change the world, they had made it seem. It didn’t seem much too difficult of a job, from the way Grandfather worded his experiences in medical life. All you were required to do was to come in after the nurse had seen the patient and taken vital signs down, discuss what it was exactly that the patient was suffering, and then prescribe whatever med...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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Resolute

Submitted to Contest #25

What better way to start a new year than with a knife in your gut?The blade, a crude meat knife rather than a proper dagger, had stabbed into Yonah’s stomach beneath and to the left of his navel. He intended to catch the accursed thing with his right handーforged from meteorite iron and skeletal in appearanceーbut someone else swung at the eight-year-old girl hiding behind him and clutching at his left arm. At that moment, Yonah’s protective instincts decided both his and her fates; his steel hand grabbed the incoming sword and shattered it wi...

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Snowbound Memories

Submitted to Contest #23

When the coldest months stepped their icy feet upon the Isle of Mixed Blood’s shores, the winter brought with them took no prisoners. Though the Stormshield Mountains along the northern coast often blocked the worst of the weather, bulbous and rolling clouds of dark gray yet carried a frigid chill that helped birth raging inland snowstorms. What fiery colors remained of the autumn were soon buried in snowdrifts or encased in crystalline ice, and invasions of frozen flakes whipped through the air for days and sometimes weeks on end before any...

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April Snow Showers in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia

Submitted to Contest #23

Close your eyes and think of the Christmas season. I bet your seeing snow, pine trees, twinkling lights and giggling children sitting on Santa Claus’ lap. Now, with your eyes still closed imagine these words worked into your thoughts of the Christmas season. Imagine the Christmas season being hot, dry, with sand instead of snow and enough sun to bring a sunburn just as fast in December as it will in July. Doesn’t sound like Christmas on television, or that most people are familiar with does it? That’s because it’s my Christmas experience and...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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Winter Gardening

Shortlisted for Contest #22 ⭐️

We gather with Mr. Schultz in the wrought-iron fenced front courtyard of our building seven minutes after midnight. With little grass, but edged garden beds, there are plenty of spots for Mr. Schultz’s new year’s dig. I do not bring my midnight-sipped champagne out of respect for this man I have come to care for deeply over the last thirty-six hours. Others do. Cocktails, mocktails, wine. Even though I know several are drunk, the group tempers its celebrating out loud. Marina debuts her faux white fur jacket, a ...

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I Shouldn't Be Here

Submitted to Contest #21

Should I go? Should I stay? I’ll go. I’ll go out of respect. My boss so kindly planned the party, so I’ll go. I’ll stay for two hours. An hour and a half? No. Two hours. I’ll go.                                                 ~~~~~~~  What to wear? I look in the mirror. Too dressy? Too casual? Too fa...

19 likes 29 comments 29
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Echo

Submitted to Contest #19

The first time he saw her, she couldn’t have been more than nine years old. Even with her horns, she didn’t even reach his shoulder. The old shopkeeper felt a strange fascination with her the moment he saw her, standing outside his shop, half-hidden beside the door. He watched her from behind the counter as he sanded a wooden cylinder, the beginning of what would become a magdal drum, and waited while she gathered her courage. He hoped she would come in. The shop was too quiet for his liking. She was unlike any infernabeast he’d ever seen – ...

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Butterfly Wings in a Shoebox

Submitted to Contest #20

Maarte woke with a start, and early. It was dark still. She lay there with her eyes open, searching for the window, trying to remember what day it was. Then she remembered.She rose after a few minutes and went and sat at the kitchen table, watching the window that looked out onto the empty lot next door.Maarte sat silently, listening to the first of the birds outside. After a few minutes she made her coffee and waited for the sun. By the time she was drinking the dregs, dawn had broken quietly before her.Maarte stood and dressed quickly. It ...

36 likes 3 comments 3
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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