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8840+ Mystery Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. No need to go out hunting for clues — you’ve solved the puzzle of where to find the newest mystery short stories just by landing on this page.

Mystery Short Stories – Page 561 of 590

Our House Changes

Submitted to Contest #30

Our house is alive. We were raised on that. All the generations upon generations of Nicasia's learn this. We learn it when we are born and don't stop learning it until we remember. Our house has rooms that change. We don't know how or why, but they change. Our house has seven stories, twelve main bedrooms, five bathrooms, three kitchens, two sitting-rooms, and a bathhouse. Those are the rooms that do not change. But those are just twenty-one rooms. Our house has about one hundred. But they change, so the contents of those one hundred are nev...

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Aunt Veronica's House

Submitted to Contest #30

“Why are you selling this house?” the realtor asked.“Well, it's a long story” I replied and launched into my narrative. “Last month Aunt Veronica died. Two weeks ago Aunt Veronica’s will was read. I didn’t attend the reading of the will because I wasn’t expecting anything to come from it. Yesterday I was informed by her attorney that I was bequeathed her house up in northern California.  Today I was presented with the keys to the house and I started making plans to view the house and see how sell-able it was. Tomorrow morning, I plan to...

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At the top of the Stairs

Submitted to Contest #30

My armor clanked against the stone under my feet, and echoed down the dark, brick corridor, lit by the small torch in my hand. I had to make a choice; left, or right. I swore quietly at the silence around me. He couldn’t have disappeared so suddenly.I brought the torch low and moved it across the ground. The floor here didn’t have that much dirt or dust on it, but if I could only find it… there, a footprint, or half a footprint really, in just a small amount of dirt leading left.I’ve got you, I thought satisfactorily to myself, a small smile...

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Jace

Submitted to Contest #30

The wardrobe to Narnia. The rabbithole to Wonderland. All the stories where ordinary, almost boring things turn out to be magic make you start to realize that anything can be magical. Miraculous.That's how my magic was - beautiful, majestic, shining and barely real, and then gone forever.It started with a rainy day when I had no umbrella. I huddled under the awnings, keeping my head down as water dripped off the roofs and onto my hair.I sighed, checking my phone for the millionth time. My mom was supposed to pick me up, but she was late as u...

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The scientific portal

Submitted to Contest #30

"Grab your coat, it is cold outside." Ruth said to Tom."I no longer need a coat," he said as he wraps his neck with a homemade scarf."This scarf holds all of the answers; it is like I hear the voice of the woman who made it. She said the weather is wrong. I just know I will not need it at 40 degree weather."As the day progressed he proved to be correct.After hanging the scarf on the door knob back inside his house, Tom walked to the couch and sat next to his cat. Scanning the room for self discovery, he saw a cat toy lying next to the televi...

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THE ECOLOGICAL NICHE OF TAMIAS STRIATUS IN THE BRONX FOOD WEB

Submitted to Contest #30

THE ECOLOGICAL NICHE OF TAMIAS STRIATUS IN THE BRONX FOOD WEBBy Andrew Paul GrellI find myself at the southwest entrance to Van Cortland Park, the entrance with the 1938 statue of the last coyote in New York City. There has been no update, yet, acknowledging the new crew of Canidae seeking balance in the current environmental conditions. How I came to be here, this bright day amidst joyful park visitors, somehow escapes me. Presumably, I took the #1 train to its terminal station, since the steps leading up to the iron horse we...

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The Grandma, the Wizard, and the Cellar

Submitted to Contest #30

Veda awoke before the sun. It was a habit after 86 years of waking before the sun. When she was young, she woke before the sun to do the farm chores before school. Then she was a teacher waking up to prepare a classroom. Then she had children of her own she woke up to cook breakfast. Now with no children left in her home, or purpose she woke out of habit.She slowly rolled to the edge of the bed, and placed her feet on the ground, and then pushed herself up. She held onto the wall as she made her way to the kitchen. She started the coffe...

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Curiosity killed the cat

Submitted to Contest #30

I hastily put back the last few books into their allocated places.Those annoying teenagers that came an hour before had messed up the whole place,shoving books in whatever empty place they found or just leaving them to lay around completely.I glanced at the watch on my wrist.7:30pm.Great I had only 30 more minutes before I would have to wrap up and close the library.I sighed finding the the right spot for the book in my hand.I couldn’t wait to get home and see my 6 year old princess.Whenever I would come home she would come running from her ...

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My Little Tree

Submitted to Contest #30

Hi my name is Jason, and I'm sixteen  years old. Of course this isn't much of an introduction to my life, but my story, or at least the incident that has occurred, will paint a better picture of who I am.Right now I'm in a closet on the bottom floor of the hotel my parents are staying in. Why you may ask? None other than protection. Protection from curiosity, protection from uncertainty, protection from insanity.  You see I come from a family of- well my lineage has a rather interesting past. It all started with a ma...

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Dreamland

Submitted to Contest #30

Mommy and Daddy own a waterbed, which is supported by a wooden bottom, with drawers on each side, but between the drawers is a one foot by one foot door, which can’t be opened with my paw, but I’m working on getting in, even though Mommy and Daddy don’t want me to, which is why they closed the door. I try scratching the door and smelling the door. I can’t get in by scratching, but I smell it and it smells like burnt umber. Sometimes I use my nose to try to open the door, and one time I almost wedged it open, but then Mommy said it...

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The Secret Passage to Happiness in 1945

Submitted to Contest #30

Ester's mother walked to the stairs, and said, “Ester, it’s time to go! We can’t miss our train!” This summer Ester-Rose Willow was going to spend the summer by the seashores of Maine, in her great-grandmother's house. Ester was only five years old and had never left the City, and for the first time, she was going to be on a train, and see the sea! Since her father had gone missing in the war, and Rosemary, her mother had fallen ill, she had never ever gone to see the sea! This summer was special, her mother was sending her to stay alone at ...

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Questionable Truths

Submitted to Contest #30

The clacking of the type drowned out the feeble sobs. In the corner of the cavernous basement, behind the vast machines, the sound existed in a bubble of its own existence, pushing rebelliously at the pressure of the noise. She was alone, but solitude is subjective.Above . . .Laughter filled the small room, making brighter the dim light of the chandelier. Outside, the night was deep. Here, the windows are either squares of black or blocked by splendid drapes which are the color of foreign suns. Glasses jangle against bottles and trays. There...

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Toledo

Submitted to Contest #30

Toledo“And here you can see the spot where the horse knelt down”, said the guide, indicating a painted brick in the street. José Muñoz, a dealer in antiquities, looks at the spot with the other tourists. After, he looks at the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, and thinks about the legend that the guide told them. Of course, it is just a legend, but imagine entering the city with Alfonso VI and el Cid! As always, his dreams overcome him and his head becomes full of drawings of that epoch, drawings bought and sold by him. “What a romantic yo...

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Abel

Shortlisted for Contest #27 ⭐️

As much as Abel loved his wife, the smell of roast pig in the sweltering Arizona summer air made him fall in love in ways he’s never experienced before. The sun was strong and held the kind of power that conducted heatwaves to reach their twisting hands from the ground to the sky, cutting through stale air and red sunlight. Abel had been sweating in places he used to be sure he couldn't sweat; summer in Arizona does that to you, no matter how quickly you move through and how much water you douse yourself in.   “How many flies ...

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Romeo MUST DIE

Submitted to Contest #27

Romeo Must DieRomeo was too proud of himself. It showed in the way he walked, strutted, rock jumped and in the way he barked. He was the apple of the eyes for his masters.his scooting was very laughable and his barking adorable.In fact, he became the pride and joy of the house, the moment he set his paw in. He came to Aryan when he was around 25 days old. The household was quite discordant and fractious, and there seemed to be islands of people with little communication. His father was overworked and used to return from office very late, qui...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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