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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

11080+ Sad Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Do you ever need to break your own heart? We see you. Grab a tub of ice cream or a box of tissues and settle down with some of the best, really sad short stories to make you cry.

Sad Short Stories – Page 98 of 739

The Line

Submitted to Contest #262

There is a Line that divides the Island. My People live on one side, and our enemies live on the other. I don't know why. I suppose it's the way things have always been. Our side of the Island is beautiful and alive, fresh and pure. From the pointed towertops of the Prince's palace to the rutted path that I take into town every morning, nothing is untouched by the glorious white snow. It keeps us. It protects us. "Protects us from what?" I remember asking my father when I was young. We were sitting by the hearth, leaning into the dancing whi...

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Leave

Submitted to Contest #263

If the pain is as temporary as Connor McCall himself, Dylan might survive. But there is nothing fleeting about Connor except the man himself. He is, by design, flawed. His smile, despite its compelling nature, sits lopsided to the left and a complicated relationship with himself leaves an arrogant stain on his personality. But somewhere between the perfectly styled hair and the expensive ties that suffocate him into designer suits, Connor is a disaster. “You should feel lucky,” Derek says, voice soft with understanding. Drinking in the sh...

9 likes 1 comment 1
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Like Cassandra, or Sisyphus, or Bill Murray

Submitted to Contest #262

It was a sweltering summer evening, the air thick with humidity and the buzzing of insects. There'd be a storm tonight, no doubt about it. Lying in the grass Josie closed her eyes and pictured it. First the distant rumble and a slow darkening of the sky. The insects falling quiet and all forest creatures making their way into their dens. Humans would be the last ones out in the open, breaking into a mad scramble to get the laundry of the line, putting toys and barbecues inside as the first fat raindrops began falling on them. The clasp of th...

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Uninvited

Submitted to Contest #262

“‘Choose well!’ said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”…Camellia thought to herself when she rode the open-top double-decker bus on a scorching afternoon in August in London.She squirmed in her seat unable to adjust to the sudden change in weather, unlike her little sister Petunia. It is like her parents named them knowing how they will turn out to be.From clothes to sandals to mini yellow satchels, Petunia nailed it. She looked kawaii in her Hawaiian style whereas Camellia who claims to be the know-it-all underestimated the heatwaves in the UK wit...

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Parched

Submitted to Contest #262

Mason turned, showing off a dopey wide grin. He shouted over: ‘Goddamn nothing! Don’t worry Til! You just know one of these dumps is hiding a few bottles.’ His arm swung outwards, fingers stabbing through the blistering air at the next house over. ‘Pull yourself together Mason!’ Tilly replied. ‘You heard the guards: “Record heatwave”, as in the worst of the century…were you even listening?’In this moment he seemed more puppet than human, and the sun pulled all the strings now, leaving him to flail around with unpredictable rhythm. Tilly...

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Don't Feed the Birds

Submitted to Contest #262

A sane man would have flinched. Hot saliva dripped down his face, the hateful "gift" spat by a stranger. The man had not noticed the insult for he was lost in his own torments -- to his own demons.                He stared unblinking and blind to the world around him. He was a part of this world, but separate. Still a man but not.                 An old woman with arthritic ...

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Of Fiery Embers and Sea Green

Submitted to Contest #262

His eyes were those of burning embers as the setting sun reflected in their deep hues as if drawing me in and drowning me in the sea of their color, and all I could do was be drawn to them, no matter what I did.The warmth of the afternoon day still clung to the air as we swayed to the beat of the distant music, my arms wrapped around his shoulders and his hands on my hips, and I could feel the thump of my heart pounding against my ribcage at how close we were.I had never been this bold in my life, to be honest … Having always stayed within t...

7 likes 12 comments 12
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These Summer Moments

Submitted to Contest #262

Raymond held his daughter’s hand as she pulled him toward the water.“Come on, daddy! Come on!” she yelled, running as fast as her short, squishy legs would carry her.“I’m coming, Sylvie, I’m coming,” he sing-songed behind her.He tried to stay calm when Sylvie let go of his hand. When she ran ahead of him. When she dipped her toes in the water and didn’t seem fazed in the slightest that her dad wasn’t standing next to her.“She’s ok.”Raymond turned to see his dad, Larry, staring at Sylvie with a big smile.“She reminds me of you, you know,” Lar...

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Summer

Submitted to Contest #262

The first time he laid eyes on her she was sitting in the lobby, furrowed brow and set jaw, exuding determination. He would get to know that expression intimately over the next few weeks. As he would also soon discover, the almost imperceptible nervous energy he thought he had noticed was completely out of character for one with such a blithe and capricious nature. Maybe it was that sliver of vulnerability, real or imagined, which made the moment memorable for him. It was the briefest of exchanges: a walk across the room, a half curious side...

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Hair-Dryer Day

Winner of Contest #262 🏆

I didn’t know there could be a day too hot for planes to fly but I guess I should’ve, because lord knows it’s entirely too hot for anything else to happen. I figured I should still take the dog out but honestly as soon as I opened the door, he looked at me with these doleful eyes like, Are you kidding me? Makes sense. I was ready to crawl out of my underwear and just walk around with a creatively placed fig leaf or something, so you gotta figure it’s even worse for a furry guy. When we went back in, I dug an old t-shirt out of the ...

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The Summer of Disaster

Submitted to Contest #262

TW: Includes mentions of self harm, mental health, and substance abuse (alcohol). I laid back in my bed, holding Jane Eyre above my head to read. I've been reading the same line for the past hour. I don't know why I haven't given up yet. Probably because my parents want me to get as much extra credit as possible with how horrible my grades have been. Tomorrow we're heading to the summer house, and I'm dreading it. We go to this house every year expecting it to be different and magical, but our family lost the magic a long time ago. I roll o...

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Echoes of a Lost Summer

Submitted to Contest #262

The anticipation of summer vacation is a feeling like no other. The countdown to freedom, to days without responsibility or structure, filled me with a sense of exhilaration. I imagined the adrenaline rush as we climbed the heights of the roller coasters, the wind whipping through our hair, the simultaneous terror and thrill as we plummeted downwards. Each ride would be a shared victory, a memory to recount and laugh about later.The teasing glances from girls in line were part of the fun, a playful dance of flirtation that added to the adven...

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Cliff Jumping

Submitted to Contest #262

I sit alone on a lawn chair, facing a broken wood dock. The dock has a beginning, and an end, but the middle is a wreck. Center planks teeter into the water or are missing. The dock extends over a small, brackish pond.   My chair rests under a tall, shady pine tree.  I absorb the humming of a distant tractor engine and the soothing symphony of crickets. I am finding peace on the hottest day of the year.  I feel sweat trickle down my face. A tiny little ant bites my ankle, and the pain brings back the memory...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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Ninety-two degrees

Submitted to Contest #262

Trigger warning: Theme of Family violence / Sexual abuseIt’s the time of year when the depressing chill of autumn should be settling in, yet the sun is unrelenting stark radiance. No shadows, no perspective just a harsh white light providing a spotlight for my stepfather’s gaze as he watches us. I’m supposed to call him Daddy but under my breath I call him Kronos. Devourer of children. Unhinged titan. Seems more apt.He’s going stir crazy with the pressure of no work on the horizon. We’ve ducked his ill temper, dodged the petty arguments he t...

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Flares of Exodus

Submitted to Contest #262

"Good evening, this is the headlines for tonight. Our top story: humanity's final chance for survival. In a historic and unprecedented effort, millions of people are set to leave Earth aboard massive colony ships as a catastrophic solar flare threatens to scorch our planet with a brutal heatwave set to scorch the earth. The International Space Agency, in collaboration with global governments, will send some 10 million to ensure our species' future on 100 potentially habitable planets. Cryo-sleep technology, still in its experimental stages, ...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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