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

4900+ Speculative Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking to explore terrains beyond Earth and stretch the limits of your imagination? Welcome to the Internet’s best source of speculative fiction stories.

Speculative Short Stories – Page 302 of 327

The In-Between

Submitted to Contest #75

He skated backwards, pulling me along. The blades bit into the ice. Crusp, crusp, like an ongoing song to which our souls had to dance. We lost ourselves in that moment until he twirled me around my center. One of his skates caught on my wings and we fell. I think it's called head over heels.  “This is not what I had planned.” I clawed through the thin layer of flaked ice in search of my halo. Oh feathers, it was all hazy now. To little avail, I tried polishing it with my sleeve, then put it back on my head as it was.  “What did ...

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Not in His Attic

Submitted to Contest #75

"Alrighty, Miss....Smith?" the secretary stared over her gleaming, red glasses into the waiting room, wondering which woman would change their life forever today."Yes! That's me, that's me," a short, mud-haired woman shoots up from of her dull, fading leather seat. She catches sight of the doctor who opens the mysterious door that leads to the path that will hold her future. His mold green eyes stared at her, almost insisting that she was making the right choice. Come. It was as if she could read his thoughts. Her black heels begin to clack ...

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Describe in Detail, Please

Submitted to Contest #75

“Can you describe what you were wearing that night?” The words echoed in the chamber a moment, followed by a few exasperated sighs from the prosecution’s side. Was there a more antiquated question? Surely the defense was knowledgeable enough to predict the onslaught of accusations that would follow this question.  Or perhaps the defense was more deft than initially thought to be. Perhaps there was something else they were trying to prove by asking the question. At least that’s what Adam thought, pondering what traditionally male clo...

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All It Took Was a Breath

Submitted to Contest #75

“Bye, Daddy! I’ll see you later!” Looking up from his breakfast, Henry smiled, “Bye, Sweet Pea. Stay out of trouble at school!” Elizabeth was a small child, smaller than any other children her age. However, she was still his little girl, his baby. Henry didn’t have time to get lost in thought when he felt lips press behind his ear, “Don’t stress yourself today. You’re off from work and you can nap. I’m going straight to the office after I drop Elizabeth off at school. Try not to worry about anything okay? Whatever happened at work is in...

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Sunny's Side of the Street

Submitted to Contest #75

Police Detective Montes made his way over to the older gentleman in the back of the populate bar, sitting at a booth with a dim bulb.  Montes carefully approached the down-trotted fellow.  “Is this seat taken?” Montes sternly asked as he sat down anyways, not waiting for an answer, but simply asked to act “polite” “What do you want,” said the older man, with a grizzly deep voice. The bass in his voice made it almost inaudible to understand what he said.  “I’m just here to get some wisdom. I work with the NYPD…” Montes trail...

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Blue Violets

Submitted to Contest #75

***Not exactly a trigger warning but there’s some talk of religion if you don’t like that.*** “Stars will blossom in the darkness, violets bloom beneath the snow.” It was dark and lonely behind the gates of hell. A youngish man with a maniacal grin stood behind an old wooden table stretched along a dreary path, smoke coming to and fro from behind the table until it floated back into the air, more gaseous soot returning from below.  This man was Charon, the ferryman of the underworld. The closest thing the Greeks had to a grim reap...

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Turning Point: A Guide to the Future and for the most part, an authenticated True Story

Submitted to Contest #75

Adam Browning looked at the letter, carefully folded it, sliding it into the envelope. As director of Turning Point: Your Guide to the Future, he personally selected each candidate. He smiled, immensely pleased with this choice.Adam was a throw-back to an age of civil discourse in business and pleasure. He poured a dollop of melted wax on the edge of the flap and made an imprint with the company logo. “A nice touch, don’t you think,” he said, smiling to his associate, Remy.~ ~ ~ ~ ~Jules stormed into her building like a c...

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Today's Tomorrow

Submitted to Contest #75

When I think back on my day, I can’t believe it actually is over. Much like the week, month, year, ten, twenty years gone. I spent most of that time planning I assume for something. I don’t even remember what it was anymore, but I must have believed it was important at the time. It is just that life goes by so fast, I don’t remember most of it happening. Tomorrow is a new year. I normally don’t pay much attention to all the celebratory nonsense that surrounds it. To me it was just another day, until it wasn’t. I...

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Cigarettes and Lavender

Submitted to Contest #75

Cigarettes and lavender. The dark smelled like something burning yet calming and the room felt… neither cold nor warm.The person who had arrived waited, their feet not tired and their patience not thin, as a small light made its way to them. The figure within the light stops in front of them.“Hello.”“Hi. You know why I’m here?”The figure stares quietly before nodding, “Why don’t you tell me yourself.”“I’m here for a new life. I need to… escape.. I need to get away.”The figure nods. This person was no different than the ones who had come befo...

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Death Edits

Submitted to Contest #75

Death Edits“Do you feel as though spirits have been visiting you in your dreams lately? Do you or anyone you know find themselves inexplicably cold even with the thermostat cranked up? Have cups and plates mysteriously been broken even though you had a firm grasp on them?It might not be a ghost, but a haunting of a different sort.” “Ghosts don’t exist...” a skeptical Marilyn Monroe lookalike exclaims.“Depends on what you mean by exist.” I quickly fire back. I pour some water in a cup and look at the dozen or so people in the room. ...

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Your Past is not your future: A fictional story By- Pravini Thivakar

Submitted to Contest #75

Your Past is not your future: A fictional story By- Pravini Thivakar Have you ever felt that it would be best to forget your past forever? Some people say our past is what builds our future but I think differently. Our past is what we learn from, while our future is our opportunity to build from our past. After my journey, I've realized that sometimes it's okay to forget our past. My Past: As a child, I always thought it's not okay to be different, always blend in, be cool, be hidden in the crowds. I was bullied, that's my hidden truth, ...

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Crown of Death

Submitted to Contest #75

*Nainika's Note* HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! WHOOOOO :) My first story of 2021, and here's to many, many more!!! Enjoy :DMany say that when you die, you will meet a robed skeleton holding a scythe. Some say you go to Heaven or Hell. Some say that you are reincarnated. Some say you turn into a ghost, while some say you sleep for eternity.But the truth is, Death is just a figure. A soul. A mystery. I appear to people in their final moments, looking like whatever they believe Death looks like. To those who don’t believe in me, I’m invisible. Just a force...

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Forgetting Something?

Submitted to Contest #75

“You don’t remember anything?” “Nope, not a thing.” “Doesn’t that bother you? I know it would bother me.” I don’t really know when it began, because it isn’t like you get hit in the head, end up in the hospital and don’t know who you are or where you are. It is slower than that. It’s more like you can’t find your glasses. You know how someone always points to your head cause that’s where they are supposed to be. But you don’t wear glasses and you can’t find them cause you don’t remember you don’t wear glasses. It’s n...

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Other's: Lives

Submitted to Contest #75

“I was driving on the 5, when this truck up ahead of me slams on his brakes. That’s why I don’t like driving behind anything I can’t see around or over. Like to know what’s up ahead, just in case. Well this was one of those just in case times. A metal pole came flying from nowhere and went through the windshield just inches from me. I could have been dead, but I’m here talking to you.  I want to know how come I’m still here, and how you are going to get me through it.” “It’s not really what I do.” “They told me ...

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Letters to the Girl She Was

Submitted to Contest #75

***Trigger warning for drowning*** “We put down in writing what is happening in our minds. Once it’s on the paper we feel better, we feel better. It’s like some kind of clarity when the letter’s done and signed.” The roofs were high and mighty, like the cliffs of a mountain. Below them sat many multicolored houses with their own respective roofs to sit on and watch the glory of the sunrise from outside, but alas, it was late, and no one was out.  No one, that is, except for two young girls sitting on the roof of a house, the one t...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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