3890+ Best Suspense Short Stories to Read Online for Free - Reedsy Prompts – Page 2

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Suspense Short Stories – Page 2 of 260

“Icy Fingers ” by Jessie Hartness

Take a look. No, over there... over where that man is getting into his car to leave for work. That ordinary man, who drives that ordinary car, going to his ordinary nine-to-five. He pets his ordinary dog before he closes the door, tells him to go to the back, and then pushes his garage door remote after he sees the tail pass over the sensor’s reach. He drives away after making sure the ordinary door fully closes...

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“Sentimental Memories” by Peter Phoenix

“Lizzy, come and check this out,” Jake shouted and his voice echoed from the attic. “Be right there, I just need to pack the rest of the food,” replied Lizzy from the kitchen. “Did you find something interesting?” “You bet!” he replied with an excited voice. “A wooden chest full of old family albums, you need to see this.” Jake pulled out the photo book that was on the top,...

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“Thanks So Very Much” by Irene Girton

We came back from a year in Maine late in the summer of 1997. Mum had died in April, a month after I hadn’t won the job I’d hoped for, the job we’d moved clear across the country for despite my misgivings. I drove west in one car as Harry drove the other, switching our 4-year-old son David and our golden retriever from my Honda to Harry’s SUV every couple of hundred miles. We finally made it ...

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“Pink” by Jade Perry ™️🐍

Pink is her favorite color. It has been since the age of sixteen. She couldn’t exactly tell you why. Why she’d rather have playful pinks instead of bland blues or purposeful purples. Some days, she thinks it’s because it makes her feel youthful and forever rosy. How just by looking at the color, her heart blushes like her teenage self with a crush. Other days, she swears it’s because it makes the simplest things livelier. That it only takes a single coat of watermelon polish to transform broken brittle nails. That no other color can liven...

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“The best coffee” by Manu Jankus

On a misty morning at dawn, the cries awakened me of a child from a nearby house, a small two-story residence where a family of four lived with their giant dog, a shepherd of sorts. They appeared the perfect default family, the kind that a wealthy merchant from the capital, the dazzling royal jewel of Lumence, would pitch you as an ideal one. Well, I didn't have anything like that, and was alone in my three-story house, ...

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“Folding Shirts” by Ben Rounds

“Hey, you; what’s your name?” demanded the young man. There were only so many ways to survive and over the years Liam had seen them all. Tilting his head in an ambiguous fashion he shifted a stack of newly folded shirts aside so the fellow could sit if he wished. He was careful, but still one slid from the pile and swished to the ground. Retrieving it, Liam recast t...

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“Lighthouse” by Sarenity Charm

A lighthouse. Red and white swirls twisting up from jagged rocks that held back the sea itself. A cylinder of brick, stone, wood, and paint. The very top brought to a point like a fairy tale castles spire. A light to shine out the top to guide people back from the sea. Remind them that they are not alone and safely show them their way home. In front of this light house, down on the jagge...

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“Dusty Little Things” by Bee Wing

My hand reached for the dust-covered photo album on the shelf. God, does he ever clean? The deep brown leather cracked with age and became rough. I wandered to the familiar old beige couch that belonged to my grandmother, Maggie. Now it smelled of mildew. The air was thick and stale despite a breeze drifting through the trees outside. I stopped myself from sniffing the book for fear of an allergy attack. St...

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“Wanna Watch?” by Maribeth Mundell

Paulie leaned over in the brown leather chair, its surface worn dull, some of its brass studs missing. He wore a white undershirt, spotted with old marinara stains, tiny holes worn through with age and washing. His elbows rested on his knees, his hands dangling between them. His head nodded a little, his eyes puffy with sleep and drink. “I can’t believe dad’s been gone almost ten years now.” Ann Marie acqui...

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“Shard of Glass” by Greg Short

I found your secret, you were a hoarder, Natalie thought to herself. Her mums’ loft was full of cardboard boxes, over flowing with their contents. That was not the only secret she would find up here. Natalie had wondered whether she would come across some long lost artefact, a valuable treasure that may be desired by the British Museum. It was more likely that everything would be sent to a charity shop, failing that, the tip. Mum had not left much of a legacy when she died. Even the house was mortgaged to the limit, so her estate was not ...

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“Drifting Away” by Jack Malin

The shouts echoed around the kitchen and drifted harshly upstairs, pounding on my door as I laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to hear the hate in their voices. I wanted to be anywhere else. I heard a big crash. My dad yelled something. My mom started crying. I heard feet stomping. The front door slammed close, then total silence. I wasn’t relieved. I didn’t want silence. I wanted the soft sounds. I heard my dad walk up the stairs. I could tell it was him by the sound his shoes made. H...

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“Memorialized with Lipstick and Dresses” by Hussein Abulamzi

I leaned against the passenger door of Dad’s red ’87 Monte Carlo, and I felt unsure of whether to catch my breath or inhale my cigarette. But the wind chaffed my smiling teeth, regardless. The music the car blasted around the Exxon station—the one dad retired from as a cashier—just shied off a ruse. So, Carl ran up to the car, shoved me aside, and jumped half-way inside it through the window. Tonight, I...

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“THREE CHIMNEYS ON THE BEACH” by Mara Masolini

.THREE CHIMNEYS ON THE BEACH From the glass facade the sea seemed to enter the house, which, despite its transparent façade, had almost the appearance of a beach cottage, a red brick cottage with a sloping red roof, on which three chimneys stood ( out), and on each chimney, a cockerel windbreaker ( a cockerel wind vane). On the ground floor of the beach cottage ( house), which would be mor...

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“Sofia Unpacked” by Lavender Marigold

“Listen!” The word jostled Sofia awake. The forest, like a catacomb, enveloped them. Night had come, the world dark, only a thin sliver of moonlight cast a beam into the murky river at Sofia’s feet. “What am I listening for?” She thought to Hira, who paced nervously within Sofia’s mind, the tapping of shoes on a tiled floor echoing in her chambers within. “There w...

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“Tone Deaf” by Jennifer Peaslee

Curtis Crawford was raised to follow two Gospels in equal measure. The first, of course, was that of the Bible, but equally important in Curtis’s household was that pervasive, unspoken Commandment of the South: Politeness before all else. Had Curtis lived in a dusty era of stiff collars and brimmed hats, he would not have been a speck out of place. As it was...

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