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Discover weekly, the best short stories

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

6180+ Thriller Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat and holding your breath? Don’t skip our collection of thriller short stories.

Thriller Short Stories – Page 391 of 412

Five Days, Sixteen Hours, Nine Minutes, and Fifty Seconds

Shortlisted for Contest #49 ⭐️

Crickets chirp, fire crackles, an electronic heartbeat punctuates the dark of night: short long, long short short, short long, short short short, long… A sonic history of the People of the Planet Earth drifts in the silence of deep space somewhere between stars, waiting to be played by an unlikely passerby.  It was a romantic image of Earth’s message to the great beyond, which was in actuality a far cry from the worldly greetings and hand-picked audio of early deep space probes. Instead, Earth leaked culture like a balloon with a ...

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Nightborn 5

Submitted to Contest #49

Three pickup trucks, two Fords and a Chevy, rolled up the mudded path. As the drivers saw the red and blue lights of the police car, they pulled their pickups to a halt, headlights falling straight on Damien’s face. Why did you come now, Mortensen? Why now, after five years of silence? He should have known his nightmare would not stay buried. It was just like his old man used to say. ‘Make sure they’re dead before you bury ‘em.’ He was referring to problems in life, but Damien thought the saying fit perfectly. “Cross,” Briggs said from the b...

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Sommelier

Submitted to Contest #49

I pull the wine through my lips and think about what it would be like to be someone’s first taste. It’s a dry one, sharp on the tongue, bitter in the throat. Something made in Argentina, I think. Dry. Sharp. Bitter. It would be an assault to the senses for a first-timer. But for someone who’s older, who’s lived enough, that taste is a welcome massage to a jaded existence. I enjoy another sip, close my eyes, inhale the bouquet of it. Pretend that I know anything about wine. I don’t. It might as well be blood. It looks just like it. Like Luk...

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The trail of life

Submitted to Contest #49

Sofia walked faster than before, moving around every vine and branch in her path. The forest was so dense that even during the middle of the day, she could barely make out things just a few feet ahead of her. She also kept getting scratched by the thorny vines every now and then, but that didn’t slow down her progress. After all, the life of her little brother hung in balance. Sofia was a 20-year-old sophomore at the community college. She was an introvert at heart who lived at home instead of the dorms, resulting in the fact that she had ...

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Too much to handle

Submitted to Contest #49

A great deal of thoughts were rushing through my mind. Too many, that made me fail to remember simple things. This just made me even later.  I glanced at the clock. This was insane! I could swear I had an extra 10 minutes! They flew away like wind! Greatly distressed, I seized my coat, grabbed my keys, and headed out the door clutching onto my handbag.  As I drove, I tried to ignore the immense amount of pain I was feeling and just focus on the appointment I had with the doctor. I grew even more infuriated as the traffic jam li...

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Do Stars Have Eyes?

Submitted to Contest #49

Do Stars Have Eyes? “Did you volunteer, or were you forced to be here?” The stranger asks me, and I shrug. I don’t know what to say or perhaps I don’t want to spell it out for the flag-wearing stranger next to me. “I’m not sure.” “I volunteered,” the stranger claims almost proudly. “I am doing it for my country.” Ah, the patriotic one, I thought. My third cousin, a worker at one of these testing facilities across the country said that the volunteers fell into three different categories: the patriotic ones, the poetic ones, and then the pa...

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My Rose

Submitted to Contest #49

Waiting!!! Waiting required patience. Patience was a virtue I clearly never possessed. But sitting here now silently I wished more than anything I possessed that ability. Sitting here by the window, I could see the sun was about to set.  Another day had passed. Another day you have survived. Another day you have lived. I kept telling this to myself. Maybe I am being too harsh on myself. I walked towards my drawing table all the colors have been scattered around. I should clean it up, but I didn’t have much time. I need to visi...

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Burning Without Fire

Submitted to Contest #49

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”It was a rhetorical question as both men knew the answer. An undoubtful, horrifying yes.Alexei, the younger of the two, quivered, on the brink of tears. “It’s going to be short, at least,” Yuri, the older one, said. “But still painful. They say it's one of the worst agonies a man can go through. The body killing itself from the inside.”The younger man burst into tears.“Crying won’t help, son,” Yuri said and fished his pocket for a cigarette. And to think he was about to quit smoking. What a sick joke, thi...

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Stop-Starters

Submitted to Contest #49

The waiting room was crowded. John shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He did not want to be there. But he had no choice.    After his latest drunk driving arrest, the court had ordered him to see a counselor. And to stop drinking, of course. The former he could do, albeit with ill grace. The latter, however, was beyond him. He could no more quit drinking than he could stop breathing.    He’d tried everything – rehab, therapy, AA - nothing had worked. The problem, he supposed, was he simply had no desir...

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Refreshments anyone?

Submitted to Contest #49

Jennie checks her watch for the umpteenth time, wondering when her turn will be. She arrived an hour early she was so nervous about the whole thing if she missed her chance "again" it would be the end of everything for her and her husband. Her husband wished her luck and told her to keep focused.The other people that had arrived were not as nervous as she was just were better at hiding it than she was. "I cannot believe the spread they put out for everyone some good eats!" said a man enthusiastically while stuffing yet another...

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The Man in the Mirror

Submitted to Contest #48

It was you. It was you all along.  It was us.  There he is. I am. We are. I’ve finally found you. After months of questioning, studying scene after scene, case after case. I nearly gave up the chase for justice and was going to allow you to wriggle away into the darkness you slithered from. False leads and miscommunication coupled with unobliging colleagues who seem to favor the shrouded recesses of humanity have forced me to the brink of madness in the hunt for you. Now, as I stand over this bathroom sink bespeckled with blo...

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Circus Man

Submitted to Contest #48

           Countless hours spent constructing my portfolio, constantly being downplayed by my friends and family, and nearly five years of being stuck in a dead-end job. All of these obstacles were finally about to pay off by the end of today. Since I’d arrived, I hadn’t stopped shaking in my black converse. My hands had turned cold and clammy, trembling as I tightly gripped a rolled-up latest edition of Circus Man. I had collected the comics since I was around the age of seven. Since th...

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You'd Better Not Lie

Submitted to Contest #48

When she was five years old, Margaret asked her friend, Nichole, if she took her barrettes.  Nicole lived next door and they played together almost every day. The day before, Margaret had been showing Nicole her beautiful new hair clips. They were pink with sparkling stones; Margaret loved them.            "I haven't seen your barrettes since you showed them to me!" Nichole sounded angry.  Margaret's vision became blurry just before she saw a bright flashing red...

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Waiting Alone

Submitted to Contest #49

I just finished the last bit of available food. That should last me a little while. I worry how I’ll find more food. I’ll worry about that later. I still have plenty of water. As long as the deep thirst doesn’t hit me. If it does, I’ll need to ignore the urges. They come on so strongly and quickly. I must be strong. The food will take a while to process. But if I drink, I’ll need to relieve myself. There is no place for me to do that. I would have to use my bed. Well, the pile of blankets in the corner of the room that I use as my bed. T...

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What a Year Brings

Submitted to Contest #48

         There were years that brought uncertain questions, and there were years that brought wavering answers. Sometimes those answers, sustained by time and hope, would be right there in front of our eyes but only could hope for us humans to reach them in the midst of our troubling thoughts and desires.       I scouted for my bags amongst the array of carriers. Bags that were pleasantly pleasing to a plethora of people but could only matter dearly to only one’s eye. Leis...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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