Romance Short Stories

Blue

I didn’t think he would leave me stranded again. I thought the wheel of fortune had finally turned to my favor. I was a fool not to see the writing…[...]

The white shadow

The sun shines on my hands as I open the little book, the one that starts with a simple drawing of a boa constrictor eating an elephant, the one my…[...]

Black and White

CW: Police harassment They slouched in the flickering darkness, watching the final credits. For two hours, Mark Dirac had shared part of the universe with Blanche, breathing in her wild-rose…[...]

Charcoal Drawing

It doesn’t all go at once, you know. Think August to October. At first, you see the tips of the leaves turn a crisp autumn color, then the green of…[...]

Yellow, White, and Blue

Returning to the office after an accident makes you wish you were in another accident. In short, it totally sucks. Waking up at 6 am to get ready to go…[...]

It Ain’t Easy Being Orange

I used to be bolder than others. Even the boldest of the bold could not eclipse my brilliance.I don’t mean I was unapproachable; I was and am as sweet as…[...]

312 A.D.

The day was Anno divortium, that is — 312 days had passed since Melody found herself single after bringing nearly 25 years of marriage to a close. 312 days since…[...]

The Opening

IAccording to something he had once heard—perhaps as a child, perhaps later, perhaps not even from a person—the earth remembers what we forget, though the sentence had never settled into…[...]

The Last Leather Straps

Mirror imageWith a jolt Keith sat up straight in his bed. Breathing heavily, he wiped his forehead. His eyes wandered to the alarm clock.3.39“Go back to sleep.”Sarah’s voice was barely…[...]

The Water Takes Us

“If you go into the water, it will take your life. We are cursed to never enter the ocean.” My mother’s words echoed in my mind as I recalled a…[...]

Lady Luck

I liked Juliet. I really did. But wait, listen. Let me tell you what really happened because none of that was my fault.The Montague, Romeo's father, was born into a…[...]

The Fire We Stole

The sky hung heavy over Bangkok, a dome of rust and sorrow. The sun was no longer a sovereign flame but a pale coin pressed against the haze, its brilliance…[...]

The Forest Remembers

Knowledge truly is a curse. My leaves shake and shiver in the wind as a plea to my mother. But she does not answer. She has not answered in hundreds…[...]

The Meadow

It shook its branches — scattering sparrow feathers and faintly yellowed leaves — and pressed its roots deeper into the earth, searching for pockets of moisture. Its crown, warmed by…[...]

Glorious, For a While

Darkness is the home of our vague fears and anxieties, but it is also the home of the Gods. Our lives contain “accidents,” which only exist in our heads. What…[...]

The Brother Who Let Go

First, I have to tell you I am alive and I have two brothers. One Near-And-Beating Brother, who holds my hand beneath the damp, green and life-bearing soil. Whose hurts…[...]

The Quiet Afghan

It had been eleven years since Afshin had journeyed out of Mazar-i-Sharif, through the stony deserts and forbidding mountains of the Hindu Kush, to meet the friend who put people…[...]

The Market and the Misanthrope

Jack is alone in his studio apartment, on his phone, watching the odds creep low and lower.“Don’t overthink it,” he tells himself. “And don’t get greedy.” He understands that the…[...]

The Accidental Auction Bid

Rowan McCrae didn’t mind doing hard work.He minded being told to “smile pretty for the ladies tonight” by two separate grandmothers before eight a.m., but the work itself was fine.He…[...]

“What’s up, Doc?”

"What you are experiencing is a range of complex emotions. Here is a script, something to take the edge off your distressing feelings. Take that to the pharmacist, after you…[...]

The Thing About Opal

The aquarium closes at six. By seven it belongs to him.The octopus is in the east corridor. Large tank, blue-lit, the water always moving slightly from the aerator near the…[...]

I Went to the Woods

The forest sat alone in a cradle made of sand. It was a seven day drive across the sun-bleached wasteland, nothing but arid desert as far as the eye could…[...]

Therefore, she suffers so much more

My insurance payment is overdue by more than a week. Buying the clearance chocolate at the grocery store I work at during break is the only thing that kept me…[...]

The Minotaur’s Sister

My room was never silent, quiet but not silent. The labyrinth was always making some kind of noise. Being there every day for years meant that I was used to…[...]

From the Front lines to the Front Porch: Memoir of a Matriarchal Soldier

The dirt of Fort Bragg is a jealous thing; it stains the soul with a rusted, iron-bound persistence that thirty-five years of rhythmic "left-right-left" cannot shake. My journey began in…[...]

Catching the Train

“Tell me the truth.” Tears rolled down her cheeks like raindrops on a window. A view I usually loved. Not her tears—the raindrops. But her crying tore something deep inside…[...]

Ranch UFO Alien Encounter

It’s hard to believe that several years have passed since it happened. I often wonder what I really saw that day, when I was sitting up on a deer hunting…[...]

Flowers & Makeup

I'm a productive person.I can wear makeup because I’m not a bitch at my prettiest. And I don’t want to steal husbands and I never respond even if a husband…[...]

The Cost of Returning Home

“Welcome home, Lieutenant. We’re glad to have you back.”The captain flashes his teeth, and in return I offer a wide grin. Home. When I left this place, I imagined this…[...]

The Last Honest Thing

The room was always loudest in the beginning—laughter erupting, voices carrying, the sound of shoes meeting the floor. Each Tally in the room belonged to someone. A human, somewhere out…[...]

Under the Obsidian Beaches

I was never fond of the ocean.My brother often went when he felt lonely or distraught. He said it calmed him listening to the pulse of the waves. “Just listen,”…[...]

Home

My arms were sore and aching from carrying boxes from the storage room to my old jeep that waited in the yard, the once shiny black paint more like a…[...]

The Heart Always Knows

My best friend Lorelei and I are both writers, for me lifestyle features for a city magazine, for her freelance stories for many outlets. We always have so much to…[...]

Background Noise

I don’t know why I do this to myself. Here I am, yet again, quite literally, the odd man out. I came to this wedding as a favor to the…[...]

The View From Outer Space

I am so high up, so far above everything I used to be and know. I think I can see the earth, a point of light far below. I know…[...]

The Distance Between Staying and Leaving

The mornings all begin the same, and this morning is no different. The room feels too still, like even the air is tired, and before I’m fully awake, I can…[...]

This story contains themes of grief, bereavement, depression, and suicidal ideation. It also includes references to terminal illness, emotional distress, and a character’s increasing preoccupation with death. Readers who may…[...]

Standing on the Wrong Side of Hate

Alice couldn’t pinpoint the precise moment in time and space when she had become such a bitch. Perhaps she was just born that way. Perhaps it had been foretold in…[...]

Wistfully Willing

The sealed envelope taunted me from across the room as I sat at the foot of my bed, knees held tightly to my chest. Several memories had passed since I…[...]

Echoes + Tropes

“Cut!” The actors relax and laugh at the director’s announcement, and I frown at them from my chair, annoyed at their contentment. “Hannah?” It’s my co-writer, Neal, who notices my…[...]

Getaway

“One day, I’ll get out of here.”“Out of where?”“Out of… this house. This city. This country. This world.” My eyes were glued to the full moon glimmering in the sky.“Where…[...]

A Perfect Mother

I remember when my five-year-old daughter crossed a balance beam in gymnastics on the day Haiti suffered a catastrophic earthquake. It felt peculiar to be proud of my daughter in…[...]

Marta

I watched her cross the snowy field in the dusk. Violet color there, the indigo muted. I turned away. The kettle hissed in the stove in the wide kitchen. “You've…[...]

The Death of Iris Vane

Iris did not know, when she stepped out of her squished little brownstone on Cobble Hill, that she was going to die. Of course, everyone dies eventually, but for Iris…[...]

An Irish Wake

Neala loomed over Grandma Aileen’s casket and stared at the waxy skin etched with makeup-filled crevices. Each line on the old woman’s face held a story. Frown lines told of…[...]

Two Rememberings

Reedsy Prompt for May 22, 2026Include a wake or funeral in your story where the mourners have conflicting feelings about the deceased. (1,760 words) Me: Well, we’re here. Not a…[...]

You’re Always Here

Thirty-five minutes and twenty-nine seconds. He walks in when the clock ticks thirty, and her heart skitters with instinctive, awful familiarity. It is the little things like these that she…[...]

About the Colour Pink

Sally had always loved the colour Pink. The walls in her room were blush Pink; her pillows were coral and raspberry, and most of her clothes were too, in fact,…[...]

About to Fall

A thick fog envelops Hyde Park as I ride my ginger pony around the deserted kiosk at Speakers’ Corner. Winter Wonderland closed last week, leaving its muddy footprint stamped on…[...]

Beneath the light of the comet

The summer ET was released on video I was first in line at the rental store - itching to watch it - having been deemed too young to see the…[...]

Windows to the Soul

I ring the doorbell, my suitcase hunkered beside me on the footpath, a black, sullen thing. After a few moments, the door swings open. Jane, my eldest, looks surprised to…[...]

Blindsight

I wish I never got my sight back.That thought crossed my mind sitting outside the hospital, in the green Chevrolet Camaro my father left me. The sun rose, bathing the…[...]

Black and White

CW: Police harassment They slouched in the flickering darkness, watching the final credits. For two hours, Mark Dirac had shared part of the universe with Blanche, breathing in her wild-rose…[...]

The Hymn of the Lady of Gold

“I warned you this journey would be perilous, even for a dragon.” “And I warned YOU what my parents would do to you if you let me die,” Rena growled.…[...]

Lights

When I was much younger than I am now, my grandfather died, and two lights turned off. As the dwarfs slid down the sky, becoming blue and brighter, my mother…[...]

The Weight of Coming Home

The bus rolled into town just before sunrise, its tires hissing against wet pavement. Clara pressed her forehead against the cold window and watched familiar streets pass like ghosts she…[...]

Can-Can Wonderland

What does that even mean? When I thought of the can-can I thought of the scandalous scarlet skirts whipping back and forth on stage showcasing ebony heels and a little…[...]

The Seed

Chunk was popping off in my ear about the rain, his voice heavy like he just ran a block. I paid him no mind. My shades were on, and I…[...]

The colours in the dark

Whispers swirl, and colours whip past me. These strings and flashes of light are rushing somewhere. They wisp and float into the dark where I can't see. I pull and…[...]

Dearly Dear

Form me to you. dearly, I am sending this letter to finally write back to you. I am sorry. I know it took me a while. But you know how…[...]

Aphelion

It was beautiful, and Eric hated himself for thinking so, hated the way the magma flowering across the Pacific looked like the roses he used to steal from gas stations…[...]

The Tether Between Us

“Why does a cosmonaut need a gun, Papa?” The corner of his father’s mouth rose. He followed Pavel’s gaze back through the museum doors to the display case holding the…[...]

Jamestown

Everything about the decision made sense but the living of it. When your children and your grandchild all live within a few minutes of each other, you move wherever that…[...]

Constellations Between Us

“I remember,” the voicemail whispered. Nova Carter sat frozen on the edge of her bed as those two words filled the tiny apartment bedroom she shared with her little brother.…[...]

First Kiss

What could have been. After the kiss, I was shocked. I expected: love, a future together, a boyfriend. I imagined us together. I thought back upon our conversation, and the…[...]

A Worm in Three

My dad always said the best time for fishing is right before sunrise. On summer vacation we'd drive up to the family cottage for a week of rest and relaxation,…[...]

426: Fade to Black

426: Fades to Black While in a coma, I dreamt about things that had happened on this date throughout my life; although I didn’t know it was a dream, it…[...]

Drew

It was the changing light, not his hunger, that first alerted to the lateness of the hour, although with his hyperfocus now broken, he was suddenly acutely aware of how…[...]

The Diary That Chose to Write Itself

22nd Jan, ‘22. Yes, my mom is a hostess. No, my mom is not an oversized magical dog, like Nicholas says. First and foremost, Nicholas is a nitwit. Do dogs…[...]

the girls

Smoke. It’s wafting off the incense I’ve burned in my room, doing a beautiful dance in the air, defying all standards of expectation and twisting through the air in unique…[...]

Growed Up

This was to be the most important day of Fudmul Schruck's short life: the day he performed the Ritual of , the day he formally changed from being a kid…[...]

The Golden Boys

Pyranus and Tarng were cousins who faced the challenges of childhood together – bullies, girls, and boring instructors in their learning cohorts. Their upcoming 15th birthday marked the age of…[...]

on a wingless plane

Studies. Research. Accolades. I decided to take a breather from hunting down the mob who stole my friend and concentrate a little on what's actually in front of me. Exams.…[...]

How Long Is Forever?

"How far away are the stars?" Daphne gazed into the dark sky and wondered aloud. It was a perfectly clear night in August, two weeks left of summer vacation. Her…[...]

Charcoal Drawing

It doesn’t all go at once, you know. Think August to October. At first, you see the tips of the leaves turn a crisp autumn color, then the green of…[...]

In Memory of Aggie

Cimarron, Oklahoma; April 1937 ”Well, Rudy, shall we spend the next ten minutes chewing the fat, or would you rather I just get the truth over with?”I don’t reckon that’s…[...]

A Pagan May Day Festival in the garden of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water

"Good day" echoed thru the huge stainless steel room. White lights glared off the the shiny floor and walls. Stale air hung still, smelt metallic. A crowd of women, silently…[...]

Excalibur Totallly

Let me just say this upfront: being embedded in a rock for an unspecified number of years is not the glamorous origin story people think it is, at all.Yes, I’m…[...]

She, The Goddess

The Earth knows, She has always known. She holds her secrets until we are ready to listen to our heart, for Her song is quiet and Her heart is wide…[...]

Artemis and the Country Boy

My favorite place in the whole world is a clearing on the other side of Rainwater Creek. To get there I must balance on a fallen log suspended across the…[...]

Good Grief

My mother is gone. As I sit beside her lifeless, but not-yet cold body on the third floor of St. John’s General in these first few minutes of her death,…[...]

Premonitions of Everyone Else

Dear Katherine, I’ve always hated those people who name their diaries. I swore I’d never do it. You’re just a book. But the name Katherine has just been in my…[...]

33rd and First

She had lived thirty-three different lives, yet she was still an absolute failure. “No, wait. That came out wrong.” Spencer groaned, removing his metal frames to rub both temples.But it…[...]

Reds

Back then, the soles of our feet were always pitch-black, and our skin still had enough elasticity to rebound after each sunburn. The heat was so intense that it nearly…[...]

Matebese’s Constant

Trigger Warning: This story contains references to child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, bereavement, and alcohol abuse. Reader discretion is advised. Shamrock green grass blanketed alpine peaks pointing to bright blue…[...]

About the Colour Pink

Sally had always loved the colour Pink. The walls in her room were blush Pink; her pillows were coral and raspberry, and most of her clothes were too, in fact,…[...]

Paper Wings

Ren commands the paper into intricate folds. The amber sunlight streaking through the window by his desk illuminates the softness of his dark eyes. Serious. Meticulous. Inspired. His collection of…[...]

Orange

such a powerful color and the usage of it varies for many reasons.The government have prisoners to wear color orange to show embarrassment and misconduct towards society.This humiliation is towards…[...]

Green With Envy: The Turning of a Friendship

“Grover?” I asked, looking at my friend and noticing how content he looked lounging from under our favorite willow, his arms crossed behind his head.“You know I hate that nickname,…[...]

Boone’s Farm Regrets

I’m pretty sure we can all remember the first time we got drunk. For some, the over consumption seemed fun. An exciting experience that made the next adventure in drinking…[...]

Dino

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for dinosaurs. From my very first school trip to The Natural History Museum in the early 70’s where, I gazed open-mouthed at…[...]

Sir Eddard Covington Marsh Puff-Puff the Fourth

The branches scratched his arms as he climbed. He could hear Mrs. DiLeonardis below as she yelled out in a raspy voice. “You’re not there yet, he’s further up. More…[...]

The Queen of Victoria Avenue

I didn’t tell my mom I was adopting a dog, because when she was six, a dog bit her, and she’s been deathly afraid ever since. I don’t really like…[...]

The Joke Is On Me

My name is Jayla Jennings. My story started when I was nine years old and the experiences I had have lasted a lifetime mixing love, fun and family. It all…[...]

From Ashes to Love

I remember the moment I became a man. Not in the way other men remember it. They might remember it with a first kiss, broken bone, winning the ball game,…[...]

Unspoken silence

Mara kept the blanket folded at the end of her bed, the edge lined up perfectly with the seam of the mattress. The pillows were stacked in the same order…[...]

The Missing Piece

I pull the box out of the garage because the dogs need to go out. That was my excuse. The truth is less organized. I let them into the yard…[...]

When the Words Went Quiet

Eric used to be the kind of person who could turn anything into words. He was my next-door neighbor and my best friend. He was talented in many ways. He…[...]

The Glass Man

The sky is escaping to the ocean.Pouring itself back to its most comfortable form in sheets. The ocean rages, reflecting the sky in even darker blues and greys. The sky…[...]

Penguins in Aruba

Jamie has never professed to be a writer. He’s not very creative, and honestly, his sister tells enough tall tales for the both of them. He lets his sister handle…[...]