Free Short Stories

Quick reads for any moment — 100 to 1000 words

FreeShortStories.net?

Waiting for the bus, taking a short break, or simply looking for something quick and engaging to read? Freeshortstories.net offers a carefully curated collection of short stories in a wide range of genres and lengths, perfect for any moment of Read more…


The Summer We Almost Missed

When Laura arrived in the small coastal town of Bellmere, she had no intention of falling in love. She had come for three weeks, nothing more. Her aunt had left her an old blue house overlooking the sea, and Laura Read more…


The Photograph in the Window

Every morning at exactly eight fifteen, Amelia walked past the little photography shop on Rose Street on her way to work. The shop had been there for as long as she could remember, squeezed between a florist and an old Read more…


Where the River Meets the Sea

The first time Daniel saw Sophie, she was standing barefoot in the middle of the road during a thunderstorm, arguing with a broken bicycle. He had been driving home from the neighboring town when he saw her beneath the flickering Read more…


The Lighthouse Between Us

When Emma first saw the lighthouse, she was standing at the end of a pier with a suitcase beside her and a one-way ticket in her coat pocket. It stood on the rocky island beyond the harbor, white against the Read more…


The Last Train to Willow Creek

The last train to Willow Creek was supposed to leave at 10:45. At 10:42, Clara stood beneath the old station clock, clutching a small suitcase in one hand and a paper cup of coffee in the other. Rain whispered against Read more…


Patient 114

Blackwood Asylum had been closed for forty years before the urban exploration group led by Boone Achterberg received permission to film a documentary inside its crumbling walls, and it took less than an hour inside for member Sana Kessler to Read more…


The Two-Second Delay

Dario Kwan first noticed his reflection lagging half a second behind his movements on a Tuesday morning, dismissing it as exhaustion from a poor night’s sleep, until the following week, when the delay stretched long enough that he watched his Read more…


The Record Beneath the Varnish

The painting had cost art restorer Wren Castellan considerably less than its apparent age and craftsmanship should have commanded, and it was only after she began the careful cleaning process that she understood exactly why the previous owner had been Read more…


The Aubade Grace

The freighter Aubade Grace had been missing for six years before the Coast Guard found her drifting, fully intact, forty miles off her last recorded position, and it was Lieutenant Renata Osei who led the boarding party that discovered the Read more…


Check the Basement Door

The cabin had no cell signal, which was exactly the point of the trip, until the fourth night, when Boone Achterberg woke to find all five of his friends’ phones displaying the same text message, sent from a number none Read more…