The Bet is arguably one of the greatest short stories of all time.
Chekhov is one of the acknowledged masters of the short story format, and he is in prime form here. As the title suggests, the story is about a bet that two people make on the subject of capital imprisonment and whether a life imprisonment is preferable to getting executed. The young lawyer who makes the bet is under the impression that any form of punishment is better than death and agrees to spend 15 years in prison for a huge amount of money. He has the option of leaving any time he wishes but if he does he’ll lose the bet and have to cough up the bet money.
In prison, the lawyer reads as much as he can to kill the time, now that he has lots of empty stretches of it. And because of his reading, his perspective of life undergoes a sea-change. You shall have to read the story to know what actually happens, don’t want to give any spoilers here, but rest assured that you too will be changed by it forever.