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Start your story with the words: “Grow up.”

Posted in Angst on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 61 stories

The Years Will Rush By

Submitted to Contest #139

ㅤGrow up. Go to school. Tell the class your name. Colour inside the lines. Try to make friends. Brush your teeth for two minutes in the morning. Brush your teeth for two minutes in the evening. Don’t lie. Come inside, you must be freezing. Be nice to your sister. Eat your vegetables. Don't mess around. Learn to tie shoelaces. You're too old for velcro now. Learn about verbs and nouns and adjectives. Let’s mark your height on the doorframe. Come on, stand up straight.ㅤㅤGrow up. Tuck your shirt in. Stand out from the crowd. Learn to play foot...

38 likes 28 comments 28
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Summer Loving

Submitted to Contest #139

A note to the reader: This is a love story. Specifically, it’s about two people falling in love for the very first time. But it’s also a story that I hope opens the conversation surrounding consent and intimacy for our youths. Please be advised that the final scene of this story contains content surrounding that conversation. “Oh grow up,” Amelia scoffs at my big, black, puppy eyes staring at you and your best friend, Jacob. The two of you are known as Jacob and Carson, the two youngest black belts in the history of the Studio. Your nam...

26 likes 23 comments 23
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Dancing Seas, Quaking Earth, Rocking Beds

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up in Fisher’s Gasp and you learn how to handle yourself in a boat. There’s a big difference between fishing from a rowing boat and spending weeks at a time without seeing land. How long will it be before we dock at the other side of this gods forsaken ocean?” Danielle Longbow asked the red acolyte, clutching her stomach. She had barely kept a meal down in a month.             The red acolyte, Barra, shrugged. “It takes as long as it takes, Cranner. It depends on the waves, th...

21 likes 26 comments 26
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Growing Up is Optional

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up.” I was no more than six and I had just skinned my knee on the rough asphalt of the cul-de-sac where my grandmother lived. For reasons more complicated than the parameters of this story, my second cousin was being raised by my grandmother. She was five years older than me and undoubtedly resented having to always play with the “littler” kids. But she must have known her arguments would fall on deaf ears and conceded to riding bikes and drawing with sidewalk chalk at the end of the cul-de-sac. I’ve had an active imagination since...

20 likes 3 comments 3
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An Unfamiliar Sound

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up,” he said to himself, standing just outside the kitchen. “It was nothing.” But still he didn’t move.It was late, and Alex didn’t want to be standing hesitantly near the darkened kitchen. He wanted to be asleep. He’d dozed off watching Netflix on the couch again, but tonight, instead of waking up around 2am and stumbling blearily to bed, he’d been pulled back to consciousness just before midnight by an unfamiliar sound. Alex lived alone, and his apartment was small - a bedroom and bathroom in the back, living room and small gall...

17 likes 12 comments 12
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Deadline

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up.” “No, you grow up.” Sebastian paused. ‘Maybe…’ he thought, Pen to paper, he wrote. Nancy said, “Shut up!” “No, you shut up.” Melissa stood her ground. ‘Better…’ Sebastian then shook his head, slashed a line through the second dialogue and circled the first. ‘First drafts always suck,’ he thought. ‘I’d rather be working at home.’ Writing a novel is hard enough without the distractions that come with sitting in a hospital bed, endless tests and hovering nurses. This defibrillation detour was no help. His deadline loomed. He needed f...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Time

Submitted to Contest #139

 Grow up. Grow up. Grow up. That’s all we wanted to do when we were younger. We wanted to go out into the world on our own. We didn’t want to listen to our parents, teachers, or any other adult we came across. We wanted to make our own rules. We thought we were ready for it all. Bills. Work. Groceries. It all crept on us so quickly we barely had time to prepare. They tried to tell us, but we never listened. I think that’s because we thought we still had forever left. We thought a few years meant a lifetime, but we blinked and it was no...

16 likes 3 comments 3
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Life Cycle

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up,” I tell the bike messenger.  “And give me what I asked for.  You know it’s not yours.”            I’m standing on a traffic island in one of San Francisco’s widest and busiest intersections.  After watching this guy blaze past the island every hour on the hour all morning, I had finally gotten lucky and a red light stopped him right in front of me. Lean tattooed body, tight jean shorts with ragged hems, and a bright pink cycling cap. He unclip...

14 likes 3 comments 3
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If only

Submitted to Contest #139

Grow up she said to me as I stared at her. Eventually, when you become a teenager, you'll start to find yourself but there can be people who don't want you to find yourself. Age 15 came around quickly, and I argued with my mother, "let me cut my hair" I shouted as she refused "why, your gonna look like a boy, Your my little princess" in moments I snapped "I didn't ask to be one, oh if I had the choice, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick boy, because guess what being a girl isn't all that fun." I said as I slammed my bedroom door.Moments later ...

13 likes 5 comments 5
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Broken Things

Submitted to Contest #139

 “Oh, grow up.” This was my mother’s reaction when I came out to her as being transgender. I think she knew already. I had probably left her clues: a bra not so carefully hidden, evidence that I had been using her makeup, leaving a razor stubble ring around the bathtub after a Sunday morning bath to shave my legs while she was off at church. I didn’t consciously want her to find out, but maybe unconsciously . . . . I was just lucky that my father had passed away, because he would've done more than tell me to grow up, he would've thro...

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Nigel Goes to A Bar

Submitted to Contest #139

"I'm sorry Nigel, but your mother and I think you should grow up by cutting your expenses. You need learn some responsibility especially if you want to be the next boss in our family firm," said my dad on the other end of my iphone. I sat there listening to my father as the bartender handed me my first can of ginger ale. My dad continued explaining the decision he and mother made just recently.Annoyed, I replied: "So what am I supposed to do father? Just live like a pleasant?""Yes my son. I think that is best," he answered. "Your mother and ...

13 likes 4 comments 4
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Growing Up

Submitted to Contest #139

Growing up - read the poster hanging above Mrs. Langer’s second grade classroom. Below the poster sat a small plant and – Sam’s favorite – a hamster relaxing in a hamster house.Sam was a member of Mrs. Langer’s classroom, and every chance he had, he ran - as fast as he was allowed - to catch a glimpse of Mr. Hammy, the classroom hamster. Last week, Sam had even bought Mr. Hammy a toy – a small green and white colored ball. When Mr. Hammy was presented with the new toy, he squealed with joy, holding on to the ball with his tiny...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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Educating Emily

Submitted to Contest #139

Grow up. The words rolled around in Emily’s head like rubbish on a windy day. Grow up, grow up, grow up! But, she reasoned, she measured taller today than last week. Surely that was something.Her older sister said this whenever Emily asked a curious question. Her mother said it when Emily asked why one too many times, and her father said it whenever she talked too much over dinner. But it wasn’t her fault, she reasoned. Why should her thoughts be less interesting or less grown up than anyone else’s?It was a typical cold February midweek...

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All Grown Up

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes at me as I stood there trembling, the bloody knife quivering in my hand. I knew this was coming. This is what our family does. I’ve known it since I was just a baby. I remember going out with mom and dad late at night, following our prey. This is how we survived but my tiny, eight-year-old brain was struggling with the idea of plunging a sharp knife into a still-breathing body. My sister snatched the knife from my small hand and in one fell swoop slung the blade along the poor man’s throat, sendin...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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MIRROR, MIRROR

Submitted to Contest #139

GROW UP my mind yelled and shouted.  “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”   Do some of us ever grow up? I mean how old is this guy standing in front of me spewing his vitriol hateful speech right into my face. Jake smelled the flat air of alcohol and almost threw up when spit landed on his cheek. He gagged, his eyes bugged out and stepped back to get ahold of himself. This joker laughed mockingly at the way Jake handled that episode. Wiping his cheek with the back of his hand, it was all Jake ...

12 likes 9 comments 9
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