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

Posted in Angst on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 63 stories

“The Scapegoat” by Halle Schaffer

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up,” my mom tells me, unfolding my fingers from the box locked tightly in my hands. I fight with little resistance before she pries it from me. The contents rattle, and I let out a cry.“Don’t break them!”“Don’t be silly,” she coos, putting the box on the counter, just out of reach. “They won’t fly away before we get back.”But her words don’t assure me. At six years old in my Sunday school dress, I push my face against the glass of the old Toyota Camry as we pull out from the driveway. In my mind, the figurines rattle in their box, wait...

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“Time to Grow Up! ” by Simone J Fry

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up Petra. It's about time to grow up, and become emotionally mature, or you’ll continue to whither and crumble like dried fragile rose petals,” is the last thing he said to me. Can you believe it?! The cheek! What does he think he is, a poet?! Who does he think he’s talking too? I’m 47! He’s 30! I’m old enough to be his mother, almost. Literally speaking I AM OLD enough to be his mother!Perched on the edge of his sickly green couch, I dug my fingernails into its soft corduroy, and starting with a violent simmer, began to boil. Dagger e...

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“Tongue-Tied to Each Other ” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #139

“Aw c’mon, man. Grow up!” Ralph laughed after accessing my latest girlfriend. “You can’t be serious. Her?” “What’s wrong with Kacey?” “Nothing, if you like bubbleheads. What do you have in common with her? What do you talk about?” “We really don’t talk a lot,” I replied, smiling. “Y...

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“Good bye.” by Allyson Sue

Submitted to Contest #139

Tw: drug use, cursing, mentions of SH, Suicide, SA Grow up. A term I hear way too frequently. Anytime I'm eager, fearful, cheerful, or perhaps even bitter over a small inconvenience. “Grow up”, What does that phrase truly signify? To act older? To grow taller? This has been on my mind for a bit. I keep hearing this expression over and over and over. At school, at home, at the grocery store, at the doctor. How can I “grow up”? It's not like I can miraculously get older or taller or more mature but I'll keep trying because I don't like...

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“Forever Unspoken” by Michelle Thomas

Submitted to Contest #139

TW: mention of alcohol use and abuse. ************************************* “Grow up.” Those were the last words my father ever said to me before I left for college. The last words he ever said to me before I left this world and joined my mother in the afterlife. Our relationship had been rocky since my mother passed when I was thirteen. The night of my thirteenth birthday, my mother and I had collided with a drunk driver on our way home from the local art gallery. It was a head on collision and I was the sole survivor. I had spent...

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“all part of growing up” by Summer C

Submitted to Contest #139

"Grow up. Grow UP. You have to grow up", they always say. I don't want to grow up. What's the point in maturing. To be exposed to more pain and suffering? To realise that the world isn't like how the fairy tales said it would be? To know that you'll never be enough, despite your desperate attempts to live up to society's standards? I'm not ready to leave my childhood behind. The warm, joyful, carefree days. I miss running across a wide open field feeling as though I had the world beneath my feet. I want to be able to think of all the t...

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“Confessions of a Co-Dependent” by Donavan Barrier

Submitted to Contest #139

(Note: This story deals with codependency, alcoholism and death) “Grow up!” That was what we told you, didn’t we? Time and time again. It was like a catchphrase from the old cartoons. We said it so much it was as if we couldn’t end the day if we didn’t say it. So we did. Jesus, man, I can’t count how many times we’ve said that to you. I bet you really got sick of it after a while, eh? Who am I kidding? I know you did! Otherwise, how could I be standing here and you there? I hate that we’re in this ...

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“Daphne” by Barbara Burgess

Submitted to Contest #139

Grow up, she said in her letter. Her words cut deep and upset me. I thought she was my best, my one and only friend. I thought she was the person I could turn to when I needed someone.There was nobody at work I could talk to or even wanted to talk to. Granny, Auntie, Uncle and Cousin Bob who I was living with at the time were not the conversational type and so I could not turn to them either.I felt lost and alone.I wrote to Daphne and told her I felt like a bird with a broken wing. In my mind, I imagined a Blackbird with one wing dangling li...

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“Am I free?” by Lingling Yu

Submitted to Contest #139

“You need to grow up” My mother always told me that. So did my father, and the kids at school. Even the teachers told me so. They all told me that I needed to grow up. So I did. I stared at myself in the mirror, my hair was no longer in small braids with butterfly clips, it was curled and in a pony tail. my lips was no longer covered in bits of chocolate but tainted light red. I looked into my own brown eyes, ‘Who am I?’. Because I was no longer the girl who laughed when I was running, who found everything pretty, who loved to dress in all...

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“The Tides that Turn” by Missy Webb

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up” A faint cry from the next room pings her ears like the signal off a cell tower. Both feet hit the floor and she is approaching the source of the sound faster than speed dial. It does not phase her; she is focused yet in a daze from having been awoken at 2 in the morning. Instinctually she scoops up the crying infant and breast in hand offers of herself the nectar that soothes all pangs. All righteousness and holiness have been restored and once again the house returned to a peaceful state with only the sweet sound of a baby cooing...

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“DINNER” by Annie R McEwen

Submitted to Contest #139

Maureen J. Patrick 1350 words 3411 W. Bay Ave. Tampa, FL 33611...

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“Grow Up” by Liam Murphy

Submitted to Contest #139

Grow up” my dad, John, snarled down at me. “Grow up and try being a man and stop behaving like a snivelling cowardly little excuse for one.” John Hardaker, my dad, was a tall brute of a man and that was the only piece of paternal advice I ever got from him. But I was only ten years old at the time and all I wanted to do was run to my mum’s comforting embrace and cry. In my father’s world “only sissies and poofters cried.” I guess it would be fair to say my dad was old school in his thinking on the order of things like gender and role modelli...

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“Black and blue and yellow and green ” by Lydia Lim

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up.” My father says when I come home with stuffed toys. “Grow up.” My mother says when I refuse to go to school. “Grow up.” My friends say when I tell them I’m tired, tired of everything, tired of nothing. I wish I could grow up. I want to grow up to be a tall strong man who is always invited out for drinks with his friends but often has to decline with a booming laugh because his wife and three kids are at home. I want to grow up to be a man who will be applauded and cheered when he gets promoted. I want to be some...

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“The less perilous path....” by Richard Woods

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up!” He barked it like he meant it, as if he could control how anything grew. He had stood there for some time before he spoke and I wondered if he would ever make a sound. He looked so intense, as if his glare might produce the desired result. We were in the living room . Well, that's what we called it but living wasn't much done in reality. My family was well, how shall I put it? Taciturn? Yes that will do, though it would have my grumpy father reaching for a dictionary. Always assuming there was one in the house. Or that he knew whe...

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“Buried Rage” by Catherine Douglas

Submitted to Contest #139

(CW: References to alcohol abuse and related traumatic events) “Grow up.” Captain Westheimer glared at Private Jahn as the younger man was giggling every time some unsuspecting soul sat on the whoopie cushion he had placed on the bench outside one of the prisoner barracks—that whoopie cushion happened to be invisible, and Jahn had been holding the spell for quite some time, enjoying people’s reactions whenever they sat down and immediately when searching for the cushion. “Come on, Captain, it’s hilarious. They can’t figure out where the ...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“The Scapegoat” by Halle Schaffer

“Time to Grow Up! ” by Simone J Fry

“Tongue-Tied to Each Other ” by Michael Jefferson

“Good bye.” by Allyson Sue

“Forever Unspoken” by Michelle Thomas

“all part of growing up” by Summer C

“Confessions of a Co-Dependent” by Donavan Barrier

“Daphne” by Barbara Burgess

“Am I free?” by Lingling Yu

“The Tides that Turn” by Missy Webb

“DINNER” by Annie R McEwen

“Grow Up” by Liam Murphy

“Black and blue and yellow and green ” by Lydia Lim

“The less perilous path....” by Richard Woods

“Buried Rage” by Catherine Douglas

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that involves a character donating a box of clothes which have been outgrown.

Start your story with someone having their height marked on a door frame.

Format your story in the style of diary entries.

Write about a character sowing seeds for the future (literally or figuratively).

Contest #139

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

239

Contest entries

135

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: