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Looking for a steady supply of coming of age short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6360+ Coming of age Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. No matter how old you are, there’s just something inherently relatable about coming-of-age tales. Discover the best new coming-of-age stories right here!

Coming of age Short Stories – Page 3 of 425

Sea and the Moon

Submitted to Contest #294

Poets, lovers, writers and artists, all calling from the heart to express love. Painting, breathing, writing, all capturing a feeling of connection, even if only revealing a flicker of reflection, memory and birth. Unchartered territory, born out of a need for love to be launched into the multi-verse, created, captured in the joy of expression and within the willingness of hope and return. The heavens above and the Earth below, magic in its true form as the full moon rises above in its mellowed tones, casting its light far and wide.&nbs...

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In the Absence of Saint Paul

Submitted to Contest #294

The whisper of a song shuddered me awake, but for a moment my thoughts remained sloshing about in the dream I’d just inhabited. Tiny fragments of which appeared tantalizingly in sharp focus before dissolving into my ever-awakening consciousness.  Squeezing my eyes shut, I willed myself back into the dream, but whereas before there had been something, and someone, now there was only darkness. “Paul!” my mother called from the bottom of the stairs. Opening my eyes, I imagined my mother wiping her hands on a dishtowel after washing up...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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Your Life in your hands

Submitted to Contest #294

I am an addict. That’s too strong, let’s try again, but this time , with a question instead Am I an ADDICT?Do I need help?Who could help me, even if I needed help?Whom do I talk to, and is this even considered a addiction?After all, this is “normal”. I hear, everyone does this, ALL the time. If so, then why am I an addict? I wondered all of this at 1 AM on a winter evening. Standing in my bathroom with my pants down and my D*ick in my hand. Not kidding. I was not feeling bad about being pants down or holding my “organ” in my hand.I was fe...

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Echoes of Home

Submitted to Contest #294

The house felt quieter than it had in years. Amber paced in the kitchen, stalling from cleaning off the kitchen counters. They weren’t very messy as it’s just her living there now. Her eyes drifted towards Kate’s empty chair around the dining table, where she used to sit every night for dinner. It had been roughly two months since Kate had left for college, which doesn’t seem very long; however, for a lonely mother, it is. To her, the house still felt like it was holding its breath. Suddenly, her phone buzzed on the counter, snapping Am...

3 likes 1 comment 1
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You Can, If You Think You Can.

Submitted to Contest #294

“You can, if you think you can,” her father said to her after she had been ranting for more than ten minutes about failing her end-of-year exam in mathematics. “You can do this. You aced your other subjects, you just need to believe in yourself. I believe in you. You have made me proud of what you have achieved so far. I know you can do this. I have been in situations where I have doubted my skills to do something and I think back to my father telling me, “You can, if you think you can,” and it spurred me on to overcome the problem. Whether ...

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Conditions Go

Submitted to Contest #294

It was mid Spring in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Sunlight twinkled and showed the Evergreens' greenery, flashing off the still water lake, a warm reflection of trees. Christian Easter was but a week away. That didn't matter much to Green Garden Snake, or for everyone he knew. He lived on a Lakota reservation. Continuing the Lakota tradition right into the Twenty-First century proved successful in this town of three-thousand people, Landcaste Creek, despite the town's modern appearance. Their Teepees were swapped for townhomes. Hunti...

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Dear Joy, Love Beth

Submitted to Contest #294

1963Dear Joy, I loved the letter you sent me, it was terrific! It was hilarious that you have a Munsters lunch box, ME TOO! It is one of my FAVORITES! My favorite animal is a horse. Oh and I read. A LOT. Right now I am reading a book called A Wrinkle in Time. Do you like to read? By the way I like your name! It makes me happy.Write back soon!Love, BethDear Beth,I’m very glad you liked my letter and that we are pen pals! I like to read, too. But you know what I like even more? MUSIC! Music is life. Every day after school I play...

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Lighthouse

Submitted to Contest #294

It’s dark at the foot of the lighthouse. It was Wren’s favorite place to sit after unloading his boat. Every week he’d bring food and supplies to the tiny island for the keeper. Sitting in the shadows gave him respite from the unforgiving wind and sun on the open water. Wren loved sitting amidst the riot of wild flowers. Leigh, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter planted them everywhere. The parade of color was the first thing drawing the eye when approaching the island. Yes, the lighthouse. But the flowers!Lighthouse Rock was a mere spit of la...

8 likes 10 comments 10
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Waldeinsamkeit Can Wait

Submitted to Contest #294

Another year, another solo trick-or-treating trip, Hilda thought, stepping out her front door. She almost turned around to say goodbye to her parents, but she knew better by now. Her father was snoring on the couch, empty beer cans scattered around; her mother was staging another screaming match behind closed doors with… well, Hilda stopped keeping track a while ago. So, she sighed, primped the flowing skirt of the princess costume she’d sewn herself, and carefully made her way down the stoop as the screen door creaked shut behind her like s...

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Time to Go

Submitted to Contest #294

Contains some themes of suicide/self-harm, substance abuse, promiscuityDear Ria, How have you been? I can’t believe it’s been seven - no, eight - years since I last wrote to you. I turn twenty-one tomorrow. Crazy, right? It feels like yesterday when we went to preschool together. Ah, the glory days. I’m writing this letter to invite you to my birthday party tomorrow. I just returned from uni, so I haven’t had much time to organise it. I think I’m gonna do it at home. My address is written on the front. Well, it’s late now...

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When we were Wallflowers

Submitted to Contest #294

Often it is said that before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. That may be true; I hope it will be the case when I go. But I often see moments of my life every time I close my eyes to sleep. Some of the best memories of my 32 years pass by, the births of my 2 wonderful children, my wedding day, but most often I think of my time with Emory. She was my best friend all of high school; she was the one who broke me out of my shell, who made me see the world beyond the confines of my own fears and doubts. She would call me "Wallflower,"...

10 likes 4 comments 4
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Secret of the Magic Cup

Submitted to Contest #294

I didn’t learn I was different, less than, until Ms. O’Toole’s classroom in 4th grade. I had forgotten all about it, buried it deep in the past until I saw that little girl at the park, no more than ten years old, and my body locked up in terror. Lightning bolts of shame arrested me, striking from a cloudless summer afternoon to stop me mid stride as I walked with John along the edge of the park, late for our appointment at court. The girl had dark brown hair pulled back into two tight ponytails, and wore a sweatshirt and matc...

23 likes 22 comments 22
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Through the Ice

Submitted to Contest #294

I wait maybe ten minutes outside the high school until play practice finally lets out. It’s a cloudy winter Saturday afternoon towards the end of January. The engine is running. The heat is on. The radio talks about public schools planning for immigration raids, tariffs, and then a list of people who won’t be in prison anymore.Elyse pulls the passenger side door open with a rush of frigid air then plops into the seat. She pulls the door shut and gropes for the belt behind her right shoulder. I slip the transmission into drive, waiting for th...

5 likes 3 comments 3
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Dear Future Lindsey, You Will Fall

Submitted to Contest #294

Dear Future Lindsey (written as a teenager), Things are going to get bad. Really bad. You are going to fall. You are going to get back up. Only to fall again. You need to know this now so that you will understand…not how to manage your way through it but to know the ending. In the end, you will find your footing. You will stand tall with your head held high. But its going to take a hell of a lot of time and energy. And faith. This time in your life should be an exciting one. Leaving for college with a good strong head on your shoulders. Lif...

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Caught in the 4k

Submitted to Contest #294

3/17/25 The Accidental Post: It’s been a few days since I put my feelings about you in my notes app, but here I am again. Maybe that means I’m learning to cope or deal with my feelings better about you, I don’t know. But I’m back and obviously upset about something so…For starters, of course at the end of the day all I want for you is to be happy. You deserve everything in the world that is great. I was just posting on snapchat about my roommate troubles while in the gym when suddenly I guess fate decided that it wanted me to see your a...

6 likes 1 comment 1
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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