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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.

6510+ 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 9 of 434

Three Moments

Submitted to Contest #297

Three Moments Orryn of Coroness could narrow his short life down to three defining moments. The first had been when he was a young lad, well before becoming a man. The day the fighting had stopped and everything had changed. They had heard the news from a sweat-stained and bleeding soldier of Everlake. The man had come to their house on wobbling legs, his clothes torn, dirty and rumpled. “Resilee is victorious! The Imperials are retreating,” he’d said wearily. A sword that had seen better days dragge...

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New Beginnings

Submitted to Contest #298

Title: New BeginningsWhen Hunter Carson stepped off the bus in the small town of Liberty Hill, everything felt like a blank page. It was the kind of place with just one high school, where the coffee shop shared a wall with the liquor store, and the air always smelled faintly of cedar and something sweeter Hunter couldn’t name.Back in his old town, Hunter had been the shy kid. The one people called "weird" because he read books during lunch and dressed like he missed the memo on normal. Here, he told himself, things would be different.The nig...

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Midnight Talk

Submitted to Contest #297

Self-reflection is necessary for growth, when you lose yourself to fear. It might not seem that way, but every day we experience something that changes the way we see ourselves, it doesn’t matter how small it is, if we think it isn't good, it will always affect us in ways we do not enjoy.“Why couldn’t you handle this like them”?“Why didn’t you act like them”?Those are recurring thoughts I have at the end of my day. I don't want them, but this is what I desire from myself, so that’s what keeps rolling around my head every time I go to sleep.“...

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A strong act by a strong person

Submitted to Contest #298

Olya took her own life at the end of May, right before exams—on the twenty-first—and almost immediately, they canceled them for us. No one said it out loud (after all, we were expected to perform the tragedy), but deep down, we were relieved. Maybe we were even grateful for the gift she unknowingly gave us. We didn’t care how it happened or why. The news was met with the same calm indifference as if someone had announced we’d have seven classes tomorrow instead of six. A whisper passed through the desks—and that was it. It felt inevitable, u...

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Letters To Momma

Submitted to Contest #298

1976: When I woke up the hot July morning after you left, I was angry. I hated you for leaving me behind. The words daddy said to me were unclear. I kicked him, you know that now, but do you know how much I hated him for letting you go? How angry I was with you both? There was no coming back from that kind of pain, that kind of grief. September came, it was time to go back to school. I didn’t want to go, I cried myself to sleep the night before. I begged daddy not to make me go, I told him that people would laugh at me because you are gone. ...

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At the Edge of Everything, We Skip Rocks

Shortlisted for Contest #297 ⭐️

Jack listened to his rock skip once, twice, across the lake before sinking into black water—and felt something of himself sink with it.The freezing bite of the water swirling around his bare ankles could almost distract him from Scott beside him, using the torch in his mouth to see by as he sought out smooth rocks. 'Something with a groove,' he always liked to proselytise, 'Y'need that notch for leverage.'There was a pitched, muffled 'ha!' of satisfaction at his left as Scott spotted something suitable. Jack's eyes caught the torch shifting ...

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Valerya

Submitted to Contest #297

Dedicated to my mom, and my husband.I was so jealous that Lyna's name started with an L, and mine with a V, because that meant she got to graduate first. No matter how superior I was, I still had to go second over something I couldn’t change. Second to Lyna. That helpless, wet dog whom I bothered to keep around because of boredom.“Lyna, I think you’re next. I’ve been counting the names, and they’re already on K,” my voice quiet, yet somehow still emphasizing more excitement than I meant. I shook her half-awake. When they called her name, she...

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The Little Girl with 12 Fingers & 12 Toes

Submitted to Contest #297

The young girl eventually turned 13. She was now a little older but still a ravishing beauty—with her long, curly black hair, skin as white as snow, and eyes as green as emeralds. Everything about her was just remarkable and flawless, except for her 12 fingers and 12 toes. Despite this anomaly, she was now a lot more confident in herself than she had ever been. She had made many new friends along the way over the years… But once in a while, she was often reminded of her abnormality when others made fun of her. And in one particular instance...

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The 5.30 Easter Trampoline Throwdown

Submitted to Contest #297

As anecdotes go, this tale is one of which I am both embarrassed and proud—the former immediately after the event in question (and due, largely, to external shaming by adults), and the latter in more recent hindsight (and with the greater perspective of actually being an adult). The time? A gorgeous Easter weekend when I was about 10 or 11 years old; a bookish and somewhat bullied child, but with odd outbursts of chutzpah that coincided with my Taurus star sign. The scene? An idyllic seaside camping resort outside East London where the Wild...

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The Launch

Submitted to Contest #297

Fiona Law mopped her well-arched brow and glanced at the rows of empty, high-backed wooden chairs. She squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe if she paused for a moment before she looked again, an array of eager faces might appear and radiate an energy that calmed her.When she fluttered her eyes open, the view remained. Fiona’s heart sank to her knees.Laura, the bookstore’s assistant manager, bounced up to Fiona's table. Her tawny curls spilled over the collar of her crisp, sky blue polo.“Everything OK, Miss Law?" She tipped her prodigious chin to Fi...

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Regrets

Submitted to Contest #297

“Our last night together.” She whispers though we’re alone here. Perhaps she's just matching the quiet around us as we wait for the sun to emerge over the shadowed edges of the field. But I think it’s because she’s afraid of the words we both know to be true. My arms slip around her middle and she leans back as the lip of the sun touches the horizon. She entwines our hands and I lay my chin atop her head. This moment is perfect: impossible contentment I will never feel again.“It doesn’t have to be,” I say and whisps of her hair float around ...

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11:11

Submitted to Contest #297

11:11By TJ DUTY 10:15 PM My blanket is tucked snugly beneath my chin, yet I still shiver. The mattress feels like it’s swallowing me whole. Above me, the ceiling fan spins lazily, clicking in a maddening rhythm. The room is full, but it feels empty. The dark shields me from the mess—papers spilling from half-closed desk drawers, unwashed laundry tossed in the corner. A half-empty glass of water has sat untouched for four days. I turn onto my side, blankets rustling. I close my eyes and think of you.10:27 My eyes flicker open, releasing a wa...

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Seven Minutes in Heaven

Submitted to Contest #297

I blinked my eyes, unable to believe fortune was smiling on me. The open end of the bottle pointed at me. Tara, seated to my right, squeezed my hand and strangled a squeal, trying to escape from her throat. She knew what this meant for me, though I rolled my eyes to convey to the others how bored I was by accepting the task for which I was just selected.I stood and stepped over the bottle to follow Jimmy McAllister to the basement closet. He turned the worn brass colored knob and the wreck room filled with the requisite sound of a drawn out ...

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Driving

Submitted to Contest #297

Where are we going? Cool wind from cloudy skies blows against my face.Anywhere, you reply. Just somewhere far away from here. Here’s not so bad. I say, a little joke hidden in my voice. I glance over at him, driving one handed and the other laying across the middle compartment between our seats. His fingers are long and you can see the veins on the back of his hand.Well, anywhere with you is good, but we’re trying to go anywhere that’s away. You reply, your philosophical tone telling me that you’re writing something up in your head.You sound...

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A Lara tale - Undefeated

Submitted to Contest #297

‘Milton … Milton Station … Platform on the right .. direction of travel…’ Three stations to go, thought Lara, large dark eyes transfixed by the carriage clock .. hopefully the train would be early and the bus late ..anything to reduce her Mother’s harsh and impatient reminders of the inconvenience Lara’s extra curricular activities caused her. The great promise Lara had held 6 years ago – particularly in athletics and gymnastics – with the school even contacting her parents to encourage personal trainers – had come to exactly nothing. A n...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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