5160+ Teens & Young Adult Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Looking for the best short stories for teens? Our collection of funny, suspenseful, and relatable young adult short stories will meet your needs.

🏆 Winning stories

“Just Another Dead Girl Underwater” by Eliza Leonel

🏆 Winner of Contest #275

Trigger Warning: implications of death, violence and sexual harassment By the time the fisherman finds me, I will have been dead for thirty-three hours, six minutes, and twenty-nine seconds. Eighteen hours since the police declared me missing. Fifteen hours since Zoe told my biology teacher that my tent was empty, that I hadn’t returned from the party we’d snuck out to the night before. Careful, quiet, every twig a possible snitch. It was exhilarating, our hearts pounding, the smell of pine and seaweed thick in the air, and the moon a perfec...

188 likes 113 comments 113

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“6:47 PST” by David Pampu

🏆 Winner of Contest #234

What has four faces, eight arms, and can’t tell time? The clock tower at Union Station. Four clocks on the tower and none of them run? I mean, what’re the odds? I peer up at the time and shade my eyes. It’s 6:47 pm. Always is, always will be. And all anyone knows is that on a Monday the world was a loud, frantic place and Tuesday it wasn’t. Tuesday? Really? The world should’ve ended on a Saturday. Saturdays are fun. Used to be anyway. But no. We get eternal friggin Tuesday afternoon where nothing changes. Ever. Good news though— we’re ...

140 likes 74 comments 74

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“Fini Flight” by Camphor White

🏆 Winner of Contest #170

Fini FlightTigger Warning:Suicide, Violence, Swearing"It's like flying."She said as I peered down at the two dead bodies laying on the ground below me. I was one of the four who decided to jump instead. The unlucky four who didn't escape."Well?"Well what? You're asking me to jump off a fucking building."Together?" I ask"No, you go first."What does that mean? Is she really going to chicken out? She was the one who so readily agreed to the idea."What?""You go first.""No.""Why?""What do you mean why?" I can feel the anger inside of me boiling u...

191 likes 114 comments 114

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⭐️ Recommended stories

“92.7 WQLZ” by Adam Perschbacher

Submitted to Contest #285

You whistle in your sleep. It is often quite loud but I do not mind. You attain many hours of sleep every night and it is enough to sustain you. It is enough to bring you back with regularity so that you may play with your small light machine that makes noise and makes you laugh and vibrates faintly while your nose is whistling.  You begin to have another woman over on occasion and you share your bed with her and you laugh together at the noises from your small machines and sometimes you make your own noises. Your voice is melodic when ...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“07-18-04 ” by Grace R

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #259

A burnt child loves the fire, I reminded myself as I crept closer to the writhing blue flames. I felt the heat on my chilled pale skin and exhaled.  I never wanted to leave the city this weekend, but when Clarke called me, I knew I had to oblige. I’ve always thought of myself as a good friend, but just like any other human, I have my intrinsic selfish nature. I would’ve much preferred sleeping inside my apartment with the TV lulling me to sleep and a Diet Coke on my bedside table rather than camping in the middle of nowhere. But it's b...

15 likes 1 comment 1

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“Coming Home” by Natalie Portera-Sickler

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #246

Dusk was setting in, and everyone had gone home except for Johnny. It was the last place he wanted to be right now. Instead, he gazed at the stars that began to emerge in the indigo twilight for their debut now that the sun was taking its exit from the stage, leaving nothing but a burnished glow on the horizon.He clenched the chains of the swing as if it were a lifeline, tilting his head back further until he was looking directly up into the center of the universe, where the blue had deepened to black, and the stars all peered at him like a ...

29 likes 18 comments 18

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✍️ All stories

“The Bee's Knees” by H. H. Cain

Submitted to Contest #285

“Excuse me?” Huffed a petite woman who looked to be in her late 50s. Her face was stony, and her lips were in a tight line, “I ordered a cortado, not a cappuccino. Honestly …” She slammed her drink on the counter, spilling it slightly, and folded her arms in annoyance.Wonderful, I thought, as I tried my best to smile politely, “I’m so sorry, ma’am, I must have misheard you. You’re welcome to keep that as a free beverage, and I’ll make you a cortado ASAP.” She turned away from me and stormed off, the cappuccino left bleeding on the coffee bar...

7 likes 1 comment 1

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“Second Chance at Then” by Andria Mackinnon

Submitted to Contest #285

“I’m sorry, but you didn’t get it.”I blink, my heart already racing. “What? I…I failed?”My boss, Betty – full name Bethany – shakes her head, her eyes narrow, and her lips purse together.“But I worked so hard.”She shakes her head once more. "You will need to wait until the next one is announced."“But I worked so hard. How is this possible?” My voice rises, angered.“Celeste, please sit down.” Betty raises her hands to the sides of her face.I realize that I have moved out of my chair. “Sorry.” I slide back down and exhale slowly and deliberate...

2 likes 1 comment 1

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“Flickers of Summer” by Jae Cherie

Submitted to Contest #285

The first time I saw Camilla, she was sitting on the hood of a beat-up car, a cigarette dangling from her lips and a sketchbook balanced on her knees. Her eyes met mine, and it felt like she had already unraveled me. I should’ve walked away then—maybe everything would’ve turned out differently. But instead, I walked toward her.“You always stare at people like that?” she asked, not looking up from her sketch.“Only when they’re sitting on cars that might explode any second,” I shot back.She smirked, closed the sketchbook, and extended her hand...

2 likes 1 comment 1

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“The Unthinkable” by John Guzman

Submitted to Contest #285

Two men are sitting at a table together. They have been friends since they were little. Jeff and Larry. They are 42 and 41 years old. It was a normal Tuesday for both of them, drinking coffee and talking about football. But while they were conversing, Jeff said, “Do you remember when we won the state championship together?” “I remember,” Larry says proudly. That was 25 years ago. “One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!” Larry looked at Jeff. “I don’t know how much longer- how much longer I can do this for!” It was state cha...

3 likes 1 comment 1

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“92.7 WQLZ” by Adam Perschbacher

Submitted to Contest #285

You whistle in your sleep. It is often quite loud but I do not mind. You attain many hours of sleep every night and it is enough to sustain you. It is enough to bring you back with regularity so that you may play with your small light machine that makes noise and makes you laugh and vibrates faintly while your nose is whistling.  You begin to have another woman over on occasion and you share your bed with her and you laugh together at the noises from your small machines and sometimes you make your own noises. Your voice is melodic when ...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“A Feeling of Wonder” by Keila Aartila

Submitted to Contest #285

Memories are a special phenomenon to behold – especially those from childhood, which offer a sense of being bigger than life, but it's also a time when you believe that anything is possible. Why do we outgrow that feeling? Can we get it back? I remember when … I used to dream, vividly as a child, making heart-felt wishes on shooting stars, about all I have now. Well, those dreams were a little over-the-top as my childhood imagination sprinted away, but I revel in having made most of those dreams my real-life as an adult, in a more comprehens...

2 likes 0 comments 0

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“Pesky Breathing” by Steve Delgado

Submitted to Contest #285

There was a steel leader attached to the end of the old surf fishing rod, but no hook. I’d forgotten to bring something for bait anyway, so I climbed below to check the junk drawer in the cabin cruiser’s galley for any stray lures. The rhythmic, steady sound of the engines was a bit muffled from the cabin, but a steady ocean breeze coming through partially opened windows would keep you awake. There was a lure in the back of the drawer that was larger than I wanted to use, about five inches or so. It did have a menacing treble hook in the mid...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Copper Kiss” by Jonna Gr

Submitted to Contest #285

The second the phone rang Clara  threw herself at the phone where the bright red phone was attached. “Hinson’s residence, this is Clara,” she spoke quickly enough that it barely sounded like separate words and she was met with a familiar laugh at the other end of the phone. “That was the fastest you’ve ever picked up the phone,” Amber’s voice was laced with amusement. “You said you would call at six.” “So you waited by the phone?” Clara nodded and then remembered to speak up. “Yeah. I didn’t want to miss it.” “I would have called again....

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“On the contrysides of Europe” by Mary Lara

Submitted to Contest #285

 I should have been going to that party.You could have gone there but it wouldn't have changed so much things in your life. Or maybe it would have, but now you have different curcumstainces, you chose a different timeline.Well, but i would have preferred the other timeline. How does it look like?It's interesting you thought I chose that timeline. I won't tell you if I did but let's see how that would have panned out just for your imagination and entertainment.Okay... So you're kind of a fortune teller or what?Don't accuse me of being an...

4 likes 0 comments 0

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“The Time 2000” by Emerson McConnell

Submitted to Contest #285

This was the time when I became the world youngest, but most famous, scientist of all. It goes like this: 'Abby!'' Mom calls from downstairs. I'm busy fiddling around with my grandpa's broken computer. People from all around the world send me broken items that they can't seem to fix, but I can. I'm not in it for the money. I'm in it for the satisfaction of fixing things other people think are impossible to fix. "Let's go Abby!'' Mom calls from downstairs again. I stand up and sigh. It's time for me to perform in my talent show. For many year...

3 likes 0 comments 0

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“Eleventh-Hour Greeting Card” by Kristy Schnabel

Submitted to Contest #285

It's Saturday, June 12, 1993, and I'm the pink princess phone in Melody's bedroom. Since it's nearly 9:00 a.m., I will ring at any moment when her friend Sheila customarily calls. Here I go. "Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding." Melody never answers on the first round, even if she's close by.  "Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding." "Hello?" asks Melody, as she lies on her bed's comforter with pillows propped up behind her back. "Hi, Mel," says Sheila.  "Hi. How was work last night?" "Not bad. I got a big tip near the end of my shift, but I had ...

14 likes 8 comments 8

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“Love in the Time of Landlines” by Renee Bogacz

Submitted to Contest #285

I open my bedroom door and walk casually into the family room, glancing around furtively. No one seems to be around, not my parents, not my brother. Good. I’m dying to call my boyfriend, but I would like some privacy, which I never seem to have. Someone always seems to be sprawled out on the sectional, like my mom watching Love Boat or my brother playing Space Invaders. I pick up the handset on the butter yellow wall phone and dial Steve’s number. Busy signal. Crap. I’ll have to wait a few minutes and try to call back. In the meantime, I go ...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“Lifelines cut by winter.” by Mary McClarey

Submitted to Contest #285

I remember the endless, grubby freezing winter of ‘63. The drifts were knee-deep, and we walked to school on the tops of the hedges. Our inadequate lunch packs, squashed between books and incomplete homework, festered at the bottom of our satchels. We snuggled our mittened fingers deep into coat sleeves, and our toes, chilblain numb, swaddled and grew damp in home-knit socks and unsuitably porous school shoes. We were hoping our mother would soon come home.  Crunch crunch on the crusty snow, footprints breaking the new frost each mornin...

5 likes 1 comment 1

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“I am a monster” by Klara Steenberg

Submitted to Contest #284

I shouldn't be here. A human doesn't belong in a place like this. A place full of magic and power. And yet here I am. Hidden in a bush next to the palace of the Fae. I press myself to the ground as one of them passes. Her bright blond hair is pulled back making her pointed ears visible. Visible for all to see that she is powerful, she is Fae and we are nothing but human. Useless creatures only meant to serve. She turned and I was able to get a glimpse of her face. I put a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp. She's the prettiest woman I've ev...

5 likes 0 comments 0

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“Crystal Key Mage” by Idris Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #284

I lay awake listening to the sounds of the orphanage. Thirty boys ages ten to seventeen are housed here in bunks. I, like many of the boys, have lived here my entire life. A few more hours and all that will change. Today is my eighteenth birthday, and I will have to leave. The prospect fills me with dread. I shift in my bunk, drawing my long legs up so the blanket covers my feet.  “D, you up?  “You know I am,” I reply. “Go back to sleep Eddie. Big day for you tomorrow.” He peers down at me, green eyes shining in the moonlight. “How...

6 likes 2 comments 2

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