Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of teens & young adult short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

5370+ 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.

Teens & young adult Short Stories – Page 23 of 359

The Last Human

Submitted to Contest #279

Mara had long stopped keeping track of the days. Weeks? Months? Years? Time had lost meaning in the unchanging monotony of her life. Each sunrise brought more of the same—a vast emptiness, an unyielding silence. Yet she continued, driven by a stubborn instinct to survive.She still remembered the day the world had ended. It had started like any other: the slow crawl of morning traffic, the distant clatter of a coffee shop, the chatter of passersby as she walked to the library. She was in the middle of a novel, its plot so engrossing she could...

10 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Apology You Never Got But Always Deserved

Submitted to Contest #278

Hey.I’ve rewritten this email thousands of times and each time, it sounds…wrong. I’m worried you won’t read past the first line, let alone open it. I don’t blame you if you don’t…it’s been five years now. I tried calling, but I assume you’ve changed your number. You don’t have social media anymore, unless you changed your name? Either way, I thought I’d just try this once. You didn’t deserve the way I treated you in the end, and not a second’s gone by that I haven’t thought of you. You were my everything. I was an idiot. I’m sorry I blo...

9 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

It was an accident

Submitted to Contest #278

     Devon felt good and powerful walking down the street toward his girlfriend’s house. He was sure he would get lucky; he was having a momentous week. The head of his gang's name was Tony, but everyone called him Eight for some reason. If you listen to the stories, it was based on the number of bodies he had taken in his life. Not bad for only being 24 years old. Eight had given Devon a special job to do. Last night Devon completed the job and knew Eight would be happy with him and may give him a bonus.   ...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Order of the Ashen Dawn

Submitted to Contest #278

Mara,I know it’s been a long time, and I don’t expect this letter to mean anything to you now. I don't know if you'll even read it, or if you’ll just burn it, as you have every thought of me for the past several years.But I have to write it. I’ve been carrying this guilt with me for so long that I feel like it’s rotting me from the inside out. I don't think I can go another day without saying what I should have said back then. The truth.You’ll probably remember the day it all fell apart. The day I made the choice to side with them — the Orde...

10 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

The Rain's Comfort

Submitted to Contest #278

The rain was aggressive, with tears of assault starting to soak my entire body. I wrapped my arms around my chest, squeezing as tightly as possible to produce any form of warmth. Heck, any comfort would have sufficed. At this point, I would have hugged a stranger if it meant I wouldn't feel so cold. A brutal wave of murky water slapped my spine, forcibly knocking me forward. This area of the neighborhood didn’t have many storm drains, so the force of the water felt more like a tidal wave than a slight mist. My palms and knees bore the c...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Weight of Wool

Submitted to Contest #277

Trigger Warning:This story contains depictions of violence, animal death, familial loss, brief mentions of child death, mild gore, and themes of prejudice driven by religious and societal propaganda. When you hear the word wolf, what comes to mind?The tales of cunning, deceit, aggression, and manipulation? Do the words evil, fear, lie, alone, or death surface in your thoughts? Do you picture the bloodied fangs of a wild, merciless predator glinting under foggy moonlit skies—stalking the edges of the village, waiting for you to stray into th...

14 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

The Queen Mother

Submitted to Contest #277

The rumors will tell you that I tried to kill my stepdaughter, Snow White–daughter in everything but blood–but I was just trying to mother her right and keep her safe. Drip. Drip. Drip."Mother!" Snow cries, leaning into the bars of my prison cell. "Mother, why are you here? What happened to you?" I don't answer for a moment, watching water drip from a stalactite in the ceiling. I do not know exactly why I am here, although I have a guess. I do not know why I have been chosen to be villainized in this story, except maybe that the pe...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Snow Dagger

Submitted to Contest #277

Living in the castle was like settling down in a house of broken glass and needles—uncomfortable and dangerous. For people at the Queen's disposal, she was a necessary cruelty to everyday life. I had been lucky enough to avoid her for most of my life. People at my station weren’t invited to grand galas or extravagant balls. All I had were the acres of dark wood that stretched across the castle grounds.I should have known something was wrong that night when she summoned me in person. Her rage rattled down the cold halls, which echoed like a p...

8 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The funny Guy

Submitted to Contest #277

I liked the laughs and that kind of expectant gesture they make when they know I'm going to say something funny. It's exciting, you know, to have so many people waiting to hear what you're about to say, no matter how ridiculous it is. That's what it was, I liked making them laugh. Is that wrong, am I guilty of that? He was the one who took it personally, it was just a joke. People joke all the time, that's how the world works; you don't go around asking people if you hurt their feelings.My parents tell me that he lacked strength, that h...

7 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

After All, It's Nothing.

Submitted to Contest #277

TW: Suicide and self-harm, sexual violence, mental health and substance abuse.14. I was 14 when he looked at me. When he eyed me down as if I was an object to devour, to indulge in. As if he had the right, as if he was deserving of regarding me. His eyes flared like a demon from hell, burning, smoldering my skin with his dirty glare. My soul tainted in disgust, ashamed to parade my body, to believe for even a second I could step out of the confines made of cotton and silk and simply be. I wonder if his wife knows. If she attests to his actio...

9 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Who Really Are You?

Submitted to Contest #277

They say It only starts with one lie. There was no way to tell what it would actually turn into. It was like cookie crumbs leading to the big revelation of someone I could not recognize in any way.  When I first met you I remember the encounter front to back. Your voice was slow, calm, and seductive. You had a warmth to you that oozed with charisma. I knew nothing about you but wanted to know more. I was practically begging for it. You had this long dark hair, brownish copper eyes, and olive skin. You had big lips with brown lip liner a...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Wicked or Wary?

Submitted to Contest #277

Something Wicked This Way ComesDeep within the Enchanted Forest, where ancient trees weaved a perpetual twilight, there lived a creature the villagers called the Shade. To them, it was a wicked spirit, a phantom that preyed on the lost and unwary. Travelers whispered of shadowy figures lurking at the edges of vision and accused the Shade of blighting crops, poisoning wells, and snatching children.But the Shade was no spirit. She was a girl.Myra had been abandoned in the forest as a child. Her family, sorcerers of great renown, feared her aff...

9 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Unseat the Enemy

Submitted to Contest #277

She started high school in a new city, the first time she’d ever lived anywhere else. Everything felt strange and sharp, from the sounds of the streets to the way the sky seemed just slightly different here. She was alone, completely and utterly, which wasn’t new, but it wasn’t any easier. Her whole life had been shaped by loneliness, carved by the cruel laughter of those who had made her the target of every joke and jab. She wore her past like a second skin, heavy and inescapable, a constant reminder that the world wasn’t safe, and people c...

7 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Outsiders Dance

Submitted to Contest #277

She grew up in the in-between. In between the vibrant culture of her immigrant family and the unfamiliar life of a young teen in America. English wasn’t her first language, and while she worked hard to mimic the valley girl slang around her, deep down, she was just a southern girl, new to California and trying to bury her southern drawl like a secret. Her parents had chosen this private junior high school, believing it would offer a safer, smoother transition into their new life. They were right—sort of.The school was smaller, which gave her...

6 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

When Harmonies fade

Submitted to Contest #277

Sally and I met when we were 12, in middle school. From the moment we clicked, it was like finding the perfect harmony in a song—natural and effortless. We became inseparable, unable to pick our outfits for school without calling each other to discuss, our closets spilling with brightly colored skirts and sweaters that we treated like pieces of a shared wardrobe. Our shared love for music bound us even tighter, and we both joined choir as soon as we had the chance. More often than not, we were paired for duets—her steady, velvety alto ground...

8 likes 1 comment 1
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.