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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.

5390+ 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 35 of 360

For Those in Peril

Submitted to Contest #267

Flag down. “Pack, dismissed!” The small boys of the Fort St. Angelo cub scout pack scurried off to get their sweaters and bags; it was supper time. Charlie Harkness, Sixer, son of the naval base commander, ordered his small group – the gray six – to stay behind; they had unfinished business.“We can’t have two Georges in our six,” said Charlie, a tall blonde boy with freckles, supremely self-assured.George Clarke agreed; son of a lieutenant, he was the first George, so the new George, a weedy little boy newly arrived from England, needed...

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Christmas At Gin & Pips

Submitted to Contest #267

Our tale begins with a boy named Luca. Luca was a year-round traveler, all he knew was to travel and he seemed to travel alone and always seemed to be everywhere but nowhere at once. Luca didn't really have a home. I suppose the world was his home... or dare I say the multiverse was his home but we will get to that later.  On Christmas Eve Luca bundled up in his brown wool coat, blue wool scarf, and mittens put on his torn brown boots, and made his way out onto the snowy streets of England. The weather certainly set the scene for the t...

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The Stranger in the Mirror

Submitted to Contest #267

*Trigger Warning*Mental Health & Gore Looking in the mirror the person staring back at you is a stranger. A clear image of the person you used to be. But honestly, the person staring back at you has not been "you" for a long time. The time when things were simple and innocent are long gone, replacing them with a dark and sinful nature. Looking in the mirror we are supposed to see the person we are, not the person we lost, we are supposed to see someone we are proud of not someone we rather not be. Looking in the mirror is now a horrid ...

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A Sun Streaked In Red

Submitted to Contest #267

CONTAINS SENSITIVE CONTENT:Mental health Physical violence/gore Mentions of substance abuse A Sun Streaked In RedIt began with the thunder and ended with the rain; everyone knows the sky is the bringer of Armageddon. Through our fingers we threaded the cloud like tendrils of cigarette smoke, that one last high before the ashes fell. It was a glorious maelstrom. And, like all good things, it tore us apart. "Set me free," Ellie prayed to the raindrops racing down our window. "Just let me fly like the birds for one day in my life." I scowled...

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Wings of Salvation

Submitted to Contest #267

“Did you know? We call the young ones around here ‘fairies.’ They seem to quite like that title.” “...I’m eighteen.” Gospel tilts his head down to look at me. He smiles. “Still a young one, then,” he muses.  I make a face at him.  “It’s a little something that’s popular amongst everyone.” He stacks my paperwork on his desk and stands up, making a motion to follow him. We exit his office and make our way down the marble halls. The roof caved over us in delicate swirls of a crystalized color, glimmering in a purple, blue, pink, or wh...

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The Interview

Submitted to Contest #267

'It could be worse kid... But then again, it could also be a whole lot better...'He didn’t look a whole lot like me, but that still didn’t change the fact that I felt like I was looking into a mirror. His wavy brown hair, blue eyes, that nervous fidget he did with his fingers. It was a mirror image alright. One that started about twenty years ago and ended with a slap in the face after a college football game.He was the fourth person I’d interviewed that day, and truth be told, he’d probably be the last. Not because I was impressed with his ...

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The Lightning Pact

Submitted to Contest #267

Meet seven young men who stand out from their high school crowd because of their sensitivity, compassion, and caring natures. In contrast, many of their male peers are often rough and bully-like, regularly engaging in unkind mockery and teasing. The local group of initial outcasts includes boy genius and socially awkward Allen, secondary to Aspergers and his adopted African-born brother Abraham. In his younger days, the majority of the boys referred to Abraham by a crude black name. Since he matured into a brutal star on the football fi...

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You have no idea what you are getting into

Submitted to Contest #267

[Indirect mentions of SA, DA and drink spiking] HERI am no saint, but no one really is. Some people are less evil, some people are more evil. I have done things I am not proud of, and will have to live with the consequences once they come. I do, however, refuse to feel guilt for what I have done. There are reasons behind my actions, and no one will convince me they are not for “the greater good”. I am writing here in my diary, to be able to get it off my chest, as I cannot speak to anyone about it. I wish I could scream it from the top of my...

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„The Calm in the Storm“

Submitted to Contest #267

The sun was still low in the sky when Jacob and Caleb arrived at the docks, the sea stretching out before them in shades of silver and blue. Jacob walked ahead, eyes scanning every detail of their small boat, mentally checking his list. He had been up before dawn, packing gear, checking the motor, and studying the maps. Even now, as they prepared to cast off, he was still tying down extra ropes, triple-checking the fuel, and adjusting the life vests. Caleb, in contrast, strolled leisurely behind him, humming a low tune under his breath. He h...

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I Wish Someone Told Me...

Submitted to Contest #267

Authors Note: This story has notes of mental health, drug use, drinking and suicide. I wish someone told me that life was so unfair. That the people you love most aren't permanent. Like if you had a great day at school, you got an A on the math test you worked so hard on, but as you’re running home you see police cars swarming your house. And then you know, life will never be the same again. “She could survive.” the police tell you, as if that makes anything better. And to make matters better, the person who hit her made it with ba...

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Storms a brewin'

Submitted to Contest #267

Prompt: Write your story against the backdrop of a storm. Storms a brewin’ My joints really ache today more than the typical soreness I feel in my older age. A lot more than any other day. I think I may have slept like a pretzel twist.  Then again, when the weather changes all holy hell breaks out in my body. From my bedroom window I checked the skies. Not a single cloud; the sun was brilliant and hot. To confirm my amateur weather interpretations, I listened to the radio forecast.  The weatherman...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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Her Mother's Smile

Submitted to Contest #267

Her Mother’s SmileShe knew very well it would be a pivotal moment in her life. The point at which she would finally know her identity, her name and her family. Always aware she was adopted, she had planned this moment for over 18 years. Tonight was the night she would meet her birth mother. Her biological mother – a woman whose identity she had sought for so long. This would be the moment when those nights spent exploring the depths of her imagination would be crystallised into reality. She had pictured her a mi...

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Crying in the Food Court

Submitted to Contest #266

My dad and his 25-year-old girlfriend’s baby woke me up at four in the morning throwing a tantrum, a generous term for those horrifying screeches. As one does, the first thing I did after sighing as dramatically as I could was check my phone for the time, and to my surprise, I had a notification from YouTube. I was so excited I opened it right away: two new comments! When my dad told me he was having another kid, I was able to use it to my advantage and convince him to buy me a real camera to finally start my own YouTube channel. The rule wi...

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Bolts from the blue

Submitted to Contest #266

Prompt: Your protagonist discovers that everything they want comes true. What happens next?  Luke lifted his fingers from the keyboard and lay back against the hospital pillows. He rested his hands on the bed beside him, his laptop open in front of him on the table that a nurse had pushed into place. Monitors and cables and cords surrounded him. A metal stand lurking beside his bed held a bag, a drip line leading from it to the back of his hand. The room smelled strange. Writing on his laptop had drained him of the little energy he had,...

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Jacob & The Ritual

Submitted to Contest #266

Jacob sits with his legs crossed. The house is quiet, all seven candles are lit, the moon is in the right phase, and he's exactly eight feet underground.The ritual can finally begin.He peeks at the grimoire before he closes his eyes and settles his nerves.A steady breath in and out as he reads the list one last time."Seven candles, waxing crescent moon, and eight feet underground."That's all—wait.His eyes scan the last item."One cup of ice water."His body tenses.Ice water?How could he have forgotten something so simple?!Jacob scrambles to hi...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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