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

5410+ 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 67 of 361

1898 at the Lighthouse - When Dreams Are Calling

Submitted to Contest #233

Joseph watched whole tree trunks with roots attached bobbing in the churning sea.He saw the wind-driven waves tossing them so they landed in tangled piles on the sandy beach below the lighthouse. "Later we can gather wood, dry it, and use it for the fires in the warming stoves," he thought.Joseph's knitted cap, layered under another hat, protected his head from the windy rain squalls when they blew in from the ocean."I'm still glad we came here," he thought. "I love living by the sea." The gusts chilled his face. He put his hands in his...

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November

Submitted to Contest #233

Anders was a quiet man, someone you had to look at twice to remember he was there. Although he was of great stature and had hair that mirrored a heavenly glow, his eyes were solemn, sleepless, and hollow. One didn’t look Anders too long in the eye, to avoid the chill his gaze would pierce into the soul. It would happen so quickly, you could feel where in your body your soul chose to hide. There was one thing this man of mystery truly hid, and that was that he was a vampire. He wasn’t the sort to go prowling in the night or feast on lonely w...

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Dear Journal, I might Go Crazy

Submitted to Contest #233

Day One Dear diary,  Writing out the words “dear diary” makes me feel like a little kid. I haven’t journaled like this since I was young though, so it doesn’t feel completely strange to start up where I left off. Except now, I am an adult, tracking a personal challenge for myself in this notebook that I’ve had sitting on my bookshelf for the last couple of years. It’s time to put it to good use. Anyway, I’m going to try to stay off of my phone for an entire month. It sounds nearly impossible, but I know I can do it if I work really...

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Ember Rain

Submitted to Contest #232

EMBER RAIN The liquid gold that fell from the sky was a grotesque show of beauty. The drops that formed of molten lava hissed and spat as they destroyed life, melting into the fissures of the earth and leaving the smell of death to climb smoothly into the back of my throat. However, the gradual destruction I can see now pales in comparison to that first day. That day we realised that the sun was dying. It had been hot, so hot. The kinds of temperatures that sap all moisture out of you and leave a nauseous pounding feeling in your body, will...

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Doomed From The Start

Submitted to Contest #232

My cheeks were still fleshy, my tint youthful and curious when I met you. Or rather beheld you. Only a glimpse of your Maui T-shirt was enough to tell me you were bad news, an honored member of the Snobbish and Idle Jocks of Corindale Middle School, a cult name I coined between myself and I. I knew, observing your handshakes and your amiable gestures toward your fellow douchebags, that you had it all: popularity (among students and teachers, though most weren’t fond of you), cool kicks, naïve little sixth graders gifting you their full atten...

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My Many Unsuccessful Attempts at Self-Kidnapping

Submitted to Contest #232

Dear Diary, I’ve decided to get taken. Yes, taken, as in: stolen, kidnapped. No, this is not what Mom would have wanted, but Mom’s not here, as you know from our previous grief-stricken 48 pages together. Yes, she taught me all the ways to stay safe: carry pepper spray, make sure someone always knows where you’re going, don’t walk alone at night, keep your head on a swivel. Well, Mom accidentally gave me all the tools I need to make this happen: 1: Toss pepper spray. 2: Tell no one of plan. 3: Sneak out of house at night and walk alone...

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The Witch, the Chemist, the Shepherd, and the Stars

Submitted to Contest #232

Raffaelo shouldn’t have trusted the caravan atop the hill. He had only heard stories of curses coming from its depths, the woman inside rumored to be a witch some days, a demon on others.  But Raffaelo was a desperate man, having chased his love, Julietta, from afar for much too long. A night after too many drinks led to a stupid, friendly bet of Mario’s doing, who was a jester at best and a fool at his worst. Mario said he was sick of seeing Raffaelo swoon over Julietta’s soft peachy skin, her delicate lips, the soft waves of her hone...

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When a Light Dies, Does Everything End? Perhaps.

Submitted to Contest #232

Pale, nimble fingers reached out to the sky.The sky was dark, like an abyss, and dull, like his own eyes. He could say little, nor could he see that much from his spot on the ground. There was hardly anything left, the few traces of life scarcer than half what it once was.He let his arm drop.The once bright light from the sky was now reduced to rare streaks up above, and all signs of life feeding from its existence were hard to come by.Eyes as bright as the sun once was peered down, onto the vast and empty drylands below.Nature relied on the...

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Nothing Stares Back

Submitted to Contest #232

Nothing Stares Back Ever since the Great Cascade the sky has never been more dark. I tilt my head up to the sky and send out pings, hoping for anything, but it’s all for not. I keep thinking to myself that I'm doing something wrong, that everyone else can do it. But of course just like my friends and family all they see is nothing. Just like me. I bring my head back down as I feel the movement of an object. I hear it approaching faster and faster as the seconds go by, waiting for its arrival. I feel a round object to the side of me, I p...

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1898 at the Lighthouse - The Hero Puppy

Submitted to Contest #232

“Where was that beacon? He should be seeing it flash by now.” Captain Alfonse Belanger knew this patch of the Oregon coast was called “the graveyard of the Pacific.” In the fading light, he scanned the rugged shoreline for the flash of the lighthouse beacon.*****Miles away, off the path to the Mystic Lighthouse high on the bluffs, the lighthouse keeper lay partway down the side of the cliff after losing his footing on the wet, slippery path.Joseph saw the darkening sky and turned, trying to reach a rocky handhold, so he could pull ...

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Saving Daylight

Submitted to Contest #232

Lillian dragged her feet as her mother pulled her through the crowded temple, making her unhappiness at being there known in the heaviness of her gait. She had to do what her mother said, certainly, but she didn't have to make it easy for her by trotting happily at her side. She glanced up at her mother's face, wet with tears that Lillian didn't really understand. "I am happy and sad," her mother had explained as they approached the temple. "This is a rare, holy opportunity, and you should be happy and sad too. It's called awe." Lillia...

11 likes 10 comments 10
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A Crying Shame

Shortlisted for Contest #232 ⭐️

Trigger warnings: main character death, murder, implied suicide.            The sun was always there, and it was an unsung luxury to not have to think about it. I wish I knew enough about it to tell you why we started to. I wish I had known enough about it to do something. Maybe I did. Maybe we all did.            The concern began long before I was born: Global Warming. Always talked about in big, important letters, everywhere that...

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Flames of Sepheron

Submitted to Contest #232

Tempora, Ali, and Jodia were named the newest Torch-bearers of Seledon. The honor of carrying the Flame of Sepheron to the other cities of Seledon was one of the greatest honors. Each year the newest Torch-bearers were sent across the continent to refresh the Holy Flames in each city. If these flames were not renewed with new dragon-flame before the end of the cycle the Darkness would be allowed to take over. The Darkness was just what its name suggested. It was an all-enveloping darkness that destroyed everything that it touched. The only ...

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We, The Left Behind

Submitted to Contest #232

We are the left behind, the ones who didn’t make the cut, the unlucky.When The Arc was created, they said the positions on board would be determined by ballot. Funny how that random selection process took one hundred percent of the rich and famous, the billionaires, the influencers, the celebrities and politicians. Oh, they took others too, the unnamed and unknown. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, all randomly selected. Families were torn apart by the horrible choice, either stay together and die, or separate for a chance at life. M...

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One Night Stand (script)

Submitted to Contest #232

LOGLINE: "Ahead of the inescapable heat death of the universe, a quiet observer attempts to accept her fiery end with the accompaniment of a poorly-timed hookup." --- OVER BLACK. SUPERIMPOSE: PROLOGUE. We hear bodies pushed against walls. INDECIPHERABLE BANTER, LAUGHTER. RAGE MUSIC in the distance. Then, the JOSTLING OF KEYS. FADE TO: INT. DORM ROOM - NIGHT MALLORY, a shaggy-haired 20-something, stumbles in. Drunk as ever. Nearly drops her KEYS. AYDEN slides in. Attempts to be cool and catch her keys, but almost trips. Recovers. Make...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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