Young Teen Short Stories

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English romantic and gothic novelist who is most famous as the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. She was married to the notable Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. She also wrote a number of shorter "tales of the unnatural", of which "The Mortal Immortal", a story of a man who will not die, is the most famous.

When it comes to short stories, Edgar Allan Poe is considered by many to be the master of terror and the macabre. This is one of his most famous stories. A man is tormented by a cat and decides to take a terrible vengeance, but things do not go as planned.

Via a series of letters between himself and a friend, a man falls in love with a woman he has never met - and receives a shocking surprise when he travels to meet her.

For Natalie, Lake Huron is more than just one of the Great Lakes. For this seemingly average teenager of Native American descent, Lake Huron holds the secret to the unspoken truths of her childhood; the truths that reveal that she is anything but average; the truths behind her tribal swan name and ultimately, the key to her destiny.

Never seen before private diary entries they don’t want you to know about. Peek into the mind of the making of a maverick, a window to the soul of an angry, young girl, who will come of age in a city on the verge of total annihilation.

Mr. Cave, a shop owner, finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into a Martian landscape. The War of the Worlds was probably H.G. Wells' best-known work, but this brief tale indicates that he had more than a passing interest in Mars.

A motley crew, banished from a Western town, find strength, and weakness, in each other.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. His narratives are characterized by an economy of style and the efficient way in which the various threads are neatly resolved. In "The False Jewels", a man who dotes on his wife is crushed by her unexpected death and then astounded by a revelation about her costume jewelry.

Here is one of London's famous stories of the Klondike, where men had to battle the elements, and often each other, to survive.

Against the wishes of superstitious townspeople, Jonathan Harker journeys to the castle of Count Dracula on Walpurgisnacht, the dreaded night of the dead. Abandoned by his frightened coachman, Harker finds himself alone in a cemetery, battered by the elements and at the mercy of the strange beasts hunting him.

In this Poe-like tale, set in "an old gray house", a man exacts a bizarre revenge on his unfaithful wife and her lover. This chilling story is one of Balzac's most popular.

Wilkie Collins was the author of two of the greatest mysteries ever written, The Moonstone and The Woman in White. However, like Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, he shifted easily from rational domains to the "superrational". Like them, he often preferred to indulge his occult predilection, a lifelong interest. "The Dream Woman" is one his most anthologized stories of the supernatural.

This is a short story about a ruthless, bloodthirsty, raw-brain-eating pigeon possessed by an evil witch doctor. The beast momentarily tormented the city of Chicago, and this is its tale.

Alice Lethbury, a young wife stuck in a dull, passionless marriage, decides to adopt a baby, Jane, with the consent of her reluctant husband. As Jane grows up, it becomes clear that she has entered the Lethburys' lives for a reason.

A sentry falls asleep at his post, leading to dire consequences. This is a classic tale about the terrible cost of the Civil War, which divided entire families.

Bertie Ross has a few more deliveries to make for Sampson's store before the New Year's holiday. After a delivery at the Forbes' house, Dr. Forbes' daughters invite cold-looking Bertie in to get warm and ask why he isn't wearing mittens. Explaining that he lent them to his sickly brother William John, the sisters hatch a plan to provide a proper New Year's celebration with the Ross brothers and provide them with a little holiday warmth in the meantime.

Ida Mitchell, a third-year student at the Clifton Academy, is spending the holidays at her boarding-house, unable to go home because her siblings have the measles. Another Ida Mitchell, who is a second-year student at Clifton is also spending the holidays away from home. When a fruit cake intended for Ida is accidentally delivered to the other Ida, third-year Ida can't bring herself to break the truth to second-year Ida, for whom the cake has brightened an otherwise difficult time.

Prissy's Uncle Richard and her father haven't exchanged words in eight years since a property dispute created hard feelings. When Prissy overhears Uncle Richard saying he has to travel for work on New Years' day, she resolves to sneak into his house and cook him a proper holiday dinner. Uncle Richard returns early and catches Prissy in the act. Can Prissy's kind gesture be the beginning of a reconciliation between the brothers?

While out for a walk, two young men find themselves on Enderly Rd., known for its poor inhabitants and shabby dwellings. They meet a crying girl on her way home and stop her. Learning that the boys who promised to help decorate the schoolhouse for the examinations to be held on Christmas Eve were backing out, the two young men decide to help out the little girl.

"Where did she go? Behind those trees? Is she still hiding there, just as the river twists and turns, down below the grassy bank? I’m sure I saw her just a moment ago, skipping between the tree trunks." Lady Deablin Armstrang's only friend is a magical nymph that appears to her between tree trunks of Ettrick Forest. Is she real or just the play of her imagination? When an unexpected visitor arrives in the forest Deablin must decide whether duty or friendship will win her hand.