Young Teen Short Stories

Lucy remembers everything. She remembers the moment she was born. She remembers how she was born, and she remembers what that makes her. Gabriel has managed to unlock her memories, and now she can’t escape them as they play out inside her eyes. She’s finally getting some answers to the questions that have plagued her life, but will they be what she wanted them to be? Daniel wasn’t always called Daniel. In fact, he didn’t take that name until he made a decision that he knew he would regret for eternity. What forced him to change his name, and what was the choice that led him to it?

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes. Discover how Maya and Amar first met and fell in love.

For some, high school is anything but a walk in the park. For senior Oliver Sticka, what to do after graduation is the last thing on his mind. Getting through phys-ed is more pressing. Never really fitting in with the other guys in his class, Ollie has a lot on his mind. Running, Ollie says, gives him the chance to be alone with his thoughts and figure things out... or is he just running away?

Lucy knows there is something wrong with the psychiatric home she’s been taken to. She’s noticed that she seems to be the only patient there. She’s noticed all of the empty rooms and the fact that every door to the outside world is locked. She’s also noticed how strangely her doctor is acting. It’s as if he’s pushing her for information — but information about what? Gabriel knows that all the answers are in Lucy’s head, but she’s refusing to find them for him. He’s trying to keep calm. He’s trying to give her time, so that she can discover her memories on her own. But when she starts to cause trouble, he knows that there’s only one thing he can do. Will Lucy survive Gabriel’s desperate attempt to get the answers?

Lucy has always known that she was different from the other kids in her home. Of course, it doesn't help that she suffers from a recurring nightmare that wakes her up with a scream on her lips and sweat pouring down her back. The nightmare is driving her crazy. She's too scared to sleep, she's too tired to live and she feels as though it's never going to get better...until Daniel shows up, that is.

Wil Telling, a teenager, is raising his sisters and brother on his own after their parents die in an accident. But Maresa, the planet they live on, is not an easy place for orphans to live. Until Wil meets Tal, an offworlder with a job offer.

In this gem of a story, The Candy Country, little Lily discovers that arriving in a magical country where everything is made of sweets is not the wonderland she had first thought. The story is a poignant example of the strong educational and moral influence that Louisa May Alcott's father had on her life and her writing.

This is a selection from The Jungle Book, in which a mongoose saves the day.

Sherlock Holmes takes an interest in the case of a British Foreign Office employee who has had an important naval treaty stolen from his office. "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of the longest stories in the Sherlock Holmes collections.

This hilarious classic by America's favorite author, Mark Twain tells the wry tale of a big frog jumping contest and the controversial outcome that results.

Abdullah Syed Hari is fourteen years old. He loves his family and his friends. And he is a Somali pirate. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

His friends warned him not to try the fried pudding at the carnival, but Dan didn't listen. A short story in comics from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

When a young John Lambton skips church to go fishing, he catches something unnatural. Fearful of his father's reaction to both skipping church and bringing such a foul creature to the house - he it throws in the well. Years later, after fighting in the Crusades, John returns home to an unpleasant surprise.

"Local color" author Frances Gilchrist Wood wrote this powerful tale of a young wife who proves better able to succeed on the homestead frontier than does her husband.

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.

In "The Invisible Man", a murderer manages to get in and out of a house, even though it is under constant observation. In some ways, the story parallels Poe's "The Purloined Letter" but adds its own unique touches, particularly in the character and methods of priest-sleuth Father Brown.

"The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published as part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1903.

In this short story, which takes place directly before The Change: Life, you will meet Jacob and Mia and get a tiny glimpse into how their very lives are tied in to the fate of the world - to the Changed themselves - and to the enigmatic creature that appears out of nowhere to destroy all that it sees, both humans and Changed alike.

This is the first story of The Jungle Book, in which the reader is introduced to Mowgli, the jungle boy, and his animal friends.

When Jen spotted a poster for the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance, she figures it's the perfect chance to ask out David, the boy she's been drooling over since school started. Unfortunately, Selena, the head cheerleader at their school has her eye on him as well. As her friends grab up their dream dates Jen stays dateless, She didn't think things could get worse until a teacher pulls Jen to the side and makes a request that threatens to push her into complete misery.