Welcome to our 2019 $500 Halloween Horror 50 Word Story Contest. Yes, that’s right. It’s already here. Every year we run our contests, and those of you who have been frequent readers, this is what you’ve been waiting for.
First we will be doing a print issue! We will be doing 2 print issues, and we will pick entries from this contest to be in our issue. If you had a 50 word story designated to be in our print issue, from a past contest, please contact us.
Second, we will be giving out a $500 reward for the best 50 word horror story. This is not easy for us. Every Writer is not doing as well as it did in the past, but we want your stories. I believe writers should get paid for their work. I wish we could pay all of our writers, but it’s just impossible. So $500 for 50 words, I think is a unique and valuable statement to our readers. Ten dollars a word is what all writers really deserve.
So here are the rules:
• Story must be scary
• Story must be 50 words
• Story must be original and your own
• Story may not be published elsewhere
• Story must have a title (does NOT count in word count)
• Deadline is October 25, 2019
• Enter as many times as you want
• Story must be written in the comments below!
• Be nice or be disqualified
I love these stories. This is one of favorite traditions of Every Writer. I look forward to this every year, and this year I have extended the time we are going to spend with the contest.
The winners will:
• Be announced on October 31, 2019
• Will get $500
• Will be published in our digital and print issue.
• Will get an author page on our site
There is no entry fee for this contest. It would help us out greatly if you would donate 1$ or more, if you can, to help out the site. We would really appreciate it. A donation will not be considered in the deciding this contest.
If you want to keep up with me on Twitter, please follow me at @everywriter, I follow back all writers.
Good luck, and let the writing begin.
HERE IS THE WINNER
I have picked 4 stories. They all have times and days on them. If the winner does not respond by Friday 11/22/19 the money will go to the next story on the list. Here are the top 4 stories in order. ONLY OUR 1st PLACE WINNER gets the $500. Also, so this insanity never happens again, the winner will be invited back next year to be one of the judges.
WINNER 1st Place:
Kit Steward 10/13/19 5:20 pm
THE MIDNIGHT INCUBATOR
She heard mushy sounds for days and suffered from unbearable itchiness.
A doctor’s visit revealed earwig pupae nesting in her ear canal, it was flushed out.
Later, weary from stress, she crawled into bed.
That night while she slept, the creature returned.
And finding the eggs missing, it laid more.
2nd Place:
Elizabeth Lee 09/24/19 4:36 pm
Secondhand Doll
She didn’t want a secondhand doll so she flung it across the room. Porcelain cracked against the wall. Her mom made her glue the pieces back together. A thin shard sliced her hand, baptizing the doll in her hateful blood. The secondhand doll decided she didn’t want an ungrateful child.
3rd Place:
Alexander Daley Escobedo 10/25/19 3:38pm
Heirloom
We Buried my brother today. Suicide. He thought something evil was haunting him. He’d been medicated, institutionalized, shocked and secluded. He found his own way out. I wish I could tell him I’m sorry. Or had listened more closely. Because, when I got home, it was on my couch. Laughing.
4th place:
JB 10/25/19 8:12pm
TITLE: RESEVOIR
We should have known something was wrong when we first tasted the water. It was a little brown, but no more than usual in this apartment complex.
We kept drinking it until it turned black.
When they opened the water tank, they found the bloated, rotting corpse of my neighbor.
We usually always contact the winners first, but after all the trouble, we are opening up the process. I am again, very sorry for how late this is. I did not expect 4000 stories. Next year I will be ready.
Renee Miller says
Unexpected Visitor
With a shaking hand, she parts the curtains, a gasp escaping her parted lips. Standing on the corner, covered in dirt, shirt stained red with blood, stands her husband, a man she killed and buried in the woods behind the house. He takes a few halting steps toward the house.
Kit Steward says
DAWN OF THE DEAD
The sky was aurora filled, brimming with high-frequency messages.
The microwaves penetrated minds, infecting them,
and the dulled gray matter became riddled with pangs for slaughter.
Both red and blue embraced it like hungry zombies,
absently forgetting the colors combined form purple-
a sovereign shade that conquers subjects through division.
Jessica Packard says
Stuck
I am stuck.
Stuck in a Box and it smells like burnt flesh.
I feel so hot.
There is a light in the corner but I can’t move.
My body stuck.
Then I realize it I am on fire.
I am burning burning alive.
Why can’t I escape.
It stings.
Atman Brahman says
Still Alive Inside
With every exhale my breaths became shallower under the tightening. Frightened to scream, as it would allow the final constriction, my eyes bulged from their sockets. My last waking sounds are the snapping of my ribs and bursting of my organs as the snake’s hungry mouth engulfs my body.
Justin Roanoke says
“Leviathans of Many”
Midwestern rain gathers and climbs glass. It’s only flooding, just biblical.
Crowds corner me and cooling pizzas against a skywalk waterfall. We’re watched by the swimming, throttled surface masses. A courier knows another—and no one sent them, but still they come like living waves, crashing against this old sky.
Daniel Kaminski says
Words Alone Won’t Cut It
Helga scornfully said, “You were just supposed to learn their tongue, so they’d accept us here. What happened, did you burn down another village?”
“No, sorry, this time I ate the tutor, so plump and juicy.”
Brimstone flared from her nostrils at her mate. “Heathcliff! You and your big mouth!”
Katrina says
Glove of My Life
A sinister but stunning accessory of supple, brown leather and tight, durable stitches. The glove wrapped my skin like an outer layer of flesh. I worked oil into it regularly. Oil and blood. But now, it was coming for me. Coming for my throat. And I couldn’t get it off.
Debra Chase says
THE PACKAGE
The dog, not dog, eyes red and weeping, rose from the water, dropped the black package at his feet. It rattled, hissing. Then it cracked, green liquid spilling out, slithering towards him.
The man, not man, rose from the water, eyes red and weeping dropped the package at her feet.
Debra Chase says
DINNER
The fall broke Bob’s ankle preventing movement. He was crawling when he saw the headlights. “Finally”, he thought. The truck stopped, barely missing him and the door was flung open. That’s when Bob saw the ax head hit the tarmac, then the man’s boot. “George”, the man called, “here’s dinner”!
Laura DeHaan says
-Warning Signs-
In their rush to leave, the previous tenants left holes in the wall. Small ones. A bit of plaster fixed them up.
There was a new hole the next day and every day after.
By the time he thought to connect the dots, he had no idea where to start.
William Cennamo says
Duuuude! Dooope!
Kit Steward says
CLAP FOR THE WOLFMAN
The DJ hoarded silverware for years not from greed but a grim notion.
Early reports were sketchy, but calls intensified from neighboring towns decimated by a plague cycle far worse than locusts.
He’d been casting rounds since dawn and come nightfall when the ridge-line howled, Ol’ Jack would be ready.
Rita Kurtz says
National Burger Day
Grilled meat, my favorite smell. The glorious perfume pirouettes up my nasal passages, creating an inexplicable need to salivate. From only smell, my tongue tastes the delightful romance of fat and protein as they meld together into the perfect savory bite. But this time, the meat I smell is me.
Debra Chase says
THE ACCIDENTAL AMPUTATION
Plucking the piece of pink flesh from the garden bed Mildred happily cooked it with greens. Satiated, she slept soundly until – THUMP! “I’m at your front door! I want my big toe”! Trembling, she heard it again -THUMP! “I’m at your bedroom door! I want my big toe”! Mildred Screamed.
Angie Wiley says
They stare at their masters company, he smells, stinking of sweat. He lays on the couch, he doesn’t move as the old woman, master, leaves.
They pounce, opportunity seized, claws sink into his face.
He screams, eyes gone, master screams. The cats attempt to finish the meal master has brought.
Jonna OKeefe says
The Tooth Fairy.
Tap. Tap. Tap
Fingers hit my teeth. The sound echoes in my head.
I struggle to move but I’m restrained.
Pain overwhelms me as two teeth are ripped from my gums.
A gold coin is tossed on my chest.
“Pleasure doing business with you. I’ll be back for the rest.”
Jeff Blade says
Towards a Sonic Abyss
——————
They say the scariest things are those you cannot see.
I wholeheartedly concur.
Radio waves – unseen, electromagnetic threads – zipped into the room, carrying news that spun chills down my spine. Turned the nightmare real as the announcer somberly broadcast:
“From this Halloween, all music besides Justin Bieber’s will become illegal”.
Kit Steward says
IN THIN AIR
Something slid out from under the rug, it was clear like cellophane.
It rose, rippled, and danced about the room, Angela giggled as it fluttered.
The levitating sheet paused atop her head then wrapped over her face, suffocating the girl.
Disappearing out the window; it floated towards the next house.
Debra Chase says
THE BATHROOM ATTENDANT
God, she had to pee! Flinging the bathroom door open she heads straight for a stall. Sweet relief.
Just as she gets her skirt pulled down the stall door opens. “Hello Miss, you made a mistake. The ladies is across the hall”.
His grimace makes her want to pee again.
Martha MacFarland says
The spotlight drew her in. Melissa, ready to abandon the carbon copy image of her twin, pushed Maggie’s face into the water until the bubbles ceased, the fight finally over. After slitting her wrists for staging the scene, she ran downstairs hysterically shouting, “Melissa is dead!” Her new identity formed.
Martha MacFarland says
Winds wrestle the leaves outside catching Mary’s attention. Limbs from the tree scrape the window. A rat scurries underneath the pier and beam. The neighbor’s dog howls. In her pajamas, Mary dares to look through the window and suddenly catches a man’s piercing, steel eyes intimating, “I’ve come for you.”
Rachel Blue says
The Quiet
Late nights in my dream I awake, chilling in a cold sweat. It’s very quiet, so quiet my ears are ringing. I’m frozen though, heart beating fast to quick to breath. Fear clamming up my throat. Sweat rolling through my brow, breaking my paralysis at last only to lock eyes.
Matt Anderson says
EYE CONTACT
John gazed out the window of the library’s third floor, wondering how he would ever survive the semester. He looked down at another student, sitting at a table outside. The student was staring right back at John, mouth hanging open and a trickle of blood slowly flowing down his forehead.
Matt Anderson says
THE NEEDLE
“See, that wasn’t so bad was it?” said the nurse. Timmy rubbed his arm, staring at the vile that contained his blood. She was right—it wasn’t. But then she produced a much longer, thicker needle, which she brushed gently against Timmy’s soft cheek. Her smile twisted, and she laughed.
Matt Anderson says
A SHORT WALK
The sky grew dark, and Benny suddenly felt the need to quicken his pace. His car was only a short walk away. But the sound of running engines at the intersection stopped, and he turned to see motorists exiting their vehicles—all of them. Simultaneously, sporadically, they ran for him.
Matt Anderson says
SCARS
The scars had appeared three weeks ago. Every day, they seemed to widen—oozing, pulsating tears in the flesh. More appeared each day. No doctor could figure out the cause or cure. Soon gashes began to connect to each other, and patches of skin fell away like leave in fall.
Matt Anderson says
THE ORBS
They typically came several minutes after her parents shut off the light and left the room. Small, gleaming balls of lights would dance around the room, cheerfully and playfully. Hannah laughed, filled with joy. What she could not see, however, was the monstrous, horned beast breathing heavily at her bedside.
Jessica Mahon says
When She Dreams
Flashes of colors, glimpses of faces, blood, sweat and tears all dance in her head. Each night she slumbers, deeply, but not peacefully, giving in to nightmares that leave her screaming, unable to awaken. She can open her eyes, but she’ll never see him next to her, whispering, leering, waiting.
Jessica Mahon says
The Broken and the Bloodied
Martha walks down the road, the leaves whispering above her. Her sobs are broken and she hangs on to past memories, walking, but more stumbling down the road. She hears a cry, a whimper. Her wet eyelashes raise and she glimpses a baby. Bloodied and broken, so broken, crawling away.
Harold C. Holt says
HOUSECALLS
Another haunted house to cleanse. That makes five all in the same neighborhood. Desecrated burial ground or some massacre swept under a rug? Couldn’t say. My ghost-sweeping team waits for the family to vacate.
“We’re not staying here tonight,” Dad announces.
The relieved kids accept this idea with zeal.
Princess Sanderson says
STUDIO CALLS
The production studio is always dark. The walls are painted with ominous shadows that seem to be reaching out towards me. Is that an apparition, or are my eyes playing tricks? I never knew for sure, until one night a quiet groan came from one of the shadows.
Kevin Foley says
The Wilderness
Richard played back the video again. The creature’s hollow eyes made him shiver. Thank god it was midday.
He looked around the film site. There was dried blood in the grass and chunks of flesh leftover from the poor deer that had been attacked by… whatever he had just seen.
Kevin Foley says
The Paraplegic
Tim’s eyes bulged at the sight of his heart beating in the demon’s fist. It smiled and pressed a mass of writhing tentacles into his chest. He let out a hideous gasp as it writhed throughout his veins. Tim stood up, dressed, and calmly wiped the blood from his mouth.
Michelle Staloff says
Chasing Perfection
Rachel awoke bound to a chair.
She tried to struggle free and pain lanced through her. Blood seeped where barbed wire cut deep. Her screams burbled behind a ball gag.
A charred hole marred the stunning visage that capered into view.
“Finally, my perfect nose.”
The figure raised her scalpel.
Harold C. Holt says
Famous
In Godzilla movies, leviathans rising to the surface are prefaced by spectacular geysers of water, but this one rose from the lake in silence. It was the jogger’s first visit to Loch Ness. The serpent’s neck whipped toward him. Small comfort in knowing he’d be the world’s most famous victim.
Princess Sanderson says
Don’t Check The Mail
“Why do the mailboxes have to be in the basement?” I wondered aloud as the elevator made its way down. The vibe in there was always eerie. A slight jolt happened followed by the illumination of the letter “B”. Nothing alarming, until the doors opened to pitch black.
Davion Moore says
The Shadow
A tall shadowy figure stands behind me. I feel the figure leaning over me and breathing down my neck. I am paralyzed and cannot move, no matter how much I want to. I cannot turn around.
“What do you want?” I ask.
In a deep, bone-chilling voice, they respond. “You.”
William Cennamo says
The Closet
It’s lonely in here, just sitting, but it will all be worth it in the end. I can smell her sweet scent leftover in her clothing. It’s been hours now, she’ll be home soon, and I’ll be here when she enters, just like always. Only tonight, she will be mine.
William Cennamo says
Shattered.
A noise at the door.
I check to see.
Emptiness, as always.
Thank goodness.
When will he return?
Back for another go.
Will he ever return?
I pray not.
His hatred lingers in my heart,
long after the bruises healed.
Physically he is gone,
but mentally, he will never leave.
William Cennamo says
Monsters Aren’t Real
2 a.m.
“DAAAAAD!”
The scream came from Billy, I jolted across the hall and slammed open his door.
“There’s a monster, under the bed!”
I walked to his bed to calm him.
“Billy, there’s no such thing as monsters.”
That’s when I felt the cold, dead hands grab my ankles.
Austin Skhosana says
“Gold”
I slit his throat open, and violently gouged my fingers in and out of it as if frantically searching for gold, watching on as he struggled to breathe, tears running down his face. “I like the way your warm insides feel on my fingers” I whispering into his ear.
William Cennamo says
Arachnids Within
God, I hate spiders, the way their little legs prick slightly on my skin. Just thinking about them creeps me out. When I woke up, I could feel hundreds of them all over my skin, I threw my blankets off but saw nothing. Oh god, they’re crawling on the inside!
Jeff Blade says
End Of The Road
—————
The horn’s blast jerked Ethan’s head. He braked hard, car slewing in the battering rain. Tyres struggling for grip, he crashed headlong through the mountaintop barrier, skidding almost to a halt.
The Honda slowed. Tilted. Pitched. He frantically scrabbled for the seatbelt buckle as the vehicle slithered over the edge.
Austin Skhosana says
Murder at the MOMA
I could already see the headlines : “Man violently stabbed 17 times.” It’s the type of stuff they should put in art galleries. Your mangled body I had dragged through the hallways, painting the path in hues of red that complimented your scarred neck, a reminder of your pathetic breathless struggles.
Erin Hall says
the monster
alive, alive!
bones cracking
under the
weight of
ancient skin.
awakened!
and lurching
forward,
stretching old
sinews.
breathing!
clean air
into rotted lungs,
borrowed from
a stranger.
botched!
unwillingly,
unknowingly,
by an ignorant
saint.
Austin Skhosana says
Death and Designer
Your bloody body is my muse, and murder is my artistic medium. The chainsaw I used to rip through your now dismembered leg splattered flesh and blood all over my Gucci sweater. “This is perfection” I whispered, as I repeatedly stabbed at your corpse, licking clean your painterly dripping wounds.
Rima El-Boustani says
The Ripped Clown
A ripping sound comes from beneath the bed, along with an eerie banshee scream. A clown’s head rolls out from underneath. Benny cuddles into his blanket, keeping one eye fixed on the rolling head. He lets rip a muffled scream but no one comes. Benny has never felt more alone.
Austin Skhosana says
“Demons On A Summer Night”
His shrill high pitched screams sounded just like symphony’s as his pale flesh slowly melted away from the water that boiled him away, his arms tied to the cauldron. I had to appease the demons, they tormented me constantly, their voices wouldn’t stop, compelling me to feast on human flesh.
Rima El-Boustani says
The Halloween Fire.
Screams fill the air and smells of rotting fill our nostrils as our skin burns from a silly Halloween prank. Or was it a prank? The place is lit, on fire, flames licking at our feet. The pumpkins celebrating Halloween smile creepily at everyone, their grotesqueness illuminated by the fire.
Paul Brian says
Message from Beyond
Irene saw her feet jerking spasmodically. The rope cut into her neck. The last oxygen seeped out of her lungs when her cellphone on the desk below dinged. Irene’s tortured, blue face reflected off the screen, but her dead ex-boyfriend’s text was still visible: Hell is real see u soon
Bob Thurber says
Our Father The Werewolf
Same night the monster dies, the moon drowns herself in the sea. For hours afterwards the wind shrieks like an inconsolable widow. Nevertheless, we sleep soundly, devoid of dreams, rising before first light. A mist filters everything. All the trees resemble cardboard silhouettes. Their long, overlapping shadows no longer frighten.
Robert Pest says
Mommy is calling for me
I was woken up late at night by my mother calling my name from downstairs. i get up and into the hallway to see her head poking around the corner calling my name. i’m then pulled into my mothers room by my mom. She said “I heard it too”
Michael Devine says
THE OZ MASSACRE
Dorothy with water bucket- army of three machetes- charge the witches castle after the shoes. The three weaken the purple army; Dorothy meets witch -Mexican stand off- both end up dead. Meanwhile, monkeys slay the three stooges, Wizard (coward) takes balloon, Toto’s rich with gold bullion- the yellow brick road.
Patricia Peckham says
Spooky Porch
Porch of old house has cobwebs, dusted footprints, broken glass.
Homeless man enters house seeking shelter. Rats attack—muffle his scream—chew his neck.
Dead man awaits two boys who dare each other to enter.
One bravely goes inside, slips on blood, trips on body, hits his head.
Silence!
Rita Kurtz says
First Love
Music blasting through his earbuds, Justin watched the houses pass. His stop was next; he was nervous. Jamie’s house was a short walk from the bus; will she even be home?
Justin smiled when Jamie saw him. Jamie screamed, but couldn’t get away before Justin’s canines dug into her neck.
Kit Steward says
HEAT INDEX
The hottest night on record worsened, with a loud basement crash.
Bill went down to check.
There were deep trilling sounds coming from the darkness.
Bill inched along and the cicada-like wheezing drew closer.
Screams burst out.
And by morning when the police had arrived, only his bloodied finger remained.
Kit Steward says
THE POST HOMINUM ERA
Just as mankind got a clue, it arrived.
The most terrifying killing machine to walk the planet, the Shouldawouldacouldadon.
It ravaged the four corners of the globe destroying ALL life.
But the Earth, it continued on, OR…rather regenerated,
and if NOTHING, learned- to never produce human beings ever again.
Lisa Wishard says
Desert Dogs
Scooping up the child, clutching it close to stifle its wails, she yells, “No! Stop! Leave! Go home! Nein!” over her shoulder. Snarling, it continues advancing with teeth barred, her child’s blood dripping off black lips. There’s nowhere to run in the barren desert.
Ufuoma K says
REMINISCENCE
“Your costume is dope.”
“Thanks.” He patted the sheathed knife in his pocket and looked away.
“What are you dressed as?”
“Myself.” His gaze roamed the crowd, searching…
They settled on a blond.
Something about her looked oddly familiar.
Realization struck when a girl in vampire costume walked through her…
Danielle Tidd says
Run
Her hair was drenched with sweat from running. She anticipated the moment he would catch up. He was saturated in a mixture of blood and perspiration. Both from the work he put into his last victim. Finally, he caught up. He laughed at her cold body as her skin sagged.
cadence Tempel says
When I awoke, flames were licking my body and smoke was filling my lungs. My skin was slowly disintegrating off my bones. I tried to scream, but my burning throat wouldn’t let me. My vision started to deteriorate, I heard a man say, “Get the next one ready for cremation.”
Kit Steward says
INTO A MIRROR DARK
At first glance, he dismissed it as a trick of the mind.
With a long gaze into the looking glass; his surroundings became darker.
In deeper sessions, the obsidian surface morphed and demonic contortions engulfed his visage.
Fearfully, he stopped.
Shifting his focus, the world he viewed slowly brightened again.
cadence Tempel says
Burning alive
When I awoke, flames were licking my body and smoke was filling my lungs. My skin was slowly disintegrating off my bones. I tried to scream, but my burning throat wouldn’t let me. My vision started to deteriorate, I heard a man say, “Get the next one ready for cremation.”
cadence Tempel says
cold hand
A cold hand wrapped around my jaw, sharp, perfectly pointed fingernails dug into my skin. I opened my eyes, the hand was still there, and so was the pain. His bright, crimson red eyes were like flashlights in my darkroom. In a cold hard voice, he said, “ Your mine now”.
Ford Waight says
THE LARDER DILEMMA
You peek through the larder keyhole as he limps into the kitchen – all raincoat, Caterpillar boots, crazy eyes. You smell the kerosene he pours everywhere. Witness the sparking of his match. Sounds go whoomph and pop, and no windows, no escape, just one door, leading only to fire and him.
Ford Waight says
THE PIANO TEACHER
Stains spread across the ceiling. Upstairs lives Charlotte the piano teacher. Funny, he hasn’t heard her pupils play in weeks; imagines her corpse putrefying, as the stains grow bigger.
He smashes down the door, relieved Charlotte is alive, but not her pupils; five children, decomposing on floorboards. Naked, little songs.
Kit Steward says
NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS
Valerie lay hungry, her outstretched inner arms were riddled with trails.
Fleshy polyps slowly spurted beige pus, and a mindful seepage crept; seeking to bridge a gap between limb and body, in time a venous membrane coalesced.
By midnight a pallid female creature soared the skies, patrolling for earthbound prey.
Kias Arrington says
Execution Awaits
“I just wanted to hold her cold, dead body one last time. One more time before they take me away. My doctor wants me to understand what I have been doing to these women. But I already do. I kill these women for my own entertainment.” Last words before execution…
John Dorroh says
“French Connection, II”
The bump on her head sprouted over a humdred seeds that grew into wet, grayish nodules, festering on her shoulder, one on her tongue. It popped. A bony, bloody finger emerged, resting hidden in her throat.
When she kissed Jake good-night, she strangled him during a French kiss.
Death rattle.
Michael Devine says
THE HAM PEOPLE
The Mormons came- bikes, white shirts, black ties- and they brought us gifts- hams by the dozens. They ate heartily with us, as we sucked on gelatinous ham meat and talked not of God, but more ham. Then they were gone- Mormons and ham, followed by petulance on the land.
Kit Steward says
OLD FELLER
The reclusive hag received several months of Travis’s savings.
Later, a syrup of frog, charred mandrake, fly agaric, and other sundries fermented away.
Rushing home with the poultice he slathered it on the dog’s carcass.
An acrid stench crept under the sleeping boy’s window and it waited obediently ‘til morning
ANDREA L PAVLICEK says
Murder House
When I was 14, my family moved into a rundown house. My mom told me the rent was cheap because it was a murder house. However, she wouldn’t tell me where the woman was stabbed. Every night, I imagined the bloodied, lifeless body on the floor.
Next to my bed.
Mercy Godwin says
BEHIND THE DOOR
No one had ever seen a soul, yet people believed the house was occupied. Like every other home it’s lights came on at night and went out at bedtime.
Curious, we stood at the door and knocked. The door suddenly opened.
“Come in”, we heard but no one was there.
Anna-Maria Mazy says
Fears
Light woke me, streaming from the spare room, and stumbling, blinking with sleep, I shut it off, annoyed.
It turned on again and I stared into the empty room. Cursing the ancient wiring I put my hand on the switch.
“Please…” A small voice spoke, “I’m afraid of the dark.”
K.C. Dunford says
I’ve Seen God
There’s an old woman leaning out her window.
“I’ve seen God,” she croaks.
“What’s he like?”
“He has dirt under his nails.”
“Are you sure that’s God?”
“He strokes my hair. Speaks back when I pray.”
“Have you seen his face?”
“No. He won’t come out from under the bed.”
Ryan Rosta says
Cult of Personality
Always a misfit, it started so he could meet girls.
He never expected anybody to believe, let alone follow.
But they did.
In hindsight, he should’ve predicted the rapture further out. Still, dying a messiah was preferable to admitting his lies.
Fruit punch. Gross. He wanted grape.
Too late now.
Jessica Packard says
No Words
I was screaming .
Now I can’t speak .
I feel a cold object pressed against my warm body.
Then I feel it ……
My blood running down my throat
I try to plead.
But still there was no words.
Was I the one who did this.
I didn’t noticing my own pain.
Jessica Packard says
Notice
Brynn Schmitz-Guy says
EYES
Through the eyes the soul leeks out.
Life slowly oozing out as we stare mindlessly at our computer screens.
The key to immortality is simple, yet people are unwilling to grasp it.
I’m a hero, I save lives.
Yet people remain ungrateful.
It’s really a small price to pay for immortality.
Angie Wiley says
Humming fills the air as she stitches the leather pieces together. Her needle slips, her fingers sticky and wet. She smiles as she links eyes with the man in front of her, he doesn’t smile back but she proceeds. Pulling her needle free, she walks away, the humming growing to muffled screams.
Jessica Packard says
Mother
Dear, mother
Please answer me it’s like you don’t want me!
MOTHER!!!!!!!!
Your so mean!
Then I hear a bitter almost death like voice.
Hunny
…. I haven’t left you I am gonna kill you
Don’t worry it won’t hurt.
Please don’t kill me!
I am sorry
Your too late.
Ha
Michael Devine says
THE HOLY REBRAND
“So we accept our sexuality, but we rebrand it for them?”
“Yes, we are now ‘non-offending pedosexuals’- an orientation
just like gays. Soon we’ll be the P in LGBTP. ”
“But Bishop, do you think they’ll buy it?”
“Of course Father, they bought that ridiculous God concept.”
They both laugh heartily.
Cynthia C. Scott says
A Late Night Phone Call
Her phone rang. “Hello?”
“You left the back door open.” Click.
Heart pounding, she ran to the back door. It was open ajar, letting in the cold air.
She shut and locked it tight. The phone rang again. She jumped. “Who is this?” she cried.
“Too laaaate!”
Brynn Schmitz-Guy says
Leaves
It was cute at first. The wind stirring up the leaves. You danced in the colors. But now you can’t see. All you hear is the constant russle of the leaves. You trip over a log. The leaves press in. You are suffocating, choaking on leaves. They never found you.
Rita Kurtz says
Freshen Up
A quick glance in the mirror while washing my hands to make sure I still look good. A hair is out of place. In the mirror, I see myself move it, but my hands are still under water. My hand goes toward the mirror, through the mirror, around my neck.
Brynn Schmitz-Guy says
Man’s best friend.
I hated my dog barking in the night, so I got a shock collar. It worked perfectly. For a while I heard noises in the silence, but I wrote it off as my head playing tricks on me. Later that night I found out what my dogs were barking at.
Gerri Zimmerman says
Former Acquaintance
He floated smoothly through the evening mist searching for former acquaintances. Not finding anyone, he sat on a lopsided gravestone.
Then, he spotted a transparent figure who was none other than his late wife. She was holding a knife dripping in blood, his blood. Why couldn’t she stop haunting him?
SHARON WERNER says
ENTOMBED
The lid inches from her nose sparked her claustrophobia. The plop-scud of dirt shoveled down. A whimper. A tickling sensation drew her gaze to insects teeming through a hole. Swarming her face, she realized they were African Driver Ants. She stifled a scream, delaying being eaten from the inside out.
Matt Benjamin says
*INTO THE SURF
me.
him.
Teacher.
Fisherman.
Opposites…
LOVE
Engagement!
MARRIAGE
…US…
Forever?
Work-
Dinner-
Sex-
Work-
Dinner-
Sex-
Work-
Dinner-
Paycheck-
Work-
Dinner-
Bills…
STRESS!
…silence…
Argument-
FIGHT!
…accident?
Me……dead.
Him. PANIC!
dispose?
Ocean!
…weeks…
night.
anniversary.
RETURN!
RETALIATION!
him- screaming.
ME. ROTTED.
STRUGGLE
DRAG
…drown…
*TITLE
ME/ HIM- dead?
forever…………….
Angie Wiley says
“You know ’em?”
“He owes me.”
We keep digging into the grave, the tombstone is muddy, unreadable. My partner stands, rain pours, harder.
I hit the casket, opening it, It’s empty and I’m horrified, is he joking?
“Hey–” I look up, the mud is gone, tombstone clear…that’s my name…
Angie Wiley says
The doll, a replica of himself, a still, plastic Ken doll with his brown eyes and bearded face.
Sighing, he throws it into the trash, a pity gift he supposed. It thuds and he sighs, groaning as his ankle stings from a sprain.
The garbage comes tomorrow.
Kit Steward says
SHOULD’VE SCENE IT
Each crime scene similar: a headless body bent over, drained of blood, with no head to be found.
The pattern confounded the detective until an anonymous call tipped him off.
Late that evening he entered an abandoned warehouse, alone.
Something sparkled on a dirty floor, a clue?
He bent down…
Wendy Montoya says
Death:
I lay flat motionless, I Hear my mother cry.
“I don’t understand she was just talking yesterday?” My sister yelled in outrage … ‘There it is; just what I was waiting for, Fight for me!’ I thought.. the room went Silent … cold steal on my back, pinching then a loud noise …. my eyes fluttered open as I watch a saw penetrating my chest … not death just a coma.
Davion Moore says
I stand over the corpse with my torn and bloody clothes.
I barely survived the encounter, as the now lifeless body tried to kill me.
The body belongs to the infamous “Smiling Killer” of Athensville.
I back away from the body as a realization comes to mind.
“I killed someone.”
Benjamin Peck says
No Escape
It’s right behind me.
I dart into the kitchen, throwing chairs behind me, trying desperately to slow it down.
My blood curdles when it calls.
I can’t go out the front door, there’s more outside.
I make it to my room, lock the door. Hide.
Silence…
“Finally,” I say, “I’m-“
Adam Difusco says
Wicked Visits
It terrorizes me nightly. I’m desperate for sleep, but sleep is vulnerability. My only choice, to suffer. The mattress lifts from one side, and I am frozen, rolling. Courage whips my gaze around in hopes to confront it. My mattress thuds and the room is empty, save for the growling.
Stacey Durnin says
The presence
In the dead of night, she awoke from a vivid dream of a large, hellish black dog standing beside her bed, snarling. She tried to reach for the lamp but found herself unable to move except to slowly turn her face towards the warm, foul breath flickering at her neck.
Adam DiFusco says
The Casual Intruder
She’s so beautiful when she sleeps. Such a hard worker, she deserves her rest. As always, she fell asleep with the lights on. As always, I turn them off. Even in the dark, her beauty radiates. I stand. I admire. I leave. In the morning, I admire from afar. Repeat.
Scott Zhang says
My Deleted Content
One night, I went to the desk in my bedroom to go on my computer. When I started to sign in, my computer suddenly shook. I felt a sharp pain in my back and then my body was gone. Everything was pitch black and I heard:YOU HAVE BEEN DELETED!!!
Adam DiFusco says
Bedtime Stories
A man whispers horrific stories from my closet. In the morning, I go downstairs for breakfast, but my parents are cleaning up from dinner. “You should be in bed, mister”. The night is framed by the kitchen window. I return to my room. Morning never comes, the man never leaves.
Viktor Roote says
Birthday Girl
I got up to get a glass of water. He was standing in my parents doorway.
“Don’t be scared baby”, he said. “I just wanted to tell you happy birthday, alright?”
He wasn’t wearing pants.
He held out a wrapped but dripping present. I took it. He sang to me.
K. S. Murphy says
“Nostalgic Autumn”
Raking reminds me of Grandfather.
We never met.
“Always raking; the leaves never gone,” my dad used to say.
Not me.
Scoop. Hoist. Into the wire-fenced compost tower.
The wind groans.
No! Somebody groans.
The tower shifts. Detritus wiggles.
Smelling of earth, a man dark with dirt rises, groaning.
Grandfather.
Kit Steward says
THE PORTERS’ BURDEN
The Shipton Himalayan photo was a hoax, Blake knew it now.
His frostbitten hands and feet were confirmation of the vanity gamble;
and without digits, what purpose could he possibly serve?
He prayed for death.
And the response came quick as an abominable creature tore violently into his snow tent.
Ufuoma K. says
SELF LOVE
“What are you doing? I did what you asked,” I cried as the first slash of its claws tore into my flesh.
It had asked me to sacrifice what I loved the most and there he was… lifeless on the floor.
It growled and snarled. “You love you the most.”
Aiswarya Praveen says
MYSTERIOUS PULL
A hand on my window. The hand began to slowly go down leaving blood trails.I was agitated. I decide to run somewhere where I thought I was safe. My parent’s room. I run. But something stops me. It pulls me underneath the bed. Never leaving any clue…to where I was.
Joanna Wolford says
THE BACKROADS
She took the backroads home tonight. It wasn’t the safest, but it was the quickest, and right now she needed to get home. The backroads were unlit and abandoned; even high beams were lost in the dark. People went missing here. No one new why. She would go missing here.
Joanna Wolford says
HE CAN HEAR YOU
I heard his footsteps as I hid in my closet, the uneven shuffle of his feet as he dragged them across the wood floor. I held my breath and stifled the urge to scream. He stopped in front of the closet. I think he heard the pounding of my heart.
William Cennamo says
Good one!!
Shelby Morrison says
THE PREDATOR
I was the last to leave my office. I flicked the light switch. On the elevator, I nodded to a large man, the only other person around. The elevator stopped; he got off behind me, heading for the dimly lit garage. I walked faster; he walked faster.
LucyEpoche says
Him With a Capital H
I stood before Him trembling with anger.
Blank faces surrounded me.
Bodies shuffled around like zombies that weren’t hungry.
Was this nothingness a reward?
Why was there hate? Why was there pain?
Why was there evil?
Why did you let humans destroy the Earth?
He answered “I lost a bet.”
Joseph W. Sivco says
Walking Through The Mall
While walking through the crowded shopping mall, I tried to gently release some pressure, but the pressure was too great. What got released was more than just gas. Even worse was that I had on my white pants that I wear one day a year, and today was the day!
Mark 19 says
Genesis 4:10
After Cain murdered Abel, God heard immediately. “Listen! Your brother’s blood calls out to me from the Earth,” God told Cain.
Inspired, precise stabs against my own brother crafted my sanguine hands into the landscape. Smearing exquisite blood – Shh! – do you hear the Earth applauding my masterpiece?