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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
Benjamin Peck says
THE MASK
Three teenagers sat around an ornate, wooden mask.
“Put it on!” One said.
The others shook their head.
“Too chicken?” The one said again.
“You do it!”
“Fine!” He put the mask on.
It burned him.
Immediately, he saw fire. A skinless dragon turned towards him.
He screamed. They laughed.
Kit Steward says
THE ETERNAL DILEMMA
“Kobe beef?”
“No Japanese businessmen…”
“Perhaps, pork and veal?”
“The sugar daddy and his tart? Too rich, I’ll pass. Is there anything; maybe more substantial?”
“Sirloin, skirt steak, and the mignon?”
“The family of three in the corner?” the vampire asked. “Perfect!”
“Most excellent choice, Sir…” the Maitre D’ replied.
Kit Steward says
THE WEAVER’S LAMENT
It’s threadbare tonight.
Before tucking in, I stretch my legs one last time and tug the gossamer creel.
No tasty tidbits; empty.
I was going to hang out, sit, watch, and wait on line.
But tomorrow will be another day, another victim,
another chance to crawl and feast on fear.
AnnaRose says
THE WHISPERING PINE
It was no ordinary tree; it’s roots were vile.
Branches hung in shadow by moon’s glow.
Pine needles whispered in the wind.
I could not tear my gaze away from the twisted figure that crouched near the top branch and slowly slithered down.
My eyes were laid spellbound upon it.
Justin Chen says
THE DOCTOR
He lurks within the lake down by the abandoned asylum. In the pitch dark, he crawls from his slumber, on all fours, slouched, long, thin and slender. He watches children as they sleep. He embodies the tree branches pounding on the windows, the shadow in the corner.
Your worst nightmare.
D'asia A Shoemaker says
Viscera
You know it’s true what they say about human organs. Take ‘em out put ‘em back in and they get right back into place. Yeah, I know weird right. I took out your entrails three times last night and the just slotted right back into place. See! Stop screaming, look!
D'asia A Shoemaker says
Sweat and Blood
Mom was old fashioned, said love needs sacrificing like sweat and blood, that’s how she got dad. I’m in love. Sweat and blood to show that they love me too. The chase was for the sweat. The knife was for a little blood. Ahh the things we do for love
Andrea Gutierrez says
I’m four blocks from home when I hear it. A rasping breath. I jerk back quickly but no one is there. I’m two blocks away and footsteps follow. I look back but no one is there. I’m on the porch, keys shaking. A tentacle kisses my ankle. Something is here.
CALI LORIA says
Followers
He watches you. He knows you. How easily you show off for attention. He is giving you attention. He is watching you. It will be on your cell phone’s home screen that you first see his face reflected in your bedroom window. He knows you. Now you know him, too.
Aden Curtis says
DAD, DAD, DAD!
Halloween night, a thousand miles away, young Ken’s grandmother died emaciated and agonizingly.
Then it happened.
Asleep, Ken cried out “Dad, Dad, Dad! I just saw Grandma! She looked like a witch!”
Ten minutes later the call came. She had died fifteen minutes earlier, somehow visiting Ken one last time…
D'asia A Shoemaker says
Life After Death
If this is death I really should have enjoyed life more. Exotic foods, places, people. Maybe then I would be less upset about the maggots and bacteria slowly consuming my rotting corpse bit by bit. And to think a pitch black box exceeds any Hell I could have ever imagined.
Aden Curtis says
ECHOES OF TYPEWRITER KEYS
Every night as you drift off… those echoes of typewriter keys start. All night they echo! You don’t own a typewriter!
You stumble upon one that belonged to a failed horror writer at the used book store. The story goes he was driven mad, unable to stop his own echoes.
Aden Curtis says
FEAR THE WINK
Be forewarned.
As the victim of a wink on All Hallows’ Eve…
sensing an unseen touch to your arm…
with cold-chill goosebumps all over,
you must wink back to avoid your worst fears coming true.
But dismiss this warning… a loved one’s fears will come true instead.
Fear the wink…
D'asia A Shoemaker says
Company
I’ve been under this lamppost going on nine hours in this parking lot. The flickering light above me swarmed by midnight creepy crawlers the only thing saving me from total dread. The only car left is mine so that doesn’t explain the silhouette of a man in my passenger seat.
Aden Curtis says
IT’S REALLY NOTHING AT ALL
Listen carefully. Old houses creak. You’ll hear it.
It’s really nothing at all. Except when it’s always at 3 a.m. and it’s always the attic steps that creak at a foot-step pace, top to bottom.
It’s really nothing at all…
Did I double check the attic door is locked tonight?
Cora Whitney says
DESSERT BEFORE DINNER
Her screaming aroused a loud anxiety within me. After silencing the noise, I went upstairs and gathered myself. Leaving the drugged girl in the basement, I attended a late dinner party next door. After dessert, the hosts checked on their daughter and discovered she was no longer in her bed.
Cameron Sparks says
When they Come
You can see it in their eyes, a look that can’t be denied. A monster of illusions they are, with words as twisted as their intentions. Staring with a piercing gaze, and never at a time when life shines its light onto your stage… They come in darkness…
ToJo says
Plaything
——-
Mom says the chest isn’t a toy. Yes, but what’s in it could be!
The plaything is red and cold in my hands. Somehow it feels sad.
I decide on returning it before mom sees but I lose the needle and thread.
Mom comes home early and I’m caught red-handed.
To Jo says
I posted this before I made an account.
-ToJo
AnnaRose says
THE HOUSEFLY
Will it ever leave me be? That cruel, unsightly thing.
I was bathing and it buzzed at my ear. Then, it came to rest upon my chest.
I’ve killed it many times before.
It dies and is reborn.
At night, it rests upon my pillow and stares with widened eyes.
Em Jenner says
The Traditionalist
Like needles in treat candy, Halloween is the perfect place for me to lie in wait for my tricks. And here she is.
“Lest we forget the old ways, eh?”
Writhing in my grip, something deep inside her cracks. She’s mine then, and all her rules mean nothing.
Em Jenner says
ZOMBIE ACROPOLIS
We’d been in Greece for a week when the end of days began.
From our hotel we watched in panic as platonic Greeks became frenzied undead. We fled.
“Higher, higher!” said Frank, climbing.
They devoured him on the steps of the old temple. It’s smaller than it looks on TV.
Michelo Mweetwa says
Death or claws?
Mara semi-consciously ran towards the only dimly lit place in the deathly dark thicket. In the silent hoods, an invisible creature kept clawing deep marks on her skin. Barely escaping claws, she arrived to a door shaped like a coffin with blood dripping from the handle. “It’s out there, but..”
Michelo Mweetwa says
Hell’s Reception Desk
Beg the key to the mystery of death because cruelty craves for your endurance of torment. Death will be your only wish. Screams are soundless here. Locking the doors, keeps you trapped. Unlocking them, horror knocks. Close your eyes, demons whisper. Open them, they bloodthirstly scowl and roar at you.
Jennifer Rances says
THE TRAP
Kelly was aghast as she peeped into a huge black hole,
she saw in the depth a white Lamb, whining!
Out of pity, she held out her hand to reach out,
but before she knew it, she was caught impuissant, by a huge figure!
A rare kind…ready to devour!
Jennifer Rances says
SLEEP, WHERE ARE YOU?!
Insomnia made Hugo stayed awake on a rainy chilly night.
Sipping his black coffee made him feel alright;
A knock on the door triggered him to rise.
When suddenly his coffee turns to blood!
He was shocked when his skin was touched;
with a cool breeze as cold as ice!
Jennifer Rances says
THE DOORKNOB
As I entered my hotel room past midnight,
A frightening creaky noise caught me on guard!
I said to myself, “hey don’t be terrified”!
“You’ll be okay, the moon is bright”.
But I was aghast while looking at the doorknob!
I saw big eyes, taunting and mocking and peeping inside!
Tamiyo Hashimoto says
JACK OF MANY RETURNS
“Hey Jack, come here! Big boy, where have you been?”
“Meow, meoooow!!!”
“Ok, I got it! After a week away, you must be starving!”
As he was eating I squat to pat him. I notice there was no reflection of him on the fridge, neither there was mine…
Kit Steward says
SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS
There’s a creature that beckons once every thousand nights, the Endrite.
You’ll know the rare beast when it arrives, if you catch it, life bears luscious fruit.
Miss it, and you’ll face the Endrong, a nasty, loathsome creature, a harbinger of a cycle that never bodes well.
Oh, the horror…
Jessica Federle says
Loved this one! Great use of the word count. Nice work!
Kit Steward says
TIMELY KNOWLEDGE
The rich couple brokered a miscalculated investment, the locals nicknamed “Poltergeist Palace.”
Paranormal investigators were left befuddled and exorcisms were useless.
Terror raged on.
“Pocumtuk Indian demons are bound to this plot,” Howard the historian said. “You’ll need a Shaman.”
Salvation seemed near.
“Sadly, the tribe went extinct generations ago.”
Tracy Boyd says
The Storm
Outside, a storm is raging. The lights flicker, then go out. I fumble my way through the dark, searching for a flashlight. Thunder roils as lightning cracks the sky. In the brief flash, I catch my reflection in the windows and behind me, a pale figure drifting closer, closer still.
Kit Steward says
THE DEAD FALL
The long steel pipe was driven deep into the pit, the hypodermic tip, filed razor sharp.
Rising like a sinister paper spike, it was rife with a stack of decaying corpses.
The cunning trap had served the vampire hunter well in times past,
but tonight, his lucky streak would terminate.
Michelo Mweetwa says
What if the Baby Beelzebub weans itself?
The midwife’s protracted pregnancy, not her husband’s, was with a monstrous hexapod fetus, painfully over-straining her womb. She was to stay confined until birth and lactation. Her kidnapped husband’s skin and face was forcefully borrowed by an anthropophagous creature to impregnate her. His life used as bait for maternal services.
AMIT ROSHAN MINJ says
ICY LAKE
John loved to skate on frozen Lake, but he ignored the signs warning of thin ice.
The surface shattered beneath his feet. He grabbed a rough frozen edge and pulled his head above the chilled water, breathlessly.
Cold icy water seized his ankles, then his body and he starts drowning.
Dana D Sterner says
Halloween Night
Trick or treat smell my feet. Running from house to house, dressed as goblins, we chanted our song. Give me something good to eat. He stood motionless in the doorway. Bald, pale, grisly yellow eyes staring back. Finish, he growled. Trick or treat you can keep – then we ran!
Sofia Rincon says
REQUIEM
Lost and lonely, the last man on earth roamed the barren roads for all of eternity. He believed Death had forgotten to claim his damned soul. It was only after several futile efforts to end his own life that he realized. There was no infernal fire. This was his punishment.
Joel Reeves says
THE SKATER
He glided across the little lake.
Made a figure 8. Scrape of skates echoing in the crisp stillness.
“Sergei? Love?”
He pulled up suddenly.
Listening.
“Olga?”
Trembling, the young man gazed down into the ice.
“So cold. Hold me.”
It stared up at him, white, bloated, dead.
And completely irresistible.
Susan Rooke says
Retribution
Carefully she lifted the covers and crept into bed. He snored softly, his back toward her. She froze as he moaned in his sleep. When he quieted, she took a steadying breath, then plunged the boning knife into his spine.
That bitch who called herself his wife now was next.
Susan Rooke says
The Last Transformation
All day she’d been jumpy, imagining things. The squirrel on the lawn was an enormous lizard. The dead leaf on the kitchen floor, a scorpion. Everything a menace until she saw what it really was.
But that night, a shadow in the doorway became the stranger lunging for her bed.
Susan Rooke says
The Lesson
“Look out the window,” the instructor snarls, snatching up the drawing and ripping it in two. “Your sky is wrong! Start over.”
The child stares out at dead green sky, the vast, dark shapes spinning there. Tearfully, she replaces her blue crayon. Chooses green.
The instructor’s lidless eyes watch, blazing.
Kit Steward says
THE SEPARATION OF UNION COUNTY
“Rope’s too long,” someone shouted.
The crowd’s patience strained as the noose slowly draped over a mustached criminal.
“All right; hurry up,” the prisoner said.
When Black Jack Ketchum’s body dropped, only his severed head remained in the hemp loop.
The mob witnessed a lesson of justice, they’d never forget.
Jeffrey Ashkin says
HELLO
“Hi!” She said flirtatiously at the man who entered her house. No answer. “Hello!” She said louder. Still nothing. “Hey!” She screamed at the top of lungs. Finally, he jumped!
“What is it? The man’s daughter asked from outside. “I think this house is haunted,” the terrified man replied.
Gerri Zimmerman says
It’s Your Turn
The witch severed her broom from her broomstick and laughed gleefully. She vowed the next broom would be more obedient. Next thing she knew she was on the damp ground with the broomstick pressed against her neck. She heard it say: “You’ve murdered my best friend. Now it’s your turn.”
Vic Ortiz says
DIRTY FACES
He squeezed the blackhead, scraped it off, examined.
It wiggled into the sink, slunk off. It grew in the sewers, looked exactly like his daddy.
Soon, Daddy got arrested.
“Murder,” they said.
“You got the wrong guy!” Daddy said.
The blackhead crawled into bed that night, Mommy had no idea.
Em Jenner says
OH, VINCENT!
Only those without ears can hear her, and I need to hear her. Can’t listen to anymore of their…
The razor is rusty. What have I done?
I can’t hear them, ach… can’t stop the bleeding. I can’t look.
I show her, see her eyes.
Only those without her eyes…
Em Jenner says
THE ACID MANIFESTO
I was visited by an omen dire in the dark palm of night. A vision of abattoirs awash with the severed vows of saints, of furnace clouds and gory shrouds. I saw blood in bloom in milk and a virgin’s final sigh. I saw myself in the girl’s dulled eyes.
Will Isenberg says
Heartburn
I wake from surgery, my nose finally free of the tubes which had tethered and sustained me. The cardiac monitor is beeping in sync with the pulsing in my tender, bandaged chest.
The motorcyclist stands in a white gown, as his blue lips murmur,
“I’d like my heart back, sir.”
Tristan Rogers says
Never Complain When In A Cult by Tristan Drue Rogers
No one else showed up to clean the air ducts, so he prayed for something to end his misery.
For months, he complained about working the ship.
Crawling from one corridor to the next, he hopped out before looking up.
A moist stream of teeth and skin tickled his body.
RICK MALOY says
“Dispossessed”
While walking, Laurel hears “help me” pleading from the bushes. Peering in, she’s jerked inside. A fateful battle ensues, pitting soul against soul. Laurel feels accustomed warmth replaced with raw October chill. Disbelieving, she sees herself emerge the bushes, straighten her hair and dress, then smile wickedly and race away.
Lexi Jensen says
Home Alone… Or Not
Billy came home from work late at night. His parents weren’t home and the power was out.
That’s weird, Billy thought. They should have been home hours ago.
Suddenly, the lights flickered on and two bodies hit the floor. A third figure ran towards Billy and the power went out.
Gregg SAPP says
The Goth Queen
Why? The Goth Queen chose me. Medusa braids and blackened eyes, she lured me into solitude, where we devoured each other. Satan’s dominatrix demanded submission but held nothing back. She lifted me toward eager bliss, then at climax delivered rapturous pain, like teeth tearing me asunder. She chose me. Why?
Gregg SAPP says
To Dirt You Shall Return
Tread carefully in the mud of composted souls. Walking past cemetery stones, you feel the weight of mortality. Boots leave cratered prints in the soggy humus. The soil absorbs your steps, pulling you into deeper strata of death. Your foot sinks to the knee, and you belong to the earth.
Gregg SAPP says
Night Terrors
I saw myself murdered in a dream. The hidden despair and self-reproach I had banished to my darkest subconscious broke through the veil of gentle sleep. An incubus with jaundiced eyes and rapier claws slashed my flesh and extricated my still-beating heart. As I perished, I realized it was you.
Harold C. Holt says
The Horde
While checking my lipstick, I see demons in my mirror hovering over everyone like smoky phantasms. I breathe on the mirror, fogging it. As the surface clears up, the demons are gone. My heart suddenly freezes over. All the world’s sins are inside me now. I feel like cutting myself.
Shazia Parween says
DEAD END
There was a dead end ahead, shutting her eyes she let herself crash against the wall, but found herself on the other side, facing a rotting lump of meat, with a red fabric sticking to it. Yes, she was murdered a year ago, yet kept trying to escape ever since.
Shazia Parween says
01:00
[01:00] “10 minutes into future, all that work for nothing”
[01:01] He slams his fists on computer.
[01:10] watching everything set ablaze, he screams, wild fire sticking to his body.
[01:00] scared, he walks backwards, panting. He slips, landing on the computer, his body burning, again.
Gregory Clouse says
Intimacy
I place a hand on the mouth of the man, and his inner heat transports me. It sails me high on waves of contracting stomach muscles, thighs, and sharp arched feet until all is slack and his dying breath is captured humidity pooled in the dry lines of my palm.
Kit Steward says
TIES THAT BIND
A metal wire was threaded into a pipe, and muscles tightened around steel barbs when the greasy tube was removed.
Bloody clots were plucked out like pearls, as violated screams bellowed.
“I’m sorry,” he wrenched, tear-soaked. “I’m sorry…”
“Much too early,” she said, grabbing a blazing fire-poker, “Not yet darling…”
Kit Steward says
Let’s tweak it and turn it up to eleven… (REVISED)
NOW SEE WHAT YOU’VE DONE…
A metal wire was threaded into a pipe, and muscles tightened around steel barbs when the greasy tube was extracted.
Blood clotted pearls were slowly plucked, as violated screams bellowed.
“Stoppp,” he whimpered.
“Oh, not yet,” she cooed.
“I’m sssorry…”
“Let’s dry those tears,” she said grabbing the blazing fire-poker.
Dana D Sterner says
Don’t pay the Ferryman
Darkness lined our path. Grabbing his hand, it was cold.
Where are we going, I whispered.
He squeezed my hand. A substance oozed between our fingers, sticky, like glue.
What’s this?
He didn’t answer.
Let go, I screamed, jerking, pulling, but we were fasten.
Squeezing harder, he moaned, “too late.”
Cameron Sparks says
Creature
It came from beyond the reach of the wall of trees. A gizzly chimera creature that strolled up like a stray cat. Iris gleaming, razor pupil’s darting back and forth with its toothy grin like a bear trap made of teeth.
The only question now… who’s first on the menu?
Shazia Parween says
Footprints
Catherine stares at the muddy footprints on floor. This is the 20th time, she thinks and walks to her maid, scolding her for bringing her dirty son in her house. The maid, shooks her head, and says, “Mam, my precious son died last week, after drowning in a boggy lake.”
Julie Otalora says
Wickerwood Manor
The abandoned entrance of Wickerwood Manor was dark, overgrown with ivy and dead twisted branches. The branches seemed to be reaching out, as if begging for attention. As I reached for the front door, it opened slightly, inviting me in. I entered, and strangely, it felt like I was finally home.
Cameron Sparks says
In the Distance
Crunching snapping bones lased the sounds squishing pattern of fluid splattering in the distance. The struggle colored the walls with red fingers staining the white cold brick. Shuffling feet made their way through all the noise. Pulse rising, heart racing, as the lump in my throat grows, could this be?
Cameron Sparks says
Breaking Down
Sleep has never came easy, all the pills in the world couldn’t satisfy the thirst of rest. For a time the beast may be at bay, but satisfaction is only temporary. Looking long into the mirror something from beyond is looking back mocking me.. Realities lines are becoming paper thin.
Bob Dustman says
Halloween Surprise
Halloween night is cold. Trick and Treaters are out in force. Kids are warned to stay away from the house near the woods. Some go anyway. The treats are severed thumbs, ears, toes and noses. Cops find a foreclosure sign posted. The place has not been inhabited for years.
Kit Steward says
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
The poodle barked from the carpet’s edge.
Black tendrils whipped out from under the girl’s bed, grasping the pup, dragging it underneath.
Yelps were smothered by beastly slurps.
Ashley was terrified, the doorway seemed miles away.
What if her parents came in to check on her, and it couldn’t reach?
Jennifer Furner says
Better Dig Two (inspired by The Band Perry’s song of the same title)
He took a sip of red wine. “I want a divorce.” He coughed.
“Darling, I’ll go to hell before I see you with someone else.”
He choked. He grabbed his throat.
She took a sip from his cup. “I told you I was gonna love you until I was dead.”
Kit Steward says
PHYSICAL ED
“What happened to old Mr.Sullivan?”
“The creepy gym teacher?”
“Yeah.”
“He low-fived somebody once too often and got killed, it was pretty grisly stuff…”
“They find the murderer?”
“Nope.”
“That coot was harmless, he couldn’t fight his way through a wet paper bag.”
“I…used plastic.”
“What?”
“I said…Aww, you’s drastic.”
ToJo says
Time of the Beast
——
The sky grows empty like the city. They’re leaving in droves.
Safer now than nightfall, the Beast’s time, they say.
But I’ve never seen It. Only the aftermath of Its hunt.
By dark the population’s one.
All have gone.
The Beast appears; I see It, but only in my shadow.
To Jo says
I posted this before I made an account.
-ToJo
Gregory Clouse says
Desert
This desert isn’t easy, to say the least. Ubiquitous sun, no water and all that. No life. No life, but not uninhabited. Tracks in the sand circle back, a trick of the heat-wave wraith perched on your back, gnawing at the fragrant, cooked flesh of your neck. No mirage here.
Ellie Douglas says
Nothing is what it seems
I felt exceptional good, carrying the aging blind man’s groceries and helping him to his front door. He held tightly onto my elbow, “There you go.” I said, but I couldn’t pull out of his grip as he dragged me into his house. Clutching tighter, he whispered. “I see you!”
Jennifer Rances says
The DEVIL’s WRATH
T’was past midnight, was driving along 13th Avenue,
Sun was breaking its dawn and seabed engulfing the tiny moon;
Crickets began its flickering sound, until darkness beams the horizon.
Heard a voice crying vividly, shouting, “STOP!”, “Please, don’t!”
From a loud burst, vehemently pleading…begging…to a soft cry, fading….
Dylan R.T. Gibbons says
It Feeds
It’s feeding, again. Once more, it feeds on bone and flesh. Crunching. Crunching. Crunching! I hear its maws open and snap. From behind my cloistered, dim respite, I see its terrible tongue salivate. It sees me, too. It sees me, and it smiles. It moves closer. It feeds! It –
Harold C. Holt says
Mouthful
After paralyzing me with its stinger, it creeps across my face and enters my parted lips, pausing on my tongue. Then it continues down my throat.
What if my paralyzed body tries to vomit, making me choke?
I hope its venom is numbing. I don’t want to feel myself die.
AnnaRose Chaney says
GRACIE’S REFLECTION
Gracie had always talked to her reflection. As her caretaker, I’d heard every strange conversation.
That day was different.
She began to whisper frantically. Her words caught my attention.
“Oh God, please. Don’t turn around.”
I met the mirror.
Two pairs of eyes poured into me. Two mouths hung agape.
Gabi says
Plague
Sterilized air filters. Linoleum floors. His profile, the dim lights casting the sharp shadow of his nose against a sallow cheek as he turns, and you see it: the telltale rotting cavern of his pupil. “I’m not afraid,” he says, reaching with a sluggish grey hand. “We’ll all die together.”
Lydia Pedersen says
Stained Red
I thrust the steel upward into your brain and feel the warmth gush over my hand, staining it red. I hear the gurgle of you choking on your own blood. I see you looking at me as you struggle to comprehend what I’ve just done to you, my loving mother.
Lydia Pedersen says
Maggots
My body is riddled with maggots. I can feel them burrowing inside of me. I can smell my rotting flesh as they wiggle inside of my cheek. Taste them as they squirm along my tongue. This must be my hell. How could I possibly feel them when I’m already dead?
Lydia Pedersen says
Inescapable
The floor creaks under his weight. The metal of his knife scrapes against the wall. I huddle in the dark holding my breath as I hold back the tears. The screams of my little sister penetrate the walls surrounding me as I hide in the closet. I know I’m next.
Vic Ortiz says
DIRTY FACE
He squeezed the blackhead, scraped it off, examined.
It wiggled into the sink, slunk off. It grew in the sewers, looked exactly like his daddy.
Soon, Daddy got arrested.
“Murder,” they said.
“You got the wrong guy!” Daddy said.
The blackhead crawled into bed that night. Mommy had no idea.
Lydia Pedersen says
Love is Dead
I kiss you, but you don’t kiss back. I feed you, but you do not swallow. I speak to you, but I hear nothing. I bat flies away from you. I peel the skin from your bones. You said you’d love me even in death, but your corpse is unresponsive.
Reed Sherbrooke says
The Window
As the sun rose I woke from a quiet sleep and looked out my window. That’s when I saw them. Bound to the tops of telephone poles by electric wires. The street was lined with them. My friends. My neighbors. My whole family. I was the only one left alive.
Everready Ikeogu says
DAMNATION
From behind the cupboard, I watched as he gladly munched on Joanne’s heart; the blood dripping from his lips onto his beards; her mangled body a few feet from where he sat.
And then I sneezed, he paused, looked in the direction of the cupboard and started walking towards me.
Leslie Silver says
The New House
He cowered in the dark shadows of his bedroom. “Please don’t,” he sobbed into the night. Her icy fist clenched his neck and lifted his limp body above the bed. “I’m watching you,” she whispered from every corner of the room. The lights switched on. He collapsed. She was gone.
Jeff Nee says
Why… Me?
Even death is afraid. Jack the Ripper is hidden behind my door, under my bed, in my dreams. I run, running further and further away from the contorted being: eerie crimson lips, stagnant body, lifeless soul. Before waking up and gazing, gazing at that… being – Smiling with satisfaction and blood-thirst.
L Spooner says
NONEXISTENANT
My daughter asked if her imaginary friend could stay for a while. Of course, I joked, if they help with the rent.
Next morning, a roll of cash and a hand wearing several rings were on the counter.
Rent, food, and gifts for the landlady? Never had a better tenant.
Margaret Eve says
Tapping
The pipes creak and rattle. Just the plumbing, dad says, and I’d believe him if not for the tapping. The constant tap, tap, tap in the corners of my room. I fight sleep in dread that the noise will stop, that whatever it is will get out. All goes quiet.
Kit Steward says
MY BELOVED, CARRY ON
He watched tragedy from afar, incomprehensible sorrow and abuse.
Would she leave her cage, and fly?
One day, she did; her wings spread and fanned angry flames still.
Her suppressor reduced to a mere backwoods offering.
The ebony observer moved in closer for a look and pecked with celebratory approval.
Natalie T says
Mirror on the Wall
“Look what have you done,” I gasped for air, looking at the lifeless body at my feet.
She gives out a slow, stomach crunching grin and places her bloody hands on her side of the mirror.
“No, look what you did.” She replies before the police march though the door.
Vic Ortiz says
A 22ND CENTURY SOLUTION TO A 21ST CENTURY PROBLEM
—
The Lyfe machine solved world peace. Conceived in 2101, it peeked through space and time, displayed anybody’s future.
First, the abortionists used it on parents, detecting future-neglect and -abuse.
Then, the abortionists used it on the babies themselves, detecting future-crime and -despotism.
The solution, it turned out, was mass infanticide.
Marie Mitchell says
End of the Line
At 12:35 a.m., retired ER nurse, Mariah Johnson, warily stepped off the bus, clutching a package.
At 12:57, she lay sprawled on her neighbor’s driveway. Dead. Her well-coiffed head severed from her immaculately-dressed body.
The Thief.
The Murderer.
Fainted when he opened his prize.
A beating heart.
Packed in ice.
Marie Mitchell says
Pranked
The first thing Jack noticed was the deafening silence.
Calming.
At first.
Then…the darkness,
Surrounding him.
Erasing all sense of time and space.
He ached to stretch his cramped muscles.
Reconsidered the humor of his buddies’ prank.
Surely his friends would free him…soon.
Buried.
Alone.
Helpless.
Six feet under.
Marie Mitchell says
Fearful
Rachel Renfro was fearful.
Of everything.
Food poisoning at a restaurant.
Getting mugged in the parking lot.
Dodging a bullet while running errands.
She felt safe only at home.
…Until she tripped over her camouflaged cat, Whiskers,
As she carried her dirty laundry down the steep, uncarpeted stairs.
CJ Baker says
Reincarnation
He dug the knife deeper into my chest and twisted. Fluid filled my lungs and I gurgled my last breaths.
I came out covered in blood and lymph. I opened my eyes and screamed – it was him! He held me and caressed my head, “Welcome to the world, my child.”
CJ Baker says
Rubbernecking
I’ve always loved driving through the back woods in my town during the fall. There is something enticing about the winding roads. Ahead, I spot a car wrapped around a tree. It looks familiar. I slow to a crawl and peer into the driver’s seat. I see myself.
Marie Mitchell says
Miscommunication
The perfect murder.
Rita suspected her husband was planning one.
And she’d be the victim.
Why else would he suddenly start cooking the meals.
Fixing the drinks.
Planning a “romantic” couple’s getaway.
Perhaps if she’d read his emails sooner.
He wouldn’t lay dead.
From arsenic poisoning.
“…surprise party…renewing our vows…”
CJ Baker says
Foraging
It’s getting late, but I’m still on the hunt. I recall my mother’s warning, “The woods are dangerous at night.” I look forward and there are morels everywhere! I fill my basket to the brim.
A twig snaps. My mother appears, disheveled and wild. “The woods are dangerous at night.”
Marie Mitchell says
Last Ride
She invited me over.
Then left without me.
Taillights streaking.
Down the street.
Wailing, I shout, “Victoria!”
Neighbors scatter.
Did they call the cops?
Again?
I kick down the door.
Collect my things.
Toss my greasy rag inside.
From fixing her brakes.
She won’t be back.
I light a match.
Marie Mitchell says
Vanished
Lisa tapped her brakes.
A warning.
To the jerk behind her.
He’d been tailgating her since she’d turned onto this godforsaken country road.
Lost.
Thanks crappy GPS.
The jerk’s hi-beam brights practically blinded her.
Until… “Whosh!”
The coroner couldn’t figure out why her phone’s location registered as “outer space.”
Ford Waight says
CANNIBAL CRIB
Human organs for plushies. Skin booties. Baby’s so cute in her crib, asleep on bones and quilts of flesh. She has her father’s face – it hangs from her mobile, along with his fingers which she’ll use for teething on when she’s older. Hungry? Don’t cry. One, two, Mama loves you…
Giada Pugliese says
The Gloomy Dance.
Anna entered the ball room, they danced.
Then, music stopped, lights went off, only a violin: a distant spooky sound.
Feofan’s green eyes gloomy and sad, on a hollow face.
Anna,dancing with the ghost of her lover.
She wakes up, alone. Only a whisper.
“Come to me, Anna.Come to me…”
CJ Baker says
First Love
Sarah and I grew up together. High school sweethearts, madly in love. Until she left me for Bobby and tore my heart out.
“Don’t cry, Sarah,” I whisper as she lies beside me, wailing through taped lips as I pull the knife down her chest.
I’m just returning the favor.