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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
Barbara Pengelly says
PURGATORY
First I noticed that coppery stink of blood and decay. Then God’s death angel appeared. No time to run, to repent, or request forgiveness before his jab to my chest stopped my heart. Only then I awoke from my personal hell. Same dream every night since I had murdered her.
Vic Ortiz says
FEAR AND LOATHING ON EARTH
—
The driver sweat as a cop pulled him over. Bodies in the trunk murmured.
““Licen-,” managed the cop, attention on the murmurs.
“Pop the trunk.”
Click.
Two Martians piloted the driver-puppet from back there.
They zapped the cop. He collapsed to dust.
The Martians slammed the trunk and sped off.
sandra roth says
Sandra Roth
October 13. 2019
The Command
Body contorted, fungus, vomit, waves of blood, a screeching infant. The judge who prosecutes witches handed Fortune a small bundle. “You are sinless, escape with your child.”
“Me a witch? This cannot be.” The room illuminated blood red. fortune smirked, then handed the child to Satan. “As you commanded, Master.”
Pamela Sharp says
Breathing
My breathing will give me away. I know it will! I hear it coming, shuffling. Breathing. It is not afraid for me to hear it breathing. It does not care.
It is close and I must stop breathing now. I must—!
No. It has done that for me.
Pamela Sharp says
Attachment
“I have always said – on our wedding day I said! – that Jonas would lose his head if it wasn’t attached! Haven’t I always said that, Muriel?”
“Yes, Eleanor, you have always said that.”
“Nor do I intend to let it happen again! Hand me a longer nail.”
Pamela Sharp says
Hematology
The secret is in the blood, I know. The blood that I sort by type, by clarity, by viscosity. By screamers and criers and fighters as I drill down deep to discover it.
I collect and label the blood with precision.
I have yet to find blood that is blue.
Ford Waight says
SNOW GLOBES OF THE NORTH
Outpost destroyed, frostbitten, snowblind, you stagger to the weather station. His voice rasps in the storm: “Shaker Man’s here!” – yet, he comes from inside you… slits open your belly and steps out of your body, stuffs your organs into little plastic globes. Shakes. Shaker Man shakes until you bleed snow.
Kyra Dusk says
A HELPLESS SITUATION
It started as a gnawing pain below my belly button. My doctor checked for tenderness. Said I was fine.
A month later, I showed him the bloody incisors protruding from my abdomen. They’d chewed straight through the tissue.
He said I wasn’t covered for ‘preexisting conditions’ and sent me home.
Jason Allen says
MOM
Mom had been dead for six years, but now I looked out the window and saw her in the garden.
Dead birds fell from the sky.
Mom gently took a bird and chewed off its head. Then she turned and noticed me. She smiled warmly, blood dripping from her lips.
Bradathon Nu says
SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT
As soon as the man woke up he was struck with a horrible feeling that something was wrong. His mind was hazy from his long slumber. He looked around, and as he heard the crashing footsteps echoing from down the hall. He realized what was wrong:
“This isn’t my house…”
Adrienne Hertler says
Eternal Friend
I know things have been difficult at school lately. Believe me, I’ve been there. If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here. I’m just behind you in the mirror. I’m at the end of a dimly lit hall. Just look for me and call. I’m here. Eternally.
Steve Leachman says
Ocean Terror
Something bit into his leg, pulling him into the salty water. As blood began swirling around the water, the surfer saw a giant shark with its teeth chewing through his leg. To his horror, a much larger form was heading toward both him and the shark… with its mouth open.
Steve Leachman says
An Accident
As the smoke from the exhaust swirled around the air in the overturned truck, John stared hopelessly at his wife. Her head was completely covered in blood and her neck bent backwards. As he screamed at the police officer to help her, he saw himself crushed in the driver’s seat.
Khaja Bee says
Cursed City
A cursed city with different creatures. Sam lost his way and reaches their. He hears bloodcurdling noises, sees Corps, coffin, monsters, big spider webs with skeletons and also half eaten up bodies and blood everywhere. He is frightened slowly creatures comes and attacks him. He screams. Creatures enjoys their meal.
Hans Luck says
BABY NEEDS
The mother feels distinctly uncomfortable with her child. They no longer go into the garden. And now her child lifts its arms as she enters the room. The child smiles a red smile. The mother sees the small savaged corpse of a bird on the floor of the playpen.
Wildermuth, Annina says
I love this so much–super creepy and I’m seeing those Edward Gorey drawings. Well done!
Bradathon Nu says
EXTINCTION
The two creatures stood in the foggy field of fallen bodies. The field seemed to stretch for miles and miles. A mess of dead bodies, ripped apart, bloodied, utterly destroyed.
“Where next?”
The first creature said. To which the second creature pointed at the large, blue sphere and whispered:
“Earth…”
Malcom Massey says
SPLATTER ROOM
Adjusting her paper smock, Shannon stared. Anger flushed her cheeks.
“Splatter room!” she fumed. “Great date night.”
“Ready?” Mark asked. “Splatter art is quite liberating.”
Shannon nodded, calmly swinging the palette knife. Scarlet flecks spurted across her face. She licked her salty lips.
“Only with the right canvas,” she grinned.
Twanda Rolle says
There is a picture on the wall and a little girl in the middle. The girl in the picture looks like me but she is long dead. Then she leaned out of the frame, arms outstretched like jutting branches. She grabbed me holding my neck, pulling me into the picture.
Twanda Rolle says
Witches Trick and Treat
The witch stirred her pot
To cook a witchy kid’s stew
but she didn’t have a kid, nothing to brew
On Halloween night when trick or treating
They came at the door to get candies for eating.
When she locked them in
Her pot will be full to the brim.
Twanda Rolle says
Dead Like Me
There is a picture on the wall and a little girl in the middle. The girl in the picture looks like me but she is long dead. Then she leaned out of the frame, arms outstretched like jutting branches. She grabbed me holding my neck, pulling me into the picture.
Esther Truesdale says
A Halloween Heart Attack
Wearing a most gruesome face mask, he drove straight towards me and my bag of groceries. I stepped back. He swung to his left. Metal hit concrete—the base of a light pole.
He wore no mask. His face had revealed the desperation of a heart attack.
Caitlin says
Alone.
It was late; she was home alone. The steps creaked. The wind, the cat, nothing more. Again. She closed her eyes and pulled up her blanket. A footstep. The door opened. Heavy breathing. She didn’t dare look. Then more footsteps, another person, 3 more. They surrounded the bed.
Twanda Rolle says
Of Lion Witches and Wardrobes
When the lion met the witch a wardrobe went missing
When the wardrobe went missing the lion left the witch
When the witch left the lion the wardrobe came back
Now the lion tried to eat the witch she disappeared in the wardrobe
And turned the lion into a witch.
Dina Towbin says
Footsteps
Panting as she ran, the footsteps grew louder. Her heart was pounding, blood was rushing to her ears, and her legs felt weak. Down, down, down the stairs—she pushed open the door, caught her breath and felt the warm breeze on her face. A cold hand grasped her neck.
Andy Towbin says
Yet another shiver-producing short by Dina Towbin! I felt that hand on my neck. Stephen King would like this short story too.
Jessica Federle says
Nice, Dina! Great use of the word count, wow. “felt the warm breeze” followed by “cold hand” >_< yikes!
Rose Mary Boehm says
Ouuuch. I always had a thing about cellars and basements. I am there. cold hand in my neck.
Joel Reeves says
IT’S WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE
“Please,” the Earthman pleaded. “You don’t understand.”
But a simple x-ray revealed a device hidden inside the defendant’s chest.
The Verillian judge frowned. “A probable weapon. Proceed.”
The Earthman screamed, straining at the straps.
A scalpel flashed. Slicing out the evidence.
The weapon.
Still warm. Still beating.
“Guilty. As charged.”
Hannah Weber says
Laughter
The knife slide out, covered in blood. The end of a shirt cleans it.
There is more work to be done tonight.
More blood. None even have a chance to scream.
No one expects it to be children. The knife is passed and death continues. Children’s laughter follows and blood.
Hannah Weber says
Darkness
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
She tries to figure out where she is and how she got here.
It is damp and musty. Somewhere water drips.
It is dark and she cannot see anything. Then, she hears a voice and a light appears.
It is not water dripping.
Kit Steward says
SOMEONE TOOK A WRONG TURN
It was night shift at the morgue.
Marie took inventory of her lodgers, checking records and the remains, one by one.
She finished with a gnarly hit and run; “Aren’t you a pretty one?” then turned away to get some coffee.
“Yes, I am.” A coquettish gurgle came from behind.
Brendan says
Reflection
I saw my reflection blink.
It was late and I was tired so I shrugged it off, but it stuck in my head until morning.
While I was brushing my teeth, I leaned closer to my bathroom mirror and reached out to touch it, curious.
My hand touched someone else’s.
Allysa Rogers says
Fear of the Unknown:
There is two opposing sides, there will always be two opposing sides. Humanity Vs. The Unknown. Humanity tends to search and scavenge for the unknown in the darkest crevesis. When we were children, we were smart, we knew to fear what lurks in the dark. Hunters lurk and prey scavenges.
Allysa Rogers says
The Worlds Most Feared Fugitive:
It’s been seven years since the raid on Area 51, one festival in a near by town, and only a few showed up to the gates. Little did they know, one measly distraction would allow a prisoner to escape. It has been the world’s most feared secrets, a shapeshifting alien.
Allysa Rogers says
How long do you have?
The Most terrifying question, how long do we have left to live? Some have decades, some have years, then theres months, weeks, days, hours, and seconds. We will never truly know when, where, and how we die, until it’s too late. That’s the horrifying part, this could be our last…
Allysa Rogers says
After Life:
We will never know what to believe in, to beleive in God or another belief? Is it the possibility of being wrong and being sent to hell, or the possibility of being wrong and wasting your entire life restricting yourself for nothing? The terrifying truth is, no one will know.
CHRISTOPHER D CHANDLER says
There’s a Monster in my Closet:
There’s a Monster in my closet. It watches me sleep. It smells me. Touches me. Breathes me. It whispers.
Its odor lingers. Its sweat stains. Its memory scars.
When the door closes. And when only the moon remains. It comes for me. There’s a monster in my closet.
Please help.
Kit Steward says
THE HANGOVER
He’d driven the same route home dozens of times while drunk.
The next morning he woke and ambled out to the kitchen for food.
Everything was gone!
He went back to the bedroom; bed and furniture disappeared.
He was puzzled, pacing alone for an eternity until the new tenants appeared.
Kit Steward says
THE FIRE SALE
The thrift store find was a welcome addition to Charlie’s apartment, the only addition.
Stained, threadbare, and smoky; the sofa wasn’t much, but it’d do.
The fire alarm kept squelching, after unplugging the battery he slept hard.
He dreamed of being warmed by a campfire, then becoming engulfed by it.
Kit Steward says
THEY HAVE A SWEET TOOTH
The Hackle’s truly loved Halloween.
Their yard brimmed with decorations of gravestones and skeletons.
An endless flow of treats was kept inside.
They enjoyed the escorted children in cute costumes who came by questing for candy.
The couple thrilled over ones that arrived alone, they’re the most scrumptious of all.
Juliet Falcone says
MIRROR MIRROR
Someone is watching me. She leans close to the glass, and stares. Her face is familiar, but her gaze is not. She washes the blood from her hands, but not once does she look away. When she is clean, she drags the body out; leaving me all alone once more.
Laura Jennings says
I am Rex. I like to bite.
I am good dog. Fred holds me, his badge flashing.
People smell dead. Rotting. But they move.
“Get back!”
I leap to protect Fred.
Hurts. I yelp.
Darkness.
But I get back up. Hungry.
Fred smells delicious.
I am Rex.
I like to bite.
Olivia P says
CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER
“I’ll take a single, small cone – dipped.”
“Yes Sir . . .”
“Split please, hold the cream – two spoons – I’ll share with my Husband”
“Yes Ma’am . . .”
“I’m in a hurry, the fresh one – bagged – I’ll burn her myself”
“CHURN Sir, please use the correct . . .”
“OKAY, vanilla, hold the sauce – I’ll CHURN it myself”
Kit Steward says
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.
Bradathon Nu says
“STIFF ROOTS”
She thought that the stiff roots of the plant was causing her inability to unearth it. The woman pulled and pulled and pulled yet it just wouldn’t come from the ground. She decided to use her trowel instead, but regretted it immediately, as the body’s finger emerged from the dirt.
Ann Hoekstra says
The first time the scrimshaw pipe was used, grey plumes of smoke created shadowy faces in the candlelight. Each-time a familiar face arose in the vapors, the churchyard had another occupant. A face clear as a mirror appeared on the smoke, just as I heard a knock at the door.
Kit Steward says
THE COURIER
While the clerk filed letters the P.O. Box door suddenly opened.
Someone grabbed her, pulled her hand through; and severed it off the wrist.
As screams of bloody terror rang out, the assailant disappeared.
Months later when she returned to work with a prosthesis, there came a “Welcome Back” package.
Jackson Spurgin says
First Date
The man smiled. “I finally found the perfect woman!” he squealed with excitement. With his trembling hands, he straightened his crimson doused tie. He chuckled to himself, “Mother will be pleased with me.” He opened the trunk of his van, licking his lips, the man smiled. “Hello, beautiful.”
Craig says
Grandpa’s chest
The walnut chest had always sat by the fire, until Grandpa died, then it got moved to the attic, like Grandpa’s strange weapons.
It took a few years for the grandkids to find the attic, then they dug in. Until they opened the chest. They ran screaming, the beast followed.
Bradathon Nu says
Just A Shadow, Right?
I awoke in the middle of the night to a towering figure at my doorway! My heart crept into my throat. I quickly sighed in relief as I realized it was really just my coat hanging atop the door. That was until I heard the raspy voice whisper:
“Hello Boy…”
Ivy Magner says
Intruder
In the silent darkness she hides from him.
Her heartbeat drums in her ears.
He’s getting closer.
Her breath catches.
He flips on the light.
She thrusts the knife into his chest.
He falls.
She snuggles against him, whispering,
“I told you; if I can’t have you, no one can.”
joe mcgehee says
Intruder
My thoughts scattered like the broken glass on the floor. I shivered as frigid air drifted inside. Squeezing my groceries, I held my breath— searching the darkness.
Movement in the corner.
He charged like a bull.
I froze.
The blade flashed.
My eyes collapsed.
My teeth clinched.
And I waited.
Curtis Norris says
TABLOID
Oct. 14, 2019 – “ANCIENT CULT REVEALED IN WASHINGTON, D.C.!”
Oct. 18, 2019 – “D.C. CULT RITUAL SACRIFICES – PHOTOS!”
Oct. 23, 2019 – “SHADOW-MEN LURKING IN TABLOID OFFICES!”
Oct. 27, 2019 – “BLOODY WARNING LEFT ON EDITOR’S DESK!”
Oct. 31, 2019 – “FINAL ISSUE! EDITOR’S BODY PARTS JAM THE PRESSES!”
Richard Eley says
“Shore Leave”
At sunset, when the old schooner tied up at the wharf, no one paid much mind. The harbor master noted in his log the crew were foreign, pale skinned and dark eyed, none seemed happy. By daybreak, the ship had left. Only bloodstains remained in the empty town.
Randi Ankney says
The Attic
Sleep hadn’t been my friend since the footsteps started over a month ago. Tonight, I would not be intimidated by a specter of the past that lived in the empty attic above my bed. Tonight, I would face him and give in to the whispers of pain and death finally.
Randi Ankney says
Death Comes in Yellow
Hungry and soulless yellow eyes held me unmovable and I knew in a flash that the nightmare had become real. Those bright glowing eyes promised a dark and painful death for me. The yellow eyes gave way to stained teeth dripping with my blood as my life faded to black.
Daniel Coronel says
On the Other Side
Ever since the funeral she screams every time she sees me. I wish I could tell her that death hasn’t changed anything in my eyes. Maybe once I join her she’ll finally calm down. Or maybe I’ll be screaming then too.
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Daniel Coronel says
Take a Look
Something is outside my window, waiting for me.
I’m not going to look. Not this time. It can’t trick me again.
The doorbell. I’m not falling for that either.
The voice in my head, telling me to open my eyes.
Well, if I can’t trust myself, who can I trust?
Daniel Coronel says
New Exhibits
He took a stroll through the wax museum without a care in the world. The thought that something might be off didn’t occur to him, not even once he reached the serial killer wing. Two of the figures must have been new additions; they didn’t even have name plates yet.
Daniel Coronel says
The Impossible Dream
This past year I’ve seen myself dying every time I fall asleep. It always happens the same way, but I know it doesn’t mean anything. After all, in my dream it’s my daughter who kills me.
I know she’d never do that, and besides she’s been dead for a year.
Daniel Coronel says
Congratulations
Nobody believed her when she said someone was sending her sinister messages.
It became apparent that she’d have to take matters into her own hands.
Whoever was trying to lure her in would have another thing coming this time. After they opened her package nobody would be an instant winner.
Emma Wilson says
MEDITATION TAPES
I’d been feeling odd recently, a bit anxious and not really myself. Someone suggested I try guided meditation, so I bought some tapes from the thrift store.
It only made things worse when I heard my own voice play on the tapes, telling me to remember what happened and run.
Raven Fonseca Jensen says
The Admirer
At night he watched her through the window. “Too beautiful for this earth,” he said. Her skin as smooth as an apple. Hair as soft as wool. Lips as pink as candy, screaming as he climbed inside. Lovely body sprawled on the floor. “Too beautiful for this earth,” he said.
Bethany says
No Return
The tennis ball sailed over the decrepit fence, disappearing under the roots of a dead tree. Dark vines enveloped the ruins of a house.
‘Go get it,’ Miles’ sister snapped at him.
‘I can’t,’ he whispered. ‘One time I went over there and never came back.’
Bethany says
The End
His eyes were bloodshot, and crimson trailed from his left nostril. I felt his jagged fingernails dig into my arm as he leaned close. ‘It’s too late to run,’ he hissed. ‘The infection has already spread. Look.’
I glanced down at my shirt where blood from my nose had spattered.
Shaziya Khan says
In your sleep I reign, I crawl over your body as you watch my hideous protruding red eyes. Lucid dream you say, you’re in my possession, you feel me in your veins sucking your blood, you’re paralysed..you’re but a corpse.
‘You’ are next on the line. Simply..go to sleep tonight…
Bindu John says
My Boy (REVISED)
“Mom, I’m home”, Bob came back from school, looking pale.
“Are you feeling feverish?”, I fussed.
I reached out to feel his forehead. He didn’t have fever. But something was wrong.
And then it struck me.
The birthmark on his forehead was gone.
Slowly, the boy looked up at me.
john roberts says
The Haunted House
I entered the sinister house and tramped up its creaky wooden stairs towards the shut bedroom door , it opened. A terrifying spectre appeared; its long skeletal index finger pointed towards me . I fell backwards , colliding with walls and stairs , landing in a crumpled heap , dead.
Harsh Shah says
Title: The Riot of the dead
Walking down a silent city street, I heard a pleading and sorrowful hubbub.
I waited right there and they passed by like a breeze. Little did I know, it was a mob of 49 people who died days back in a mass shooting that they had no idea about.
Dawn Rae says
Apocalypse
Silvana sat on the step. As the butcher’s knife thudded in the kitchen, she wept and cradled her young son while she could, just a month or two longer. Her daughter played in the dust of the barren yard, safe because she was female. Girls were breeders. Boys were food.
Dawn Rae says
Towels
The bath towel was askew. Maybe Ethel forgot to straighten it. But it kept happening and that troubled her.
“Gran, rumple them all and you won’t notice you missed one.”
That worked. Ethel forgot how mussed-up towels once troubled her.
Until she suddenly found all the towels straight and even.
Dawn Rae says
Rehab
Magenta was a drug, her beauty marred by her malice. Like all addicts, I kept coming back for more. More fake love, more honest scorn.
When I couldn’t take it any longer, I found a way to break my addiction.
Funny. I always thought her blood would be, well, magenta.
Tutu Dada says
The smell of rotting wood filled the air. I shifted my feet to the nearest door, and saw a shiny substance on the floor. It was blood. With trembling fingers, I turned the doorknob, and to my horror, saw a figure standing over another, holding a knife…
Everything went black.
Tutu Dada says
I shifted my feet to the nearest door, and saw a shiny substance on the floor. It was blood. With trembling fingers, I turned the doorknob, and to my horror, saw a figure standing over another, holding a knife… It looked at me, and dashed towards me.
Everything went black.
Jason E. Maddux says
The RAVN
Was that the doorbell? At this hour?
Since reliving a lost past in the Reality Augmenting Virtual Network, I can’t tell when I’m dreaming. My poster of Einstein moves as if alive. Maybe my recently departed love is too.
The doorbell sounds again. I answer. The waiting zombie devours me.
W.C. Scharff says
Hyper Vigilant
Horror movies never bothered me. They were always the things of make believe or superstitions. I will say they mess with me a little, they put me on guard. After watching them I am hyper vigilant, always looking out of the corner of my eye. Did I just see something?
W.C. Scharff says
Dream Tricks
I had a dream. It was normal in every sense, same house, same me. Normal day, normal time. I heard a name. I repeated the name over and over. I invited the name in my house in the dream and immediately woke up. At my door was a knock.
Taye Carrol says
Lost and Found
“Do you want to grieve to death?” her husband asks.
A voice wakes her. She hurries, following the laughter. Rounding the corner, anticipation meets silence.
On her knees, she hears the car, wonders has she the courage?
Yes, she decides, soon hearing, “Mama”.
Reaching out, she draws her son close.
J.S. Roberts says
Final Warning:
My father’s final words weren’t a fond farewell, but the ramblings of a crazy man. “Remember to lock up.”
But I craved freedom.
I heeded the warning too late. Now, I hear the thing growing; slithering and bristling against the walls. Soon, it will need my space too.
J.S. Roberts says
The Exit:
You waken suddenly. Can’t breathe. Choking, gagging. Something crawls over your tongue. You reach your fingers into your mouth. Too late. A thousand legs scuttle down your esophagus.
The pain’s almost unbearable, but it’s good. The creature is eating. Soon it will find it’s way out. It’s the only way.
Giselle Seaforth says
The adolescent
Six weeks after an arduous and successful exorcism, Brenda a pregnant adolescent delivers her daughter Miracle. With a room filled with nurses, loved ones and a healthy baby girl the occupiers suddenly felt the presence of something supernatural. The lights switched and the curtains moved. Something terrifying was about to come.
J.S. Roberts says
Blizzard:
I creep to the attic, cold seeping into my bones. 12 hours since the roof was cleared, 4 since the generator quit, 2 inches of clear glass allows me to see. Most homes have vanished into the vast sea of white. Hopefully, I won’t drop the shovel when I fall.
Clinton R. Siegle says
“Wake up, wake up,” yelled someone like my wife. I awoke to a new reality. Where everything I knew changed daily and souls or perceptions of reality made sense one day and no sense the next. They called it the Mandela effect. I call a closed time curved loop reality.
R. Chandler says
My Last Cry
It moved in the murky water. Slowly, it began to rise. I stood frozen. Water dripped from dark, tangled, tendrils that cascaded over its skeletal body. Yellow eyes pierced mine.
“Come!” it hissed and sprinted forward. It clutched my ankle, dragging me down along the muddy bank.
“No!” I screamed.
Sherry Peace says
The Device
The man and the woman held hands and crept down the shadowy hallway. A dark door up ahead was ajar and through the crack, they could see the device. Its inhuman cold body held their flickering fate. With trembling hands they grasped it together. Oh the horror! Two pink lines.
Jason Allen says
NIGHT OF THE PUMPKINS
Halloween was nearly over. Katie blew out the pumpkin, but it wouldn’t extinguish; it only flamed higher. The pumpkin angrily puked its guts onto Katie’s face and then rolled away.
The pumpkins gathered and rolled across lawns, kids screaming. Old Mr. Davis, who hated Halloween, was the first to die.
Gerri Zimmerman says
Creepy, Crawly, Slimy Things
On Halloween, don’t go outside when it’s dark. Strange things lurk in the dark–creepy, crawly, slimy things. Say, do you feel something crawling up your leg, around your stomach and up your back? Personally, I’m glad it found you, because I just got rid of it. Good luck, friend.
Kevin Wright says
Night in October: Again
There was creaking door and a cold wind again…
I pressed my hand down upon my bed, and closed my eyes again…
feeling your touch like a cool sheet, I imagined warm days and dinners with candles.
When I opened my eyes it had only been the wind again.
W.C. Scharff says
Pressure
I felt the pressure of her holding my hand as we took our seats. We were in love. The safety bar clicked, we started to move. More pressure from her hand as we turned upside down, the bar clicked again, one more turn, and I felt nothing…she was gone.
Michael Devine says
NIGHTMARE ON ELMO’S STREET
“Ernie, wake up. He’ll get you while you sleep.
Hey, what are you doing here?” asks Bert.
“Elmo says Bert one that’s asleep.”
Walls start to melt, and Elmo slashes Bert’s throat
with his 4 blades, blood gushes everywhere.
Ernie says, “Oh no, Bert’s dead!”
‘Elmo your boyfriend now Ernie.’
Natalie C. Frank says
Should Have Used Mapquest
Dialing, she gets out of the car.
Zeke, I followed your directions but I’m lost . . . Wait, remember where those women were stabbed last year?
“Yes, I’m quite familiar.”
He sounds nearby. Turning, she sees him, something glinting in his hand. As he gets closer, she sees it isn’t a phone.
Sharyl S Rhoades says
Bloodless
“Bloodless?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Like many dead things, treachery born of love.”
“Dead things don’t speak.”
“Am I speaking?”
“I hear you.”
“Perhaps it’s you.”
“I’m dead too?”
“Precisely.”
“Should I…?”
Obsidian talons, rattlesnake quick…
her head rolled away, bloodless.
“I am your last bloodless spawn unleashed upon the world, mother.”
Marlies Bailey says
Carpet
My brain splattered on the wall, bits of bone and bodily fluids dribbled towards the floor. These remnants started leading lives of their own, gleefully exploring the world of carpet. While the hardships faced by these tribes were deemed insurmountable, colonies rose between the manipulated raw fibres like fruiting fungi.
Marlies Bailey says
Terrier
Scum-crusted lips creaked as the thing attempted to sigh. A shimmer of ropy saliva seeped from an elongated nostril. Layers of sediment cracked under a gnarly tongue as it wrapped around the nosy terrier with a crisp shush. No bark, no whine, just unidentified matter in an ancient digestive tract.
Annie Pichardo says
Black Wings, White Walls:
Standing in
A room,
Walls of white,
Huge wings of black
Sits on the table.
Another boy’s
Hand sails
Through the wings.
A shirt so white…
Tormented by blood.
He grabs
A knife.
He stabs
My back.
I feel
Two long
Cuts.
“ Your turn
To fly.
To be
Controlled.”
Annie Pichardo says
The Fussy Forest:
The fierce fantasy forest falls fussy tonight.
The cold, crawling creepy creature clutches a boy.
The skinny serpent slips the boy into the stream.
The scaly serpent splashes silently to swim smoothly.
The greedy, giddy green serpent glides to the gloomy groaning boy and gorges and gobbles him up.
Connie Colon says
Horror Story Contest
Ghosts can possess a writer’s fingers.
Skeptically, I tried it for this contest
Slowly…
Ice crept through my veins, stealing my breath
I shivered until my whole body froze, corpse-like
My fingers attacked the keyboard on their own.
Someone else’s words appeared one by one.
Surrender.
I won.
RIP, writer.
psto1464 says
Lost
Walking. Lost to the music blaring from your app. It turns from afternoon to night.
Stars twinkle, a hand reaches; grabbing the earbuds from your ears.
Turning to curse, instead you scream.
Blood red eyes, inhuman mouth; dripping with black saliva.
Pain.
Your life drifting. Fuel for the monsters hunt.
Connie Colon says
I tried to edit this post – and then tried to delete it, no success (I posted my revised version)
Connie Colon says
I was not successful in editing or deleting my first post titled “Horror Story Contest” – The only version I wish to post here is titled “The Ghost Wins the Contest” —
any suggestions on how to delete the older post??
W.C. Scharff says
Hell’s Kitchen
“This place has great tacos! So tasty, so much heat, they literally burn your soul.”
“What’s it called?”
“Hell’s Kitchen!”
“Why ?”
They both bit into their taco’s, then a voice from the kitchen ,
“Because your soul is mine!” as flames burned them from the inside out.
psto1464 says
Forever and Always
I leaned into his chest. It was much softer than it once was, but I couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t been the same since the fall.
“You’ll never have to work again.” I whisper on his rotting lips. His vacant, white eyes staring with only into mine.
Only mine.
W.C. Scharff says
(Edit)
Hell’s Kitchen
“This place has great tacos! So tasty, so much heat, they literally burn your soul.”
“What’s it called?”
“Hell’s Kitchen!”
“Why ?”
They both bit into their taco’s, then a voice from the kitchen growled,
“Because your soul is mine!” as flames burned them from the inside out.
Laura Spies says
Trick-or-Treaters from below
“Or treat,” Jax speaks looking towards the basement door as he is lead back to the housewarming party, still clutching the bag of treats he tried to throw downstairs.
12:01
Ouch! Lollipop sticks and candy stones deliver their blows. “You choose trick!” the wind coming from the basement shrieks and throws.
Connie Colon says
The Ghost Wins the Contest
Ghosts can possess a writer’s fingers.
Skeptically, I tried it for this contest
Ice crept through my veins, stealing my breath
I shivered until my whole body froze, corpse-like
My fingers attacked the keyboard on their own.
Someone else’s words appeared one by one.
Sorry, writer – this is
The End
Lisa W says
The Necromancers
White-hot moonlight washes their cloaked bodies as they circle dance ’round the effigy of the parrot-man.
To false gods of greed and growth, they chant as the earth wilts beneath their shadow steps.
They reach for us with cold, dead hands as dark magic smothers our land.
DAVID ONOJA says
A BLOOD NIGHT Stabbed,dying screams of the victim. The villian laughing hysterically,”you’ll be wasted”. He moved toward me a knife pionted to my neck, like an angry terrorist. Horror filled my soul. Eyes closed. I felt a cold hand “wake up”. it was just a dream.
Janayah Murray says
Darkness
Darkness is on the other side
“Why run?” It laughed.
I looked at my scabbed feet
I picked them to distract my thoughts
The scabs fell off and blood seeped
Spiders crept out the wounds
They opened the window and it laughed again.
“You can never hide forever.
Andrea Lollo says
WENDIGO
Three weeks into our camping trip we got stuck. John ate stevia leaves while my hunger howled. Sometimes I could see it; it had a slow gait, and could unzip the tent with its long fingers. It beamed at me in the night and whispered in my mind, “feed.”
Vanessa Gerard says
Surprise Party
“Honey, I have a surprise for you!” he exclaimed, his voice quivering with excitement. She was intrigued. Her husband wasn’t usually one for grand gestures. Standing behind her, he affixed the blindfold snugly around her head. Reaching beside him, he raised the hatchet, then swung as hard as he could.
Taye Carrol says
Not Your Mother’s Horror Story
“The call came from your number. . . “
“Oh my God! Is this a sick joke?”
“He’s in the house with you.”
“Is this where you tell me to get out now?”
“No.”
“I want the call traced!”
“No need.”
Dial tone, footsteps, and he walks into the room. With an ax.
Ellen Leader says
Halloween Fun
Melanie watched in the mirror as her skin slid off her face.
“What’s happening?” she screamed.
“Your problem is Halloween,” said her sister, Nora.
Holding a butcher knife in her hand, Nora stabs Melanie.
“See? It’s all in fun.”
“Help me,” Melanie pleads, as blood bubbles out of her mouth.