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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
RICK MALOY says
“Unfinished Business”
Luther’s stump of an arm ached. Exactly one year ago the beast had taken it in an orgy of rage. Luther had tried fleeing, but it followed him halfway across the country. Now, its thudding footfalls approached. It smashed through the farmhouse window and in unquenched fury… finished the job.
Fern Goodman says
S’more?
We stand at the edge of the woods, sent to find our brother, too scared to go further.
Tree branches turn into stretchy arms and wrap around our bodies lifting us deep into the forest.
I scream; my sister is limp. I see our brother being roasted like a marshmallow.
Sarah Kate says
Shadows
It is night.The shadows emerge with no light. They have no leash, only the sun and its reach. They curl its darkness around your heart. They squeeze and pull until you part. It is clear. Death is near. Protect your heart or it may no longer start.
Sarah Kate says
Starless Night
The night exploded.
Boom ba fwish. Billions agonizingly groaned. Serrated dagger like rocks rained down. Closest stars; gone. The rest were invisible. But, They were out there; only drowned. Only forgotten…until now. Stars were never meant to be outshined.
Darkness consumed every corner of the world. Boom ba fw-.
Rod Martinez says
MRS. BROWN
I opened the door and she stood there. October 31st is my least favorite night.
“Trick or Treat” she smiled. Mrs. Brown wore a Snickers bar costume. Her smile always looked fresh though she had to be forcing it. Why did I stay home? Mrs. Brown died five years ago.
Warda Mehroz says
“The haunted wind”
Suddenly the room was in an uproar, haunted voices became widespread. My sister was reading, she turned around to say that I should witness and detect where these voices are coming from but inside, I was terrified. I dared myself, there was nothing, but mysterious voices became louder than before.
Donna Cotten says
Excellent! I was not expecting that. Can’t wait for more!
Kathleen Rossello says
Alien Breakdown
It was on the other side of the road as I drove past. Strange. What could possibly look like a parked flying saucer? A voice in my head beckoned, but I was tired and drove home. Later, lights startled me awake, but it was the glaring eyes that traumatized me.
Julian Martin says
Mommy’s Fine
Mommy said she was very sick and needed a transplant. You, at only 5, didn’t know anything more than that. When Mommy returned, she sounded very different, and acted very strange.
One day the bathroom door creaked open and you saw Mommy in the shower. Zipper running down her back.
Julian Martin says
Dinner’s Ready!
You can’t breath, speak, or move. You can only be moved. Day after day you sit there in your pink dress and plastic high heels, praying for the end. “Honey! Dinner’s ready!” The blonde, pigtailed giant smiles, shutting the doll house doors. Everything goes pitch black, and playtime is over.
Isabel Tan-Ng says
Washed Away
I gasped for air as I came to the surface, the saltwater stinging my eyes. I fought through the waves, but I had reached my breaking point. I couldn’t fight it any longer. The waves took me under. Saltwater burned my lungs, as my body sunk to the dreary depths.
maggie says
What’s wrong?
Mommy always told me everything was fine, but they yell every night. I can’t sleep at all. Daddy always hits mommy I ask her what’s wrong, but she always tells me nothings wrong. I asked her once after daddy hit her hard, but she was asleep.
Jason Allen says
HORROR WRITER
This pen had written too many horrible things. As Chet wrote the ending of his story, the pen took control of his hand and rammed itself into Chet’s eye. Blood spurted; Chet fell dead.
The pen resumed writing, a mix of ink and blood, giving the story a happy ending.
maggie says
The doll
I used to have a good life until she came into my life. She used to be fun to play with. she understood me. She likes to play games. I told her not to do them again because I got blamed. She got angry and now I am constantly watched…
maggie says
The dark woods.
My heart pounded faster and faster. I ran on for what felt like hours. He was drawing closer every minute. Until I finally stopped and drew my breath. Suddenly I felt an ice-cold blade pierce against my back. The darkness enveloped me like a blanket and I was alone again.
maggie says
Why did she do this
When I found her she was bruised and bloody. I had always hated myself but, that made me feel worse. Why did she do it, it wouldn’t have ended up like this if she hadn’t done left me, but just like our relationship, she had to come to an end.
maggie says
The smiling man
I looked out and he just stared at me. What he did next made my insides turn to ice. He smiled a big toothy grin and started walking very slowly. I went to pick up the phone but he was gone. A long hand groped my neck and I screamed.
maggie says
My dead brother
As I swam a weight pulled me, urging me to come into the depths of the black inky sea. I looked down assuming to see a shark, but what I saw horrified me. I looked into the black soulless eyes of my brother who I had drowned seven years ago
Ravi Shankar says
I was alone at home with my two year old baby.
It’s 2 am. I was watching porn with baby sleeping in another room.
The baby started laughing . I went to her cradle to check what happened only to find her behind me crying aloud and walking with door locked.
Curtis Norris says
DRUMS AT NIGHT
The maddening beat of advancing drums drives me headlong through the night-dark jungle. Running is just what they want, but I charge forward anyhow like a crazed buffalo toward the cliff. But there is no cliff, only the bottomless maw of their insatiable god. Over it’s quivering lip I leap.
Curtis Norris says
NIGHTLIGHT
The nightlight, with its cheery clown’s face, keeps the monsters at bay. The boogeyman stays in the closet, and the grabber under the bed. Nothing creeps in through the window, and the mirror remains closed. But the nightlight whispers and whispers, and that’s why Timmy, trembling, dares not sleep.
Ed N. White says
DEAD SILENCE
From behind the podium, he hopefully looked over the silent assembly. “All the living raise their hand.” And repeated, “Will all the living raise a hand.” He looked left and right and asked again, “Will all the living please raise a hand.” He raised his trembling hand and said, “Please.”
Stephen M Jones says
A Bull Mastiff called Hobbes
Lead pulling tight and low growling warned me, cold was not my only enemy. A dark, hooded shape ran at me. Hobbes pulled it to ground, growling into its face.
A jogger. He leaped up and fled.
Shouting, “Sorry,” I then saw the large knife Hobbes had taken from him.
Kindra Sanders says
“Embrace”
Eleanor always loved the comfort of her husband’s embrace.
They would lay in bed, a tangled mess as he held her close to him, his scent lulling her into a deep sleep.
She once found it comforting that even two years after his death, his grip was just as strong.
John Minervini says
Last words
“I love you, Mommy.”
I held my gut and wretched.
“I love you, Mommy.”
Its wrists popped and snapped as it twisted in its restraints.
“I love you, Mommy.”
It repeated my sons last words again. It was wearing his face.
I couldn’t pull the trigger.
“I love you, Mommy.”
John Minervini says
New Message
Rodney finally came home at midnight. I watched his silhouette slip into bed beside me. I pressed into him, feeling his arms wrap around me. My phone buzzed. A message from Rodney. I read the message, fully aghast, as the grip grew tighter.
“Running late. Be home in an hour.”
Kindra Sanders says
“Faith”
In my life, I knew God. I knew of his plans for the sinners and the saints. I knew of his love for his children.
But as the gates to Heaven opened, and the agonizing screams began to flood my senses, I thought foolish of myself for believing I knew.
John Minervini says
Tooth Fairy
My daughter walked into my office.
“Daddy, guess what?”
“What is it, Hun?”
“The Tooth Fairy’s coming to visit tonight!”
She proudly presented four baby teeth.
We’ve been up all night, now. I keep asking my daughter, a college graduate, where she got the teeth. She responds only with laughter.
Warda Mehroz says
Suddenly the room was in an uproar, haunted voices became widespread. My sister was reading, she turned around to say that I should witness and detect where these voices are coming from but inside, I was terrified. I dared myself, there was nothing, but mysterious voices became louder than before.
John Minervini says
Half-pound Thigh Cut
“What kind of cut?” asked the Butcher.
“Half-pound thigh cut, please,” said the man.
I gripped the bloody stump of my knee as the Butcher approached me with a cleaver. It was the third order today.
“Please,” I choked out, weakly.
“Half-pound thigh cut, coming right up,” said the Butcher.
M^h says
Deceased Love
Thumping blood rushing through your veins and drowning your ears. Heart pounding. Slowly. A little faster. A little louder. Faster! Aww, don’t scream. Screams are for the deceased! Don’t tell me, you’re afraid my love? Where do you run to sweet doll? Where can you hide? The monster is within.
Percy Gibbons says
The Artist’s Struggle
He lies on the floor, the portrait a blur.
He picks up the brush with a skeletal hand. It weighs a ton.
Reaching for the canvas even as his arm’s about to snap like a twig.
Concentrate. It is almost finished.
Only one more stroke. That’s it.
One… last…stroke.
J.C Watkins says
A waking nightmare
My eyes open, a cold sweat engulfs me as if waking from a nightmare. I want to leave bed but my limbs are paralyzed. I yell for help but my lips remain closed. Panic overcomes me. I’m trapped in my mind. What I thought was a nightmare only just began.
J.C Watkins says
Sunny’s Game
Run run little ones
Sunny’s here for some fun.
He likes playing this game of tag
Play, so Sunny’s glad
If gotten, you’re the chosen one
And losing is no fun.
So run little darlings, be very fast
Cus’ Sunny’s choosing one of you to be his new halloween mask.
Fid says
Under the Bed
“Mommy, there’s a bad man under my bed.”
The first time, I’d gone and checked, and there was no one under the bed.
The second time, I told her to go back to sleep.
The third time, he’d cut her head off with a saw.
This is the fourth time.
Fid says
Pie
My mother never liked my husband, so it surprised me when she asked him over for lunch.
I came late, and asked where he was.
“He’s around here somewhere,” she said. “Finish your pie.”
I took a scoop – stuck in the fork was ground meat, and my husband’s wedding ring.
Fid says
Forgiveness
I looked up from the hospital bed, clutched the priest’s hand.
“If I say confession now, you’ll grant me God’s forgiveness right? I don’t want to go to hell.”
The priest’s eyes blackened out, and when he smiled, it was far too wide for his face.
“Too late,” he said.
Percy Gibbons says
The Play
The third act started off good. The man playing the lawyer was very convincing.
“Who are you trying to fool?!” he shouted, slamming his fist into the table.
“You sir, are guilty!” the cast turned their heads at my direction.
The realization dawned on me like a flashbang
“Admit it.”
Ford Waight says
LATE NIGHT DRIVE
Back seat, sedated, Pooh Bear trinket dangling from rear-view mirror. Her driver stays under the speed limit as glittering goods in store windows stream past the window. Neon signs, 24-hour clubs, sex, girls become ghosts, blink, flash. Burns bright these urban constellations. And she, her lights about to go out.
Ed N. White says
FACELIFT
I tugged on the fearfully grotesque form-fitting latex Halloween mask with the horrible open wounds and stepped in front of the mirror. It was frightening. Then it became more terrifying as the material slowly softened and shrunk and absorbed into my skin. I clawed at my screaming, oozing, misshapen face.
Angel Stebbins says
“The End”
The crows’ caws filled the air. The moonlight was hidden by patchy clouds.
The trees swayed with the howling wind, their moans growing louder. The tombstones were still and cold.
Heavy breathing rasped out against the frigid night A shovel was raised
A scream of strength. The grave is dug.
-AS
Angel Stebbins says
“No Way Out”
There is no light. The air is heavy. Feeling around, my fingers encounter splintered wood. My legs have no space to move. My arms can barely go in front of my face. There is something above me, keeping me in. I realize – I am buried, alive.
There’s no way out.
-AS
Giles Selig says
Jones’s Ghosts
The Smiths moved in where Ebenezer Jones, possessed by demons, had hung himself. His relatives, with morbid glee, tormented them with every loathsome trick their twisted minds could spawn. Peace came only when the ghastly Joneses moved away — once the town approved a new development, where the cemetery was.
Irish Hazel L. Aspe says
“BLACK BUTTERFLY”
It’s a boring day.
So I texted my friend to meet up.
Suddenly, I saw a sparkling black butterfly.
I followed it.
Led me to graveyard.
In front of tombstone.
My name was written.
Then, my friend came crying.
“Why did you kill yourself?”.
I said “It’s a boring life”.
Sarah Kate says
Walking Nightmare
My heart beats. My head screams. My lungs wheeze. My Muscles ache. This was a mistake. Foot steps echo. They’re mine that follow. She turns around, thinking aloud,”Leave me be”
Of course I scream.
“You’re not real!”
“ Of course I am.”
Blood covers the wall. Her knuckles are raw
Rylie Nichole says
Clowns
I carry my daughter away from the carnival. Something was off, my girl was still. I knew she had a fear of clowns. Why else would I take her here? I hide her body in the back of our van. She had suffered. It’s what she gets for fearing me.
Irish Hazel L. Aspe says
“TRICK OR TREAT”
Halloween night.
My neighbor knocks.
Invites me to a dinner.
She prepares red saucy steak.
It’s very delicious.
The kids are quiet.
I ask, “where’s your dad?”.
“We’re eating him”.
I just laugh, “trick or treat?”
“It’s a treat, sweetie”, their mom replied.
She freakishly smile.
The kids cried loud.
Rylie Nichole says
What should I even write? Writers block is nothing fun. I need to write a 50 word horror story, but its hard when I can’t reveal my secret. I look to my side and see her body, hanging in the closet. Surely, they will believe it is fiction. Oh well….
Irish Hazel L. Aspe says
“I’M WEARING A WHITE BEAUTIFUL DRESS”
Waking up with foods & flowers.
Hugs and kisses me constantly.
He always said,
“I love you”.
But I really didn’t know him.
I just remember him beaten my head.
It was then that I woke up in bed full of white roses.
He locks me in house of insanity.
Irish Hazel L. Aspe says
“DON’T FOLLOW”
Mountain hiking.
Lost, separated from my boyfriend.
Wandering, I saw footprints.
On the ground, I saw his phone.
With message, “Don’t follow me”
I smiled, “Stupid, surprising me again”
I followed.
Saw a tribe.
Saw him cut in pieces.
Screaming. He shouted at me.
“Stupid, I said don’t follow me!”
Irish Hazel L. Aspe says
“WHAT’S YOUR FUNNIEST WAY TO DIE?”
Friends, foods & beers.
Plays, “Funniest Way to Die”.
Spinning bottle.
Anne’s first, “Cute vampires sucks my blood”
All share and laugh.
Parties over.
Anne’s drunk.
Walks alone.
Saw an old well.
There, she sits.
Slip. Screaming.
Weeks after.
Saw her dead.
Leeches suck her blood.
Friend asks,
“Who’s next?”.
Tina Celentano says
Wedding Dress
The carnival is dark, deserted, motionless, a cold wind blowing wrappers and dust as I walk by. “Funhouse, eh?” leers the creepy clown as he rips my ticket. First mirror reflects my necklace of blood blooming across my wedding dress. Second mirror reflects the tombstone. The blowing dust is mine.
Maria Milles says
The Skeptic
“What are you doing?!” Kyle quickly threw his arm up to block Adam from stepping on a crack.
“It’s Friday the 13th, you can’t step on that crack!”
“Whatever, that’s superstitious bull,” Adam says as he pushes through and steps on the crack.
Cell phone rings.
“Mom’s in the hospital!”
Tina Celentano says
Transmutation
Why should I spare you, the demon demanded? I can turn things into silver, I stammered. He laughed. What, like that King Midas guy? That was gold and that was a fairytale. He laughed again, lunged for my throat. I touched him. His eyes were the first to turn.
Forrest Langsam says
Walking upstairs, I felt a presence drawing me down the hall, I walk closer to it…a crackling sound coming from the attic. I cautiously proceed up into the attic, I feel a cold wind move past my ear. I turn around and find….myself. There can only be one of us…
Candace Breen says
Her heart pounded as the streetlights went black. He was here. The front door slowly creaked open. He was coming for her. Three small, pearly-white bones appeared at her feet. No one escaped him when he came to collect. She closed her eyes and tried not to scream.
jordan rogers says
the coffin
is was dark as night but i could feel the sun, my eyes were open but yet closed. somehow…someway I felt like i was in a terrible dream,except this was a dream of which I could not awake. i felt the coldness of death but i was alive.
Jason Allen says
FERRIS WHEEL
When they reached the top of the ferris wheel, the ride paused.
Danny admired the view. He turned to Jenny in hopes of stealing a kiss, but Jenny seemed different. Her head was on backwards; she laughed grotesquely.
Down below, Jenny yelled up at Danny, panicked. “That’s not me! Jump!”
Alayna Nicholson says
The Abyss
Your arms flailed helplessly but your hands couldn’t grab anything. Your eyes tried to search longingly for help, but there’s nothing in the darkness. And as your heart pounded against your chest, you opened your mouth to scream from the pain in your lungs. But the abyss has no ears…
maggie says
The darkness
The darkness encloses you, you feel trapped. You’re trapped inside a small box with no holes or light. You start to suffocate. You wake up in a cold sweat. You realize the box is still there. Your not the one in the box anymore. You’re the one holding the knife.
Madeline Archer says
MEMENTO MORI 1897
Hadley loved embalming work. Her beautiful corpse, past rigor mortis, adjusted to the wire armature. With his fine paint brush, he expertly recreated open blue eyes atop her closed lids. She’d appear alive in their photograph.
“They shouldn’t bury such beauty.”
He decided then to keep her.
dave says
An Open Letter from Satan
I tricked you. I offered you a treat and now you’re trapped. Don’t you know the Devil is seeking to devour you? Halloween – the night of the demons ghosted the day of the hallowed; now you’re heading for a barbecue. You’re on the menu. I like meat well done.
Joel Freedman says
The Night Holds On
In the happiest and darkest of times, your voice has always been a comfort to me, your touch a constant reassurance. Now, though, hearing your words whispered to me as you hold onto me as we lay nightly together in bed, now you just remind me that you are dead.
Lisa W says
Lonely
Staring at the wall he thought it moved, but it was the earth swallowing him whole, leaving only a burp of sawdust and plaster. No need for a coffin; rocks and roots encased him. Maggots found his eyes, roaches his nostrils, mice his bones. Disappearing below just as above.
Ginny De Greef says
Ginny De Greef
The Ghost Tour
The house built in 1200, black as a moonless night. I felt icy hands on the back of my neck. My blood ran cold. Grabbing for Sis, who wasn’t there. No one.
Just Icy hands circling tighter and tighter .Then I saw light.
Maria Milles says
Choose Wisely
Stuck in the hollow center of the Oak tree—Thomas finds a dish of meat, another dish of greens. “You may only choose one,” a voice says. Starving, he devoured the meat. You chose wrong. “Animal life is precious!” The tree devoured him whole…his soul remains within the tree.
Gerri Zimmerman says
Demonic Witch
Pumpkins, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and others huddled around a few gravestones. They discussed their exciting adventures for the day.
Later, a demonic witch joined them. She laughed and wished them a Happy Halloween. Then she placed a spell on them. Now she’d have peace and quiet for a whole year.
chloe putnam says
Come on out Sarah!
“29, 30! Here i come” my Lily yelled
I sit in the hidey hole in my room. I feel a cold wind brush me.
“Sarah! Help!” Lily screams. i see a man in my room.
“Come play with us, Sarah!” he says and then see my sister, covered in blood.
Christopher Jobin says
Tonight is all hollows eve and Mrs Jackson was in bed but she soon heard a creaking sound from downstairs.
She went down and looked around but then a man hit her on the head knocking her unconscious. the man killed her and left her there all night.
J. Federle says
INVERSION
I’ve lived in this house 50 years. Why are the light switches suddenly opposite? Wiring? Up is off, but I flicked up—light’s on. I’m… dizzy… is the ceiling’s molding running along the floor edge? There, at the end of the hallway… a figure? backwards walking They’re. .enola evil I
J. Federle says
INCUBACIÓN
Diego has been blind for three days, muttering nonsense even in sleep. The shaman arrives. “El huevo limpia,” he says. An egg cleansing ritual. But the first egg breaks. The second too. A third. “Otro.” Fetch another. Our chickens… dead. Eggs burst. Yolks stringy and red. Diego’s white eyes smile.
Ed N. White says
HANDIWORK
Two hands appeared in my mirror, palms facing, fingers spread, long nails peeking over the fingertips. They were larger than my hands and laced with deep creases like a palmistry roadmap. I placed my palms against the glass aligning with the larger shapes. Suddenly, I was dragged through the glass.
J. Federle says
HE WAITS
My family thinks I have a phobia of yellow chairs. Silly, right? Therapist blamed a buried memory. But the truth is that every time I see a yellow chair, someone is sitting in it. A man. Thin. Smiling. He smiles wider each time. Today, his mouth opened… so many teeth.
Percy Gibbons says
Coronation
“All hail the King!” his court chanted.
He sat upon his new golden throne, surrounded by the nobles and peasants that made up his late father’s kingdom. He smiled like his father had taught him as his guards struck them all down.
Their screams were music, their deaths his entertainment.
Rylie Nichole says
Coma
Her heart pounded as she dodged claw after claw of the large beast. It was made entirely of bones, like a skeleton of a bear and a ram with wings. She was bloody and tired. Aftwer hours of this, she decided to quit.
She never woke up from her coma.
Rylie Nichole says
Video call
“When will you be home?” She asked her daughter over video chat.
“Just another hour.” Her daughter replied.
“Be Safe!”
Suddenly the phone slipped from her mother’s hands and landed next to her bed. She picked it up quickly but her daughter looked scared.
“Mom… there’s someone under your bed.”
Rylie Nichole says
The butcher
A butcher held the meat over a cutting board. The butcher looked to the dark side of his room at the shadows. A man was swinging by his neck from the ceiling drained of blood and loss of skin.
This hit man would be payed well tonight by the cannibal.
Renee Auburns says
Just A Sip
A lone girl walked in the woods.
Crack.
She turned, no one.
Pulled by the waist, she went into the darkness.
Needle-like teeth made up his smile.
The eyes that stared at her were emotionless.
His mouth moved to her neck.
Every ounce of blood was drained from her body.
Suzie Newton says
WINDOWS
The house was far too cold. The air smelled musty and stale. I tried to ignore the creaking floors as I walked to the room. I tried not to look at the paintings that lined the wall. I shuddered as I fell asleep.
In the morning, they weren’t paintings.
Rylie Nichole says
Trick or treat?
Sally skipped down the road with her friends in her little princess fairy dress with a bag ready for Trick or treating. She found herself at the steps of a house.The door opened and a man answered and smiled…. His whole face was a mouth with thin sharp teeth.
Renee Auburns says
Magenta
A flash of magenta.
I break down in tears, rocking back and forth.
My ultimate weakness.
The woman who killed me wore magenta.
Her dress flowed in the wind. Her smile was wild. Her long hair hid us from sight.
I can still feel her stabbing me, again and again.
Suzie Newton says
Protection
He had never been allowed to leave. She told him it was because she couldn’t protect him if he left. A thought now occurred to him as he sat on the floor in a pool of blood that wasn’t his own.
Maybe he wasn’t the one she was protecting.
torshia seales says
The Survivor
He limped past the funeral home that night. He survived the deadly crash. His friends were not as lucky. But he couldn’t pass, and then he was inside! Human meat lay scattered – on cold, hard silver trays. Red, ugly and unholy. Running was no use. His table was prepared.
Danielle Brown says
FENDER BENDER
“Are you with the police department?” Alisha asked, dialing her insurance agency. She cut her eyes at him when the man didn’t respond.
A wide maw stretched from one ear to the other, past cheekbones that pushed his eyes into a squint.
Her heartbeat skipped.
“Come with me,” it croaked.
Danielle Brown says
EVERY TEN YEARS
“Don’t touch her!” Grandma hobbled out of the house, hollering in my direction.
“It’s just a caterpillar,” I shouted back. “You HATE bugs!”
“Please,” she weeped.
Sharp nails punctured my shoulders and I gasped.
A voice hissed right behind my ear, “Hush. I just need one every ten years.”
torshia seales says
The Lagahoo
Is it a man if it has no face? A coffin for a head.
A dog, a horse, a bull, a hog?
And chains drag half the night,
when some man met his fate,
while coming home from work.
Lucky you, if you’re inside.
Close your door, check locks twice!
Omotola Otubela says
The Bush Baby
I heard it; the gnashing of its little teeth, its deafening cries. Oh! How I yearned for it to stop. Trees and shrubs were the only things I could run to, against those monstrous eyes. I shouldn’t have picked up the mat. Shhhh…The bush baby draweth near, he is coming!
Omotola Otubela says
Within
I see things; gut-wrenching, horrifying things. Worst of all, I do not conceive these things. They’re not even from my mind. I see from the eyes of someone else’s mind. I finally find who it is, and she’s not even from our world. She’s the devil’s actual spawn.
Omotola Otubela says
Out of His Mind
It was an empty skull but he could always feel its eyes on him. He knew he shouldn’t have prodded but he did, and now he knows he’s next. Mike kept himself locked up but that didn’t stop the gut wrenching thoughts from seeping in. He’s losing it, he knows.
Connie Colon says
Auntie Chris
Auntie Chris’s haunted house
is the last and favorite stop on
Trick or Treat Trail.
This year there were no cupcakes.
Her voice sounded hoarse, eyes glowed blood red.
Moaning and groaning from the basement
gave me goose bumps.
Auntie Chris?
Auntie Chris had to leave, dearie.
I’m Auntie Christ.
Come closer, here’s some candy…
Hannah Huff says
Self-Preservation
Bad weather blooming. Electric blue bruise on the horizon. Wind warps the house. I must get to the cellar, where canned jams smolder, perpetually almost decomposing. Plums and peaches, static and stirring amid murk and dirt. The clamor of ripened ovaries clambering. I must go into the cellar. I must.
Danielle Brown says
After my shift last night, I stopped in an alleyway to have a cigarette.
“Got a light?” A voice said as I inhaled.
I flicked the lighter, hesitantly holding it out to nothingness.
Scraggly hair and eyeless sockets appeared above the flame.
“No one ever looks at me!” she shrieked.
Danielle Brown says
This one is called GOOD DEEDS.
Audrey Freedman says
Mirror Mirror
I’m waking up, movements slow, jerky. It’s the same ritual this past week: get up, sit in bed, then come stare in the mirror. Taunting me. As I slam my fists against the wrong side, as I always do, the thing in my body smiles, and leaves me, screaming soundlessly.
Adeel Intikhab says
I Missed You
Underneath the streetlight, an ominous man stood wearing a grey hooded jacket. His eyes hidden, but his vile grin, clear. Terrified, I hurried home panting, locking the door behind me. When I turned, the same jacket hung on the rack, and a deep voice questioned, “What took you so long?”
Kit Steward says
THE LURE
He reached his spot along the creek, beneath an old wooden bridge.
The season was over, but he’d try to sneak in one last bite.
Something stirred across the bank.
Evening arrived.
Preparing to leave; he paused under the shadowy bridge.
He froze, as a terrible noise clicked from above.
Kit Steward says
THE DARK ONE’S ASSURANCE
Black ooze jetted from the shower-head.
Jordy’s eyes widened, “I’m rich!”
He grabbed a bucket, collected the goop, and drove off to get it analyzed.
Inconclusive results crushed his spirits.
Returning home, he found only splinters and smithereens; as a towering creature lumbered towards town.
Fortunately, his policy was current.
Kit Steward says
THE FINAL DRAFT
Murder House, Rape Chamber, Drug Den.
“A grim reputation for a Beercan Depository,” the reporter thought.
She unrolled a sleeping bag and impatiently waited.
Sleep descended.
A cold snap blanketed the girl with midnight frost.
Later, after her corpse was discovered; its terrified frozen expression hinted a possible headline.
Kit Steward says
THE ABSORPTION WRAITH
Something black and tarry shambled from the corner.
She hyperventilated, helpless as it drew closer.
Its drippy arms outstretched for an embrace.
A yellow eyeball peered through veiled runny darkness; a serrated mouth gaped, exposing rows of hungry fangs.
Her cries were smothered.
Satiated, the ooze trickled down between floorboards.
Kit Steward says
CROP ROTATION
Late one Halloween evening two farm boys were returning from town.
They spied a form in a field, drawing closer, Jim recognized the corpse.
Terrified, they fled.
Further down the road, they halted; happening across another corpse slumped in the field.
A somber silence was broken, as young ghosts wailed.
Kit Steward says
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
He secretly watched, as two gloved men heaved large trash bags into the industrial dumpster.
“Way too suspicious,” he thought to himself.
After they departed, he investigated.
Sifting through rancid bags he found one filled with severed parts.
He was in mid gag when a police cruiser paused behind him.
Kit Steward says
THE GAPING MAW
A crowd stood statue-like, pointing to the sinkhole.
The scene frightened her.
Inching toward the surreal display; the eerie chasm beckoned her.
Kneeling over the edge something shifted within the black abyss.
She couldn’t identify the shape.
Leaning closer.
Darkness…
Closer.
Suddenly, teeth clamp; pulling a severed head in.
Kit Steward says
THE COMPASS AND SQUARE
Two teens camped in a cemetery.
“The obelisk graves, phallic symbols, Masons are a sex cult,” Alfie said, noshing on jerky.
“That’s a load of crap,” Jessie said laying on large flat marble.
Suddenly his throat gashed open, blood raining down.
“They’re also Satanic, you should’ve read “Morals & Dogma.”
Kevin Nichols says
Harvest
“I am not downsizing,” the suburban tycoon said with defensive stubbornness. His wife died last year and her urn sits on the mantle of his invariable home. His workaholic house routines for the duo remain intact.
The veiled abnormality couldn’t be detected in public. She loathed as it wept.
Sarah Kate says
Stitches
I wasn’t smart enough. He was. My hand burned. The sloppy stitches and swollen redness only created a constant, painful reminder. Ha. Like I could escape. I’m captured. My heart remains steeled, but secretly, it mourns.
Tug-
“Can’t miss each other now; we can never leave, right?” He said laughing.