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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#117: All Hallows' Eve

October 31st: Halloween — or All Hallows’ Eve, to give it its spookier name. Just an excuse to wear a costume? Or, for one night a year, do spirits walk among us?

The Celts certainly thought so — and many of our own holiday pastimes stem from the methods they used to keep Halloween ghosts at bay. Others, like bobbing for apples, evolved from Halloween rituals for matchmaking and divining the future.

Personally, I prefer to spend the holiday with my nose in a spooky story rather than a bowl of icy water, which is why this week’s prompts are designed to put you in touch with your macabre side. Happy Halloween!

This week's prompts

Start your story with the words “Everything was ready for the ritual.”

Horror – 48 stories

Write about a character who uses a night where everyone’s in costume as cover for something sinister.

Horror – 34 stories

Write about a missing person nobody seems to know or remember.

Thriller and Suspense – 49 stories

Set your story at the boundary between two realms.

Halloween – 69 stories

Write about someone whose busiest night of the year is Halloween.

Halloween – 26 stories

Stories

“The Bloody Rose By: Bella Roosa” by Bella Roosa

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger Warning: Violence and Gore The Bloody Rose “STOP NO” I fall back, feeling the warm blood soak into the skin on my face, covering my eyes. Stumbling, making it to the bathroom. I cling onto everything in my way for balance, feeling for the right path. Finally, when reaching the doorway, I slowly but cautiously walkthrough. My hand’s grip into the counter for dear life, as my knees shake in fear and frustration. As I wash the blood out of my eyes, I feel nothing but burning and stinging—causing my vision to be blurred—I s...

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“Bear Brook Barrel Girl” by Brittley Fisher

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger Warning: Real Crime Victims Bear Brook Barrel Girl It was always autumn whenever she became conscious. Time moves very differently when you are dead, and sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's just still. For the little girl, time seemed to always pause at the moment when her spirit awoke in the barrel. She remembered the dark, cold metal of the barrel and the plastic as it slid against her skin, all slimy. She remembered the feeling of weightlessness as her spirit looked down at her dismembered body pa...

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“A Forgotten Melody” by Lavender Marigold

Submitted to Contest #117

The world was silent. Not in the absence of sound, but within the true silence that exists in the beauty of nature. A low hum of consistent static rolled through the streets, ebbing and flowing with the breeze. Passing through alleys and swelling over dusty park benches, ancient pages rose and fell. Swaths of dust swirled, carrying with them the quiet of simplicity. Leaves rustled and birds chirped, echoing melodies from eons past warped through the refrains of new generations.The ecosystem lived in a harmonious balance. Nothing disturbed th...

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“The Well. Trigger Warning: Description of death.” by Fergus Snow

Submitted to Contest #117

The WellIt’s a devil of a thing, to buy a house. Travelling here and there and everywhere, in search of a home that would best fit. I’m a single man and for a long time have been. I’d spent a good many years working a well-paying job and had now accrued enough money to buy a house in a countryside town. I looked forward to spending my days enjoying the many perks of living in the country; perhaps working part-time, reading, and essentially doing what I fancy. I’d imagine I might meet someone, too. It happened that I found the most perfect ho...

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“Unheard cries” by Jahson Clarke

Submitted to Contest #117

CW: Strong Language The feeling of being unwanted is heart wrenching, but being a ghost is unfathomable. Liam stood by the purring work truck that hugged the shoulder of the road. On both sides of the road stood tall majestic trees and stretches of brush. Liam awaited approval to open the passenger door. He saw the upper part of a silhouette in the truck nod and heard the clicking sound followed by the windows being manually rolled down. The full moon revealed a scruffy old man with a devious smile. “What happened to ya kid, you ...

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“The Shadows of Hackton” by Katie Carr

Submitted to Contest #117

The birds didn’t go south for the winter. That was the first sign of trouble. Henry could feel something different in the air on that red and hazy afternoon when it was first brought to his attention. He was making his rounds in the fields, as he was hired to do, when he noticed a few of the workers had stopped for a break that was lasting longer than regulation allowed. Henry thought maybe they were just testing him, the new guy in charge. As he approached the group, he noticed genuine concern on the men’s faces. Grimsy, the oldest of the f...

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“Evil Having a Human Experience” by Baby Grace

Submitted to Contest #117

Beauty, that is all I have ever seen superficially. I guess as a Christian woman I can tell you beauty has strayed me away from God more than I would like to admit. I will tell you a secret kay? You couldn't imagine the beauty I have seen traveling around in this world, but looks are nothing its when you have a moment with the beauty to see how their mind operates. I have never had my mind so blown away by a woman with beauty and smarts, the delicate matter at hand was that she wasn't delicate at all, I was. You must be thinking how? I know ...

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“A Murder of Crows” by Debra Birdwell Winkler

Submitted to Contest #117

A MURDER OF CROWS by Debra Birdwell Winkler The morning was bright and sunny, an unusually warm day for Halloween. I was on the way to work in a long, white sparkly dress, carrying a crown to match, when two children called me a princess. I smiled and waved as I left the bus. Halloween was too dark and dreary for me. But it was my birthday, so I always dressed as a happy character rather than a witch or goblin. This was a joyful day and not an evil one, for me. I was still unmarried which my grandmother considered a travesty. After numerou...

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“The Tall pine and the Pond” by Robyn Jackson

Submitted to Contest #117

The rain drops slapped the water's edge to a rhythm no one could imitate. Sitting beneath the Tall Pine listening to the sweet music nearly sleeping though soaked to the bone, Jack was relaxed. His mother would kill him if she found out where he was. This pond, large and oval in shape, is said to be the graveyard of many men. Jack chuckled at that, as dark a joke that may seem he doesn't think that this place would be such a horrible place to die. On clear nights the stars reflect right back into the sky and no tree branch dares block th...

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“Walked The Line” by Noelle C. Lee

Submitted to Contest #117

(TW-Sad, Disturbing)JustineThe darkness does not overwhelm my mind. Righteousness overtakes fear. Questions confound thoughts. Allowing my mind to enter this space creates a deep sense of completion within the soul. I am ready to test yet another life, in whatever form it should take. Staring up. Just up. My arms in full reach, my fingers flirting with the line.Mary and Joanna“Mary, Mary,” Joanna implored, did you not see that train coming? “I saw it, I just wanted to beat him out. I didn’t want to have to wait for 150 freight cars...

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“BONES ARE US” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #117

I rolled my eyes, shook my head repeatedly, while mouthing a most definite NO, as I held the phone away from my ear. This latest request was over the top and more sinister than anything I've ever encountered to date. Our business was seeing an increase in many things that seem to be popular at this time of year. We had to be mindful and cautious of who was asking for our select items, what certain products they felt were necessary, and the large amount they wanted to purchase. There were only so many morgues across the country where unclaime...

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“Mostly Treats” by Mikayla Mahan

Submitted to Contest #117

Ding, dong. Ding ding ding, dong. Ding ding ding ding, dong. Tommy huffed to the door. “There’s no reason to ring more than once, mongrels,” he grumbled to himself. He repeated his utterings when he opened the door. Fat fists clutching plastic pumpkins, twin dinosaurs looked up at him expectantly. He plopped an ice cream scoop full of tuna salad in their baskets and slammed the door shut, not waiting to see the rugrats’ shocked expressions. Rubbing his back, Tommy hobbled back to his folding chair that sat in the fo...

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“I am Jinxer” by Sam Borgui

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual tonight. I still have all day to get my plans executed. I spent my entire year preparing for this night, and I never really see the fruits of my work. I do it because I know my powers and what they do. What I learned can never be enough to prove my kind even exists. I have learned very early in my life that what I can do is weird, undebatable, and yet simply accepted by all to be normal. I am a powerful Jinxer, yes, a Jinxer, if I see something or I learn about something via any of my senses and I like it ...

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“Heir of Rite” by Angela O'Donnell

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. The pregnant moon hung high over the trees casting a white glow over her bare skin. She shivered as she listened to the whispers of the cool breeze, she could have sworn she heard voices among their limbs. But who else would be out here, who else besides her and her Priestess.No one knew where they were, or that they even had left the castle. And surely no one think to look for her here, in the middle of the woods. A woman of her station would never be found out of her bedchambers after dark, or so it sho...

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“Share the Pain” by Roland Hacker

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. A bizarre flame illuminated the otherwise cold, dark space with an eerie cobalt glow. Runes of meaning unknown to me were scrawled neatly in a complete circle around the hearth. I placed the stag’s skull into the center of the frigid, blue blaze; the eyes smouldered to life with sinister radiance almost immediately, while recesses of the antlers darkened with ominous blight. No amount of preparation could keep the shiver from my spine as doubt and fear inevitably crept into my conscience; my self-loathi...

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$250

Prize money

226

Contest entries

153

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 29, 2021 EST

Won by John Merino 🏆

Title: Sleep Story

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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