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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

“Perfectly Almond-Shaped Eyes” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #117

TW – animal cruelty, death.Everything was ready for the ritual. I had counted down the days, or more precisely, the nights - since I turned eleven.Looking out over Delltree town, I stood back a little from the sandstone cliff. Holding my torch in one hand, I pulled newspaper and twigs from my rucksack. I roughly fashioned the base of a small fire behind the concrete trig point, partially sheltered from the breeze. Larger sticks and bits of branch from the tree line behind completed my construction.Unpacking the ornate wooden boxes from my ru...

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“Little Boy Lost” by Rudy Uribe

Submitted to Contest #117

“I’m sorry it took so long,” The doctor said as he walked into the waiting room. Marvin and Rebecca stood. “No, please, sit down.” “What is it, doctor? I don’t like the look on your face,” Rebecca said. “Mr. and Mrs. Chatsworth, the MRI shows a mass near the hypothalamus.” ...

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“Bitter Revenge” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #117

It felt as if I was dreaming, when I heard the news. Of all the ladies of the court, I was the one chosen to serve the king. Mother always told me I had more courage than my father and when they announced this position and though I was only sixteen, I didn’t hesitate to apply for it. Tears of joy poured down my mother’s face when I told her the news. “I’m so proud of you, Clare,” she cried. “Go and do our family proud.” Playfully, she brushed me to my room to pack my belongings. The next day, had I found myself standing in line for inspect...

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“The Curious Story of Life and Death” by Jessica Payne

Submitted to Contest #117

“You do this every year, Alison. Every year that veil comes down and our realms collide, I find you in the same spot, same table set up and a new game ready to start.” The chair creeks as she slides it out and sits down. A smile grows on the angelic face across from her, moving a piece forward two spaces, “Well, it’s the only way I get to see that devilish grin of yours, Lady Marian.” She extends her hand out to show its’s their move. “Please, I haven’t been Lady Marian in a rather long time. Why the formalities after all these years?” S...

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“Two Bodies” by Emily Blackbay

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #117

Trigger warning: body horrorIt began when, as a small child, I noticed a cut on my forearm the size and shape as the tip of a cat’s tongue. I had been scaling a cluster of tall rocks on the beach’s far end. Out of sight my mother slept peacefully, the pitched tent of a beauty magazine shading her face. Blood welled inside the shallow puddle of the cut, and as I instinctively put my fingers to stop the flow, peeled the skin off my forearm in one long strip. There was no pain, and the wind blew my cry of shock out to s...

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“The Battle for B'Droom” by Amanda Fox

Submitted to Contest #117

The morning dawned cold and bright over the valley. As the sun crested over the western hill, it illuminated a lone knight, the formidable and intimidating Sir Mason, on horseback, his red and gold bear crest stark against the cloudless skies. The bear knight’s soldiers emerged behind him, the sun to their backs, creating one solid silhouette of impending warfare.Gallant and beloved Sir Noah, on the eastern hill, blinked against the rising sun. His army stood at his back, silently menacing, an array of soldiers and mounted cav...

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“Slumbering Horror” by Mark Shoe

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the Ritual of Slumber. A stone pillar sprouted from the center of a dome circle of a room. Flickering candle light hummed a warm glow of light, but warmth was scarce. On the pillar, canal grooves spiraled into a single path which fed into a black hole. Stood around this single feature were a dozen human silhouettes with silver masks and white robes. One man wearing a golden mask stepped into the crowd. “Come, Lily.” his bellowing voice echoed. Barefoot, she stepped forward, and removed her mask. Light fli...

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“God's Knowing” by Prithviraj Suryawanshi

Submitted to Contest #117

This is incredible.To his left was Earth. It had a shimmering cerulean glow about it which starkly contrasted its pitch-black cosmic backdrop. Henu couldn’t see even a single star, standing in front of the Gate, and that sent a chill down his spine. His home, which was immense and humbling, could now fit in his hand. Henu wondered if he crushed it would he rid them of their suffering.He stood transfixed by the beauty of his world for a long time. With time comes perception, and with perception comes the truth. Henu squinted when he saw an or...

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“Teen Creatures” by Charlie Murphy

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. Except for one thing."Come on, let me shave it!" Mimi begged."No!" Lori said, clutching her head."It will grow back.""No! You aren't shaving my head!""Alright, but everybody's going to think you're lame."“I don't care.”"Suit yourself." Mimi shrugged and passed the razor over her head."The only reason I'm going is that Jessica will be there.”"She will be bald.”"I don't care.”"Party pooper." Mimi stuck her tongue out at her."I can't believe you're shaving your head," Lori said, grabbing her blond hair....

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“An Uninvited Guest” by Cait McNeal

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #117

Dancers spun past in whirling flurries of color: scarlets, golds, midnight blues and deep luxurious purples. Wine flowed freely and tables stood piled high with succulent dishes too tempting for even the solomnest guest to resist. Revelers drifted past on feet made light by merriment. Lightning split the sky outside, and a heavy rain beat a martial rhythm against the enormous windows but inside laughter echoed through the ornate hall, reverberating off marble columns and a domed ceiling gilded with filigree. The walls were adorned with...

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“A House so Deadly” by Kenna Stacks

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger warning: Murder, death, violence, blood.I hate Halloween. You could call me whatever the orange and black version of the Grinch would be because I wanted to trip every little sticky brat filling the sidewalks demanding to have treats thrown into their pillowcases. I wanted to rip down every stupid, gaudy decoration and take a bat to the jack-o'-lanterns lining my street. Those crude carvings of faces in bright orange, circular fruits never kept the evil away like it was supposed to, anyway. But that would make me a monster, and Belli...

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“Root and Branch” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual; the five clerics of the vengeful and unforgiving Xyagii, greater god of slanderous lies, encircled an oblong, obsidian altar upon which was sprawled a naked and pregnant figure. With her back to the rigid polished stone and her wrists and ankles bound to the floor by taut and stout steel chains, the woman arched her spine in terror and dismay as the red-robed high priest in his snarling obsidian mask raised a viciously curved ceremonial dagger and chanted his perilous, guttural incantations to the deity o...

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“Memory, Oil on Canvas” by S. Thomson

Submitted to Contest #117

ㅤOn the morning of his 34th birthday, Tommy Morris sat up in bed and hit his head on the ceiling. He collapsed back onto his pillow and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead. With his other hand, he touched the newly exposed patch of plaster. It matched several other spots on the ceiling where the paint had fallen away. Tommy swung his legs over the side of the top bunk and jumped down onto the carpet with a thud. He looked around at his childhood bedroom. ㅤSunlight bled through the gaps beneath the curtains and the digital alarm clock on the...

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“A Halloween Cat-astrophe” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #117

As I lounged on the tree branch, I observed the witches below me, engaged in their spooky yet hypnotic dance. I imagined I was a powerful panther, my silky coat of black making me one with the inky shadows. ‘Invisible.’ I froze perfectly still to not give away my watchful perch. Well, almost perfectly still. The tip of my tail twitched, giving away my anxiety concerning the scene below me. They were not real witches of course, but young hopefuls in costume. The thirteen young women gyrated and swayed around the bonfir...

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“Purely Selfish Poltergeisting” by Mack Gage

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #117

Erin was a speck of dust on the map back home, trapped in the holographic border marking the edge of Human space. All around her, specks of dust were still exploding. When she thought of home Erin meant West Virginia. Of all the places left on Old Earth, West Virginia might have changed the least. It was still poor. Still a backwater. Still hell, for a precocious young woman like her. If a person could still be precocious when they were dying, and young after they’d been to war. Home wasn’t the Olympus and it never would be. Throug...

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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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