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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

“Seeing Further Blind” by Mahlia Toffoli

Submitted to Contest #117

TRIGGER WARNING: Please note that this story contains gore and some scenes that may not be suitable for young children.‘Everything was ready for the ritual’ was the email that Mary Sullivan received that morning, and a chill ran down her spine in anticipation. She remembered smiling and almost dropping her coffee mug into the sink at the sheer thought of tonight. But, instead, she made sure to double-check her belongings before leaving at dusk, saying that the ritual would work best without the glare of the purity of light. Children shr...

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“The Ghost Oak” by Deborah Drake

Submitted to Contest #117

The Ghost Oak by Deborah Drake – word count: approx 1514 inc title(prompt: Set your story at the boundary between two realms)The great Oak tree had been standing steadfast, in a clearing in the Southern Forest, near the village of Little Wychwold, for as long as anybody could remember. Certainly, the sheer size and scale of this giant, with its girth measuring a good nine metres or more, would indicate that the tree was, indeed, as ancient as local folklore would have you believe.It seemed to defy time. There were no visible signs ...

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“The Hubble Law” by Gianluca Angelucci

Submitted to Contest #117

[Disclaimer - rude language]They say that space smells like chicken. To him it smelled like a fucking Nobel price.Wearing the bio-suit was like bathing into a tub of slime, just warm enough to make you feel like sitting on a public toilet that had been used by a filthy stranger a few moments earlier.Nevertheless it was the most advanced piece of equipment to challenge the deadly stare of empty space, capable of supporting life in hostile environments for one hundred years or more.That the universe was expanding (faster than the speed of ligh...

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“Unmasked at Last” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #117

Unmasked at Last For many years the rundown farmhouse had stood abandoned at the end of the country road in one of the dark forests of the northern Delmarva Peninsula. The farmhouse appeared to have no useful value to anyone and, as far as anyone knew, no one had liv...

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“Is Everyone a Monster on Halloween?” by Elizabeth Fenley

Submitted to Contest #117

SorchaEveryone is a monster on Halloween. I am a monster every day. On Halloween, I don’t have to hide.I was human once, cursed after death for my supposed sins, condemned to an eternity of insatiable hunger for human flesh—living is delicious, succulent, but dead will suffice. We are the Jikininki, widely known in the US as wendigos. We retain our basic humanoid, bipedal structure, but our facial features are grotesquely distorted. Deep-set glowing silver eyes shelter under a prominent, hairless brow ridge of early humans, homo erectus. A f...

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“A Halloween Conflagration” by Bruce Friedman

Submitted to Contest #117

Warning: story contains explicit details about violent death.I was making my usual weekly excursion to the local grocery store, WeShop, for some items when something catastrophic happened. It changed my life forever and I will never forget it. It was Halloween and that fact has also seared the event in my memory.On this particular day and whenever I stopped at WeShop, I tended to use one of the automated self-checkout lanes because the traffic moves faster and I also like the technology. I scanned four or five items on my way out and was abo...

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“Be Careful What You Wish For” by E. J. Wilhelm

Submitted to Contest #117

It had been an accident. Well, alright. Caleb had said it on purpose, but he had also been seven years old, head filled with Grandma’s stories of fairy rings, when he came across the circle of mushrooms just a few hundred yards from his home, in a gap in the trees that seemed perfectly sized for it. “I wish she would leave me alone,” he said to the circle of mushrooms, because no seven-year-old boy wants to be constantly followed by a three-year-old girl, and it didn’t matter how he asked or cried or begged their parents to keep her busy...

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“The Ones” by Omar Alvarez

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. The crowd sought out the individuals. For tonight, the teens three, Explore our realm and be free. In Spookville, its projected A theme of darkness, demented. Spirited demons and ghoulish hosts, A lively bunch of passionate ghosts. In Spookville, the ceremony would mean A new way to cross in between. Two worlds would be connected. Once passed, not be rejected. On All Hallows Eve, Those appointed to leave Are tasked to perceive Something sweet to retrieve. Upon their return, They apprise what the...

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“Little Boy Jack And The Missing Mama” by Lisa Neuvelt

Submitted to Contest #117

Alex was getting ready for a long day at The Wagon Wheel restaurant where he worked. He was setting up a table when he looked up to see a little boy standing there. His clothes were dirty and his hair was wild and ungroomed. “Hey Buddy,” he said. “We are not open yet.” The little boy just stood there. Alex looked around to see if this little boy was with anyone. “Who are you with?” Alex asked. “Where are your Mommy and Daddy?” Still the boy didn’t respond. Manny, the restaurant manager, came out from t...

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“The Fire Keepers” by Jacob Dueck

Submitted to Contest #117

A ripple appears before you shimmering in the moonlight illuminating the sidewalk in a cascade of unearthly colors. You're near the edge of town, the honks of horns and the shouts of children have long since faded. Staring into what you can feel is the precipice of something new, something uncharted, a sense of adventure washes over you almost forcing the next few steps through this tear in reality. As those fateful steps are taken the cold night air shifts into the warmth of a fire. Stepping carefully into this other world you observe your ...

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“The Curse of Abbadon” by Ava Martin

Submitted to Contest #117

“Everything is ready for the ritual, Ms. Cozbi,” Egill avoids looking Ms. Cozbi in the eye as he informs her of his success. He shivers as Ms. Cozbi pats him on the back and walks towards her cauldron. The dark enchantress hasn’t informed him of her plan, but Egill wouldn’t ask questions or he would be putting the lives of his loved ones in danger. Egill begins to back away from what Ms. Cozbi is doing. She stands in front of a cauldron with a book that's bind is peeling with age. In front of Ms. Cozbi is a circle of six sharp triangular st...

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“Humphrey's Ice Party” by Karena G

Submitted to Contest #117

Travelers come to our small southern town of Humphrey from all over the world just to see the permanently frozen pond. Naturally, tourism is more rampant in the summer when the outside temperature hovers around ninety degrees. In the 1970s, geologists migrated from all over the world to study it; none ever able to find the root of the phenomenon or the age of the pond. The town was smart enough to make a civic campground in the footprint of the scientists’ departure, though. When kids can go skating outdoors in mid-July, tourists will pay ...

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“New in Town” by K W

Submitted to Contest #117

Content Warning: Gore, themes of abuse I rounded the corner in a white Honda Civic. It wasn’t mine. I mean, I guess it was now. The corner had turning restrictions but only on weekdays in the mornings and afternoons for children walking home from school. It was well past 4:00 PM, so I made the turn on red. Main street was bustling. Food trucks lined the streets offering everything from tacos to lobster rolls. People gathered en masse for some of the trucks, while others seemed less popular. The barbecue wings were slaughtering the vegan o...

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“I Remember...” by Mo Ferdause

Submitted to Contest #117

There are a lot of things I can’t remember. Things that anyone should be able to mutter out in a split second from a simple trigger in their brain would take me hours of recollection and piece together. Parts of my childhood that others remember clearly are still vague to me even after so many years. Bits and pieces of memory come to me when I think real hard, but that’s all they are -- memories.When I first arrived in this world, I was with a family that loved me from day one. I wa...

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“The Busiest Night of the Year” by Edward Savage

Submitted to Contest #117

The chair creaked and moaned as he dropped into it with a heartfelt sigh stretching his legs out in front of him. He pulled off his leather gauntlets and dropped them on the side table then pushed his hood back and rubbed his face in an attempt to rub his fatigue away. There was a clink as a full tumbler of whisky over ice was set down on the table. “Thank you, Michael,” he said, his voice full of the fatigue he felt. “Your welcome Samael. Rough night?” “I really hate All Hallows Eve,” he replied, picking up the glass and taking a h...

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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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