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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

“Fragments” by Sarah C.

Submitted to Contest #117

“I know something you don’t know.”Margot whipped her head around, her golden curls bouncing behind the back of her black polyester witch cloak she bought at Halloween City for five dollars the day before. Her eyes darted frantically around the empty record store, the only movement coming from a few of the swaying vinyl albums hanging from the ceiling. “Who’s there?” She asked the darkness, placing the box of used CDs she was told to bring to Kyle Perry’s Halloween party later that night, on the counter.Margot was sure there was no one e...

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“Nowhere Man” by Adrian Majerle

Submitted to Contest #117

Landon Combs. I repeated the name to myself over and over. The name wasn’t familiar. In a small town like Hogsfeet, Alabama, everyone knew everyone’s business. The art club in town was about to shut down from lack of funds. There was a recent spotting of the real Bigfoot on the big mountain twelve miles north off AL-49. Pastor Jones’s son got slapped with a DUI a few days ago. Combs allegedly lived in a small apartment complex on the outskirts of town before he disappeared. The grainy monochrome picture in the newspaper didn’t help. Landon ...

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“The Conformer, The Failure, and The Victor” by Cora Olson

Submitted to Contest #117

Trigger warning: mention of sexual assault, death Rigor mortis had already set in by the time the officers arrived at her house. The old woman was frozen in a rocking chair, covered in bodily fluids and old, stained blankets. The cheap dentures she wore had fallen out and landed on the uncleaned carpet, catching dirt and debris along the way. "Heart attack?" Deputy Rojas asked. Sheriff Walker didn't speak, only a slight nod. He knew Mrs. Trent. "Someone should've been taking care of her, Rojas. I thought someone was, I would've sen...

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“The Soul Of Agnes” by Donald Patterson

Submitted to Contest #117

WARNING: THIS STORY COTAINS SOME MATERIAL THAT MAY BE HARMFUL OR TRUAMATIZING TO SOME READERS. PART 1: Why me? "Julian? Are you alright?" Parker asked, laying a calm hand on my shoulder. I continued to look out the cold window of the bus, not saying a word. "I'm sorry, man. I wish I could help more." He said, shrugging. The bus began to slow down, and Parker and I got up from our seats. The guys in the back whispered and pointed at me, and Blake threw his jacket at me, laughing. "Just ignore them," Parker said, throwing the jacket back and ...

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“Astral Realm” by Robert Houston

Submitted to Contest #117

I never believed in the occult or the supernatural. Ghost, witches, vampires, demons...….. it was all malarkey. Just Hollywood propaganda to get you to splurge on bad movies and cheap Halloween props. At least that's what the three of us thought, until my friend, Mike, found that book. "Ok, so what the heck is it?" I asked."Come on, Jake..." said my friend Donnie, "...I know you have trouble reading, but I thought you'd at least be able to recognize a book when you see one." he joked."Shut up!" I shouted as I playfully shoved him....

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“Dance Macabre” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #117

Ever since I was a child, I had this fascination with graveyards. Cemeteries are like prisons; reservations designed to isolate, edge out, weigh down under granite and marble. They are an oasis of calm, respectful silence and often deserted. To me, they represent the will to preserve an abolition of memory; a memento mori: a declaration of the transient nature of life. The gravestones are like rows of books bearing the names of those who have been blotted from the pages of life, forgotten elsewhere, but remembered here. And of course, a warn...

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“The True Horror of a Poltergeist” by Alex Fish

Submitted to Contest #117

[cw: swearing (one "b" slur), unsettling themes, possible gaslighting, predatory behavior, body horror][while the following story is based on true events, names and other indicative details have been deliberately changed.]"You just have to remember that it isn't real," Doctor Wilson said. I sighed. I hated to admit it, but she was right."Then what should I do?" I asked. "I mean, what would you do in a situation like this?" Doctor Wilson paused. "Just ignore it," she said finally. "B-but- but-!" I stammered. "But what abou...

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“Outside” by Zoyd Radbury

Submitted to Contest #117

I don’t know how long I watched myself sleep that night. My face looked different than it did in the mirror. I can’t say in what way, it just did. I wondered what I was dreaming about. Probably the usual stuff. I didn’t wonder why I was floating a few feet above my own body. Not for a while at least. I can’t say how long. There I was, dreaming, probably about struggling to put on a pair of socks. The socks thing is a surprisingly common motif in my dreams. I never have much trouble putting them on in the waking world. I struggle wi...

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“The Bridge Door” by Annalisa D.

Submitted to Contest #117

CW: Sexual violence/abuse, suicide, swearing “You’re the absolute last person I want to call, but I’m really desperate here, Elliot.” Scarlett’s voice sounded shaky over the phone. Was it emotion or a bad connection? “What’s wrong? I’ll do anything to help.” “You’re the only one who answered.” I waited for her to continue. &nbs...

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“Someplace Just South of the Moon” by Todd Crickmer

Submitted to Contest #117

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” Alan kept repeating to himself as he gazed out across Biscayne Bay from his twentieth-floor balcony. The shadows of the high-rise condominiums that line the Miami shoreline were beginning to stretch out across the bay as the sun slowly settled behind him. He took another sip of his gin and tonic and winced as it was much more bitter than he expected. The clouds out over the ocean were slowly turning from white to a soft tangerine as the last rays of the setting sun slowly settled on the opposit...

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“PR103 to MNL” by Nacho De Vera

Submitted to Contest #117

They have put you in this box with me. A casualty of commons. Death by our own tax money. They have put you in this box with me. Three walls of cement with one large glass pane so that we may watch the anthill world below us. I wanted you to see this place. This less than perfect side of me. My anthill. Where the rules are only as firm as your will and where your tribe is the real law. It is as dis/honest as it is un/flattering. You are here now. And this is the truth of it. We have given everything to come here. Our tidy little home...

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“The Devil's lease” by Danielle Cole

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. Now to bring the mortals. This was his favorite time of year! Thursday, October the thirtieth Becky stopped by the local grocery store to pick up yet another free apartment guide. To her surprise there were none left. She searched around in disbelief, because she had never, ever seen them low on apartment guides. In fact, they often had so many extra that ...

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“Broken House Rules ” by Brenda Butler

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the ritual. The thing about it was that Leaf Cole could not recall how he became a part of it, at least not yet. His only assignment was to go down and take pictures of this small town in Massachusetts for a possible movie. He rented a place from the Slices when he arrived. The Slices included Bryan & Lucy the parents and John the oldest son and two daughters who where away. The room he rented in the Slices home was nice. It wasn’t empty but it did have some decent thin...

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“Seeking to Scare” by Brooke Allen

Submitted to Contest #117

Everything was ready for the Ritual.Sarah’s fingers twiddled against the cold, grey chair that creaked at every movement. The sky, gloomy and brewing outside, looked in from the expansive windows at Wistmond High School. Janet and she had been planning this for months – their last year at school, their last Halloween hurrah. It would be extraordinary and Sarah was so, so ready.Thus far, the day had felt long and silent sans their classmates lowered, hushed tones. Though Janet and Sarah were the only ones truly in on it, everyone in their gra...

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“The Winding” by Ben Rounds

Submitted to Contest #117

“Everything was ready for the ritual… everything was… ready… for the ritual… for the ritual everything was ready for… the ritual, the titual, the snitchual, the ritualeablez… the rit… u… al… for the….”Alex signed and pinched the bridge of his nose, unconscious of the slight hum resonating from the corner of the room as the airfryer whispered itself up to 350 degrees. Sliding his hands down till they reached his mouth he compressed his lips, pushing in till the pain ceased to feel good. The daily curse of men rasped against his fing...

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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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