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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#13: Spooktacular

This Thursday is Halloween! And you know we couldn't let October 31st go by without giving you all a batch of spooktacular writing prompts.

 

But don't worry if your tolerance for the scare factor is low: whether you're a fan of spine-chilling fiction or prefer stories about friendly ghosts, there's something in these prompts for everyone! 

If you want to do some Halloween reading after you submit your short story, here are some great resources to help you find the perfect, spooky read.

 

🥇 Winning story

“Queen Cymbeline” by Zilla Babbitt

The island reeked of fish; scattered guts and oozing blank eyes littered the black beaches, and the mountains smelled of bubbling, potting fish intestines. The sky was continually dark with the smoke from the fires beneath the cauldrons, and the water had a thin film of scales and oil, all in the bays and quaysides round the island. In the deepsea around the island, the fish that were still alive avoided the inlets and told tales among their young that a bloodthirsty monster lived on the isle, with a mouthful of s...

25 likes 22 comments 22 WINNER 🏆
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This week's prompts:

Write a story about someone spending the night in an old Victorian home-turned-hotel on Halloween.

Holiday – 49 stories

You go to visit your neighbor. When you ring the doorbell, a stranger appears and tells you that your neighbor has been dead for ten years.

Thriller and Suspense – 57 stories

Write a story about someone who sees a black cat cross their path... for the tenth time that day.

Mystery – 41 stories

You go for a walk and accidentally bump into someone. They feel the bump, but the person can't seem to hear or see you.

Thriller and Suspense – 59 stories

Write a story about an eventful evening of trick-or-treating.

For Kids – 41 stories

Stories

“Queen Cymbeline” by Zilla Babbitt

The island reeked of fish; scattered guts and oozing blank eyes littered the black beaches, and the mountains smelled of bubbling, potting fish intestines. The sky was continually dark with the smoke from the fires beneath the cauldrons, and the water had a thin film of scales and oil, all in the bays and quaysides round the island. In the deepsea around the island, the fish that were still alive avoided the inlets and told tales among their young that a bloodthirsty monster lived on the isle, with a mouthful of s...

25 likes 22 comments 22 WINNER 🏆
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“A New Life” by Cam Croz

I never thought that the most important day of my life would turn out like this…A trip to the store.A friend.A wig.A party.

16 likes 6 comments 6
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“Katie” by Marte Van der linden

I rang the doorbell to Katie’s house and a woman in a blue dress opened the door. You can always tell whether grown-ups are parents. Parents look friendly and comfortable but also a little bit ragged around the edges. This woman was not like that. Everything about her was neat and tidy, with sharp creases in her clothes and smoothed angles on her body. She glanced left and right before looking down. “Oh, hello!” She made her voice go up a little bit at the end and when she smiled I could count her teeth. “Can Katie come out ...

12 likes 4 comments 4
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“Fantasy or fantasy’s” by Mariyam Ghafar

As individuals, we hold the pen and paper. We hold it to victory, in hope of a stroke of luck that may come up and pat us on the back. We crave for many events to occur and you may or may not get that chance. You see it is all about opportunities. And that first opportunity I got was one you’d never get.If I told you, you’d think I was mad. Delusional. Living a fantasy life. However I built my fantasy life through bloody fists, every single day after school. They’d approach me, in a huddle or flock. They’d hold onto their ...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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“Maybe we are all different” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

So how does a story start? It starts in mid sentence as though searching for an evaporated clue. It doesn't always start with someone laughing and pulling back their hair in clumsy delight. Sometimes it begins much like how everything else falls into silent existence; like it has always waited to be told. The story starts with her.Her name used to be the talk of the Town back when it was easy to believe she was the talk of the town. First it was the little baby she'd found wrapped in dirty cloth by her doorstep. She fed the child a...

8 likes 0 comments 0
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“One time thing” by Theodora Simões

Dead, he said. His words carried the usual weight of someone who is not used to death, someone who maybe fears an unsettling reaction from the receptor of those grim news he had to deliver; after all, the only thing scarier than the absence of emotions is their very display. I wanted to laugh, really, tell him to not be so frail and hesitant, it is nothing but pathetic. Yes, Lucas has been dead for years now! Shout it! Proclaim it! Do not be faltering, looking at me as if I was the poor man who got the news too ...

7 likes 3 comments 3
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“Chrysalis Factory, a Heart, a Death, a Ghost” by Zilla Babbitt

Anam sat down on the dusty ground and pulled her knees up to her chest and rubbed her temples with her fingers. She felt so hot, so tired, so sick. Her chest heaved and her head spun and she knew she needed air. Anam needed to breath before she threw up.She darted a look at the foreman.He was yelling at poor Mary again. That Irish girl never knew which bobbin to spool when, and it was costing Mary tears and blood. Final...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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“The moon in my hands ” by Nicole Plaia

I woke up with cotton stars sticking to my arms. A patch of desiccated currants waiting to be cleansed. I am twenty years old, and wearing my own blood as a mask. I sank beneath my moon stained quilt and slept. To sleep I had to swallow pill after pill, and at some point I felt nauseous and lightheaded with electric eels ricocheting from ankles to knees.I thought I was older yesterday. When I finally stood up to leave my bedroom I heard the tv mumbling in the living room. I listened without moving, and then stepped into ...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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“I Am the Groundskeeper” by Joshua Insole

1The knife doesn’t slip in easily, I have to really force it.  2During the summer months, the hotel is bustling with life. People from all over the country holiday in our little slice of heaven. People from other countries come to pay us a visit, too. Our fields are green and expansive. Our mountains – albeit small – instil a sense of peace and wonder in the hea...

6 likes 4 comments 4
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“Behind the Pine Door” by Deborah Mercer

BEHIND THE PINE DOORI’d always liked Virginia – Ginny, as she preferred to be called. We weren’t the sort of neighbours who were constantly in and out of each others’ houses. We needed our own space and respected each others’ privacy. But she was a comfortable and considerate neighbour, and I liked to think she thought the same about me. I knew she thought my garden was messy, and I wasn’t too keen on her excess of decking, but it never turned into an issue. At Christmas she had a ...

6 likes 3 comments 3
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“Ljúfur and the Singer” by Zilla Babbitt

Ljúfur was a fierce Icelandic woman with big bones who took no giggling from anyone. She lived in New York in a large flimsy apartment building with a half-thousand other degenerate human beings. She hated all of them and would tell the plant on the windowsill that they were all stupid and the people in Iceland were a hundred times better.Ljúfur talked to plants. She had no family, no friends, no one ...

4 likes 0 comments 0
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“The Halloween Mystery Silver Dollars” by Marcellus Smith

      The Halloween afternoon block party broke up around five-thirty, and groups of little spooks, dressed in their most creative costumes, started. My Sammy joined six others close to his age and led by another parent. I stayed at home to answer our door since my husband was working late.            Sammy with his friends came to ‘trick-or-treat’ at our house early, thanked me and were on their way.      &nbsp...

4 likes 3 comments 3
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“A spoonful of sugar” by Hailie Durante

The smell of pumpkin spice and cinnamon brought me from my hole of a room as the sound of "Monster Mash" emitted from my mother's old radio. My mother was a lonely woman, divorced from my father when I was eleven years old. Now, I was sixteen and dragged into the horrid activity of decorating she had done for every holiday, every year for the past five years. Decorating was the only vice she had. "Oh, Mia!" My mother exclaimed, garish red lips spread into a grin. Her hands were covered with orange goop, encasing her fingers l...

4 likes 4 comments 4
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“Old Man Murray” by Glen Evans

"Raisins! What kind of people give out raisins on Halloween?" protested Mark."People with no taste, that's who! Next year we're definitely skipping that house" replied Donny."Without a doubt!" agreed Travis.The three boys had been friends since first gra...

4 likes 6 comments 6
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“Appleface” by Zilla Babbitt

When Halloween came around, Augustus Street went crazy. Balloons and movies and stickers and bloody decorations plastered to the windows. Candy in abundance, enough to fill a swimming pool, enough for the entire city to get diabetes. Children counted down the days with more excitement than Christmas, the adults gobbling pumpkin lattes and scones and cider with just as much enthusiasm as their bratty kids. There on the corner, where Augustus crossed Catchall, was a little lone house ...

4 likes 1 comment 1
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$50

Prize money

283

Submissions

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 01, 2019 EST

Won by Zilla Babbitt 🏆

Title: Queen Cymbeline

Winning stories will be featured on our website and in our weekly newsletter. For more information, please consult our terms of use.

Submissions will be approved and published within 7 days of the contest closing.

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