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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#65: Spooky Season

What is it about Halloween that we find so deeply appealing? Is it the excuse to dress up and pretend to be something other than ourselves for a few hours? The exploration of all things creepy and macabre, of subjects normally too taboo to engage with? Perhaps it’s just the abundance of all our favorite candies at the same time.

Whatever the reason, there’s no denying the allure of this thrilling and chilling holiday. And while many people’s Halloween celebrations will need to be very different this year, there’s no reason why we can’t still enjoy a bit of spooky fun!

Whether you like horror, the creepy aesthetic, or just overloading on candy, this week’s prompts have plenty of inspiration to get you into the Halloween mood.

This week's prompts

Start your story with two characters deciding to spend the night in a graveyard.

Novel – 320 stories

Write about someone’s first Halloween as a ghost.

Halloween – 206 stories

Write about a group of witches meeting up on Halloween night.

Halloween – 135 stories

Write about a vampire or werewolf who moves into a quiet suburban neighborhood.

Vampire – 160 stories

Write about someone taking a child trick-or-treating for the very first time.

Kids – 87 stories

Stories

“Bella's First Halloween” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #65

Bella’s First Halloween Every day, George Marchand watched the Asian mother with her little girl. They played in the garden or went for a walk. The little girl, Bella, was almost three. One day, there had been a pleasant exchange as he walked into town and came across the pair. The summer ended and the little girl still too young to go to school went to a babysitter every day while her mother went to work. He would see them arrive home together as a man from the mother’s work drove them to their place. The fal...

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“A Commune Away by Epheny Saffron” by Mike Persinger

Submitted to Contest #65

“Hey Almond, where did you find this colorful bucket?” He said, grabbing the flexible bucket and dumping small plastic containers onto the floor. “Dad, that’s a lunch box!” Almond said laughing. “Sofia gave it to me. She said it was sad I didn’t already have one.” She walked over to the island and tore the lunch box from its placement. “Well?” her Dad said, asking for an explanation. “Ehem! What the heck is this lunch box thing for?” “It's for carrying your lunch!” Almond said, matter of factly. “Wow! People got lazy!” her Dad said...

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“A night of change” by Fathimah Bangura

Submitted to Contest #65

Hi my name is Ella,am in highschool.am waiting for my bff,her name is Tima but I prefer calling her"The easily scared or weirdo" because she is almost scared of everything,and she is also unbelievable crazy.she is also sometimes irritating but that why I love her so much.am still waiting for her to come out.I don't know why she is always the last person to come out of the class.but anyway,am planning to tell her that we will be spending a night in a graveyard with others.but am not going to tell her that we will be in a separate tent and a m...

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“Devil In The Detail” by Eugene Ncube

Submitted to Contest #65

Little Susan talks to Greta; the maid, she asks odd questions about why her skin is not as dark as hers. Greta smiles and answers not since Susan's father watches them creepingly from his dining room couch. Greta changes topic and asks little Susan, "Do you miss Pa?" (Grandfather). Little Susan giggles, and replies, "let's go sleep at Pa's", as she pulls Greta to stand, she talks as if they are to visit a candy shop. Greta giggles and tells Susan, "Pa is dead", Greta was taught to always be direct with Susan. Susan responds, "I will die too,...

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“Second Row” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #65

Second Row “Just down there.” “Thank You.” I try and get out here at least once a year just to see how things are going. I used to come more often, but Morris has not aged historically well. I should explain. He died nine years ago today, October 31st. At first, I found his reluctance to accept the fact that he was dead, as his way of apologizing, for leaving me. I attempted to relieve his anxiety by explaining I was doing just fine, and he needn’t worry. I thought he accepted my explanation, but I’ve come t...

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“Beer and Halloween” by Rebecca Foster

Submitted to Contest #65

It was three days before Halloween. Jake and Darren were sitting in Jake's living room watching a movie and drinking beer. That was their favorite pastime. Jake stopped just before taking another drink and looked as though he had just the greatest thought in history. "You know what would be fun to do on Halloween?" he asked. "Scaring the crap out of trick-or-treaters?" "Well, yeah, that would be cool but I was thinking of getting drunk and spending the night in a graveyard." "You are a special kind of stupid, aren't you?" "It wo...

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“Our Night in the Cemetery” by Daniel R. Fincher

Submitted to Contest #65

The sun continued sinking down, and the feeling crept in that the night would be a long one. Our trip was spontaneous; we had brought nothing to make our overnight stay outdoors more comfortable. Neither of us expected to sleep anyway, which was good since there wasn’t a blanket or sleeping bag between us. A backpack she had grabbed from the trunk of the car was all we had, and I had no idea what she had in it. Approaching the house, with its frame sagging and paint peeling from decades of neglect and abandonment, my blood chilled to...

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“Ghost Hunters” by Mark D

Submitted to Contest #65

Ghost Hunters I’ve always been interested in the paranormal. No, I’ve never gone to Area 51 or checked out the mysterious Marfa Lights in Texas or stayed at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. I’m not a fanatic, I just have more than a passive interest in supernatural phenomena. While I’ve never seen a ghost myself, there are just too many stories for me to completely dismiss it. It’s like Sasquach. There’s just enough circumstantial evidence and eyewitness accounts that Big Foot is tromping around the woods out...

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“If I had Just Stayed Home” by Emily Germaine

Submitted to Contest #65

“I dare you! I dare you, Cam!”I shake my head and smile. Sometimes she really bothered me. “No, I won’t.”She stuck out her bottom lip and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Please… do it for me.”I look at the sky. “You’re not that convincing, Katie. Besides, I have to watch my little sister tonight.” I look at my watch. “Now, actually. And you know my parents, they’ll kill me if I’m late.”She wiggled her knees and growled. “Fine. But you’re boring, Slater.”“As long as I don’t get murdered, I’m ok with it.”On the way home, I really thoug...

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“Remember Me?” by Jacqueline Cantú

Submitted to Contest #65

“Time?” my sister, Ana, dryly blurts out without taking her eyes off the TV screen. “Not sure. My phone’s dead,” I sigh with a heavy hint of boredom. We’re sitting on our couch, scouring through Netflix for a movie or TV show that strikes our interest in the slightest. This isn’t much different than any other Friday night, but tonight especially stings because it is the first Halloween—or, Halloween Eve, I should say—that we’ll be spending at home due to the pandemic. Ana’s birthday falls on Halloween, so we make sure to go all out every ye...

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“The Curse” by Navneeth N

Submitted to Contest #65

Lift your foot. Move it forward. Put it down. Then repeat, but with your other foot. This had been Ryan’s and Kyle’s rhythms for the past hour- apart from stopping to refuel their canteens whenever they came across a river or stopping to clear some undergrowth. They knew that they had to keep hiking until they came across civilization before it got dark. “You see anything?” Ryan asked hopefully. “No,” said Kyle, getting frustrated. He was beginning to lose hope. He remembered their Boy Scout Troop leader’s f...

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“On Death and Dating” by Christopher Cayen-Cyr

Submitted to Contest #65

I was taken by surprise when Heidi asked me out. “Taken by surprise” here means “positively and absolutely shattered into pieces by the sheer ludicrousness of it” of course. It’s not every day the head cheerleader randomly asks out the captain of the Mathletes. Besides, I was under the impression she was still dating Neil, even though he had left for a semester abroad out of the blue. For a second, I wondered whether this was for a disturbing Carrie-like prank, but she seemed sincere. Cheerleaders usually date actual athletes, and secretly I...

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“Night of Terror ” by Sabrina Matsumoto

Submitted to Contest #65

Screams of terror carried by the breeze that causes goosebumps, horrified faces that plaster every figure out in the dark night and do not forget the jack o'lanterns that light up the creaky porches. This is what one would call the night of October 31st. This is the night that the devil comes out to play and that little angel on your shoulder just happens to disappear. I brush past children dressed as vampires and princesses, their innocence radiating off them as they walk through the streets without a care in the world, and t...

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“No Girls Allowed ” by Lucy St. Louis

Submitted to Contest #65

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a ghost? To merely be a shadow in the presence of someone you once where? To look back and wonder “why did that happen” or “how did that happen?” Trust me when I say that I ask myself these questions every day. I think about the day I died. I think about why the driver had to have run the light. Why the person drove on and didn’t worry. Why I didn’t even live through enough time to hear the sirens of the ambulance. I sat down on the top of the doorway of my room. I kicked my feet fr...

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“The Vetal” by Kanika Sharma

Submitted to Contest #65

The Vetal It is said that Halloween night is indeed magical, attracting the souls from other realms into one of the mortal beings for that particular night. Throughout the world, spooky incidents are reported on the eve of the 31st of October every year. It was yet another chilly Halloween night in the relatively deserted town of Yorkshire, London and the big Banyan tree at the dead-end of the 5th block, looked especially eerie that day. The dense cloud of fog around the tree was causing the light of decorative pumpkin lanterns put on in it...

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$50

Prize money

908

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 30, 2020 EST

Won by Joshua G. J. Insole 🏆

Title: Bridgemoss Guardians

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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