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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

“A Day of Goodies & Delights” by April Summers

Submitted to Contest #65

“Trick-or-Treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! Or I’ll punch your face! With a smile on my face!” “Woo, woo there you little tyrant‒” “I’m not little! I’m a knight!” “That’s beside the point, but okay you giant knight. Where’d you learn to sing that weird song?” “From you uncle Tommy.” “What? When did I ever‒oh‒shit…” “Shit!” “Don’t say that word! God your mom’s right. You repeat every little word you hear like a damn parrot and why the hell am I stuck babysitting a kid on Halloween when I’ve got bett...

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“A Vampire, a Graveyard, and a Witch” by P. J. Quirindongo

Submitted to Contest #65

Williamsburg, VirginiaRed and orange leafed trees welcomed Vlad and his two guards as they drove down the main road to his new home. He scoffed at the absurdity of the situation. The driver, who wore a face shield, glanced at him through the rearview mirror before he looked away. Vlad tightened his jaw and glanced at the trees. The sunset hurt his eyes despite his sunglasses, and his skin tingled underneath his thick black leather jacket. The sun smacked him in his face, and he hissed before covering his skin. Why on earth did he choose Virg...

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“Dum Spiro, Spero” by Elizabeth Inkim

Submitted to Contest #65

The rain was full of ghosts. Apparitions of whispers that have long since died on the lips of the damned whistled through the streets. Brittle, broken leaves danced in the frigid breeze of autumn. Dum Spiro, Spero. Dum Spiro, Spero. Dum Spiro, Spero. The words haunted my mind as I stormed down the chipped streets. Like a broken stereo, the words rattled around in my head, again and again; unrelenting. Ever since that blasted beast of bewilderment bit me, flashes of another life plagued my dreams. They felt more like memories of another life;...

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“The Day I Did It” by 🌮 Kao Crimsonstar 🌮

Submitted to Contest #65

I didn’t want to wake up on Halloween. Oh, yes, ghosts indeed do sleep. The only way we’re different from you living freaks is that we’re incorporeal entities, meaning that we don’t have bodies, and we don’t consume food or water. Or have bodily functions. Yes, we can touch ourselves and each other, and, yes, we can feel. And yes, we do wear clothes. Ghost clothes. Back to the subject of discussion – the day that had dawned on me. Halloween. 31st October. A day, that, even just a year ago, I regarded as a way to get free candy and spend at ...

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“The Turquoise-Pointed Potentiality” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #65

“Oh, she’s so cute!” exclaimed Mrs Benson, who lived next door, and whom Margot’s mother called Belinda, and whom Margot was supposed to call Auntie Belinda. “Positively scrumptious! I could just eat her up!” Mrs Benson actually had quite nice teeth, a bit crooked, but nothing really wrong with them. But when she bared them as she said positively scrumptious, something made Margot feel the same way she did as when she was forced – or, as her mother would have said, persuaded, to eat what folk ...

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“Cat Killer” by April Parkinson

Submitted to Contest #65

In the end, it was dad who put us up to it. The early afternoon sunlight punched in through the dusty windows, casting harsh shadows on Tim’s earnest expression as he said to me, ‘I just don’t think it’d be right, Ollie.’ It was about two in the afternoon, and my brother Tim and I were sitting in the sunroom deliberating about what should be done and whether anything should be done at all. We sat tensely on the ugly brown sunroom couch and spoke in quiet voices, so mum and dad in the next room watching Channel Seven wouldn’t h...

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“The Regretted Promise” by L M

Submitted to Contest #65

I made a mistake. A really big mistake. A promise I regret. I made an innocent promise, that I had no way of knowing would come back to haunt me later. To say Alice and I were best friends is an understatement. We were inseparable. We were practically sisters, from two different worlds. It began in second grade, when she transferred schools. I still remember what she looked like that day, a skinny toothpick, knobbly joints, ripped jeans, and a dingy flannel shirt. She had knotted, brown, short hair. But still, she wore a sneaky, sw...

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“Continuance” by Adah M.M

Submitted to Contest #65

"It will be fun. Just me, you and a bunch of dead folks singing out to the moon." says Alec "In a cemetery ? There are much saner ways to celebrate an anniversary. Like going to the park or movies or something like that" Jane exclaims "I know but it's October. The month of the spooky and spookay" Alec says jumping and making weird signs with his hands. Jane laughs and shakes her head in refusal. Alec sighs and jumps on the ratty couch in the room. "It's not ideal, I know. B..but I just want to make new great great memories wi...

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“More than an assignment...” by Pratheeksha R

Submitted to Contest #65

The teacher announced “In tomorrow’s class, everyone will give a talk on what they did for Halloween. I’m eagerly looking forward to listening to all your stories.” 9 year old Rohan froze. This was his very first Halloween, more so in a foreign country. He hailed from India and there was no Halloween there. That evening, he waited patiently for his dad to return from the office. He looked out of the window as he saw a bunch of kids going Trick or Treating in his neighborhood. They were dressed in costumes. Spider-Man, super m...

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“DON'T LOOK BACK ” by Abhik Bhanu

Submitted to Contest #65

DON’T LOOK BACK &nb...

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“The wearing of the masks” by Tracy McGrath

Submitted to Contest #65

I live in a world where people of all shapes and sizes dare not leave the confines of their homes without wearing some kind of mask. Whether it be to hide the pain, guilt or shame. Or whether it be to prevent a nasty cold from spreading to passerby's, we all have the masks we wear. However, once a year, on October the 31st, there be a Holiday called Halloween, where the celebrating of mask wearing is praised, and this is a story of one such encounter. It was a day like no other as my twelve year old came running down the stairs, all e...

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“The Hunt” by Michael J. Conroy

Submitted to Contest #65

Outside, the snow was three feet deep.While inside, under cover of The Shamrock, Griffin was adjusting his trapper hat for what Kit Stevens reckoned was the tenth time.‘Nice hat, Griff. Where did you get it?’ he asked.‘Mollie – birthday present.’Kit considered this and asked, ‘Is that so? Happy belated birthday, I guess. I’m not good with dates, you know, and I often wonder why?’‘Perhaps if you came up for air every once and a while, you might save a brain cell or two.’Griffin was referring to the amount of marijuana Kit Stevens smoked...

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“Water and Stone” by Claire Lindsey

Submitted to Contest #65

They walked hand in hand through the tall grass, the blades bending beneath their footsteps with papery sighs. The sun was setting in the distance, over the tops of the mountains which hemmed the valley in shadows. The air hung heavy with the last of the day’s warmth, full of the slow song of crickets and the few birds yet to escape the impending winter.Gwen smiled at her fiancé, her face alight with the fire of the evening sky. They knew that they should head back, that the night threatened to overtake them before they could return to the h...

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“Janet's First Halloween” by Daniel Brown

Submitted to Contest #65

Janet sobs over the gaping hole in her hand-me-down vampire costume. “Halloween is ruined,” she sighs with her head braced against my leg. Loretta can stitch the roughest patch in a marriage together with her thread and needle. OK, that’s a stretch but the massive hole in this vampire cape would be effortless for her. Not to mention, she scoured the entire house and dug up my old vampire costume; of all the nights to cover someone’s shift, why did it have to be this one? “I’ll do my best with it,” I wipe Janet’s tears back ...

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“A Walk with Waldi” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #65

The more long-standing residents wished they could claim it was some kind of mystery or local legend, or at least that they could tell any newcomers that, but, unfortunately for such mildly entertaining ideas, there was such a thing as the Internet, and they may well have ended up looking rather silly. Still, if it wasn’t fairly common knowledge that there was no mythical story behind The Rocks, then it wouldn’t have been that difficult to believe it. A kind of Stonehenge in miniature, boulders arrange...

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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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