Menu

Prompts
DirectoryContestsMagazineFAQ
Stories
Studio
Apps

Hire professionals for your project

Advice, insights and news

Online publishing courses

Free publishing webinars

Launch your book in style

Bestseller PodcastBook Cover ArtSuccess Stories
Tools
Book Promotion SitesBook Review BlogsBooktube Channel GuideBook Title GeneratorCharacter Name GeneratorIndependent PublishersLiterary AgentsLiterary MagazinesPen Name GeneratorPlot GeneratorPublishers DirectoryShort Story IdeasWriting ContestsWriting ExercisesWriting Scholarships
Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write about someone’s first Halloween as a ghost.

Posted in Halloween on Nov 1, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 206 stories

Marshmallow Wrapped In Barbed Wire

Shortlisted for Contest #65 ⭐️

Twenty five years in, she found herself a ghost. She stood unseen in the living room, stupidly holding a large bowl of homemade caramel corn. The noise from the widescreen television washed over her, the whistles and calls, the screaming of the fans, the roar of the crowd. The men in the room, overgrown and overfed, booed and hooted, depending on their agreement with the referees. Empty bottles of beer and depleted bags of chips lay pillaged. She sat the bowl down. Quick meaty hands dug to the bottom, shoved gooey warm caramel corn into...

101 likes 54 comments 54
Read story

Ghostly fun times

Submitted to Contest #65

Oh, why? why did any of this ever have to happen? I could have just been at home still and watching a movie with my friends or something. We always did like watching hocus pocus on Halloween...We could have been out trick-or-treating as well...either of those options was good. I remember how last year I had dressed up as Katara and one of them had dressed up as Aang...Do any of them even miss me? I know that I had only died a week ago or so...but they shouldn't even miss me that much. I don't think that I was ever there with them that much.....

99 likes 293 comments 293
Read story

That Which Comes For Them.

Submitted to Contest #65

As the faded black quilt of the night masks out the everlasting intense flare we call luminescence,And the harmonies of all blissful things fall prey to the mournful music of the ever obfuscous vault.The quiet mellow wind will drift, consuming the ones who shiver in the rawest of frost.And then, when all the voices of the world remain unspoken, That's when, the eternal deepening pained souls,The beaten.The discouraged.The crippledThe broken...For them, it will come. That which threatens the presence of suffering and grief,Of tortur...

96 likes 126 comments 126
Read story

October Masks

Submitted to Contest #65

Imagine:  Nima Lachapelle.  A ballerina from Arkansas, disillusioned and disenchanted, cheated out of a fortune by her scummy ex boyfriend. She’s running from the law after a late night tire slashing with friends gone wrong.  She’s currently late for an audition, but standing in front of a coffee shop with cold hands and a mask covering half her face.  The order will be long and complicated; it will set her back at least twelve dollars, but what she loses in cash she will make up for in energy.  Nineteen years old an...

72 likes 119 comments 119
Read story

A Ghostly Halloween

Submitted to Contest #65

“To multiply a two-digit number by itself, you carry this, and blah blah, blah..” I was in math class, and Mrs.Ingrid was talking about multiplication. I dozed off, because firstly I was in Grade 11 math, so I don’t need to listen to Grade 5 stuff. Secondly, I’m thinking of what I should be for Halloween. Tomorrow was the candy-filled holiday, and I still didn’t really know what to be. My friends had known what they were gonna be since last March; Lilly is going to be Cinderella, Brody is gonna be a clown, and Grace is going to be a zombie b...

65 likes 32 comments 32
Read story

Ollie's Bucket List

Submitted to Contest #65

Ollie lost track of how much time he'd spent standing at the door with the purple panel, doing his best to attract the occupier’s attention, but hard as he tried, he just couldn't generate enough of a knock to alert the householder to his presence. He had just made the decision to move on to another house when he heard the latches unfasten from the inside. The door opened to reveal a middle-aged lady with big hair and a startling amount of make-up looking down at him, a forced lipstick-smeared smile projected prominently on her face."Hu...

62 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

My First Halloween

N S

Submitted to Contest #65

“The last globally visibly full moon on Halloween was in 1944 during world war 2 and now after 76 years my first Halloween is on the full moon.” – I read in the news article on the web and couldn’t have been more excited. What should I dress up like? Dracula’s partner? But I have no Dracula to accompany me. Perhaps A witch? Nah. Oh gosh! It is my first Halloween, and I want to be my best! Thought Danni to herself. Danni was super excited about her costume and first Halloween. Having grown up in Istanbul and moving to Brasov only last year,...

56 likes 15 comments 15
Read story

The Silent Sister

Submitted to Contest #65

The lights are off in the house, and I can barely see as I follow my sister Lucy to the games room. She’s young, like me, and full of energy, which I lack. When we reach the games room, we find our brother, Christopher, and our mother, Josephine, sitting on a couch, looking drained. Christopher’s eyes are red, and mum’s face is gaunt, long, and tortured and pained. I wonder what’s wrong. They won’t tell me, even though I keep asking as loud as I can. Lucy crawls into mum’s arms on the opposite side of Christopher, leaving no room for me. ...

47 likes 25 comments 25
Read story

Not at All what I expected

Submitted to Contest #65

 On top of everything else I’ve gone through this week, now I must find a suitable costume by Saturday. I tried to get out of it, but ‘the powers that be’ say that participation in the Halloween events is mandatory for everyone. And that includes me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve always loved Halloween. Deciding on a costume was one of the best parts of the entire year. After all, my birthday is two days before, and then there’s all that candy. Oh. I guess my birthday was two days before the big day. I don’...

45 likes 12 comments 12
Read story

Re: Don't Freak Out

Submitted to Contest #65

To: Elsie Harning <elharn82@gmail.com>From: Annika Harning <iamdead@theotherside.com>Subject: Don’t Freak Out, Just Read ThisEls,Don’t freak out when you get this, okay? Please. Just read through this email. You’ll probably want to remember to breathe, too. [In, hold for four seconds, out, hold for four seconds. Got it?]I found a way to communicate with you, just for 24 hours. Don’t ask how; had to make some shady deals with some higher (and lower) powers. But they set this up for me and now I’m here.I just want to let you know I...

45 likes 35 comments 35
Read story

Yours Forever

Submitted to Contest #65

Oh my god, what has she done with herself? I couldn't believe my eyes. My Roxanne without laughter, perfume, and mascara. Roxanne was my beloved and only child. What I had dreamt about her and what has she become now. She looks like she hasn't combed her hair for days. Her beautiful golden brown hairs are tied into a messy bun, her shoes are filthy. She's wearing my shirt. My orange color collared button-down shirt. The shirt makes her look muscular, the collar has literally covered half of her shoulder. And she's sobbing while walking down ...

43 likes 46 comments 46
Read story

The Adventures of Luke and Lexi

Submitted to Contest #65

“Come on Lexi! We had an agreement.” I sighed in exasperation, “That was before you died, doofus.” “Alive, dead… does it really matter?” my brother shrugged. I felt like standing against the wall and repeatedly banging my head on it. Carrying on a conversation with Luke often made me feel like it. And not for the most obvious reason. He was twenty four years old, well twenty three when he passed. But he still acted like a three year old. “How are people ever going to get that I’m Lilo when they can’t see Stitch huh? They’re just gonna th...

43 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Dreams of The Dead

Submitted to Contest #65

Memories. So many. I wish I could erase them all. Then perhaps, I wouldn’t feel so much pain. This is what I think as I hug myself, staring at the starry night sky in front of me, millions of marigold petals creating a path across it, leading back to the mortal world. The bridges are alive, busy with those who are quite the opposite. I push my foot into the red sandstone ground I stand on, laughter echoing around me. It’s been 11 months and 8 days since the accident. I remember slipping into Mami’s beautiful black cashmere coat, not wanting ...

39 likes 31 comments 31
Read story

A Letter From Limbo Land

Submitted to Contest #65

I escaped my recent death by becoming a ghost in limbo land. In exchange for being undead I agreed to attend and perform haunting services upon request. I understood my obligations and signed the standard ten-year contract that requires two visitations a month and allows me four annual social calls to see my family, on compassionate grounds. This is a very workable arrangement with plenty of scope for unchecked mischief making. I keenly anticipated returning to surprise my old friends and teasing them with impunity.“So,” I hear you say. “Sur...

35 likes 7 comments 7
Read story

A Sister's Love Never Dies

Submitted to Contest #65

I had died last year on November 29, 2019. This would be my first year as a ghost, and everyone else wanted to haunt everyone they hated when they were alive. All I wanted to do was make sure that my little sister, Ally got as much candy as she wanted. She loved candy, and I knew that if she got at least two jack o-lantern buckets of candy she would be less sad about me dying. I also wanted her to kind of forget that my birthday is on Halloween because she would be really sad and not want to go trick-or-treating. I had died of leukemia, and...

30 likes 52 comments 52
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Novel – 318 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 – 159 stories

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

Kids – 87 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel