Welcome to our 2019 $500 Halloween Horror 50 Word Story Contest. Yes, that’s right. It’s already here. Every year we run our contests, and those of you who have been frequent readers, this is what you’ve been waiting for.
First we will be doing a print issue! We will be doing 2 print issues, and we will pick entries from this contest to be in our issue. If you had a 50 word story designated to be in our print issue, from a past contest, please contact us.
Second, we will be giving out a $500 reward for the best 50 word horror story. This is not easy for us. Every Writer is not doing as well as it did in the past, but we want your stories. I believe writers should get paid for their work. I wish we could pay all of our writers, but it’s just impossible. So $500 for 50 words, I think is a unique and valuable statement to our readers. Ten dollars a word is what all writers really deserve.
So here are the rules:
• Story must be scary
• Story must be 50 words
• Story must be original and your own
• Story may not be published elsewhere
• Story must have a title (does NOT count in word count)
• Deadline is October 25, 2019
• Enter as many times as you want
• Story must be written in the comments below!
• Be nice or be disqualified
I love these stories. This is one of favorite traditions of Every Writer. I look forward to this every year, and this year I have extended the time we are going to spend with the contest.
The winners will:
• Be announced on October 31, 2019
• Will get $500
• Will be published in our digital and print issue.
• Will get an author page on our site
There is no entry fee for this contest. It would help us out greatly if you would donate 1$ or more, if you can, to help out the site. We would really appreciate it. A donation will not be considered in the deciding this contest.
If you want to keep up with me on Twitter, please follow me at @everywriter, I follow back all writers.
Good luck, and let the writing begin.
HERE IS THE WINNER
I have picked 4 stories. They all have times and days on them. If the winner does not respond by Friday 11/22/19 the money will go to the next story on the list. Here are the top 4 stories in order. ONLY OUR 1st PLACE WINNER gets the $500. Also, so this insanity never happens again, the winner will be invited back next year to be one of the judges.
WINNER 1st Place:
Kit Steward 10/13/19 5:20 pm
THE MIDNIGHT INCUBATOR
She heard mushy sounds for days and suffered from unbearable itchiness.
A doctor’s visit revealed earwig pupae nesting in her ear canal, it was flushed out.
Later, weary from stress, she crawled into bed.
That night while she slept, the creature returned.
And finding the eggs missing, it laid more.
2nd Place:
Elizabeth Lee 09/24/19 4:36 pm
Secondhand Doll
She didn’t want a secondhand doll so she flung it across the room. Porcelain cracked against the wall. Her mom made her glue the pieces back together. A thin shard sliced her hand, baptizing the doll in her hateful blood. The secondhand doll decided she didn’t want an ungrateful child.
3rd Place:
Alexander Daley Escobedo 10/25/19 3:38pm
Heirloom
We Buried my brother today. Suicide. He thought something evil was haunting him. He’d been medicated, institutionalized, shocked and secluded. He found his own way out. I wish I could tell him I’m sorry. Or had listened more closely. Because, when I got home, it was on my couch. Laughing.
4th place:
JB 10/25/19 8:12pm
TITLE: RESEVOIR
We should have known something was wrong when we first tasted the water. It was a little brown, but no more than usual in this apartment complex.
We kept drinking it until it turned black.
When they opened the water tank, they found the bloated, rotting corpse of my neighbor.
We usually always contact the winners first, but after all the trouble, we are opening up the process. I am again, very sorry for how late this is. I did not expect 4000 stories. Next year I will be ready.
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Haunted Hayride
I lunge forward, hissing. They reel backward, shrieking, then laughing. The tractor rounds the bend, and I slink back into the shadows.
But something’s wrong.
I feel hot breath; a cold knife. I want to fight, but it’s hopeless. Everyone will hear me scream, but here, no one will care.
Predator
I watched her walk in, she sat down to play with her dolls. The hair on my back stood up straight, my stomach ached with hunger, saliva dripped from my fangs. The door crept open slightly, it caught her attention and she looked right at me, she screamed, I pounced.
Eyes Wide Open
It was staring at her. Eyes dead, yet seeing. Face decaying. Cracked lips parting releasing that putrid breath of death. She opened her eyes. It lunged, gnarled fingers digging into her skull. As its teeth clamped down, she woke up. Relieved she opened her eyes. It was staring at her.
MOUTH ORGAN
Naturally, his jaw had to be dislocated to fit the device. Thirty-two cables run from the keys to needles poised over each drilled tooth. Tuning took forever! Difficult to get just the right screams. He fainted often, but at last I got four octaves! Now, for your listening pleasure…
MIND YOUR MOTHER
Children, mind your mother,
For there’s something in her stare
That speaks of a mad hunger
For abominable fare.
Watch her hands for fork and knife
When she checks on you at night.
She has a taste for tender life,
And she just might take a bite!
THE PEMBERTON GHOULS
At Pemberton, a boarding school,
The kids sneak out at night.
Each one with a digging tool
In search of grim delight.
They find a grave and dig away
With wide rapacious eyes.
Robbing graves is how they play.
Fresh corpses are the prize!
A BACCHANALIAN LAMENT
My pallor is green, muscles ache, and nerves cause me to shiver.
Quite easy to see from blood in my pee the source is a troubled liver.
Some wine to drink, Cirrhosis I’d think, a vintage yellow and pale.
Damned, be. Next one’s on me.
Barkeep ‘hiccup’…a tankard of ale.
SHE GOT FIRED
Charise got a part-time job at Marrowbone’s Mortuary.
Her two friends teased, “It’s haunted.”
“Come by at midnight,” she dared.
They did; she gave the tour.
Entering the crematorium, they took turns climbing into the furnace.
Then all three crammed in at once.
Suddenly, the door slammed and flames roared.
“The Reflection”
She wept at the foot of the lake, dress torn and hair askance.
“Let me back in!” she cried. “I’ve changed my mind!”
She shimmered in moonlight, floating on the surface of the lake. “You buried me in the dark, and now you’ll burn in the light.”
A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
A child was eaten by a vicious dog.
A child was scalded by boiling water.
A child was killed by drinking poison.
A child was dropped down the staircase.
A child was drowned in the bathtub.
A child was choked by a small toy.
A parent was paralyzed by fear.
THE BI-FOCAL TERROR
Sammy plucked out his glass eye for cleaning.
The real one saw things, things so horrible he had to remove it.
He kept it in a tube in his pocket.
Fortunately for him, it rarely came out of hiding.
The other eye though, it began seeing things lately, different things…
“Newborn”
It was a quick bite, a negligible sting. But it itched like mad, no matter how hard she scratched. The bump bulged and burned, flexed beneath her fingernails. It grew so when she finally broke through, the reedy cry of birth erupted from her splitting skin.
“Careful What You Wish For”
The djinn reeked of rotting flesh and sulfer. Her silver eyes glimmered.
“I wish to be idolized.” He squeezed his eyes shut, a scream trapped in his throat. Pain shot through his hands and feet, thorns penetrated his scalp. His body stiffened as the choir’s harmonious melodies filled the church.
“Bite Me”
Halloween night and Mary was thrilled to get the vampire alone. With his black satin cape and slicked back hair he was easily the hottest guy at the costume party. She was savoring her victory as she savored his embrace, until she kissed his blood red mouth and tasted fangs.
The Horror Within…
It crawled towards the promise of life giving incubation, scuttling into the fetid dampness, depositing its offspring into the nutrient rich lung wall.
The mortuary attendant opened the refrigerator door, falling back screaming as tiny creatures poured out, onto him. He ran, screeching for help.
Tiny bodies went with him….
“Dream Catch”
…Big mistake, little girl. Waking up here. Alone. No one will ever find you here. Don’t worry. You`ll never be alone again. Because I’ll never leave. What’s wrong? Can’t sleep? Can’t wake up? Say g`night to The Light, now, and my voice is all you’ll hear.
Big mistake, little girl…
The Samhain guisers, including someone in a white sheet and holding a decorated horse skull arrived at a farm.
‘Get away you scroungers,’ the farmer snarled.
The aos sí, the souls of the dead, dropped their disguises and shrieked.
Instantly, every horse, cow and sheep on the farm fell dead.
The students for a laugh decided to squat in a Neolithic passage tomb aligned with sunrise at the time of Samhain. They drank the night away, munched hamburgers, explored sex and blared pop music. The first rays of sunshine touched them. Later, a parental search party found their charred remains.
THE LAST EXORCIST
The old priest pulled from his robes a glass bottle. Uncorked, devils flew out and circled his head. Howling, they navigated the stare of his hoary eyes, viscid tongues licking his eyeballs and the reflections of innocents perplexed and insane; finally, in death, the possessed set free from his gaze.
ABORT, ABORT, ABORT
The inevitable turned the mid-day sky blood red.
Fallout turned it black with ash; dropping temperatures rapidly.
Reptiles were the first to go, plants, birds, food, hope, people.
Time wore on as winter eternal blanketed the earth.
Life contracted.
A mother became sterile for millennia and was glad for it.
…A LIFETIME ON THE HIPS
His thickness slowly hoisted up the stairwell.
Barely managing the aisle, Phil sat beside a small girl.
The loaded bus rolled over in an accident.
Rescuers struggled with an immobile girth that suffocated the crushed girl.
Phil, ever the emotional eater; would bear the guilt, shortly before his own death.
LOW LAYING FRUIT
“The things they plant in this cemetery,” mused the gravedigger.
A polished gravestone read, “LUSCIOUS PEAR.”
“Three wide by eight long and six deep – no yield garden,” he thought, finishing.
After the stripper’s funeral ended, he returned.
“One never knows,” he grinned filling the hole.“She’s probably seen plenty of fertilizer.”
MUTED CRIES
His eye opened to the darkness that embraced him, the other swelled in pain.
Paralysis glued him where he laid, two dead bodies away from incineration.
This must be a dream.
Breathe in… Breathe out…
Eyes shut… Reality sucks.
One dead body to go…
None.
Silent screams.
Gone too soon.
GMO
Harvey thought farming a gamble because Mother Nature’s whim ruins you in the blink of an eye. Not this year. Genetically modified corn gave him an edge over her.
He woke to rustling corn stalks swarming his bed. Stabbing roots dug deep into his flesh. His scream was brief.
A sweet earful! – Good imagery.
Transmutated
I wake to an achy crawling sensation inside my head.
A crunching behind my eyes and I’m blinded.
Foul smelling fluid pours from my nostrils, and solidifies, forcing my mouth open to breathe.
Excruciating pain as two spikes force themselves outward from my forehead.
I’ve been transmutated into their behemoth.
A Grave Predicament
Danny had gotten into trouble again.
He needed my help burying the problem. Literally.
The girl regained consciousness, pleading as I kept the gun trained on her.
Danny finished digging and reached for a hand up.
“She made me a better offer,” I said, pointing the gun at Danny’s head.
Baby Talk
We laid in bed, eyes glued to the video baby monitor, grinning like idiots at Emma’s every gurgle, every leg kick. Finally, bleary-eyed, we turned off our lights.
“Good night, Emma,” I whispered.
“Good night precious,” my wife said.
The video went black.
“Hello, baby,” said a man’s gravelly voice.
Break-in
I’m standing outside my apartment. I need to get in. Desperately. After clawing and climbing, I break a window and enter my bedroom. There’s somebody under my covers. I’m going to kill him.
Then I wake up.
The window is broken and there’s a hunched figure creeping towards my bed.
An Old, Old Story…
She looked at the stranger for whom she had left her husband and who was now coiled around her. How handsome he was, luminous almost.
“You are just like her.”
“Her?!” She saw green.
“The one you are named after,” he replied as his skin turned scaly. “Eve,” he hissed.
Last Sale
Coerced by her forceful gaze and mistaking her mumbles for assent, the eager salesman recited his offer from the top step. His excited pitch masked the whimpers coming from somewhere within. Carla exhaled slowly through a split-lip grin, released the latch with an unseen bloody hand and lured him in.
Under your bed
Hey you, yeah you nice purple polka dot sheets. Your so loud snoring all the time. Oh my goodness, I almost forgot to introduce myself, i’m the demon that creeps under your bed. You won’t know me for long, because soon I won’t be hungry, and you won’t be here.
FAMILY TIME
At dinner that night, mom pulled all of the skin off her face. When she removed her tongue, and then gouged out her eyes and slithered up the wall, I knew it wasn’t mom anymore. Dad and sis eyed me sadly before removing their own skin. No one ate dessert.
Anticipation
The cat’s glowing green eyes darkened as the warlock entered his domain. A heavy net fell on the warlock. It was impossible for him to move, let alone escape. The cat purred as it looked at his victim. He saw muscle, bones and blood and licked its mouth in anticipation.
“Can They See Too?”
The mirror’s deadly, it just might kill me
Pale skin, rotted by cellar light heating, in agony
The mirror sees
Killing thyself
Alone, frightened by self dissonance.
Alone the mirror records, silent watcher
The blood descends into fractal shapes
Black, cold it runs frantic
They all might see it too
Jack-O-Lantern Orange
“C’mon, Jack. It’s Halloween. Smile for the cameras.”
Muffled screams.
“Seriously? See why all the duct tape?”
Chair scrapes.
“Quit squirming. You’ll make the knife slip.”
Feet drumming.
“My, you are juicy!”
Light switch clicks.
“Yellow light bulbs—ON! Guess why?”
Ragged wet sniffs.
“Yellow and red ma-a-a-ake—?”
The Doll
The doll sits smuggle and still
A white dress with blood all over her
I walk up to her, shaking of fear
Her eyes glow up red and her head starts to tilt
She jumps right out at me and bites my neck
Blood everywhere, I drop to the ground
The Doll
The doll sits smuggle and still
A white dress with blood all over her
I walk up to her, shaking of fear
Her eyes beamed up and her head starts to tilt
She jumps right out at me and bites my neck
Blood everywhere, I drop to the ground
The Jacket
My jacket hung on its hook. I glared at it.
“Its just your jacket, grow up,” I said to myself.
I begin to drift off to sleep. Something startles me awake but I don’t know what. There was no noise, no light. Just fear. And blood dripping from the jacket.
Plundering Chaco
The fire’s flicker warmed the campers gathered around the Navajo storyteller, whose tales of spirits angered by centuries of looters unsettled them. A cold enveloped the snuggling couple headed towards their camp.
“What was that?”
A rear glance revealed a silvery shadow stretched towards the pot-shards in their pockets.
Foreplay
Tonight he’ll kiss her without tearing her smooth lips with his teeth.
Tonight he’ll massage her shoulders without tightening his hands around her exquisite neck.
Tonight he’ll explore her divine body with his fingers and not his knife.
Tonight he’ll make it all about her.
Tomorrow he’ll get his satisfaction.
In a Parallel Universe
The alarm stirs him from his slumber. Bleary eyed, Tim sits up on the edge of his bed as the radio announcer blares, “It’s November 9, 2016 and Hillary Clinton has been elected President of the United States.”
Tim’s eyes open wide, his mouth gasps, and his heart stops.
SIN BAD THE SAILOR
The sail stretched taut, weeks of labor finally paid off.
The survivor was free of the horrible island.
He left a lot in his wake, starvation, seven dead friends, salvation.
The thick, sturdy, waterproof material contrasted the blue sky.
His provisions would stand the return trip; his story’s another matter.
Just moved in!
A wall gecko stares back at you, it is dark outside and the only candlelight alive is dying.
First; a reptilian shit drops on your bed, stains it red, then, a hissing sound near the door.
You lift, like wavy fog and find another gecko half way into a cobra.
THE EXIT-STENTIALISTS
The teens trapped inside the maze were unable to find exits.
And as the carnival haunted house burnt down; eight souls went with it.
Months later a local trucking firm purchased the melted trailer shells for resale.
Company eyewitnesses reported tales of midnight shadows swaying around in the empty frames.
He stepped into the dark room, his scent lingering almost. He used to live here in the past before the sudden attack of ghosts he didn’t know their motives. Now in a room of exorcised walls, he still didn’t feel secured. Halloween was drawing closed. He was scared of death.
GRANDPA’S MOONLIGHT TALE
Under a mango tree, a tale begins to come alive. We are to repeat a song of ghosts after grandpa.
Our voices seize gradually, then, multiplies, like a thousand whispers.
Grandpa is smiling, the other kids are dozing, heads dropped. The only one awake is me, and grandpa’s shrieking skull.
Brushing his teeth, his right canine wiggles alarmingly.
He investigates.
The tooth breaks off between his fingers.
The root is still attached.
He pulls it but it just stretches longer and longer.
One last tug, root snaps,
Tooth falls into the sink,
His eyes go white with blindness.
He screams.
I realized I did not include my title.
A Vision for Dental Hygiene
Lonely
With lights shut I chant “Bloody Mary” thrice. In brutal loneliness, I stand there stood up yet again. I proceed to exit the bathroom when a raspy whisper fills the air, “third time’s the charm”.
Debunker Turned Believer
He made his career as a debunker of myths.
“Vampires, hogwash,” he told the late-night radio host.
He was whistling when the fangs from the creature who came out of patchy fog sank into his neck. The last words he heard were, “You have made the way clear for us.”
Ghost Hitchhiker
She hovered above the mangled body, disbelieving. Her beautiful gown and veil destroyed.
The wide-eyed man grasped onto the steering wheel, eyeing her apparition next to him. She nodded forward.
At the top of the hill, she rematerialized in the church cemetery. No groom.
Her next ride would be different.
Final Feast
“Darling, I made your favorite tonight!”
She proudly presented a proper feast fixed neatly on her prized porcelain, while tucking a napkin into his stiff shirt collar.
He stared blankly towards the steamy plate.
The telephone buzzed.
“Hello.”
“Ma’am , there’s a…problem with your husbands grave.”
“His body is….missing….”
COMPOST
This year, the corn grew enthusiastically. The new compost was working wonders.
Greg looked down at the newspaper’s headline. ‘Six women missing in Mississippi’.
He threw a glance at the six piles of dirt in the cornfield. Just the right amount of compost to give the corn that extra boost.
THE HANDYMAN
He used all his tools. The hammer, the saw, the screwdriver.
The hammer to flatten, the saw to separate, the screwdriver to… well, it did whatever he needed it to do. Puncturing the eyes, lifting them out of their sockets, for example.
The handyman used all his tools.
HOSPITAL NIGHTMARE
The hospital is the worst place you could ever be in. The place smelled of rust and blood and rot hidden under layers of chlorine.
He strained against the restraints in the recovery ward, the screams in the abandoned hospital keeping him awake long past midnight.
THE WORST POSSIBLE NIGHTMARE
In 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America.
The Shadow
Dark of night, lit only by the firelight
The cat sat still, watching me
It’s shadow cast gigantic on the wall.
Then the shadow moved
It was not the cat at all.
Yellow eyes across the fire from me,
Nary a blink did I see
As it leapt at me
THE WATCHER
You.
I see you.
This page… it is a window.
I’ve been watching… for so long now.
You know me. In your secrets, in your shame.
In the shudder you feel when sweat drips along trails across your skin and quick eddies spin up in still air…
I am here.
TAKE THOU THY POUND OF FLESH
When Jack passed out candy, he’d sit on the porch dressed as a scarecrow.
Three kids arrived, Mary an angel, Bobby the clown, and Sam – dressed like dad.
“ROARRR!” Jack lunged forward.
Sam cleaved the scarecrow’s neck, with a cut so clean, it would’ve made his father, the butcher, proud.
The Trail
I went to sleep early. I turned off my light and kept my door opened. As I was dozing off to sleep I heard whispering close to my ear. Then I felt something touch my shoulder so I jumped up and saw a blood trail leading out of my room.
Unseen
Practice was cancelled. I was home alone and the house was pretty quiet. I suddenly heard desperate calls for help and banging on the basement door. I went to go check it out but then the door broke down and out came a girl with bloody eyes and no mouth.
THE BIG GOOEY GASH
The lumberjack’s chainsaw slipped on the mossy tree.
It “nicked” his leg cutting a five-inch groove.
As the festering got worse, it set him back weeks in pay.
Buried in debt, he tightened his belt.
Eventually, he recovered.
And upon returning to work, Chip sported a sturdy wooden limb.
Finally, a chance to sit. They said your skills were lacking, but what do they know. You’ll get better, and with the casket closed no one has to see. The quiet is deep and peaceful, and you could sleep too if not for the continued frantic knocking and muffled screams.
THE ONE NIGHT STAND-OFF
He stood frozen, listening to desert snakes hidden by the ink of night.
The rattling was a good sign.
Absolutely invisible, he figured there were two.
Something slithered across his boot, correction: three.
“They say silence indicated an imminent strike,” he thought.
There was a sudden pause.
He waited, terrified.
THE MOTHER
As the light turned red, her baby cried in the backseat of her car.
“Almost there,” she crooned, “Only one more minute, it’s so close….”
She smiled as the arms came down around her car. The last thing she heard wasn’t her crying baby it was the blairing train horn.
Late night chills
He held her delicate body close. It was a cold night but the blankets of the bed kept them warm. He smelled her hair, he loved her smell. Though each night it drifted farther away as the sent was covered by the smell of rotting flesh. Her dead cold body.
SAFETY BLANKET
I lay in bed, my hand hanging off of my bed, fingertips pressing into the cold shotgun at my bedside. The perfect safety blanket. The radio blares breaking news. My hand tightens. Is there something in the shadows? No, it’s just a pile of laundry.
But then, laundry doesn’t move.
Paristes
Her hike through the forest was long. It was dark, making her trip occasionally. Finally she stumbled over a rock into a nearby creek. She floated till she drifted to a far away bank. She was dead, but the parasites of the water lived within her, keeping her insides alive.
STEPS
The shuffling steps in the attic began shortly after I bought this vacant house. I thought it was the old boards breathing after a day of hot sun. I pulled out the nail that secured the door and climbed the narrow stairs. A luminous living thing launched from the shadows.
DEEPER
This was a common area, but the path had never seemed so dark. I held my hands out as a blind person would move further into the forest, listening intently, keen for any aggressive sound. I heard nothing. Suddenly something gripped both hands and drew me deeper into the darkness.
GOING POSTAL
The sizeable padded manila envelope held something pliable that seemed to slightly vibrate in a subtle rhythm. I shook it, held it up to the light, listened, and seeing no threat I peeled off the tape. Then I slipped a knife under the closure and dumped out a beating heart.
Clothing
Slicing like butter, though my knife is dull. Her screams made me the merrier, as I tortured her. I slice off her very skin, though she hasn’t been killed yet. Some call me crazy, but her skin was delightful to wear. My collection is slowly growing, but I need more.
Can I die now, please?
He wears my clothes to feel pretty. He wears my scent to silently scream like a goddess. He lays my hair against his scalp to live a pipe dream. He wears my skin to embody femininity, whilst I lay bald and bare stretched over his basement surgical table.
Present
Mother carried my cake from the pantry. She crossed her heart and promised on her own mommy’s grave that she wouldn’t hurt me if I did exactly what she told me to do during my lesson that morning.
“Isn’t that a nice present?”
“Oh, yes Mommy! A very nice present!”
THE ROMANTIC INTERLUDE
The moon rose timidly, its light encouraged a soft contrast.
The fall shoreline was barren, bone-white, and silky smooth.
Hanging on each other’s love, a couple journeyed silently alone.
A distant traveler approached them.
They froze in repulsion; the imposer retreated.
As they breezily wandered on, sandy grains remained still
The Winter
The basement was damp and cold, with little room for movement.
Behind her, the floor creaked, warning her of the coming danger.
Desperately, she races up the stairs, the brisk air stabbing at her lungs.
She reaches for the door, only to be pulled back down to the depths below.
THE AGENDA FULFILLED
The elevator kept descending; it took time, plenty to do some reflecting.
The statement prepared, the spokespeople addressed reporters.
“The Illuminati did what we felt was right for the world, one government, one ruler. – That is all.”
They returned to the elevator and went to the sub-basement for a debriefing.
The Sacrifice
She took another bite, despite everything. Despite the pain, despite the fact she was dying, and despite the fact that she will be eaten. She tried to sound better, she tried to act better but she was chosen. The sick girl for a meal, a sacrifice, for the gingerbread house witch.
A Real Spirit in My House
Hands immersed in dishwater. I froze. Home alone. Fingers of a right hand pressed against my left shoulder. Presence of a 14-year-old boy implanted in my brain. Twenty years later informed of a boy murdered with a screwdriver in the garage. This demystifies mysterious footsteps, items moved, and others missing.
Daddy
It crouches, waiting, filmy white eyes staring at the back of the house, misshapen hands glistening with blood. The little girl with nose pressed against the glass, stares back at it. “Kelsey! time for bed!” Her tiny finger prods the glass, “but Mommy, Daddy wants us to come outside.”
Squeeze
My husband doesn’t sleep. If his eyes close, he feels the pressure around his throat, his eyes bulging, breath scarce. The tears come and the strangled sounds of air leaving his lungs fill his ears as I sleep on and hear nothing. So he lies there night after night; awake.
7:06 p.m. (aka 6:66 p.m.)
Halloween. 7:06. Arnold searches for a scary movie, accidentally pushing “666” on his remote. On TV: woods. Flames. Screaming. And a grim old man: “Welcome, Arnold.”
A slow knock at Arnold’s door. Arnold turns, gulping.
The old man grins: “Sorry, Arnold. You picked the wrong channel… at the wrong time.”
THE MEASURE OF A MAN
He surveyed the stacks around him, things.
Not family, lovers, friends, just material collected over life, a life that felt meaningless.
“Can’t take it with,” he shook, lighting a match. “Won’t leave it either.”
Something blew out the flame.
“That you?” He turned.
Silence.
“Sweetie?”
It wasn’t his time, yet.
Spammers
Bastards call all hours with no regard for decorum.
A cornucopia of phone spammers: Microsoft refund,
IRS debt, loving grandchild in jail who needs bail money,
can you hear me? To record you replying “yes.”
Electric shock through the phone wires is my answer.
“Hello?”
“Gramps….aaarrrhhhh”
“I don’t have grandchildren.”
THE CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE
Robby bought grow-in-water monsters from the vending machine.
He returned home; they floated in the bowl and did nothing.
Discouraged, he went to bed.
That night, something slurped in the darkness.
He was terrified.
The next morning’s dog poops were a horrific sight; to Robby, it was worth the wait.
Trick or Eat
Knock….Knock
“What are you” I said to the troll standing at the door.
No answer…
“Here you go” I put the candy in his bag and shut the door.
Knock…
“What…oh you again, I gave you some….oh well, what do you say?”
“…Trick or Treat….. hehehe….. Time to Eat!!!!”
All Hands
“What are you here for?”
“I cut my hand off.”
“That what’s in the cooler?”
“Yep.”
“Can I see?”
The man reaches with both hands and opens the cooler to reveal a matching hand.
“Looks like you got both your hands.”
Man lifts his pant leg to a bloody stump.
THE JOY’S OF DEER SEASON
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I dunno,” John replied dangling the grape-sized thing.
Jane nearly vomited.
“Only pulled out one, I’ve got more.”
“Yuck.”
He popped the blood gorged beast between fingers.
“It came from my head.”
Parting John’s black hair, she fainted from the sight of his tick-infested scalp.
FIFTY HORRORS STORY
Block, neck, axe, scream, blood;
Darkness, nightmare, shadow, growl, tear, rip;
Stake, ropes, smoke, fire, terror, suffer, asphyxiate;
Entombed, spiders, snakes, bats, scorpions;
Gallows, stairs, noose, drop, snap;
Night, ominous, whispers, knife, cut, pain;
Water, deep, struggle, sink, surrender;
Evil, talon, claw, beak, blinded.
Mother’s sitter:
I begged her not to go; he always hurt me, but She grabbed me by the neck forcing me into the closet, I kicked and screamed as she shoved me in locking it behind me. I cried allowed begging her to open the door, but it was to late …. he was already clawing at my bloody legs!
WARNING: LEAVE IT UNREAD
No one knew the sickened darkness in me
But, they kept having fun saying names on me
Bullying from those fucking racist, so I just turned the table
I killed them the way no one could ever imagine
Like anyone who reads my confession
Now, did I warn you?
Tempo
Billy jubilantly mashed at the mutilated lemon with both of his grubby paws.
Mommy had taught him well.
He dreamily followed the viscous goo as it danced merrily toward the first incision. Each webbing of silly Sally’s fine fingers had been pre-primed for the occasion.
Billy set the tempo now.
CALL ME CRAZY
I knew that voice. The notification popped up every afternoon at 4:13, though I never heard my phone ring. A creeping feeling (superstition?) always prevented me from tapping “delete.”
Thirty-one identical voicemails. “I need you to call me back.” Number unknown. I knew that voice. It was my own.
The Old Man
Knock, knock. I look out the window next to my door. No one is there. I walk away when it sounds again. I hurriedly open the door. Still no one. I close the door. I turn back around to face myself.
They lurch.
My other self has now taken control.
Teacher Cares
“Will you quit that fucking scratching sound!” Earl erupted.
Earl sighed, regretting the profanity. He would pray later.
That bitch should have learned from their first lesson.
Earl arrived at Sarah’s cage door with the same rusty pliers he used to take each fingernail from her left hand.
An Experiment
Lily heard if you squeezed them hard enough, they could explode.
John had been sure he was the luckiest eighth grader. Lily was in eleventh grade.
John passed out after the first incision in Lily’s sedan. Lily was disappointed when John’s left testicle turned to goo in her bloody hands.
Swipe Right
I swiped right.
He was a hottie and mysteriously intriguing.
He wants to know the real me.
Later that night…
As I lay, his deep blue eyes stare into mine.
He says he wants to know the person inside,
as I lay there with my insides spilled out.
Darkness and S’mores
On a dark and moonless night with the campfire flickering, four kids sat toasting marshmallows to make their s’mores. Only tonight was different and so were the marshmallows. Crackle, puff, poof, the marshmallows grew gigantic. Then, when no graham crackers or chocolate were found, they gobbled up the kids. Yum.
The Girl in the Painting
I stare at the painting of a family hoping they would move. I walk backwards. Finally, I give up. I pass by the painting and notice something missing. The little girl. I get into bed nervously thinking on it. I turn over to see the little girl standing before me.
Promises
“I believe I did promise you,” Cliff repeated.
Jasper remained mum.
“Yep, clear as day,” Cliff reassured.
Cliff was always partial to Jasper’s hunting knife. The blade was sharp enough to cleanly sever Jasper’s penis. Cliff stuffed the quivering mass into Jasper’s mouth and took his promised picture.
FIFTY VERBS OF HORROR
Itch. Roam. Seek. Find.
Adore. Desire. Crave.
Watch. Lurk. Follow. Chase!
Pounce. Subdue. Abduct.
Drive. Evade. Hide. Descend. Lock.
Bind. Hoist. Swing. Caress.
Love. Love! LOVE!!
Pause.
Think. Wonder. Question. Doubt.
Suspect. Judge. Condemn. Shout. Rage.
Punish. Punish! PUNISH!!
Stop.
Recoil. Panic. Dismember. Bury. Rue. Regret. Forget.
Wait… Itch…
Repeat.
Orange eyes glow in the pale night. The blood attracted it, or maybe my fear. My chest is drenched in the scarlet liquid as the hole in my chest leaks. This is the grave I’ve dug myself.
The beast lunges and its sharp teeth sink into my neck.
How I Died
I turn off the light and shut the door. I close my eyes and hear a thump on the floor. Closer and closer it creeps towards me. Soon I am bound and cannot see. I breathe in deeply, wait to exhale, but my mouth is covered, then I grow pale.
Hunger
It’s been days since he last fed. He spots a well-dressed woman leaving a restaurant alone. Within minutes, he’s biting into a tender breast, gnawing greedily until his teeth meet bone.
“Thanks for the chicken, ma’am,” he says between bites.
The woman smiles and drops some coins in his cup.