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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
After a family member’s phone number was posted in this thread, I have set comments to be held for moderation. If you post a comment, I will see it, but it will not appear until approved. Enough is enough. I will send the money to the winners. At this time, if you want to contact me, email. I have reported what I consider a threat to the authorities.
I See People
Walking down the street I saw a cat.
It was black, and bloody.
It also scared and shaking.
I went to help the cat.
Suddenly a knife dropped.
That was when I saw them.
They were shadows huddling around the cat.
All of the shadows held knives.
Help me…
The Well:
The well next to my house was known. Put something in, it never comes back.
My friend went to the well and stood on it, she fell in.
That was three days ago, she’s back now. But she’s different. She has black eyes.
I’m hiding from her. Help.
FRANCIS BACON’S JILTED LOVER
“I beg of you, take me back. I’m no longer afraid.”
“Afraid? I will make you live forever!”
When he was chained to a pipe, pliers, scissors, and bone saw were used to get his face just right.
‘In 2019, the painting Jilted Lover sold for a record 143,000,000,000 pounds.’
This is a trick I’ve learned. The title introduces both characters, so you don’t even have to mention their names in the story, or who’s talking, or their relationship, it is all obvious from the title, saving many words. Bacon did sell a tryptych for 142 million in 2013 his record price, and all art record at the time.
The Monster in the Tree
It was just me and my niece outside. As I am pushing her on the swing she tells me to look at that guy in the tree. I reply “what guy?” She runs to the house. The guy starts after us. We wake up. “Did you see him?”
The Pumpkin
Her sister’s intricate handiwork, the carved pumpkin with a glowing candle, illuminated the porch. Glancing at the knife in her hand, Mary lifted the pumpkin’s top with a wet pop. The blood dripping, dripping down struck the flame, which swirled, flashing purple as the pumpkin’s soft flesh embraced the blade.
Ohh! Chills. Nice one!
Nice! Set the Halloween mood, pumpkin and murder
Eeeek. Imagine this on your porch. Shivering.
“The Whisper.”
The whisper was neither soft or harsh. Unsure where it originated. She cocked her head. There. Closer and softer still. Frightened. She gathered her dress and raced down the stairs of the dark castle. Yet again. Closer. Softer. Opening a door. She ran. Yet it followed. Closer and softer
still.
Shivers. Left with the feeling that it is her sister’s blood that drips and feeds the flame. .
Could be…
Wow! Another goose-bump inducing piece. If you were a hit man you’d be known as great at your craft, efficient and deadly!
Creepy. Happy Halloween.
THE MIMIC
Mom screamed, like she’d stumbled across a spider. Her shriek came from downstairs. ‘Why is she up?’
She screamed again, calling my name. ‘She needs me.’ I sprang from my bed, confused. Scared.
As I passed the hall closet, Mom’s hand grabbed mine, pulling me in, whispering.
“That wasn’t me.”
La Llorona
Like a blanket of dead fingers, the wind wrapped around us. We doubled our pace into the blaze of the setting sun, towards the distant shadow of our car. Heads down we crunched through the sand, the cold tightening it’s grip as La Llorona’s wail reached our ears.
the other parents: (BTW this is a true story that happened to me)
When i was young i was raised by my family, no dad. I remember telling my mom about my ‘old parents’, the people I saw in my room. my family showed me a picture of the people, my DEAD great grandparents. They died five years before i was born.
THESE EXCHANGE RATES ARE HELL
—
“Clean record…Looking good!” said the angel.
“Ohhhhh. No offerings from 1991-1994. You owe twenty bucks plus interest. Come back when you pay it off.”
“Hold on, I waited an eterni-”
He plunged to his new job at the DMV in hell.
Dollar’s worth a thousandth of a cent down there.
Someone Was Here
While walking on street, I heard someone’s whispering. I look back quickly, nobody there. After passing three blocks, I heard screaming, I look back but again no one is there; I got frightened and starts running. When I open the door, someone shove me down. Someone is without doubt here.
Deathbed
I was woken up by my roommate screaming. She said a ghost was trying to kill her.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts; it must have been a nightmare,” I said.
But, right then, a pair of hands reached out through the bed and pulled her in as she screamed.
Mother Monster
“Come to me,” said a voice.
I looked around, but found no one. Then I saw a shadow; it looked like my dead mother.
“Mom?” I said.
I went closer and reached out for her, but that’s when the shadow turned into a monster and pulled me into the wall.
Banished
I was standing on top of a building. I didn’t know where it was, or how I got there.
“Jump,” a voice told me. And so I did.
Suddenly, I was out of my body. I could only watch, perplexed, as a demon with amber eyes took possession of it.
Graveyard Killer pulling up to the house,who car is that Mat asked. Probably the owner Chad said as the man gets out the car. Chad, Mat gets out the car. Hello I’m James the man said. Hi I’m Chad in this is Mat, would you guys like to see the inside, yes as he wave towards the others to get out the car. As they move there things in night approach, Jess and Mat head towards the woods to have some alone time. I’m so horny Jess said, we can stop right here. No way Mat said, look there’s a shead up ahead. They make it too the shead as they doing there thing Mat seen something in the shead as the light flicker on in off. Oh Shit! He said as he fell down, what baby there is a dead body hanging on a hook in there. Are you serious Jess ask as she look for herself. Oh my guy she said as she scream and then they both run back towards the house.
Flatline
The sound was deafening. Kayla could feel the pain shooting through her body, she could feel the beat of her heart pounding. First in her chest, looking down and seeing red she could feel the heartbeat move to her lungs and throat. Then she felt it no more.
Just Breathe
Tammy placed the c-pap over her nose and mouth. The machine began to hum. She was excited for another good night of sleep. She closed her eyes in joy. Suddenly her eyes opened, Tammy couldn’t move her body, she couldn’t reach her face. Then she heard the hum stop.
Late Night Television
Eric watched the television with glazed eyes. His lids blinked open and closed as he drifted in and out. The pictures in front of him resembled a flip book as the black oozed out. From the ooze came a hand. Eric blinked again, he blinked for the last time.
THE NEW GAME
The schoolboy sat at the front of the room, the teacher’s brains splattered over the desk, the board problem left undone.
Then at the bullies he stared, their heads popped all in a row.
With that, he let the rest go. Adults would come soon. This new game was fun.
The Wicked Never Rests
I went to a cemetery to prove ghosts or ghouls don’t exist. I sat next to a tombstone.
“Come get me, you ghosts,” I yelled.
“Are you sure?” whispered a voice.
There was no one around; I was terrified. I started to run, but was soon dragged into a grave.
TRANSFORMATION
The scraper curls away layers of wallpaper, decades peeling onto the floor. Dan spots something – handwriting. He crouches, picks up the yellowed scrap, reads the childlike scrawl. ‘I am the last one left. But they will come again tonight. They live under the floor.’ Around him, the old house creaks.
This is really good. The “…decades peeling onto the floor…” was a nice touch. Well done!
HER EMPLOYER
Sarah braids the hair her employer gives her – raven, copper, blond – into a glossy noose. She is untroubled by its presence, snaking round her ankles. When she finds a glob of pink flecked with red, she tosses it into the fire, smells the flesh burn. He pays so very well.
Bring Me Home
Late at night and you’re all alone, you’re car broke down and you have no phone. All of a sudden you hear a noise from the woods, you see six figures in hoods.
You try to run and you try to scream but can’t, all together they start to chant.
The Weary Traveler
He looks harmless enough, but don’t let that fool you.
He travels all day and all night to find you.
He reaches up and grabs from behind you.
You’ll surely scream when he finds you.
Wait who is that behind you?
Time to put life behind you.
HARD WEATHER COMING IN
A flicker of gold in the storm, small enough to nestle in my fist. A rising trill of birdsong cuts the wind. I don’t want to see or hear. It’s the canary I bought Ada. The one who’s neck I broke… The one I buried with her in the woods.
Dream, and I’ll Come For You
When I was seven I saw forks emerging from the sleeping pad underneath me as I angled above them, startled.
It happened again the previous evening.
Excessively old and weak to move, I lie here speared by apparition forks through my eyes, mouth, heart, and spine.
They all believe I’m dead.
Under the Old House
The storm cellar was wet unmistakable, still, a messed up window high on the divider, shards on the concrete floor, bug catching networks as thick as haze, contacting me.
I went after the light string, where I realized it ought to be, and the virus hand was around my wrist, pulling me down.
Crisp Meat
The hunt gathering had surrendered any expectation of finding any overcomers of the accident. The island smelled of death and the warmth was terrible.
The main survivor had been tailing them for a considerable length of time, hunger distressing his stomach. He assaulted them that night.
After three weeks, another pursuit gathering showed up.
Abigail
She strokes the charm as the breeze cries. She kisses the rosary and moves into the smelly bed. Branches ambush the battered house; downpour pelts the shot windows.
She longs for frigid lips.
The shadow underneath her bed shifts, mixes. A hard hand strokes her coppery hair. “Abigail,” he murmurs.
The Shooter
Our ballista hammers out another volley. My loader slaps my shoulder. I open up through the wire with the enormous Browning.
Through the mist I see consuming tracks littering the wheat fields. Our principle firearm cycles as actinic light burns the skyline.
My dissolved eyes sob. Divine beings, if you don’t mind not once more.
Night Eyes
Shadow hugs the wall. Night eyes glare above and squeeze his skull. Knife prick, quick lick. He peers up, hiding from the Watcher’s eyes. The ancient Face! always hunting. Not tonight disappointment.
Dark faced Moon, billion years boredom, grits teeth, dark time yearns: he needn’t see jerks below.
Damn Chili
My guts were killing me. I hate public johns. Thank god the building was empty and clean. Leaning forward I noticed a pair of rotting feet in the stall next to me. They moved. I yanked up my pants and ran like hell; it cackled at my back.
“WELCOME”
While walking home, Jill discerned strangers pointing at her. She shrugged.
Near her gate, a smiling woman walked up, “Welcome”.
“Welcome where? Who are you?”
Jack called out from their lawn, “Why’re you talking to yourself?”
As Jill’s eyes widened in horror, a truck screeched to a halt. Too late.
Just DIE already!
I’m watching you. I’m ALWAYS watching you. When you sleep, eat, and do weird things. I see ALL of it. Sometimes, I wish I could strangle you. But most times I just want to watch you suffer a painful and excruciating slow death.
Sincerely, The Ghost waiting for your death.
THE HOUSE
At the end of the street, there’s a house. THE house. The house that never leaves a survivor. The house that got rid of rid of my family. The house that got rid of my neighbors. The house that got rid of the world. The house…… is MY house. I cannot leave.
WHOSE THERE?
Tap, tap, tap. Something is outside my bedroom door. “Hello?” suddenly, I am completely frozen, goosebumps rise to the surface of my skin. Tap,Tap,Tap,Tap. Its the sound that only sharp needles make….. when ready to KILL… TAP!TAP!TAP!TAP!TAP! My door slowly creeks open… “STOP!!!”
I MIGHT JUST DISAPPEAR
My sister killed me for my boyfriend.
I can’t get his attention now, for kill my sister in return.
Slowly I’m being forgotten by my parents, and my friends.
I can’t get their attention; I can only destroy the vapors around me.
If he forgets me, I might just disappear
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
“Anthony Merlow, you are being charged with third degree murder. You’ve murdered thirteen innocent young men and women, with aforethought and malice, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Anthony looked around the courtroom, the blood still fresh on his hands.
“I did it for the money.” He replied.
— THE VAMPIRE —
The vampire crept from door to door, hoping someone would finally let him in, but all they did was give him candy.
He grew evermore thirsty, but not entirely out of his luck. He used the candy to lure children back to his den. Their blood was so much sweeter.
I’M IN LOVE WITH YOUR BODY
Magnus smiled as he snuggled into Clara, as they watched the bats fly by.
He purred as he peppered her shoulder with butterfly kisses.
“I’m in love with your body.” He whispered.
“Aw, you’re-” CRUNCH goes the throat and spine.
He chews, and savors the flavor of Clara.
Very good.
I love what you wrote. Very Creepy. 🙂
Karma Curse
Thy vilest acts I have endured.
Dry bones: my dreams to dust you’ve turned.
Bloated tick: fat with my blood. Now,
Take thy tincture of tainted deeds;
Wear thy rags of wicked schemes.
From quick to dead you’ll pass unseen.
Stand alone on Charon’s charred shore;
Thy turn: Forevermore endure.
LULLABY IN THE DARK
She stroked her husband’s hair, as she sung him a lullaby.
“Sleep my love, sleep my only dream, in the dark~” she sang with a voice like spider silk.
She watched his beautiful blue eyes flutter shut as he fell asleep.
She pulled the knife out from under her pillow.
NEVER WAS A LOVE LIKE MINE
There was never a love like mine, for you.
There never was a poison so strong.
You’ve never been loved this way.
There was never a love like mine for you.
There never was a knife so sharp.
I will be only Dear, so promise you’ll never roam, stay here.
HYPNOTIZED
The Hypnotist smirked as her body swayed to the music, and he stitched the seam across her left eye.
He’d already unzipped her body, and was removing the undesirable part of her heart.
How the lightning glanced; he only had this half a chance.
By midnight, she’d be his doll.
SPECIAL ICED CAKE
A cup of cobra venom, two tablespoons of opium, frosted with cream and topped with belladonna.
A special cake she made just for him, sweetened with sugar and orange juice.
She watched him eat the special iced cake, “What’s the recipe?” he asked.
“One unfaithful boyfriend, sugar, and poison too.”
GETTING YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER
The seven undertakers gathered ‘round the poor man.
Caskets, nooses, and knives ready for their terrified customer.
Alive, but not for long though, his time had come.
He ran, and the undertakers gave chase.
“Where do you want your body sent?”
“Body? Ha! There isn’t going to be no body!”
THIEVES SWING BELOW
He stole six mouthfuls of food, and ended up in the cemetery.
With a life of sin under his belt, it was time to ordain.
They’d just scatter all his bones away.
“Oh no!” he cried, “Oh Yeah~” they smirked.
They got him at last, and he couldn’t get away.
TOUT DE SUITE
(and the insurance payout won’t be too shabby either)
I never would have purchased this house if I’d known that it was crawling with homeless guys. I mean, really, all the listing said in the paper was that it was “lived in.”
That’s why tonight I’m setting it on fire.
YOU BETTER RUN
Edward’s got a quick hand; he’s got a knife as he prowls the streets at night.
You better run when see him ‘round, outrun the blade.
Henry’s got a shattered mind, he drowns it in his pills and drink.
He used to be so sweet, not anymore.
EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
“What a pretty portrait, can’t I look as lovely as that portrait forever?” the prince asked.
“How much is eternal youth? Will an eye buy me eternal beauty?” the prince mused.
“No dear, your soul will do, for your wants.” The devil replied.
One soul for his desires and doom.
Thee in the Morning
It’s three in the morning. My curtains are open, even though I remember closing them before bed. The tree taps on the window, it’s branches casting shadows on my bed.
The noise becomes unbearable. I sit up and the branches become long fingers, ending with sharp nails. Then a face.