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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
“Trapped”
The eyes staring back at me were mine…but not mine. I saw myself in the mirror, but that…was not me. It smiled using my face. Teeth showing. Predatory. Alone in my mind the silent scream echoed. No one could hear me. I’m trapped. It winks at me and turns away.
“Gone”
Was it a sound that woke me? Hunger? Did I need to go to the bathroom? I didn’t know. I crept from my room, careful to be quiet as not to wake the children. Peering into the baby’s room I see the window. The sliced screen. The crib is empty.
Run to Red
The electrophoresis gel congealed into something three times normal thickness; somehow the biological sample was using it to re-assemble itself. It rocketed across the gel cradle, trying to reach the red wire, the one connected to electricity. Then, and only then, the new life contained within would fully commence.
Unlikely Visitor
There was a knock at my door.
“Strange,” I thought.
It was a quarter past four.
Though the witching hour had passed, and I laid my fears to rest.
My heart suddenly stopped dead in my chest.
Baby girl was home.
Back from Hell I was so sure she roamed.
Title: Shared Source
Despite lacking other symptoms of mental illness, they constantly feel they are being watched, alone or not, and that the “watching” comes from a specific direction. Combining reports pinpointed the area of the “source”. There, the afflicted further perceived the source was underground, near an oak tree. Cause remains unknown.
RBC
Infant I was, born in darkness, yet mingled happily with innocent siblings in the huge pipe. Suddenly a chemical message appeared: ‘Work until Death!’ Even before a gasp something pressed me. My brain squeezed out! Then it loaded me with gases and pushed me into a capillary reverberated with sobs.
Halloween Party
“Oh, hi! Come in! It’s great to see you! What’s it been, six months? The Easter party, that’s right!
Jared? He’s out.
Just toss your coat over there. The closet? No, don’t open. . .
. . .yes, it’s a mess. Don’t worry, your body will fit in there, too. Jared wasn’t that tall.
The picnic
Across from me in the train compartment, an old couple sits, holding a small cloth-wrapped bundle. Their lunch, I assume. Exhausted, I ignore the spot of dark red seeping through the cloth. I wake to the old woman leaning forward, a knife in her hand. Then the tunnel swallows us.
In explainable, how an amusing place in the morning could be so horrendous at night. It was a remote island where I was sent for ‘THE RESEARCH”. Even though it was only me still I felt presence of someone. Something I just can only feel.
The Octopus
Lines and curves slid carelessly from the graphite pencil poking a hole in the paper, missing the ink sac but piercing one of the three hearts. The blue blood burst out, burning my fingers. While reaching for a towel, a suckered arm pulled me into the drawing, screaming.
The Sudden Stop
*SNIKT* *THUD* My eyes are open, but I don’t know where I am. There are people gathered around. I try to speak, but only garbled sounds emerge. Why am I so low on the ground? The sun glints upon something metallic. My scream is silent, as the bloodied guillotine rises.
Josephs Grandfather always kept the Harlequin marionette in a chest at night in the attic of his house“to stop the little fellow going for a wonder” he told Joseph as a boy.when he died the puppet started eating the old mans hart it had taken.
Shower for 2
Warm water flows down your naked body. You close your eyes. Peter joins you, his hands gently apply shampoo to your hair. You reach up to grab his slippery fingers, feel the hair on his knuckles. These are not Peter’s hands! You taste soap as one hand smothers your scream.
Worst Fear Realized (or not)
_________________
Why am I blindfolded and what else is here? Some crouching serial killer? Roaches or rats that’ll swarm when I fall asleep? Toxins that’ll leech the air and blood from my lungs? Spikes that’ll impale my feet if I take a step?
Or is it… OH GOD NO! NOT THAT!
Melanie’s Story
Melanie’s white knuckles pried at the meaty fingers engulfing her spindly neck. The dangerous hands laced themselves in an ever tightening grip above her collarbone. Melanie’s head quivered in a spasm, lips parted wide, twisted into a facsimile of a horrific yawn. It was not supposed to end like this.
The Eyes
“What happened to it’s eyes?” The ‘it’ being the pale little girl with dirty blonde pigtails. Red looking marbles floated where eyes were supposed to be. It blinked as it stared at the two way mirror. While official men in official uniforms decided what to do, ‘it’ decided for them.
The Family
The buzz saw wheezed like an old man’s lung cancer. The crisp finality of the arm bone disconnected from the shoulder bone was complete. He wiped his brow leaving a maroon streak over his left eye. His handywork was rough and exquisite. Almost done with the entire family, he thought.
“Gruesome Nightmare”
Their decaying bodies made them look like they had been dead for years. Pus oozed from the lacerations that covered their bodies, and drool poured from their mangled jaws. James shoved his family in a closet as the two dogs lunged forward. Shots rang out and the house went dark.
Just a Dream
The mad man is coming with a long knife. You scream your wife’s name and suddenly wake up. You sigh with relief. She is ok, asleep on the bed beside you. You kiss her cheek, her head turns and rolls onto the floor. Only then do you see the blood.
FAT CATS
Halloween Eve, cats gather. They scratch, they claw, digging deep into the wood and steel of locked doors all over town. Finally, one door creaks open, an elderly man. “Please, no. I’m allergic. Asthma.”
Wheezing, screams, screeching meows . . . the only sounds; the man never found. Fat cats.
DOLL EYES
Vintage dolls lined the antique bureau at this old B&B. Before going to bed, Megan turned the dolls around, blue-marble-eyes facing flowered wallpaper. She woke in the night, moonlight illuminating eyes . . . doll eyes.
“Playtime, Megan,” said a child’s voice. “We may be old but we’re not dead. Not yet.”
THE SNOOZE-IN INN
Sarah had to sleep here for a week: the creepy Snooze-In Inn. She startled awake on the first night, puzzled to find the toilet seat up. Again, the second night. Night three: a shadow, water splashing, hand on her flesh.
“Shower time,” he growled. “Join me. You reek of death.”
She realizes that she was in the room and how come she reached here.
Then she feels like she is moving backward and the house is moving forward. After a few seconds, she feels being in a room. It is a white color room with no windows no door; she gets tensed, and start to scream and suddenly now she feels being inside of water with full of snakes and spiders and someone his pushing her body inside water and she is struggling for breath and after few movements. she realizes no more external force is pushing her inside. she quickly swims upwards to the light and when she reaches the upper layer. finds herself in the river. She is now totally confused and fearfully. She thinks what is happening to me and then she then swims towards the shore and notices her beside is a dark forest.
She starts running into the forest and she feels someone is her behind and she starts running faster, she falls down. Then something happens to her and the head start to pain and find herself inside the white room again, and her clothes are not dirty and no water over her clothes and now she is being tied in the chair and her mouth is stitched with thread and floating in the air.
CAB RIDE
Back seat, drugged, she sees hacked off ears from domestic cats dangling on the rear-view mirror. Her driver is whistling Gary Numan’s “Cars”, as glittering goods in store windows stream past her window. Neon adverts, 24-hour clubs, blink, flash, these urban constellations. And she – her lights about to go out.
404 BAD GATEWAY
Unhinged. Something pinged in the wiring of his brain. Hard drive went haywire, black screened, blue screened, hacked, hacked, hacked, the hacking out of eyes and tongues and nipples… such pretty jewelery for his neck. Virus. Corrupted files. The smart app he used to record them undressing. Everything went black.
“THE PSYCHOPATH CAUSED SHIPWRECK”
Her cries and voice begging me for help haunted me every single moment since I the only survivor of shipwreck returned.The sight of that dreadful day when blue sea turned into red.A group of psychopath destroyed pleasant journey to a dead ending.
” NIGHT AT CEMETERY”
The bullies outside and the dead resting inside. The screeching of old cemetery door was taking my breath away. Filled with fear I took my first step towards the graves.Just going inside was not the task, more dreadful was the thought of digging a grave and burying a ‘crucifix’…
APTLY EVER AFTER
His proposal came in front of her family and friends. The delicate floral dress with long sleeves she wore covered the bruises. Everyone stared at the ring and her face. They thought she was in shock. The next day she planned to be a widow before she became a bride.
Night Visitor
Six months after his death, I am sound asleep in my room. I awake suddenly in the middle of the night. A large dark shadow is hovering next to my bed. Startled, I gasp loudly and it is gone. My heart is pounding. Then I remember, it is his birthday.
Trick or Treat
I empty the bag of all my loot. A bright red apple rolls onto the table. I bite into it. It’s sweet and delicious until I taste blood. It’s dripping down my chin. My fingers are red. My sister looks on in horror. I felt no pain from the razorblade.
Family bond
I’m proud, said my son standing right behind me. I was having dinner. I’m proud, he repeated. To be your son. I’m proud, he said, because you show me the way. Heart swelling with love, I fed him some of the flesh of his mother- the woman we both hated.
Snake light
I’m at my desk when the lights flicker. It reminded me of horror films. I saw my colleagues’ faces changing to flickering lights. Between beast and human. A cliche, I thought turning back to work. Looking at my fingers on the keyboard, I saw snake tails instead. And I freaked.
I can’t wait until 100+ days from tomb morrow!
Cuz… ghost of honor promises none other than spirit Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore. Though long deceased, his nominated serial presence bewitches most popular teenage gone ever gone to soon heart throb (bing in his hand) lady and the tramp killer. I make no bones. This numbskull would never miss ghoulish event.
Satan’s Feast
The lifeless body of an obese black man materialized before me as I watched from my hiding place. Knives dripped with blood as Satan worshiping cannibals sliced meat from the cadaver – a audible gasp escaped my lips – all eyes focused on me – I knew I was next.
Three wicked witches – blood sisters nonetheless!
Six evil eyes cast fiendish terror! Impossible mission to escape wrath of accursed, creepy, and glowering hatefulness. They prowl every hallway. Each lurks ready to cast nasty spell. Out their mouth putrid sinister venom spewed at unlucky passerby. Once poisoned by deadly toxin, the unsuspecting victim forcefully initiated into coven.
BAD FEEDBACK
You: Items arrived broken. Seller unhelpful and rude!!
Seller: Items exactly as seen in photos! Time waster! Avoid!!!
You: Seller made threats! Reported!!
Later, door smashed in, he’s here, vulture mask, knife.
The last words you hear before your throat is sliced open:
“Leave me bad feedback, eh time waster?”
Monsters under the bed
Dylan had been put to bed by his father for fear of the monsters under the bed.
Later, he woke up for a wee-wee . His feet tapped the floor lightly clambering out of bed.
One step is what he took before he was swept silently from underneath the bed.
Bloody Wagers…
Screams filled the dark space. In the corner, a bloodied body faced me. It was no longer alive. In the distance, I could hear a man speaking.
“If you enjoyed that gruesome kill, the beast certainly has more in store.”
Then, someone tugged my chain.
“You’re next,” They laughed, devilishly.
Bad dream
I’m laying in bed, my eyes are getting heavy. I feel a hand reach under the covers lightly tickling the bottoms of my feet. Panicking I raise up to see a pale white figure with no face standing over top of me humming the words to “twinkle… Twinkle… Little Star…”
burned alive
Something doesn’t feel right. You open your eyes from a deep sleep. Everything is on fire and slowly working its way towards you. Sleep paralysis has taken control of your body and you cant get up to runaway. Forced to lay there watching, smelling, and hearing as you burn alive.
Let Me In
I pound on the front door on my neighbor’s house.
“Please!” I scream, knowing that I won’t be saved in time. I still try anyways. “Help me! Let me in! Wake up!”
As I die hidden from sight, I see my neighbor open the door and let my murderer inside.
Stuck in a Loop
I’m going to die, I think as I notice the blade the masked person produces. We are in a dead-end street with no light. I notice another figure coming when I’m stabbed… I grow limp and stare at myself, carrying a broken piece of glass and slitting my murderer’s throat.
Circus closed
A young boy lost under the bleachers. the smell of popcorn fills the air. a glove rest on his shoulder. behind him a white face, red nose, and rainbow hair. no help the smile moves towards him. a balloon shoved in his face. the crowd muffles the boys screams.
Midnight snack
a young girl late at night taking a shortcut home. a man behind her grabs her and moves his mouth to her neck. he sinks his fangs in she doesn’t make a sound. slowly she goes pale her body falls limp and her eyes fog and gently close.
Dinner
I’m staring at the ceiling. my visions blurry I can’t feel my body, I can’t move. the figures above me are laughing enjoying the company of the others, forks and knives coming at me. their taking chunks they put it in their mouths. I’m watching as they eat me
Floating
Abandoned left floating. the water is freezing making my body numb. it’s so dark I can’t tell where the shore is, I’m tired and my arms are heavy. a hand grabs my leg slowly pulling me under. I can’t fight I watch as my air leaves and the surface fades.
Agoraphobia
My lungs catch fire as the air thins. My heart pounds, slowly being dragged upward until its thumping fills my ears. Puddles form in my hands, my pits, my thighs. Caterpillars are chewing through my stomach. They morph into butterflies. Trapped by my ribs, they burst inside of my chest.
Mars
“Caves will be ideal habitats for the first humans on Mars.” That statement proved false; the latter part, not the former. Fresh off the historic landing, the NASA-led crew went straight for the closest cave, only to find it occupied—stacked to the rear and roof with mummified human bodies.
Limbs
My legs have been replaced with prosthetics. There’s still pain, but I get around better than before, with springy bounds. I spring-sprint to the drugstore; buy gauze and painkillers. Back home, the workbench vice holds my left arm. My right hands holds the saw. The new arm will be better.
The Box
I’m not afraid of the dark. That isn’t the problem. The insects don’t bother me either. Though from time to time, I reflexively shake them off. The box is not even that claustrophobic. The problem is the six feet of dirt on top of the box.
I like all three, and their twisted punchlines.
“You Are Not Dreaming”
*Thump*
“Hey-Ivana, is that you? I’m trying to sleep!”
*Thump*
“Why are you in the dark in the corner like that?”
*Thump*
“What… what is that?!”
*Thump*
“Holy God. I have to be dreaming.”
*Thump*
When the screaming began, Ivana, gratefully and trembling, stayed very quiet inside the closet.
“The Paper House”
The window is open. Everything is fastened before bed. Yet, here in the late hours I stare at its maw agape and its curtains thrashing. What demon crawled, clawed or danced inside? The night breaths its cryptic answer into my home with a low keening moan. The window is open.