$500 Halloween 50 Horror Word Story Contest 2019

4,463 thoughts on “$500 Halloween 50 Horror Word Story Contest 2019”

1. —The Miseries of the Shadow Within—

   Slipping into the silent darkness I smell the stench of iron and a spiteful hatred fills my heart. A feeling of deepest despair devours my soul with darkest desire, bleeding lost love as the air becomes putrid with disgust. My thoughts fading into the oblivion, forever forgotten in a dream.

2. FOOL’S COLD

   Bloodied fingers move toppled rock in a dank cavern.

   A headlamp dwindles black.

   Progress measured inches by hour, stayed, as the sickness of greed seals a man’s fate.

   Hours Pass…

   Bedazzling torchlight pierces darkness and gouges orbits into cindered hollows.

   Agonized cries reverberate through smoky shafts, and a leprechaun laughs.

3. A Night At Henson House

   I stayed in the house on a dare. It’s a rite of passage for all teens. You have to stay all night and ignore the faces in the mirrors or you will never get respect.

   Now they scream when they see me watching them. I won but I never left.

4. VAMPIRE FOR HIRE

   He answered the add- said he was a vampire- I should meet him here. He arrived, but misunderstood, handing me a vile of white powder. “Nooo,” I screamed, “it’s immortality I crave,” smashing his skull with a rock. I tasted the powder, then spit. I sniffed, then licked his wound.

5. Homeroom, 7:30 am

   “You’ll always be my hostage.”
   Those words. Oh, how they pierced through that calcium
   cage of hers, injecting rich terror and obedience.
   Defeated, the host slumped, combating fiery tears.
   Nobody noticed. How could they?
   Her assailant was invisible, after all.
   “Don’t you forget now,” it added with a knowing smile.

   1. Hungry Eyes

      The coins in Joseph’s hand are new and shiny, silver fish flopping around on land. When his parents flee to work, he becomes a passenger of the dark Nantucket night. Frigid wind from the Atlantic stirs up the humid air; eminent, exciting, deadly. It watches him with hungry eyes.

6. Billy’s Guide

   Billy, suddenly awake, was no longer trapped in the coffin. He stood under a street light.
   Outside the lights circle there was darkness, and stench.
   “Stay in the light. There’s an evil entity lurking in the darkness.” A hand with three claws reached out. “Let me guide you to safety.”

7. EVER THE TWAIN

   A hapless victim struggles in a dingy kitchen, and a cleaver-wielding maniac savors the terror.

   Roaches scurry into trash-strewn corners as unsure feet slip upon gore spattered tiles.

   Dozens of unanswered pleas fall prey to psychopathic desires.

   After frenzied hefting and hacking, long harbored schizoid delusions trickle, ebb, and cease.

8. “The Man in the Mask”

   I drew near to see if that person wearing a mask could help me. They stood at the end of the hallway of the abandoned police department wearing an officer’s uniform.

   I called out, but no answer. Finally I reached them.

   “Can you help?” I asked. My famous last words.

9. BIRTHDAY MEAL

   My waiter- Zombie Jesus- served me my Denny’s free birthday meal. He brought me brains, so I complained. He took me back where 12 illegal aliens scooped out rat brains from warm tiny skulls. I said, “No! This is no birthday gift.” So he gifted me an autographed Bible instead.

   1. It’s my birthday

10. TIGHT QUARTERS

    An unresponsive audience ignores the street mime’s invisible box routine.

    Anguished, the performer produces an imaginary wand, and with a flick, demon hordes appear, ripping the crowd asunder.

    In the transparent sanctuary, he waits out the carnage before casting the creatures away.

    Exiting the box, he collects well-earned, blood-soaked tips.

11. I always knew it existed. The creaky floorboard. Hollow. The small wooden box within that once was yours. I know what you hid inside, daddy. It ruined me forever. I opened it and counted. Twenty fingers. How pretty. I closed the lid carefully with my middle, the index a stump.

12. Validity.

    Sharply awoken from my slumber, a demon stares at me in the dark. Eyes, fierce; face, blending. Claws competing with fingers.
    Jaws drop, exposing fangs of a canvas: red, grey; collage of flesh and bones. Legs fail, faces clash, canvas transforms into mirror pieces painted in red.

13. BY DEMONS DRIVEN

    “I hate this place!” a boy screams.

    An embarrassed family enters the church.

    “I’d chomp apples with razor blades to watch him smear shit on a priest.” a shadow whispers.

    “After the crash, he’s ours to corrupt.” a raspy reply.

    Malevolence creeps into an empty car and waits in silence.

14. TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide

    “Choices”

    Light and shadow played across his gaunt face, highlighting his cheekbones and burying his eyes. I could not go with him. I would not.

    I couldn’t choose this, could I?

    In answer, Death pointed to the body swaying from the rafters.

    I had chosen. Too late to turn back now.

15. Happy Haunting

    I was having fun haunting him, that’s true. Swiping books off shelves, whispering taunts in his ear. Over the months, I saw his sanity slipping. I liked it. The power. Then one day, he hanged himself. And icy dread filled my heart, as his spirit took form next to me.

16. Her Eyes.

    Her eyes were beautiful. Hazel, with sparkling flecks of gold. Sometimes, I wondered how they’d look like, brimming with tears. Soft with love. Burning with passion. If only she would one day look into my eyes with the same devotion. I sigh, and place her eyes back into the jar.

17. The Wild Mouse

    On Halloween night, in 1965, the roller coaster flew off the track. People flew out of the cars like stones shot from a sling. The Wild Mouse crashed into a crowd of onlookers. They dismounted The Wild Mouse in 1966. It was America’s last wooden roller coaster.

18. There’s comfort in the smell of you that makes me feel at home. When I feel lonely I nestle your sweater with my nose. The closer we are the safer I feel. So I step into your home. As I stroke your smooth skin, draped upon mine, I feel ethereal.

19. Closing Time

    Closing time, when we play.
    Prey is coming,
    checking camera’s, watching everything.
    Clock hit 1 am, when fun time begins.
    Hours of messing with them,
    creeping the halls ready to pounce.
    When least expected.
    We stop.
    6 am comes around waiting for next time.
    Closing time is when we play.

20. “The Passage”

    What awaits you in the end is the void.

    When you die, follow the passage with no walls, on which the weight of outer space heavily rests. Head for the light. Whatever you do, don’t look back and beware the thing which stalks the dark, the thing with needle teeth.

21. Madusa writes in blood

    I’m drenched in blood. In the moonlight I see The words IT’S YOUR TURN written in blood on my wall. I look in the mirror snakes hiss and lick the blood off my face. My husband lays next to me and crumbles under the touch of my hand.

22. Co-sleeping

    I hear my three year old son’s bedroom door open at midnight. The familiar sound of tiny feet pad down the hall. As my door knob slowly turns, a giggle escapes from behind the door. I start hyperventilating. I won’t open my eyes this time. He died four months ago.

    1. Nice one

       1. thank you. all of your’s are so creepy and cool

    2. Chilling!

23. THE STADIUM

    We filled the stadium- the flood!- now can’t leave. Toilets, food, shelter- all needs met somehow. But now, during sleep, they’re snatching us one at a time. Then things are gone- a leg, an ear, fingers surgically removed. Some say they’ve seen our captors. They come back with no eyes.

24. LIGHT

    Gradually everyone became light. They are formed- man, woman,child- and do the usual things they always did. I am not light. I can walk through them- no heat, no cold, no sound. Sometimes I go to the ice rink, stand arms out, and let them skate through me. Alone.

25. If Only She Knew

    In my head is the safest place to kill. There’s no crime in thinking. I fantasize about taking a life and it becomes harder to keep it in my head.
    “What are you thinking about?” She smiles at me. I shrug and decide she’ll be my first.

26. THE BABY SPIKER

    I was overcome by an urge to grab the baby and slam it to the ground, end zone celebration style. But I’m no baby spiker. Hell, I even like babies. I even like this baby- plump, happy, downright gurgly. My doctor said it’s just a side effect of the anti-depressants.

    1. so cool

27. THE BABY MONITER

    The baby monitor used to be just baby noises, until one day, the transmissions came. They talked of conspiracies like Kennedy, 9-11, Apollo, and Sandy Hook. And it’s ‘them’ confessing it all! I Haven’t heard from the baby in a while. It’s more important that I write it all down.

28. THE PIMP

    She handed me the money- another lucky one infected. No not AIDS (they’re going to wish it was AIDS). They recruited us to spread the affliction far and wide- there are millions of us. A motive you ask? I guess THEY just want to have fun. I know I am.

29. Overtime 

    “I saw them pouring cement through the night,” she told the officer.

    “No one was on shift.”

    “Someone’s under there.” She pointed, shaking, to the bridge’s fresh surface.

    His sunglasses hid an eye-roll. A close inspection revealed not a single hand emerging from the hardening surface. Only a foot.

30. Donald Trump And The Zombie Apocalypse

    Only those in the blue states were not infected. The remaining citizens who supported the President became zombies for his military.
    When he achieves dictatorship, those spared attempt to escape his territory of loyalist by hiking through the Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine. Few will Survive the Journey.

31. The Witch’s Crystal

    The crystal cluster shimmered and glowed in the full moon’s light. She pricked her finger on the jagged point.
    Her blood flowed onto the crystal. Her soul was instantly pulled into the cluster. “New meat for us,” the demons chanted. No one could hear the witch’s screams.

32. QUESTIONS

    Lithium, Seroquel, Paxil, Ativan, and Celexa. So I take 5, about right for Bipolar. But I have questions of him -without the mask and me on the couch. Mainly why do I cry and want to die? So I visit his home with hammer and knife. Just to ask questions.

33. THE MONSTER BEHIND THE GLASS

    Mirrors don’t reflect you they show a monster. Just hope it never seas you sleep or it will latch its tentacles on you and drain your blood. For the monster behind the mirror needs only your blood to become you. So ask yourself this. How many live among us.

34. BLACK DOTS

    Nobody believed me. The sidewalk, all those black dots- gum, tar? I got down and looked real close- they aren’t solid! They’re holes. I dropped a quarter in one- gone. Then there was the rat- squeak then gone. I tried to tell people. They didn’t listen- baby ga-ga, then gone!

35. THE SEANCE

    A seance -a joke, a lark- but a spirit arose! Entering the Dugans’ mastiff- 200 pounds!- he’s laid waste to Higgins and now has the constable’s manhood in his mouth. Shotgun in hand, he’s stopped cold, but with his death cry, he’s summoned the hounds of Hell through crashing windows.

36. “The Sacrifice”

    Their masks are made of fine porcelain with dead white eyes. They chant in ancient tongues to elder gods.

    Woodsmoke fills your lungs and you would scream if you had a voice left in you.

    One of them pushes a shallow basket under your head. Another raises a brown-stained saw.

37. The Lady in White

    “Daddy, did anyone ever die in this house?” The five year old girl asked.

    “As a matter of fact someone did. But how did you know that?”

    “She told me last night. She says she used to sleep in my room and she’s never leaving. I think she likes me”

38. SKIP

    “Great job Skip,”Joe said, holding up the gotten case (his evil he said). “He won’t be able to cast his horrible spells.” I howled and held the bloody hammer in the air, “Skip, warlock hunter!” Joe patted me on the back (he really likes me!). “Joe, I like killing warlocks.”

39. MEAT SAUCE

    Raoul made boisterous last minute demands for Giovanni’s raviolis.

    After serving him, the waitstaff focused on cleaning and remained absent.

    He was found later, blood-drained and dead.

    The police were baffled by tiny bites on his tongue and the sauce trail that zigzagged from his mouth to the table’s edge.

40. DR. LIVINGSTONE

    About to come to a boil, frenzied natives dance. My hot tub has no jets- just carrots and onions bobbing up and down. Then, on the edge of the camp, he came into view- Stanley! I’m saved! He approached with the chief and said, “Dr. Livingstone- our dinner- I presume.”

41. “Don’t Think of Pink Elephants”

    Telling yourself not to think of something guarantees the thought will cement itself in your mind. We were doomed as soon as we discovered the artifact beneath the sea.

    Don’t think about It or It will come.

    The Blight is coming now that we know. The stars are going out.

42. Cold Case

    “ No. Please don’t. I beg of you.” The psycho lowered him into the well. “Please, don’t… Ahh,” he cried. “Something’s here.”
    Detective Susan Stone got a lead and found the body. The corpse was surrounded by skulls with bloody teeth.
    Neither she, nor anyone who found her, were seen again.

43. “The Man in the Wide-Brimmed Hat”

    It was the melatonin, I tell myself. I was nursing, tired.
    But when I woke up screaming, all seven feet of him taunting me from between her crib and me, I knew he was real.
    I still see him in the corner on nights I can’t stop myself from looking.

44. SIREN OF THE STARS

    The crew of the SS Anastasia knew the stories. The deep, melancholy echo reverberated through their ship.

    It launched out of the void, swallowing them whole, until they could not tell where it ended and they began.

    Until they too, started to wail, and wail, and wail.

    And desired company.

45. — Monster Repellent —

    I found the advertisement for monster repellent in a magazine. It was just a spray bottle filled with water but the packaging was good enough to convince my son it would do the trick.
    The trouble is, now my son won’t enter his own room. He says something smells revolting.

46. THE ROT

    The rot started with the boy- foul smelling extremities black- to vital organs- patient zero dead. Eventually millions afflicted- hearts turned to sludge- no medical reason found. But we all know it’s the relentless rain, a thick caustic gel. Wolf Blitzer lies, so we bring him babies. Piles of babies.

47. Operation Dead Sister
    I watch railroad safety videos, replete with swaggering jackasses.
    We’ll beat the train.
    I see sister Nancy in their swagger, mixed with sweetness. Rushing around that crossing.
    I laugh. It’s easier.
    Nancy was en route to a writing program. Eager to create.
    She could have gone this way.
    I laugh.

48. Mother Monstrous
    Monster comes into my room. Again. Claims she’s Mother. Lonely. Slender claws prowl for my intimate regions.
    She always finds them. You look like Dad. Claws invade. Electrical energy rises, body resisting.
    Voice turns low.
    I feel pity. Hatred. Mother kept out monsters once.
    I can’t shut this monster out.

49. Opiate of The Masses
    Sister Nancy hung herself in the cathedral. Swung like a piñata.
    I found Nancy, transfixed, angry.
    She left a note. Religion was killing her. Platitudes. No action, for LGBT, the poor.
    Bishop pontificated on embarrassment. I wept. No one would know the love, tenderness, sadness she stored. None could grasp.

50. The Cavern

    She knew running away would be the smart idea, but something pulled her to that cavern.
    As she got deeper in, she heard metal against stone. In blink of an eye a being of wires and metal grabbed her, dragging her deeper into the darkness.
    No one heard the screams.

    1. The Clock

       Clocks chime, they tick, tapping like feet dancing on the floor. The hands of time always seem to find a way into the mind like a reminding whisper in your ear. Can you hear it, can you? Those whispers build softly echoing into roars, can you hear them, can you?

51. SCRUMPING FOR PUMPKINS

    The old witch shrieks and howls, “I’ll make you food for owls! Little thieves, worse than naughty mice!”

    But I’m weasel quick, even with my pumpkin bounty to wit, and I laugh but squeak, and trip over my paws not feet and scream as that corn rises up like teeth.

    1. Waiting for Morning

       It was a warm night, my mind turbulent and flowing with thought. As I sat kneeled at the foot of the bed’s edge, a dark shadowy figure stretched out lurking on the door. A sound of rattling only grew louder as if the knob of the door were unbolting itself…

52. Terror:

    “How Am I still Alive” I blinked glancing up at my mother.
    “You’re going to be fine sweetheart” She smiled, but it never touched her eyes.
    “Ari, come take a look at Sabrina’s belly!”she was concerned, I glanced down just as a flow a blood gushed out, I screamed in horror when I realized why I was bleeding.
    “Stop that!!” my mother demanded as she yanked out the knife …
    “You’re lucky I didn’t go for your throat!” She hissed at me.
    I cried allowed, realizing why I wanted to die!

53. “Solipsism”

    Are you sure you’re not alone? The strangers you pass in the street are facades, their smiles hiding the buzzing void inside them. Are they still there when you turn your back? If you move quickly enough, will you catch a glimpse of the emptiness, will you have your answer?

54. THE NEVER ENDING BATTLE

    The gnomes and the gargoyles- both having shed their onerous exoskeletons revealing new, raw flesh- met in the muddy field, an ancient score to settle. Both used their omnipotent powers- the gnomes bestowed good luck, while the gargoyles siphoned off rain when needed. I guess we’ll call it a draw.

55. FLOURESCENT GREEN GOO

    Bugs- big smelly ones- were in my hair. Dr. said ‘fluorescent green goo.’ After one week, bugs away, but also something new: I became smart- Algernon smart- me a 6th grade dropout. Biology, quantum physics, mathematics- all are a breeze. But always a trade-off. I have become fluorescent green goo.

56. Moving fingers over imprinted gold letters, the faux leather felt hot as my right index rubbed against ‘Holy’ on the spine. I knelt to observe black, writhing specks.

    “Ants.”

    I lifted my bible, casting a shadow on their rhythm before slamming down in a godlike manner to splatter them all.

57. She appeared injured—with clusters of red-green hued and translucent melding membranes of skin caked with weeds which were arranged like patterned yarn to form a loose, crocheted blanket. In the spaces between stitches, I could see bone.

    She moaned.

    It was clear that her wounds were not recent.

58. I stood before the mirror, placing my nose about an inch away from its reflective surface. I closed my eyes and imagined entering my body through pores. I scraped past muscly ridges and cut through gut. I noted the intricacy of linked cords before hitting a profusion of rot.

    1. I like the imagery.

59. VOODOO HEART

    The little girl with a sudden violence plunged the knitting needle through the voodoo doll’s heart. The girl flipped her torso back into a taut arch, pigtails hovered just above floor. Iridescent visions of violence detonated in her brain as muscles convulsed. Her playground foe, will hurt her no more.

    1. ? Descriptive scene. To the point POWERFUL. Right on!

60. The Doctor sat against the airlock door, staring at the rip in his glove. The carrier was just a pulpy mass. The virus ate through everything. Opening the door could release the virus, but he just had seconds to administer the cure. He closed his eyes and made his decision.

61. He had never seen a dead body before, suddenly he got a bad feeling.
    He slowly drew his eyes up, scanning over the rotten corpse. The corpse’s eyelids were now peeled open. These eyes were the last things he saw before the curtains slid shut and the room went dark.

62. Hiding In The Dark:

    The woods were dark, hiding secrets in thorny claws and winding vines. The bones were stark beneath his feet and the glint of light off a blade was blinding. Crinkling of leaves followed his every step and he quickened his pace. He never saw the knife until it hit him.

63. Hungry River Children

    Tucked in bed, I felt something wet slip across my ankle, and in a reflex jump, I was upright. I rubbed my ankle as I surveyed the floor around the frame.
    I froze when I noticed two childlike shapes standing with weedy arms outstretched.

    They gurgled one discernable word.

    “Hungry.”

64. Guts!
    Squelch, squish, squelch! Who knew that the entrails of her mother would be so inconceivably entertaining? The deranged little girl vivaciously scraped her toes into guts as if trying to bury them in sand. Though that which oozed through the angular gaps in her skeletal toes was viscid and cold.

65. At Death Do We Part

    My bewitching lover, now hideous and deformed. Maggots weaved in and out of her decaying eye sockets which prior to death, occupied those alluring doe eyes. It injured my heart to see her like this. I looked down at our engagement ring.
    If she said yes this wouldn’t have happened.

66. The Inevitable

    Rain pattered the surface of the water so violently as he swam towards the dark, gray sky. His body began to feel numb. Every time he screamed water would fill his lungs. His six-year old strength was no match for what held on so tightly in the dark depths below.

67. Final Voyage
    As he broke his lucid surface for his final time, he took a long agonal breath. The room was as empty as the depths below. He began to slip back down under the lucid surface. The tide of darkness washing away time, revealing the eternal ocean. He then descended forever.

68. Mr. Owl

    You’re a sucker for adorable, scholarly owls. So, you invite him in.

    You think about that warm, gooey, chewy center as Mr. Owl perches on your shoulder, beak like blades, ready to pierce. He hoots a query, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of YOU?”

69. Happy Halloween

    Henry hated Henrietta. He hallowed hatred. He hated hospitality. Henry harvested horrors. He harnessed hobgoblins. He harassed Henrietta, hurting her horribly. He hit her, hospitalizing her.

    Henry’s heart halted hastily. Hell happened, hardly heaven. Henry had honoured heinousness. Hate harbingered hell. Hell hurriedly held Henry, hissing hysterically: “Happy Halloween”.

70. Window Watcher

    Her still stare froze me, fused me to my bed. I’m no stranger to sleep paralysis, but this time I was very much awake. The open window framed her face, and I recognized her — those eyes. I couldn’t move if I tried. She smiled. She was supposed to be dead.

71. We’re Connected, You and I

    “Proper introduction time—meet Replica 2. He is you, and he does everything you can do, only better. He is a better lover, a better father… a better you. But your POWER will be truly remarkable. You will serve the greatest.

    ‘You are Replica 2’s primary energy source.”

    Wire enters.

72. Descent into Madness

    He swished the wine around, walked over to a nearby closet, finished the drink, opened the door, pulled out a mask. He shut the door, stood in front of a mirror, put the mask on. He saw a handsome man with a big, warm, inviting smile staring back.

73. “Horizon”

    So quiet.

    Empty buildings everywhere. Dust blankets the scorched land. I’m surprised nothing is glowing.

    My skin is mottled with burns. Catching my reflection, a monster looks back.

    All I can do is lay and listen, delirious and surrounded with my sick. There is nothing. No one for comfort.

74. Fear of the Unknown

    “Don’t touch anything!” I urged.
    My kid leaned away, looking at the glowing light.
    “What is it?” he asked me, desperately searching for answers.
    “Something I hoped you would never have to see,” I answered, gently turning the keys. “A check engine light.”

75. 1, 2, 3

    Chair to the wall, try to breathe, just relax.
    Breathe. One, two, three.
    Not a crowded room, but I’m still trapped. I’m trapped. Trapped in an empty room. Chair and desk bound me in a corner. Paralyzed, terrified, defenceless.
    Breathe. One, two, three.
    Please breathe, don’t scream, survive pretty please.

76. SNUFFED OUT

    The furnace had died.

    It’d been months since Ed dared to enter the cellar where his wife broke her neck falling downstairs.

    He stood past the threshold staring at rickety stairs.

    Suddenly, the door slammed behind, sending him tumbling below, twisting his head practically off.

    Distant laughter filled the darkness.

77. Father Provides

    “Don’t follow me,” Mother commanded. How long had it been since they last ate? Brother and Sister watched smoke rise from the shed chimney. The sweet, charred aroma of meat followed. Sister’s stomach growled. Brother said, “We’ll have food soon. Father left us penniless, but he still provides for us.”

78. 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.

79. TOP ‘EAVY

    Belladonna wore a progression of corsets, fixated on a shrinking waistline.

    One night after removing her bodice, weakened muscles strained to support her upper torso and her spine snapped.

    Paralyzed in the dressing room, her dying cries went unheard.

    It’s rumored that a lopsided ghost still haunts local burlesque circuits.

80. DON’T LET IT IN

    The voice on the phone whispered, “Don’t let it in” and hung up. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. My husband yelled, “Help! It’s right behind me!” I opened it to let him inside. However, it was just his face ripped-off and sewn onto a gray-skinned man’s head.

81. What a Werewolf Told Me Before Eating My Ankle

    Please, stop kicking. That’s rude. And quit whining, or I’ll break your detectable mandible to muzzle you. You had what, fifty years to do all those charitable things? Too late! I can’t always be there tap-tap-tapping on the glass to keep you honest. Now, where do you keep your napkins?

    1. *delectable mandible

82. 13

    Blood gushing but from where? Have I been shot? Stabbed? Jabbed? Make it stop. Dripping, dropping down my leg. Plug it up. Panic. Silence. Heavy breathing. What is happening to me? How can I bleed this much and live? I’m going to die. Is this the end? If so, goodbye.

83. Spaghetti Man

    He seized my throat, and
    through fetid gums he spat, “Look Noodle Boy, this party is fucking mine-cake, balloons, juice boxes- all mine.” His knee then shattered my groin, his forehead split my lip. I squirmed within his grip- tried to speak- but could only mouth, ‘Forgive me Spaghetti Man’

84. Milk

    I want cereal, but I don’t have any milk. So, I go to the store. But there are no buggies? Is it going to snow? No, it’s summer. Zombie apocalypse? Maybe. Perhaps I can just carry the milk through the store. No, it is the first of the month. RUN!

85. WHAT A WEREWOLF TOLD ME BEFORE EATING MY ANKLE

    Please, stop kicking. That’s rude. And quit whining, or I’ll break your delectable mandible to muzzle you. You had what, fifty years to do all those charitable things? Too late! I can’t always be there tap-tap-tapping on the glass to keep you honest. Now, where do you keep your napkins?

86. Parasite

    I am NOT crazy. You just don’t understand this like I do. How they find their way in. Make you an alien to your own body. Fester and infect everything you love.
    I am not crazy for killing that thing. I am for giving it life in the first place.

87. WHEN NO ONE IS AROUND

    The world became muted- sights through smoky glass, sounds through closed doors, smells through cotton wads- until my senses stopped working altogether. All that remained was thought and pain. I could scream though- and I did. But of course I couldn’t hear it- like a tree falling in the woods.

88. Ominous Landscape

    Family melted into puddles of bone and blood. Near them, I witnessed. It rattled me, and I could not stop replaying the horror long enough to identify a cause. I watched them go and lamented my stay; but in the new surroundings I realized they did not leave. I did.

89. The Queen’s Return

    The sun slipped below the howling trees, the signal they had been waiting for. Claws tore through gnarled undergrowth; saliva slipped of lolling tongues scorching the ground beneath it. Heart pounding, she stared, transfixed by death personified. The creature’s maw widened, preparing for what was to come. She simply grinned.

90. Centipedal Harvest

    The anesthesia kicked in.

    A basic, in-and-out endoscopy.

    As I drug slept, I swear I could feel a tickle in my organs. A subconscious blip, no doubt.

    My eyelids separated to open and see oodles of tacky limbs belonging to human-sized house centipedes who were milling about in my insides.

    1. The banshees

       The banshee sister approach men in the dark, three women that say they want you to be their everything. On their faces it says truth like even though they just met you, they love you, your heart beats faster hoping, but instead, they brutally murder you when you follow them….

91. Trick or treat

    All I hear in this dark place is ticking. I daren’t move. My skin creeps. Things touch me. I’m pegged to a wall, road-kill, awaiting processing.
    Ticking? It’s my blood dripping onto the floor. All my life is draining out and I don’t know how to stop it. Help me!
    ***

92. THE SINISTER OVERWASH

    Scrambling up wet rip-rap, he watched in horror as the dog struggled beneath the blackened waves.

    According to Indigenous legends, Hobomock lived under the ledges of the Cohasset’s shores.

    The lone inhabitant of Gull island knew this truth and prayed that the slurping noises of the Evil One would pass.

93. The Buzz I Heard in My Left Ear on Tuesday (Nowhere Near My Nose At All)

    I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fly up your nose.
    Total accident.
    It’s been a few weeks now, and I’m trying to stay optimistic. Your insides are lovely.
    I hate to impose, but I’m getting a little hungry here. Might snack, since there’s miles of mushy stuff.
    Is anywhere okay?

    1. He came into my room again, a shadow that looks like a man. His fingertips grazed the curve of my calf. They are long, grasping in the cover of darkness. I would cry out, but the gesture is futile. The shadow consumes me, all the essential pieces. Stop Dad. Please.

94. A PIG-LIKE CREATURE

    The first video posted showed a pig-like creature tearing a little boy to shreds, killing him. An untraceable poster hiding in the dark web, proceeded to post thousands of different attacks, bloody children saturated social media. Then suddenly the videos stopped. The pig-like creature and its victims were never found.

95. Title: Last Will Kiss

    “What do I do?” I asked the lawyer.
    “You have to kiss your late Aunt Edna’s ex’s and provide proof. Here’s the list of names?” He slid over three papers. Cringing, he added, “And seventy percent are dead.”
    Eight million dollars for sixty-three kisses, including the dead–I could do that.

    -Submission #1 – J. McCoard

96. Forever After

    The medication spread nimbly throughout his body. It felt like ice going in. They always said it would, but he never knew if that were true or not. Soon he would not be able to die. The concrete pouring over felt even colder. But not as cold as her smile.

97. Thanksgiving

    She was so young. She didn’t deserve this. Things used to be different. Laughter and sunshine. Fresh air and full stomachs. This was too much. It was all too much. He made sure the knife was sharp and twisted the tourniquet until his thigh went white. She would eat tonight.

98. The Eating Game

    The image was burned into his mind. Her skin taut over her bones, eyes full of hunger, shivering despite the heat. If he won, they would pay him. If he won, she could eat. The white lights felt hot. The cage door shut. A tiger paced forward. The crowd cheered.

99. Three Nights Ago

    They came three nights ago. Thin figures, memories hazy. It was a dream. Scratching the bumps until they bleed. It’s psychosomatic but I can see a red light. It’s burrowed in my ear. There’s an incessant beeping. I can’t sleep. I shake holding a shard of glass, it’s getting out.

100. The Hidden Costs of Bargains

     House hunters only look for the best deal but never delve into the why. Not until the youngsters begin to cower at shadows, the missus dreads her days at home alone, and the husband swallows his mindless terror each night do they realize too late that their bargain included me.

     1. I just bought a house, and this story made me second guess my purchase. Yowza.
        Good story.

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