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• Story may not be published elsewhere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.
For love
Amelia was the only girl I have ever loved. So why is she doing this? My hands and legs tied to a chair, drink she says. I look down at her bloody wrist. The smell so intoxicating. What’s wrong with me? The pain in my stomach becomes stronger. Drink she whispers.
The other boy hit the white werewolf with his blue , and purple guitar . All the sudden the dad when frozen still with fear when the fallen boy started floating with black sparkles around him wolf ears and tail popped out. All of the people split their mouth in shock .Then when the mom turned to check on the baby girl she was gone only and where she was was a scary, threatening doll with and moonlit sign saying look up if you dare she looked up and saw a vampire wearing a long, black cloak holding the baby in and horrible , magical , black blanket and pointing down she looked down and saw a two headed ,black dog as they opened their mouth she saw sharp teeth so she ran the other way but got blocked off by demons she jumped up and screamed then turned right there was zombies so she turned left and there was creepy clowns. Then her son that got turned into a wolf made it through the monster with and sword the two other werewolves said “point it at her neck nick” but his name was really drake the son pointed it at his mother then cut her head off turning her into a ghost and went to hell for doing a crime. a long time ago she stole the crown of the queen of Denmark and killing the king . the dad unfroze but got stabbed by the son too making him into an angel and went to heaven then the other son said brother this is not you please remember but then he was turned into a ball as for the baby ? She got bit by the vampire and got named midnight when any humans come they will be ready with the new werewolf , Nick and the new vampire midnight when she gets older but the mother got turned into a demon and joined the other demons Day hit and all the monsters went to bed or did they ? Ten years later there was a meeting all the monsters were there even Nick and Midnight. Nick was getting married to the princess of werewolves ,Princess mist but humans came but they were ready to slice and dice them to pieces the end .
Faerytale Carousel
One-two-three, one-two-three
Round and round the ring they go
But hush! If they see you peek
They’ll invite you to their dance
So enchanting you’ll never leave
Till your feet turn to stumps
And mind melts into putty
One-two-three, one-two-three
Round and round they go, on and on and on…
Once on a stormy night in a misty , gloomy island filled with monsters and killer clowns . Thunder crashes and lighting flashes hitting stones and trees . In the small forest filled with thorns and big brown bears . Deep in the forest, there was a small cave filled with bats and vampires . Hives field with the beating of small wings of bees . No human has been there before. But on this night a family with one baby girl and 2 ten year old boys washed ashore from a lighting storm hitting their boat .Then they awoke from their sleep they were surrounded by vampires , demons , zombies , werewolves, creepy clowns and witches . the family felt scared and the monster thought they could hurt them so they thought “we can turn them into us so they won’t hurt us”
The ten year old boys and their mother and father grabbed their instruments the mother grabbed Xylophone, and the dad grabbed his blue recorder , one of the boys grabbed his violin and all of them started to play the song twinkle twinkle little star. The monsters look confused with tilted heads . the people thought that they were going to be safe so they put it down for a minute .Next the creepy clowns grabbed chainsaw and then chopped a tree down making a loud bang when it hit the ground . One of the boys grabbed a rubber band and stick making a slingshot then grabbed 2 stones but he was too late to save himself, one of the werewolves bit the young boy making him fall asleep then
The demons in my life
They hide in plain sight
May give you fright
The demons i see
will make you run
They scare others
But i wont be bothered
They smile, don’t be fooled
Your mind and heart is their food
I’ll face them myself
the way to hurt them is by hurting myself
Tinder & Tequila
His mouth was dry cotton. Everything spun. He was going to be sick, but from which end? Probably both.
He retched violently. Heavy splashes stippled red freckles on white porcelain. The taste was bad, the smell worse.
He remembered the tequila. Nothing after.
Especially the finger floating in the bowl.
Timothy woke up and remembered… today was the day he would see his long-dead father. With his mother, they went to the lab that took him back in time where Timothy would get to relive, although it was just a brief moment, his last moments with his beloved father.
“No Harm in Killing, Right?”
Walking home from school, I blink, now I’m in a chokehold.
Tossing, turning, and biting vigorously. One clean bite on his hand and, “Boom!” dropped dead. I see fingerprints with names beneath them. Pondering, I lick a bully’s fingerprint at school. Next day, absent. I’m now the ruler of Earth.
Timothy woke up and remembered… today was the day he would see his dead father. With his mother, they went to the lab that took him back in time where Timothy would get to relive, although it was just a brief moment, his last moments with his beloved father.
this one is a mess up please read newer one instead.
T in this should be capitalized and read should be write.
No, he meant read since he wrote a different version of the story and would like that one to be considered (read) instead.
Darci Young was blonde,
A shiver ran down my spine as I sat on the old porch swing, the soft fall breeze nipped at my nose and face. “You know, you aren’t going to get better by sitting out in the cold, right?” I scoffed and didn’t bother to look up at Maci. “Here.” She shoved a mug into my hands, I took it. She followed my gaze to the neighbor’s lawn as she sat beside me. She sighed and folded her legs up under her. I knew what she was thinking. We watched in mutual silence together as the cops paced across the lawn and guarded the drive way like their life depended on it. I held on tighter to the mug as they begin to haul a gurney out of an ambulance and into the house. Maci hummed as they returned with a black body bag on it.
The detective hastily left the house and stood on the porch watching as the rest of the crew taped off the house.
“It’s him again. She was drained like an animal.”
I gave Maci a look, who returned it. She promptly got up and went back inside.
I looked down at my mug and sighed. I swished the warm blood and took a sip.
That’s definitely not 50 words…
Breath by Breath
I checked the clock, at 3:02 am, when I turned and saw a gruesome, hideous, disgusting figure, out of the blur of my eyesight, floating above me like a sea otter floating on the surface of water. It was making an unusual, eerie breathing sound, consuming my soul …… breath by breath.
On Halloween when Oliver got home he was in shock to see two scarecrows standing there with his parents bloody clothes they looked half dead Then GONE.But when he found them he was in shock tears dripping from his eyes and before him his parents dead on the floor.
JAM
It tastes like jam to them,
crouched over the bones.
It tastes sweet.
Love At First Bite!
She fell in love with him the moment he bit her and sucked her blood and let her drink his blood afterwards and she couldn’t get enough and he said please stop but she had sucked him dry and killed him and left to live her new
vampiress life
THE CRY FOR HELP
There I was walking in the complete and pitch darkness, the smell so musky and rotten and this feeling of the vines is so slimy and they look quite dark and brown-ish. I know for a fact that I don’t have much time left so please GO. its coming..
THE OTHER DIMENSION
There I was walking in the complete and pitch darkness, the smell so musky and rotten and this feeling of the vines is so slimy and they look quite dark and brown-ish. I know for a fact that I don’t have much time left so please GO. Its coming..
THE UPSIDE DOWN
There I was walking in the complete and pitch darkness, the smell so musky and rotten and this feeling of the vines is so slimy and they look quite dark and brown-ish. I know for a fact that I don’t have much time left so please GO its coming..
The Handwriting is on the Wall
Flickering light emanated underneath the basement door. Had I forgotten to turn it off? Was I sleepwalking? Scraping like nails on a blackboard rose up the stairs.
I descended the steps to discover glowing handwriting clawed onto the wall. Right above my crumpled dead body, it said, “Remember… you fell.”
He weeps knowing he is but a drop in the well, buried by the flood of hopefuls just like him. His previous stories are all but forgotten, lost in the sea of syntax. Will he be remembered or blotted out the same as before. I foresee the latter, and you?
Death Rattle
Mia woke to a rasping sound over the intercom. The train was still, eerily dark. She maneuvered toward the doors and struggled to pry them open. The rasping became a horrid croak, then abruptly ceased. Her labored breathing filled the silence. She twisted through the doors and into waiting arms.
My Reaper is Kept
Do you want to know what he said.
“Yeah.”
He said if I hide these things I’ll keep
“Keep, what?”
Safe.
You’re unsafe too you know
Come with me and he’ll keep you
Keep you from sorrow, pain, and desire.
Hide these things and you’ll not feel it again. If…
It Ends Before His Laugh
I know. I’m going to! Stop with the tears. Find a way. He’s going to find you. No, I can’t go on. The smell is getting to me. Keep your hand on your stomach, don’t want your guts to fall out. It needs to stop. I hear him la… Ahhhh!
Depicting The Sadist
He spoke as he dragged a knife across her body. We breath the same air but we’re not the same. You feel warmth, ease with humanity. My only way is to crawl inside you, watch you bleed. My answer, your stupid problem. You’re no longer relevant but now I am.
The most frightening experience is what we can’t capture on film
James only knew of the monsters in the movies. So it was a stare of frightful confusion, as he looked at Margaret going into memory. She’s no longer with him. He felt her muscles tightening. Moments have passed and she opened her eyes and said, “see what’s in my mind.”
The Best Wife
My wife is the best wife I could ever ask for. She does everything for me and doesn’t let me go outside. She does the groceries, cooks for me and gives me warm baths… but I don’t like the chain on my wrists and ankles, and the gag on my mouth.
Hide and Seek
One night my five year old son came up to me and said “Mama, do you remember that night when you played hide and seek with me, Dada, and Gina? She was so good that we never found her, but I saw Dada helping her bury herself on the ground.”
Big Mouth
Every night there’s a weird sound coming through my new apartment wall. It has a hole that goes through my neighbor’s. One night, I decided to peek on the hole but all I saw was darkness… not until it stopped grinding its teeth on the wall and looked at me.
GODDESS
I saw God yesterday. She spoke to me in whispers, telling me of her plans.
Turns out we were all wrong.
There is no god of love. Of peace. Of light.
There is only the God of Vengeance. And she’s pissed.
At us.
And she’s planning her return.
No Playing In Grandma’s Attic
“Don’t go into the attic.” My Grandma Muller would always say.
But today, we had to. She had passed away. We were tasked with cleaning her house for auction.
I was in the attic, where there was a lifesize sack doll stabbed with a knife.
“It’s wearing grandpa’s favorite shirt.”
Mother
My mother is standing in front of me and my siblings. We thought she was dead. I ran to her happily, and she grabbed my face. I looked at my siblings, but they were gone. Then I turn to look at Mother again. Her mouth’s wide open… she ate me.
THE CORNFIELD
The worst part wasn’t getting lost in the field.
It wasn’t even when darkness fell.
It wasn’t when I started to get cold, hungry.
No.
The worst part was when the scarecrows started to move, stalking me through the rows of corn.
love it…!
THE MASK
Mom is acting strange. She hums an unfamiliar tune as she makes breakfast – eggs, bacon and toast.
She moves haltingly, unnaturally. As if she’s uncomfortable in her own skin.
The eggs are rubbery, bland.
“Now, don’t scream, honey,” the thing whispers as it removes its mom-mask.
Hell of A Night
The blindfold and being strapped down only amped up my excitement. The guy I messaged was into everything I wanted to try. Flogging, gagging, and utter domination.
He undid the blindfold, revealing his playroom.
There were lit candles and toys. But bloody blades and grotesque photos?
“I hate dating sites.”
SATURDAY NIGHT
Seven young guys drove their cars out of the city towards the country fields. Parked by the paved road, they drank and laughed. A boy wishing to pee approached a wired fence in front of tall bushes. Behind them a smart man was gazing at the dizzy boy, eyeballs like fire.
A Sacrifice?
The eerie vibe of the hall had me taking large strides. I made to take another step, but bloody, soulless eyes stopped me in my tracks. Instantly, I made to retrace my steps, but it was of no use.
It hovered over me, grinning as it tore through my chest.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
“Race you!”
Michael ran ahead on the path. I followed behind, slowly.
Suddenly, a scream. Then, silence.
Guess the rumors about these woods are true. Guess there really are things that go bump in the night.
Guess I won’t have to pay that bitch child support anymore.
Why You Should Never Try to Wake a Sleepwalker
John had a history of sleepwalking but never felt it was a serious problem.
Aside from waking up in strange places, like the bathtub, none of his nighttime antics were dangerous.
Until the night he woke suddenly to his girlfriend’s stricken expression and a kitchen knife plunged in her chest.
Apple of my Eye
Those eyes. Bloodshot and crazed, they eat away at your soul. That face, it’s sinews and muscles torn into a grimace. Those hands. They’ll reach, spindly digits grasping for any hope of survival left.
That thing. That thing with those godforsaken eyes
And now it’s coming. It’s coming for you.
The baby monitor stirs me. Plastic clangs against the window, clearing all sleepiness.
“Someone’s in her room!” I yell.
I fumble with jell-o limbs down the blackened hallway, swinging open baby’s door.
Eyes dart to an empty crib, then the opened window. Cold washes my skin and fills my stomach.
TRICK OR TREAT
“Trick or treat! Can I use your bathroom?”
If only I had known then what I know now. Turns out you have to invite them in.
Turns out that once you invite them in, they never leave.
“Trick or treat! Trick or treat!” she sings as she walks the halls.
Title: They Never Listen
Her final behest was to be cremated, the remains tightly sealed. I scattered her amongst the flowerbed, lest she feel constrained in the afterlife. That night I awakened to her embrace about my neck, squeezing ever tighter, cautioning in canorous whisper, that I’d have been wise to heed her warning.
Sweet….
His predicament found him noosed, with a bucket of
snakes strategically placed below him.
Death was inevitable.
The slithering beasts crawling, slowly onto his boots.
The bites vicious, the venom intoxicating.
A kick as big as he could muster, and the bucket sails away.
The noose tightens quickly.
…. death.
TITLE: Evelyn
“I can’t understand how this happened to her. She was fine until she went in the woods. What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know, but she’s different now; different than before.”
“Different how? Where’s she at?”
“In her bedroom. I locked her in there; I don’t think she’s Evelyn anymore.”
Daemon
Carefully, I stepped into the bedroom. The floorboards creaked, accompanied by the howling wind. Huddled in the sheets was a body. Its head slowly turned in my direction. I took a step back. When its eyes fell upon me, I swear, even the shadows paused.
“I dreamt I was human.”
Friendship
“It’s always nice to talk to friends.” Alana said to Mandy. “I love talking to you. You’re such a good listener.”
Mandy was as silent and still as ever.
“Hey Mandy, do you want to play pattycake?”
Mandy’s arm fell off in the process. The corpse had decayed too much.
Babysitting
The clown statue leers at her from outside the window. It’s grin appears to grow more menacing by the second. Frantically, she calls the owners.
“Hey, would you mind if I moved your clown statue outside your window?”
“What do you mean? We don’t have a window, only a mirror.”
Rebuilding A Broken Family
I was so excited to arrive home. My sister was finally getting released today, and our family will be whole again.
I swung the door open, jubilated, only to be devastated.
My sister was on the bloodied sofa with our lifeless parents on the ground.
“I’ve been waiting, little sis.”
FEAR
Every night, the same phone call.
“What is your biggest fear?” the voice would rasp. A click as the call disconnected.
Tonight I unplugged the phone, turned off the light, climbed into bed.
“What is your biggest fear?” a voice rasped in the darkness.
Stock’home’ Syndrome
Sitting there on the freezing concrete floor of that basement was quite bothersome. The silence was maddening and the shackles hurt my wrist. The sound of metal scraping the wall sent a shiver up my spine. He was here, he was different, he was generous, he is my love.
The Scary Ghost
The masked robber shouted, “ Runaway, there’s a ghost”. John laughed and replied, “ You fool, are you insane?”. John unlocked the door and frightened when he noticed a black figure drinking blood. The ghost instantly ruptured him into pieces and licked his blood. Then said, “ It’s not tasty”.
Crazy Joker
The scar-faced joker solicited hostages to kill themselves and promised to honor the last person alive. They were shuddering, but one of them grabbed two guns and shot all the other hostages brutally. Joker Clapped and slashed the hostage head with the sharp sword and said, “You’re seriously honored ”.
Hollow
Something deep in my heart told me not to open my eyes… but I had too. And it was a decision I’d come to regret.
I opened them and my body suddenly stiffened. All I could do was stare at the face looking at me with bloodied, empty eye sockets.
Distasteful
The dysphoria shattered my skull and krept into my brain taking over reasoning. oh no, that skin will not do, must get rid of it. You can’t say you didn’t see that way they mocked me. I didn’t lose it, no, I found something. Scrape the flesh off the bone.
TITLE: THE BROADCAST
They stared into the static of the television because that’s what the broadcast told them to do. They stared at it for several hours, unable to take their eyes off it. They stared unblinking and entranced.
Eventually , the voice came back on and gave them a new command:
“Kill yourselves”.