She  

1st PLACE ENTRY by Cooper Dale

(START RECORDING)

Listen, I don’t know where to begin. All of you have no idea about what is happening. You all think I’m “crazy,” and that I should be thrown in jail. Just listen to me. You’ll all understand.

I used to be a pretty nice guy, actually. I volunteered for many non-profit organizations that helped get food for the homeless, helped animals like dogs find loving families, you know, all of that nonsense. I was even one of the few people in our crabby neighborhood who gave candy to kids on Halloween.

My neighborhood was full of really angry old people. I don’t know why they were angry all the time. Maybe they just lost their dentures all the time.

(The man who had been speaking began to laugh, before continuing.)

I know. You want me to cut the crap and tell you the good stuff, right? Yeah, let’s start at when I think it all began.

It was Halloween night, and, of course, I was giving out candy to the little kiddos. Seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces when I gave them the candy was just the best feeling in the world. No other feeling could even come close to the feeling of making a child happy. Well, at least in my opinion.

The old farts who lived in the house next to me, on the other hand, practically hated children. If a kid were to knock on their door saying “Trick-or-treat,” they would most likely get a cane in the face. Once again, just my thought.

Halloween night was going pretty smoothly for me. I was sitting on my front porch, watching kids dressed in all sorts of costumes walk by. While I was distracted, one particular kid had sneaked up on me and had really scared me.

He or she, I don’t know, was dressed up head to toe in a ghost costume. Pretty weird costume, too, it was ripped up and had no holes for the eyes, just red dots. It had a ripped-up plastic bag and he held it out, as if asking for candy. Worst thing I had noticed yet, though, was that it was alone.

I didn’t know where its parents could be.

Of course, I just thought I was freaking out for no reason. Its parents were probably in a car across the street, waiting for it to get the candy and leave.

As you can already guess, I was really wrong.

I gave the kid a Butterfinger and told it to have a “Happy Halloween.” Then, it just walked off. It didn’t look like it was walking though, it looked like it was gliding. It was really weird.

Then, his costume caught on one of my jack-o-lanterns on my porch and it was pulled off, revealing nothing.

I started to freak out. What in Christ had I just seen? I never believed in the paranormal, but after what had just happened, I thought of sinister ghouls and ghosts.

While I was reminiscing about all of the possibilities, I heard a loud noise, of what I cannot describe, and felt a hard blast of wind go past me and into my house.

God, I was terrified. I didn’t know why, but I was trembling in fear. I suddenly didn’t feel safe outside. So, I ran into my house.

As you can already guess, this is where things become worse.

Slamming my door shut, with no concern for any more trick-or-treaters walking up to my porch, I ran into my bedroom. Jumping into the bed, I began to cry.

For some reason, I felt “strange” things sweep over me. Not actually though, more emotionally. I felt anger, sadness, fear, dread, and pure evil. I had no idea what was happening. Out of all the people in the world this could’ve happened to, why me?

Suddenly, the feelings stopped. I was so relieved that it was over.

Did you really think it ended here? It sure doesn’t, as right that moment I saw a crumpled piece of paper next to my bed.

Grabbing the paper, I opened it up and read it. It seemed to be some sort of suicide note. Thoughts were swirling in my mind. What really was happening?

The note read: “I can no longer go on like this. Everyone hates me, only HE understands. If anyone finds this note, please, do not weep for me. Instead, scream. Shake in fear of my very being. I am not dead. I AM GOD.”

Holy crap. I didn’t know what to do. I kept wondering who wrote the note until I heard a crash behind me. Turning around, I gasped in horror.

There was a being. I have no idea what it was, nor can I easily explain it. In short terms, the thing looked like a mix between a tiger, a bat, and an octopus, and it looked like its skin and muscle was rotting off its bones.

I was surprised when it began to speak to me. For some reason, it sounded like a little girl. It told me that its name was She, and that it was a servant under the Lord Zalgo. It told me that I had two choices, either burn in the underworld for eternity, or to follow Lord Zalgo and accept him into my very being by completing a task. So I listened.

So please, don’t throw me in jail. As long as you accept Lord Zalgo into your soul you will be free. So very free.

(END RECORDING)

This is a transcript of a police recording recovered on 11/17/16. The subject is Miles Drear, a 22-year old man who was found in his house, covered in blood and holding an odd knife in the shape of a goat’s skull. The bodies of 7 children were found in his house, mutilated beyond recognition. As of this log, he has escaped prison and is presumed to be on the loose near the area of Carroll County, Indiana.

519

2nd PLACE ENTRY by Blake Sinks

“You’re joking,”  I quickly responded with banter. “No its loc-”

“No it’s not. Knock it off!” Dawson  sharply responded as he cut off Caleb. I stormed over and grappled the handle and tried to open it.

“Great…” I said as my voice trailed off as the temperature of the building abruptly seemed to have dropped, but only long enough to send a chill down our spines. It was a classic horror movie scenario, but this wasn’t some cheesy horror movie with a basic script with crappy jump scares. This was real, and there was no Jason, Freddy or Michael in this story. Then it hit me, it was a cheesy movie, or at least a bad prank. I mean it’s Halloween.

“Oh, ok. That’s good, Dawson, very funny now unlock the door,” I said, coming to understand what was happening. After all it was his idea, it made sense.

But it happened again. The temperature dropped again, except this time it didn’t rise again, it just stayed the same. I glanced over in Caleb’s direction only to realize that he was gone.

“I didn’t lock the door,” Dawson said shakily. At this moment there was a very faint chuckle, just barely audible. Another chill was launched down my spine. Soon we both were overcome with dread as we noticed the smiling faces all around, the darkened looks of blood-thirsty clowns, the rotting glares of the undead, staring with the wicked and ugly faces of the witches and warlocks. Soon, things appeared to be out of place and a very sinister feeling hovered all around.

Even though we couldn’t tell whether we were being watched, it still was a struggle to figure out where we were in the store. After a bit of wandering and no communication between Dawson and I, I began to hear some incoherent mumbling and walked over to it assuming that he heard it too. When I arrived to where the noise was coming from, I couldn’t find anything but did hear a tip tap of water, only for a drip to hit me on the nose. Quickly I wiped it off only to have the slightest drop land in my mouth. It tasted of iron, like blood…..

I looked up to see Caleb, his maimed body hanging by the feet like a mistletoe. Throat slit, with a grin carved into face going from ear to ear, his nose was flayed off, made to look like a clown, but with blood streaked cheeks. I was mortified by what I saw. When I looked back down I saw a figure skulking away. I was visibly shaken. I backed away slowly after the figure disappeared behind the aisle. My elbow then scraped a decoration, and it crashed to the ground and shattered into a million pieces and sounded equivalent to the sound of a gunshot in the still silence. Frozen in place, the figure crept back from its hiding spot. As the figure turned the corner he was dragging a long blood-stained axe that was embedded into the skull of an object that resembled a human but didn’t look like it. Like Caleb, it was maimed and mutilated. I quickly came to the realization that it was Dawson. Then I looked at the monstrosity that was dragging his limp body. Its face was distorted and had a smile from ear to ear, its flesh was hanging limp, and in some places it was gone all together, as it disappearing in and out of existence. Then the monster appeared right in front of me. I heard the faint tip tap again. Soon a sharp pain followed, and I glanced down at my gut. There was  what appeared to be a knife that was embedded inside of my stomach, and blood was dripping down the knife. One last time I looked up upon its grotesque face, and it looked down slowly, and it smiled. It smiled, as if it was some sick joke, and then it pulled out a hatchet and slit my throat. My body dropped to the floor and it just kept staring….    

The Best Halloween Ever!

3rd PLACE ENTRY by Ella Hudson

One cold Halloween day, I got grabbed from behind when I was trick or treating at a small blue house. Then my captor spoke, ¨Come with me!¨ A chill went down my spine. I knew that voice like the back of my hand. I had watched him in so many movies! Why was he coming for me?

I tried to confront him, but right then he put his hand over my mouth. I wanted to tell Frankenstein to put me down, but all my chances of doing that now were gone. After he carried me for what felt like hours, he stopped. Then I heard him open a door. Then he threw me onto a cold hard floor. Then he closed the door and left.

Right away I wanted to start looking for a light switch. But by the echoing of my footsteps as I walked, I knew it was a big room. After a few minutes of looking, I found the door. I tried to pull and push it open, but it just wouldn’t budge. I knew there should be a light switch by the door.

Bingo! There was a switch right there. I switched it on. Then I screamed so loud the whole country could have heard it. What used be a princess outfit was now a Lady Frankenstein outfit.

I looked around me. Inside was a bunch of chairs, sofas, but then in the middle of the room was a table full of food. Then I noticed the next room. Right then I thought I was going to die!! The room next to me was filled with all the monsters that have lived…and they were all dancing to a ticking time bomb.

4:36:56, 4:35:36, 4:34:21, I watched the time ticking down. Is that why Frankenstein put me in here? So I could watch my death sentence ticking down?? ¨Why is this happening to me??¨ I yelled. Bad mistake.

All of the monsters then looked at me and said in the same voice, ¨Gracey is here. Gracey is here.¨ Then they went back to their same weird dance. I started to wonder how they were dancing, when they knew how much time they had till the bomb went off and they all died. I looked at the bomb. 4:13:36. My time was going fast.

I would only have 4 hours left till I die! And 4 hours to my birthday. I was turning 13 in four hours! Right then I just wanted to scream out loud: ¨I’m too young to die!¨ But somehow my jaw felt numb and I couldn’t move it. What would I do?

Then I noticed something different about the bomb. By the exact time the bomb went off I would be 13 years old. Right as I thought this Count Dracula and Mrs. Count Dracula went to the stage saying in harmony: ¨She has found out! We must do something while she is still with us!¨ Right as his words went through me, the doors opened.

Out poured all of my family members shouting, ¨Surprise! Happy Birthday, Gracey!¨

The End

(For Now…)