1st place

The Haunted House

by Levi Studebaker

It was Halloween night and there was a group of friends gathering at John’s house. There were four boys in the group, John, Henry, Hudson, and Tom. Henry and Hudson were talking about plans of how to get the most candy per house, while John waited by the sidewalk for Tom.

When Tom showed up he had important news. “I was walking down the street when someone told me this rumor about a haunted house.” John, Henry, and Hudson didn’t believe in ghosts, so they thought the story was fake but listened anyway. “The man told me that out in the country a man was at his house one night when a robber broke in, he tried calling the cops, but was killed mid-dial,” Tom said. “ And ever since, the man has protected the house from anybody who dares enter.”

Henry, Hudson, and John all decided that they should prove Tom wrong. They discussed with one another and agreed to visit the house to see if the rumor is true. “After all, there’s no such thing as ghosts,” John exclaimed. They then asked John’s mom to drive them down to the house, saying that it was a fake haunted house and they were going for fun.

They arrived at the house and realized that it was much bigger than they thought it was. Two stories, tall, and very wide. They thanked John’s mom and she drove off. Hudson knocked on the door, when Tom told him there was no use, that the man lived alone so nobody lived on after his death in the house. They opened the door and stepped in, it was very dusty inside the house, and they walked around the house to explore some of the rooms “It’s a good idea to look around, there might be some valuable stuff in here,” Henry said.

Bam! They heard the front door slam shut when they were in the kitchen. They all whipped around checking the door. It was locked. John stated, “Probably just windy out and it shut the door, and that we accidentally locked it. Cause there’s no such thing as ghosts.”  Henry, Hudson, and Tom decided to head up to the second floor, while John said he’d keep looking for things on the first floor. John’s friends left while he kept looking around the kitchen he saw the phone and decided to call his parents to pick them up since there wasn’t anything at the house for them to find. As he was dialing the numbers, he heard something from the other room but didn’t pay attention to it because he thought it was just creaking from the second floor.

Tom was looking around with Hudson and Henry and decided to go into one of the bedrooms since that was where people kept most of their stuff. They heard a bang from downstairs and rushed down the stairs to find out what happened. When they got downstairs, they couldn’t tell which room the noise came from. Henry said that Tom should check the kitchen, Hudson should check the living room, and he would check the hallway. They separated, and Henry was halfway down the hallway when he saw an open door, from curiosity he went into the room.

Hudson was in the living room checking for anyone, or anything when he heard Tom yell that he found John. He rushed out of the room and into the kitchen to find John on the floor, phone in hand, with a black skillet next to him on the floor. He checked John’s pulse, but couldn’t find a beat. Tom said that the ghost must have come in and hit John in the back of the head with the skillet. “I’m done with this. I’m calling John’s parents to come get us out of this creepy place,” Hudson stated. He grabbed the phone from his pocket and dialed John’s parents and asked them to pick them up. He’d explain what happened to John later.

They then realized that Henry wasn’t with them. They sprinted into the hallway and began opening random doors to try to find Henry. Tom screamed when he saw through an open door. There was Henry, on the floor with a snapped neck. “The ghost must have come in when he saw you go into the kitchen and made it quick so he couldn’t scream for help,” Hudson exclaimed.

Tom and Hudson were white with fear. They heard a car drive into the driveway. Tom and Hudson ran to the door and banged on it yelling to the parents that the door was locked. John’s parents tried opening the door but to no use. Then the parents called the police to get the door open.

 Hudson and Tom checked the house again to make sure there wasn’t someone in the house. They didn’t want to check the rooms with their friends in it for they couldn’t look at what happened again. There wasn’t anyone in the house, they thought, then realized that they would still have to check the rooms with John and Henry in them. They checked the kitchen, nobody, not even John was in there. They wondered what happened to him. They checked the open door in the hallway, Hudson heading to the first door thinking that was the right room. Then Tom went to the last room, not knowing that Hudson went to the wrong room. Still, nobody, not Henry, not the ghost, nobody. He went back down the hallway and saw Hudson, in the first room, with a knife in his back, he realized all his friends were killed now. He heard the door getting unlocked, and thought it was the cops, so he headed to the door, only to find the ghost.

“Leave this house, and never return, with your friend’s death as a sign for nobody to ever return to this house again!” The ghost exclaimed, and Tom left the house, his face white as a ghost.

2nd place

The Frightened Ghost

by Peyton Pownell

The town people had been preparing the halloween Festival for nearly a month. That year, they had decided to celebrate it at the gloomy house of Rivadavia Avenue. The children were very anxious because, as they had heard a lot about ghost stories, they waited for something strange to happen that night. Boys and girls had spent all the afternoon telling witch’s tales and preparing their clothes. That year’s party had a special rule to be followed: the costumes should be handmade and about life in the past.

The funny villagers started to arrive at the house at nine o’clock. Nobody had noticed that the old house had a strange brightness that night. Even the color of the walls was clearer than usual and the floors didn’t not crackle like an angry lion. The band began to play very noisy music and the whole house seemed to move at the same rhythm. People had danced for nearly three hours when suddenly the lights went out. Luckily some of them had taken candles so they lighted them. The old Juan Perez went to the basement to see what had happened. He had not even searched the light cabin when the lights were on again. The same thing happened twice that night and the guests had begun to worry about it. When the dance was finishing, a picture started to move side by side. And whenever someone was going towards the door, the floor began to move as a mad wave. As the villagers did not know what to do, they all sat on the floor, waiting for the house to be  calmer. While they were all quiet, a low voice, coming from the roof could be heard. As the voice sounded louder, people began to be afraid of it, because they did not see anybody coming.

One by one, everybody realized that the strange voice was a poor frightened ghost, who had lived in that house for nearly six hundred years and, as he had been a deaf man, he didn’t know how music or human’s voices sounded. And as the house had remained always in silence, he was not accustomed to noises. The poor ghost made the villagers promise that they would give him several cassettes, so, for the next party, he would be able to enjoy the dance as they had done it.

3rd place

The Halloween Mystery

by Kiara Roberts

It was almost time for trick or treating, all of the children were getting in their costumes and getting ready. There was only one problem, there is a town murderer on the loose. Parents are frightened to let their children out at such a time.

Let’s head to one specific girl going trick or treating. Her name is Reece. She is going trick or treating with her two friends. Their names are Ashlyn and Lux. Their parents don’t want them to go out, but they have begged and pleaded until their parents finally let them go.

“I can’t believe our parents are letting us go!” exclaimed Reece.

“Reece, just calm down, okay. I know you’re really excited, but you just need to calm down,” Ashlyn sighed.

“C’mon let’s just go already, all the candy will be picked over by the time we get out,” Reece sighed.

The girls head out of the house saying goodbye to Reece’s mother.

“Girls please try to stay safe and be home at 9:30 sharp!” pleaded Reece’s mother.

“Okay!” the girls exclaimed back, and off they went from house to house.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. “Umm, guys did you hear that?” asked Reece with a startled look on her face.

All of a sudden Reece realizes she has lost Ashlyn and Lux. As a thick fog starts covering the area Reece begins to panic. She then went to call her mom only to notice that her phone had died. Reece then really starts to panic, not knowing what to do.

“Ashlyn! Lux! Where have you guys gone?” Reece shouts trying to hold it together.

Oh no. Oh no. The town murderer. How could I be so stupid. I’ve lost them. Reece thought to herself.

“Where did all this fog come from?” Reece whispered to herself.

Rustle. Crunch. Rustle. Crunch.

“Hello, i-is anyone th-there?” Reece stuttered.

All of a sudden everything went silent and all you could hear was the whispering of the wind and the leaves rustling against each other. The fog was so thick and muggy you couldn’t see anything except for the night sky which was clear and cloudless.

Reece decided it would be best to try to find her way home. She started tip-toeing quietly until she was able to find her way out of the fog. After 30 minutes of tip-toeing she decided to take a break since the fog was still near. She then realized that the fog was gradually getting thicker and muggier after each step she took.

After about an hour more of walking Reece heard the sirens start going off around town, and then she heard the mayor’s voice.

“Everyone that is trick or treating please try and hurry home as soon as you can or shelter in the nearest home! Some police officers have been patrolling and have found two girls dead! This means the town murderer has come out! Police officers will be out looking for the murderer and children!” the mayor’s voice boomed over the loud speakers across town.

“Two girls dead, no i-it can’t be,” Reece whispers to herself, “ it can’t be my best friends. I should have stayed with them none of this would have happened.”

I have to get home Reece thought to herself. One step at a time, but I can’t be too loud. Reece thought.

One hour later. I’m starting to get tired Reece thought. Bam! Thunk! Reece fell flat on her face, but her face wasn’t the thing that took the blow; it was her leg. Reece slowly looked down at her leg to see a stick went through her skin.

All of a sudden the pain comes to her and she starts screaming in pain and agony. Reece finds a way to get up and then she pulls the stick out of her leg and tears a piece of her shirt off and wraps it around her wound.

“I can’t walk anymore, and I think I have just been walking in a circle,” Reece said quietly in pain.“ I can’t let the murderer find me, I just can’t.”

“Hello, is anyone here?” a strange voice asked.

Reece tries to stay quiet, but she can’t contain her tears from coming out.

“Miss, I can hear you, I can also smell that you’re bleeding. I won’t hurt you I promise,” the voice said kindly.

“I d-don’t know i-if I can trust y-you, and h-how do you k-know I’m bleeding?” Reece stutterd.

“Let’s have a proper introduction. I’m Lucas I’m 17 and I’ve been 17 for a long time now,” Lucas stated

“Okay, umm I’m Reece a-and Im 16 I turned 16 in August,” Reece stated. “What d-do you mean by you being 17 for a long time?”

“I’m not going to tell you that, but let me help you okay,” Lucas calmly said.

“Um, okay, can you help me home please?” Reece asked.

“Sure, I mean it wouldn’t hurt,” Lucas said.

Lucas came and helped Reece up. As they were walking to Reece’s house they engaged in a conversation. They were getting to know each other and they even started laughing and joking.

“I was walking with my best friends one day we were all having an amazing time, it kinda reminds me of right now,” Reece says smiling trying to hold back her tears.

“Your friends sound nice,” Lucas said.

“Well they died,” Reece replied gloomily.

“Ahh, and so are you,” Lucas said  with a grin on his face.

“Wh-what?” said Reece with fear planted all over her face.

Lucas just so happened to be a vampire and turned Reece into a vampire. A year later, reports were out for Reece and it turned out that Lux & Ashlyn had died. Lucas decided to head to Reece’s home town & become the town murderer once again, but this time Reece is going with him because she wants to cause them fear. They made sure Halloween night would be the night they go.