Closed ~ Halloween Short Horror Story Competition ~ 2021 (Completed)

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Happy Halloween/October, Writers of Writing Home!

This is our first Halloween Writing Competition AND our first Writing Competition in general!
I hope you're as excited as we are!

To try and make your entry into the contest as smooth as possible,
we’ve broken down everything you need to know into segments below.

So, let's get started so you can start writing!


What is a Writing Competition and how does it work?

A writing competition is as it sounds.
We will provide a prompt (as seen below) for those who wish to join.

Contestants will write a story, following the guidelines for this contest, and submit it by a deadline.
Our judges will go over all submitted work and decide, together, who they feel wrote the best story based on their prompt.
(There are 3 judges for this competition.)

Once a winner has been chosen, it will be announced publicly and they will receive their prize.
Also, once the winner has been chosen, all submitted entries will be available for viewing by the members of Writing Home.​
Rules of the 2021 Halloween Short Horror Story Competition

◉● No stealing/using/submitting Copyrighted work. ●◉

◉● Do not submit work you submitted to prior competitions, even on other sites. ●◉

◉● Although we keep the judges a secret, if you figure out who they are, do not contact them about it. ●◉

◉● All work must be PG16. Violence/gore is fine, but limit anything overly graphic. ●◉

◉● Only one entry per user. ●◉

◉● Ensure your story follows one of the Prompts provided ●◉

◉● Site rules against forbidden topics still apply. ●◉​
Submission information

◉● All submitted work must be between 300 (minimum) and 1,000 (maximum) words. ●◉

◉● All Work Must be Submitted by October 31st. ●◉

◉● The winner will be announced the first week of November. ●◉

◉● To join, you simply need to submit your entry by Private Messaging to @Writing Home by the deadline above. ●◉​
Story Prompts

Your stories must be based on one of the two prompts below.

Prompt #1
"After the sudden death of a loved one, you discover they have come back to life with evil intention."

Prompt #2
"After awakening in a cabin in the woods with no knowledge of where you are or how you got there, you hear a knocking on the basement door."​
The Winner's Prize

For our first competition, Writing Home will be giving the winner 2 prizes.

Prize #1
A Trophy Award that they can proudly show in their profile!

Prize #2
Assuming the user will be able to accept it,
UndeadEyes will be offering them $20 cash or $20 Amazon Gift Card.*
*Depending on location and the apps available to the winner, that will decide which they receive.*


 

Writing Home

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The Winner of our First Writing Competition is: @Irredeemable !
Congratulations!


The outside was quiet and dark. Frost glittered silently on the ground, illuminated by a few bright moonbeams. Spread around the house was a vast forest, almost picturesque in the soft, cool light. I tugged the curtains to, then turned my back to the window with a shake of my head, eyes adjusting from natural night to artificial day.

My mind was fuzzy, a muddle of lights and sounds that resisted being pieced together. The last thing I could clearly remember was a platform announcement and wheeling a suitcase through a busy train station, these memories backed up by a cardboard slip by my bed, with a date inked onto it.

That had been three days ago.

Since then, I had arrived at this cabin in the middle of the woods, and in doing so forgotten everything about how.

My knowledge of the place was limited. There was the bedroom in which I had woken up, and then there was a bathroom, both done with tasteful, rustic furnishings. Having scouted out my immediate surroundings, I prepared to open the door to the rest of the house.

It swung open without a sound. The room was only faintly lit by the bedroom light, yet I could feel a comforting openness from this new place. After fumbling for a light switch, I was met with quite the quaint little residence. Outside the bedroom there was a kitchen, which had been opened up into a dining area and lounge. A small corridor led to a utility room, and that was that.

After mapping the house, I could turn to another pressing concern. The kitchen addressed my hunger with a bowl of leftover soup, and the knowledge that alcohol had not been the cause of my amnesia; there were no empty bottles or cans anywhere.

I stood, eating, and as I ate, I pondered. The only sound in the cabin was the humming of the fridge, and the scrape of my spoon against the bowl.

Scrape.

Scrape.

Scr-Wait.

In untangling the knots in my mind, I had missed that something had begun to respond to my eating, and now continued on alone, following the same rhythm.

The sound made me stop, a chill running down my back. The tone was insistent and distinctly different from my own. Mine had been sterile, this was primal, nails grating against something that was too hard for them.

It came from the centre of the room.

Suddenly aware of every breath I took I crept towards the source. To my relief, the floor was well kept and didn’t complain at my weight. The scraping continued as I approached, slow and deliberate, with the tone shifting higher and more hair-raising with each repetition.

It was now coming from beneath my feet.

Concerned that after all their silent service the floorboards would now reveal me, I knelt down cautiously. Sweeping aside the heavy wool carpet, I found my hands whiter and less steady than I had remembered them. The edge of a trapdoor began taking shape, a lock and a heavy ring. As if to answer my question about the lock, a key had been laid down, old fashioned and heavy duty.

My hand still quivering, I reached for the key, freezing as my fingernails ground against the wood. The scratching continued, unabated, and in that moment it was somehow a relief. The key slid in smoothly, followed by an unmistakable clunk, and suddenly, there was no barrier between myself and the noise.

Beneath the wooden portal however, nothing stood. All I was met with was a smell of old, cold and damp.

Fool that I was, curiosity pushed me onwards. My bare feet sunk down into the darkness, toes curling against the freezing concrete. My hand jerked on a cord, and in response a fluorescent light wheezed alive, chattering out its displeasure at being roused.

The basement was small, but not unclean. I had only a moment to look about before I became aware of the scratching again, insistent and dragging me onwards.

It now came from a suitcase placed prominently atop a chest at the opposite end of the room. I squeezed down on the key so hard as to feel it biting back against my palm, as I painstakingly approached the suitcase, each footfall sending chills through me.

This one was not locked. I reached for each of the clasps in turn, unlatching them, and then quickly pinning the lid down in case the suitcase leapt at me.

The suitcase, of course, did not leap at me, but nor did the scraping stop.

I threw open the suitcase. Within, neatly organised clothes, toiletries, a case for a laptop. The clothes, it was evident, belonged to a woman. Bras, a dress, a makeup bag. I pressed down on the piles and found them stiff and firm, without any possibility of a hidden pest having somehow snuck their way inside. What then had made that noise?

The scratches returned. Chills ran down my back. They stung at my neck, pricking up the hairs and setting free a bead of cold, clammy sweat. As I examined the clothes, the chills hooked memories from corners of my mind and yanked them forth.

My hand settled on a dirty laundry bag, suspiciously plump and full despite how organised the rest of the suitcase was. I opened it, pensive, then gazed at the articles within.

There was blood. It was dry, ugly, brownish and flaky, and it had spread across an innocent denim shirt-dress. As my hand sank through it, the days I could not remember began to creep back through my mind, like water finding a crack in a dam.

My words. Her words. My actions. Her actions. The conclusion, in its irreversible truth, and her fingers, now running down my back with a malice brought from the grave. A malice that as I turned, confronted me, in all its awful truth.

The truth of what I had done.


Thank you to all users who submitted their work!
We enjoyed reading all of your stories!

Everything hurt, everywhere. That’s what prompted Melissa Douglas to open her usually bright green eyes. She was someplace new, not at the fraternity Phi Sigma Delta’s party house anymore. Slowly, she sat up, wincing at the terrific migraine that had it’s own way of saying hi. Scowling, her oval shaped face, fair skin and slim figured body moved to stand up. Only to find that she couldn’t. How much beer had she drunk and which glasses were likely drugged? There was never any way to tell, and sure, she usually followed the rules of not drinking from strange open glasses. But she’d been so thirsty after an impromptu karaoke night she’d had no choice. Now she found herself on Halloween night, in a widely spaced, oddly empty basement. It was freezing cold, but fortunately she was still in her witches' black and purple dress costume, though her hat was no where to be found.

Something rattled, like a sound of chains from the far wall and she hesitated, but slowly pushed herself to her feet. Terror gripped her at the unwelcomed noise, but it got stronger. She looked frantically around for a door or exit of some kind. A window above a washer and dryer set would be seen and she also saw rickety, old wooden steps leading to the door. But how likely would it be the door would be unlocked? Had the guys simply carried her and tossed her in, thinking their prank would be funny and they’d let her out in the morning? Jerks! She would definitely report them to the Dean of her college the next time she was out, but for now, getting out was priority. The rattling sound became closer to her, and she backed away, her long brown hair falling to one shoulder. Good grief, was someone actually down here with her to scare her? Not wanting to find out, Melissa ran to the door first, ignoring the creaking steps as she would pound on the door and twisting the handle frantically. “Hey! Josh! Adam! This isn’t ok! Let me out!” She cried, finding the knob not unlocking to let her out. The rattling grew closer, followed by a haunting, terrifying laugh. Almost like how a clown from a horror movie would sound. Oh hell no. She barrelled against the door, but it wasn’t budging! Panicked tears formed in her eyes. The invisible clown creep shuffled closer. Ditching the door idea, Melissa ran for the drier, pushing herself onto it and trying to open the wide window. “Please.. God get me out of this and I’ll never go to a college party, or even drink again.” She said, wiggling the window ledge once again. Panic flared up when she heard even louder laughter, but she couldn’t see from where! The basement had a single dim light bulb. The shadows were long and some seemed to move. Really scared, Melissa looked for something she could break the glass with but didn’t see much that she could even lift. “This will hurt..” She said, but quickly punched the glass. Fortunately it was old, and shattered easily, though shards did get stuck in her palm. Ignoring this she moved the remaining glass out of the way and climbed through.

Melissa was halfway through the window, but something grabbed her, throwing her back in and onto the cold hard concrete. The clown laugh surrounded her, chains rattled until they tied around her physically. Screaming, she tried to run to the window again, but was thrown against the wall. A huge, 6’4 clown almost scarier than Pennywise himself, with horns and razor fangs in a clown outfit but not holding balloons. Instead he held a long wicked dagger. The clown smiled evilly, raising the dagger high above his head. Melissa was trapped where she was, and didn’t have a chance except to scream loud as she could, but too late. The dagger came down fast, puncturing the poor woman’s heart. Blood gushed everywhere and began pooling across the basement floor as the light went out of Melissa’s eyes. How had an innocent seeming party lead to not one, but multiple peoples’ deaths?

The answer was simple. Never host a party that’s haunted by an evil demon, masquerading as a clown.

For years to come the legend of Melissa’s death, followed by the death of the entire fraternity attending Seattle University, would haunt other students, warning them against even going out on Halloween..~

The End?

From the very first moment of walking through the door, I knew I wasn't truly alone in that house. Since inheriting this house from my grandfather after he died in hospice, I had dreaded ever coming here. The house looked to have been lived in, but all the furniture wasn't mine. All the memories of this house were not mine. In fact, this had been the first time I had ever stepped inside this home. My eyes flickered and my nose wrinkled at the heavy smell. This house smelled of dust and dampness. "He left me this? What a joke." I said, setting my luggage at the door. My fiance', Beatris, or as I call her, Little Bee, was out by the car, getting her things. Before I go into much more detail, this particular person from whom I've inherited this house, was a man of culture back in his day.

Back then, it wasn't entirely rare for someone to hate any couple deemed unnatural. Thus being, me being a woman and Beatris being my wife, back then, we would've been shunned. So it is no wonder how the house, once Beatris stepped inside, had a rather unnerving air. The man's funeral had been weeks ago, but there were signs that more than just rats had been in here. On the couch, which hadn't been covered, there was a patch on it, rather butt-sized, where no dust had blanketed. As if someone had been sitting there for days, or even weeks. On the dark mahogany coffee table, near the spot the dust hadn't settled, was a single mark that looked like a handprint had rested there. Such things would mean that some human had been here before.

Beatris looked at me, her dark braids were all nicely coiled just the way she wanted it. "Babe, it's just a house." she reminded me when she saw how tense my shoulders were. I relaxed some and we began to unpack. I ended up finding the shower and began to take a shower. As the water rushed down my body, I thought nothing about any creep watching me. However, as I started to lather up my brunette hair, I heard the bathroom door creak open. "Bee?" I asked, thinking it was my fiance. But there was no response. "Quit playing games with me, I know it's you!" he said, chuckling. Again, there was no answer. Suddenly, the shower curtains suddenly seemed to wrap around me with incredible force, turning me into a caterpillar. "BEE!" I shouted before I let out a scream. The water turned ice cold and the curtains continued to wrap around me.

Then the curtains suddenly stopped when Beatrix ran into the bathroom, and the water got warm again. "Honey, what's wrong?!" she asked. I started shaking in terror and explained to her what had happened. We both thought it was strange, and we decided we'd check if there were any mediums in town. We fell asleep in the bedroom, and for a while, life was normal. That was until we heard a loud crashing sound come from downstairs when the alarm clock read 2:48am. We both rushed downstairs in our nightgowns to find that the porcelain hand we kept our wedding bands on had fallen to the kitchen floor and shattered, and both our rings were lying there with the broken pieces. On the counter, where the dust had been scraped off, near where our wedding bands had been, was a word written. "Sinners".

From that day forward, we have moved out of that house - for nobody, alive or dead, can call me that again. The house is still on the market - still begging the question of who haunted the place. I knew who, but I didn't want to tell anyone.

Three years had passed since her death. For the man called Finn O'Hara he had lost his wife in a car crash, One that almost claimed his leaving him alive to tend to their daughter. Yet he was haunted by his own nightmares, for you see they never recovered her body and thus Finn could give her a proper burial.

"All I remember is seeing her slowly wake. The car hanging sideways off the cliff...I reached for her then the door opened and she vanished into the mist down below..." Finn said to his doctor as she nodded. "Finn I know its hard...But she is gone...and you have a daughter that needs her father." She said as she wrote down everything then rubbed his shoulder.

When he returned to the small farm house he owned he walked inside and looked around at the family pictures. Sighing he grabbed a box he had started as he began to take down pictures, and other things of his past. It was then he looked up the stairs his young daughter sitting there watching him. "Daddy..." was all she said before Finn nodded and she went to her room.

Suddenly he heard a knock at the front door. Setting the last picture of him and his wife he walked over to the door and opened it. He paused for a second as his eyes widened. "Elsa..." Was all he said as the woman smirked and walked into the house putting her arms around his neck and deeply kissing him. "Hello Finny..." She said as Finn seemed to be in shock. "I've come home..."

Finn took a few steps back as he tried to figure out why...how....But before he could say anything or do anything he felt heavy his body shaking as he then fell backwards landing hard as he couldn't move his arms or his legs. "I've come for our daughter...well...my daughter..." She said smirking as she walked over his body before kicking him in the face as he groaned and tried to summon his strength... "NAOMI! RUN!" He shouted as he looked up towards the room where she was. Elsa smirked looking up and looked back down. "Good boy..." She said as she turned to walk towards the stairs as the sound of a child running to hide could echo. "Naomi...Mommy's home...." She said as she slowly walked up reaching into her pocket as she pulled a knife out. "Don't make this harder than it looks.."

Finn struggled to get his arms and legs back rolling and groaning until he finally could start to feel his arms and legs again. Dumping as much adrenaline into his body as he could muster as he slowly got up looking at the drawer as he reached into it pulling out a gun. "That's..Not Elsa..." He said to himself as he began to run upstairs before he heard a door break and the screaming of his child.

Bolting quickly he moved towards his bedroom before he drew his pistol and moved in. There he saw his wife raising a knife towards his child as he aimed before he paused. Elsa smirked looking behind her as she saw him freeze quickly throwing the knife into his shoulder as he hissed and screamed. "You're such a fool Finn..." She said as she walked towards him Naomi cowering in the corner tears rolling down her cheek as she stepped closer and closer, Grabbing the knife hilt she began to push deeper into his flesh and turn it left and right as Finn screamed out in pain before she ripped the knife out of his shoulder and slashed him across his face. Quickly despite the wound Finn moved and swung his leg to trip her as the knife was flung out of her hand. Landing hard the knife slid over towards the child who looked down in fear as it like it was some poisonous snake.

Elsa grunted as she moved to roll as Finn lunged on top of her only to take a right hook causing him to roll and hit the side of the wall as he groaned. Slowly he tried to get up as Elsa ran towards him and tackled him outside landing hard on the flooring. Naomi screaming as Elsa wrapped her hands around Finn's throat as he struggled trying to fight her off, trying to figure out how she got so strong..so powerful...How was she overpowering him? It was then her voice changed. "Don't get between me and my vessel!" The voice said as Finn noticed her eyes change to a dark demonic red. Was it supernatural? It had to be as Elsa laughed getting cocky and letting her guard down before Finn was able to move his leg enough to get some leverage as he thrusted up forcing her off of him and landing on her back. Turning as he got up coughing and stumbling he held onto the railing of the landing.

Elsa laughed and smirked as he face now cut didn't seem phased before She chuckled darkly. She then walked towards him and grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up and began to dangle him over the ledge. "Shame...she really did love you..." She laughed before she was about to let him go as Finn smirked and grabbed her quickly. "You're coming with me..." He said as he swung his feet catching the ledge then pushed off of it pulling them off the ledge.

A loud thud echoed through the house as they laid there. Elsa impaled but a piece of wood and Finn laid there on the hard wood floor. He turned looking at her as the red eyes faded and she coughed up blood. She reached towards him as Finn reached towards her holding her hand. "I'm sorry..." She said as Finn teared up. "I'm sorry too..." Suddenly they both passed. Finn's last breath escaping his lips as Elsa gave her last breath.

 

Writing Home

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The Winner has been named and all entries have been posted!

Thank you to all our Lovelies who joined our first writing competition
and to our three judges for helping us decide a winner!
 

Irredeemable

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It's not fair to runers up to gloat too much, but I shall allow myself a celebration gif.



Well done to the other people who submitted work! Everyone's was really good!
 
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