Stories of death, candy, apples, and a party
Nov 01, 2024 2:02 am
I only received a few entries in the Halloween story contest. They're short, so I've put them right into the newsletter for your reading pleasure. Please drop me a note with your vote for your favorite so I can send the lucky winner one of my books. Anyone who is a subscriber to my newsletter may vote, so feel free to share with your friends. They can signup here.
Before I get to those stories, note that the links to fun book specials are at the bottom, and I'm thrilled to share that I signed a contract for another short story publication on Saturday. That's four stories in a row between two different publications. I received my copies of Road Trippin - but my Cursed Canyon books have yet to arrive. Like Tom Petty said, it's the hardest part.
Without further ado, enjoy these short Halloween stories and vote for your favorite.
Cursed Halloween Party - by Crystal Stewart
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Sweet 16 - by Susan Johnson
“Sugar is life, but can also mean death.” Naturally, Granny would press upon me the dangers of sugar tonight; it was Halloween. And my birthday, my Sweet 16, how appropriate.
Too old for trick-or-treating, my friends and I met at my best friend Grady’s house. Knowing he had a crush on Jenny, the new girl, I invited her to the party. I hoped he wouldn’t mess things up.
Grady’s mom made caramel apples. I ate three of them. Later, we all took to the woods to play hide-and-seek. Running in these woods all my life, I was confused to see the full moon’s eerie light upon a pond that shouldn’t be there.
I heard a rustling of leaves as Grady stepped into the clearing.”There you are! How are you feeling?”, he asked.
Ignoring his question, I mentioned the pond.
“What pond?,” he laughed.
“It’s right there-“, I started. It was gone.
“That was fast,” Grady muttered. “I shoulda known since you ate three of those apples.”
I remembered Grady giving me each of those apples. I felt strange. Grady kept grinning.
“I laced your apples with deadly nightshade.”
“Why?”
“Turns out, Jenny likes you,” Grady spat.
“That’s no reason to poison me!”
“It won’t be long now. You’ve been hallucinating. Soon the convulsions will start and finally your heart will stop.”
Feeling a faint tremor in my limbs, I fell to my knees as Jenny burst through the trees.
Grady stared as Jenny leaned over me. Here was a witness he wouldn’t want to kill.
Jenny shoved a handful of candy corn in to my mouth. “Chew it up!”
The sugary treats filled me with energy. Momentarily, the tremors and confusion dissipated.
“You’re a fool, Grady. Kitarokon have existed for millennia. Too much sugar can kill us but it can also counteract poison,” Jenny explained.
She turned to me. “Tomorrow, your family will initiate you into the fold. We’re kept in the dark until our sweet 16.”
A mass of tentacles snatched Grady as he screamed, heading toward her massive maw filled with teeth. She was magnificent.
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Death and Candy - by Robb Grigg
“Little kids are going to freak out when they see me”, thought thirteen-year-old Jimmy as he adjusted his grim reaper costume into place and grabbed his scythe-of-death. “When people open their doors they’ll drop their candy out of fear”, he voiced aloud. He was alone this Halloween. His friends Matt and Parker were out of town and his parents said he was old enough to go alone. “The grim reaper works alone anyway” he said to himself and headed out into the neighborhood.
At the first door a group of five-year-old Disney princesses surrounded him as candy was placed in their bags. Not one of them seemed to notice him let alone screamed in fear. At the next door Mrs. Pankratz somehow recognized Jimmy through his costume. “Oh Jimmy, aren’t you just the cutest little ghost” she said. “I’m not a ghost he grumbled”, as he stomped away across her lawn.
The next door belonged to crusty old Mr. Englin, who often yelled at kids who stepped on his grass. “Here young man”, he said with a smile that almost looked like a sneer, “I made these cookies myself.” Jimmy lifted his mask and took a bite of it before throwing the rest of it onto Mr. Englin‘s lawn on his way to the next house.
That’s when it happened. Jimmy‘s eyes were opened to a world beyond this world. He saw more than just the people around him. He saw their souls, he saw their worries and even the manner of their death. When the next door opened the middle-aged woman screamed and dropped her candy leaving him alone at the door.
At each successive door, there were adults who screamed in genuine terror, fainted or ran back into their house. Jimmy did not enjoy the feeling of real terror he instilled in others like he thought he would and no one put candy in his bag. After 20 minutes, the effects of the strange cookie wore off. “This Halloween was a bust”, he said to himself. “Next year I’m going to be a clown”
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