1 reply to this topic

[Coops]

Themed Writing Contest #9

 

Microfiction or poetry

 

Theme: Horror

(In honor of the upcoming holiday, Halloween, write something creepy and scary as fuck!)

 

 

Voting will be until Friday 5:00pm EST the 9th of October

Entries

Spoiler

I can’t sleep. I thought I’d be accustomed to the new bed two weeks after moving. My dad warned me about the noises in the city, but I never expectedthis much noise.

 

I get out of bed and look outside the window. This city never sleeps, how ironic is that?

 

I hear a muffled rustle behind me but don’t pay much attention. The rustle gradually changes to a high screech and suddenly I realize I’m on my knees covering my ears with my hands. I turn to look to my darkened apartment but there’s nothing here. It must be the old lady on the adjacent apartment talking to the TV again, but this time she can’t walk away with this. I go out and knock on her door roughly, it will be a miracle if she hears it considering how loud the TV is.

 

“Hey, granny! Turn off that darned thing, will ya? You gonna make my ears bleed!” I bang on the door a few more times with my fists, but it doesn’t work. I look at the both sides of the hall and notice the old yellow lights flickering. “This is a damn shithole!”

 

I could call the landlord, but I really don’t want to wake up him at 3am. I go back to my apartment. It’s so cold, was this cold a minute ago? I put on some pants and a hoodie because the heater is broken too…

 

After a few minutes of silence, the muffled rustle returns and I hear a door opening and closing. I look through the peephole. There’s nothing there. A shiver runs through my body and I feel I’m being watched. I take a quick look at my apartment again, my heart is racing and the condensation of my breathing looks like fog in front of my face.

“It’s nothing, Mary-Ann, you just need to sleep!” I tell to myself over and over again with my back still against the door. When I’m starting to feel a bit calmer a deafening BANG at the other side of my door makes me squeal. There’s screams too, men, women and I think I can even hear children’s screams, calling… my name! What is this?! I feel my tears rolling down my face as I pick up a knife from the kitchen counter.

 

“You’ve found us, Mary-Ann. Now you need to see the truth.” It’s the old lady! Is this her definition of vengeance for my shouts at her door? “Open the door, Mary-Ann, let us in.”

 

My hand is trembling but I continue to point the knife in the direction of the door ready to stab anyone that tries to attack me. I don’t move from my spot and the screams stop. My door is abruptly opened and I see the old lady, the landlord, a few neighbors and their kids. They’re all covered in blood, open wounds, I see a little girl with a missing arm and half of her head is gone.

 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?” I scream. Everyone’s in silence but the little girl with one arm points her tiny hand to me. I look at her and then to my body. There’s a hole in my womb, a puddle of blood at my feet and half my guts cover my cold feet.

 

“You’re dead, Mary-Ann. Welcome to our hell.” Says the old lady with a bullet hole on her forehead.

Spoiler

8-year-old Ashley looked up to the sky. It was bright and glorious. She closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh.

Suddenly, she heard a faint bark. Curious, she stepped out of the pavement to check the bushes on her side. There, she saw a lone little dog rolling on the grass, playing by itself.

She gestured to the dog and it obediently stepped closer. Ashley caressed its head.

"Hurry up!" Ashley's elder sister, Ava, glared at her while hands firmly placed on her waist. They were both walking to school today, just like any other days since god knows when.

"Oh okay okay...just, wait a second...," Ava replied meekly. She grabbed the dog and put it inside her schoolbag. She opened the zippers a little to let it breathe. "Stay quiet," she whispered to the dog. She then carefully lifted the bag before running towards her sister.

"I'm not going to be late again because of you, you little rascal!" Ava said while pinching her little sister.

"Ouch!" Ashley screamed. Tears forming in her eyes.

Later, the school was in sight. Ava hastened her pace because she saw her friends, leaving her little sister behind. As soon as her sister was gone, Ashley turned to head back home.

Reaching home, Ashley took the keys under the flower vase. She opened the front door and let herself in. The interior of the house looked ransacked, but it always looked this way as far as she could remember.

Ashley went into her room and placed her bag on the bed. She opened the zippers to check on the baby dog and turned out it was sleeping. She smiled and closed the zippers back.

Suddenly, she heard a car stopping in front of the house and someone walking in. Chills came down Ashley's spine. He was supposed to be at work right now...

Before she knew it, a figure of a disheveled man filled her room. "Ashley! Shouldn't you be at school?" A loud pang was heard and the girl flew to the other side of the room. Tears came streaming down her cheeks.

"ANSWER ME!!" Her father yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I-I-don't feel very well, Dad..." Ashley said. Her father's knees tumbled to the floor. He too, began sobbing. He inched closer and hugged her precious little daughter.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you," Her father said, "I thought there's an intruder. Ever since your mother ran away, I've been very paranoid." Ashley simply nodded while her dad wiped both of their tears.

"Go clean yourself up and just lie in bed today, alright? I had to come back because I forgot something. Now, I have to go," Ashley's father said. He planted a kiss on her cheek and rushed out.

Her father was gone and now she was all alone.

"Warff!"

Ashley looked at her bag.

"Warf! Warf!"

She grabbed the bag and threw it to the wall, annoyed.

"WARF!! WARF!! WARF!!"

She kicked and punched the bag repeatedly like she was being possessed.

The little girl went on and on until finally, the house fell silent once again.

Spoiler

Lindsay ran through the front door screaming, coming to a stop in the entrance hall. There was a huge gash on her forehead bleeding freely. She expected her classmates to be horrified, to shrink back from the sight of her. The students instead walked past her, without as much as a sideways glance. 

She spun around, coming face to face with Roger, a boy she knew from English class. 
“Roger!”
Stepping aside, he continued on to class without noticing her.
How was no one looking at her? She was used to being laughed at and made fun of, but for everyone to ignore her completely? She couldn’t believe they would be so cruel. 
She looked at her reflection in the door. Her clothing was soaked with the blood that ran down her face. She wondered quickly why it didn’t seem to hurt at all, but figured it must be shock. 
Lindsay sprinted up the stairs to the main hallway. People avoided her as she made her way to the middle of the throng of students headed to class. She saw her friend Julia and fell in beside her.
“Hey Julia!”
Julia’s friend Robyn ran up next to them. 
“Julia!”
“Hey Robyn,” she replied with a smile. “What’s up?”
“Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Lindsay died!”
Lyndsay and Julia stopped abruptly. 
“Who?” Julia asked. 
Lyndsay was stunned. “What?” she asked in disbelief. “I’m right here Robyn!”
“She sits next to you in Chem, doesn’t she?”
“Oh yeah! Oh my God, what happened?”
“She was in a car accident on her way to school. I think her mom died too.”
“That is so sad.”
Lindsay was angry. She couldn’t believe everyone was pretending she wasn’t there.
“You know what Julia? Fuck you!” she said, and pushed her.
Julia took a step forward and caught her balance. She looked behind her to see if the front doors were open and had perhaps let in a breeze.
“Come on Robyn, we’re going to be late.”
Lindsay couldn’t take it any longer. Crying, she ran to the nearest bathroom. She hurried into a stall and locked it. The two girls at the mirror paid no attention to her. 
“I hate you!” she cried. 
The girls at the mirror continued to discuss their project that was due the next day as they left the bathroom. Lindsay decided she needed to leave school, and exited the stall. She was almost out of the bathroom when a scream escaped her lips. She had forgotten what she looked like. The face staring back was nightmarish. It was pale; the eyes sunken. Blood poured over large, fresh bruises. She lifted a hand to her face, and saw it was stained red.
“It can’t be true. How could I be dead? I’m standing right here.” She started walking slowly out of the bathroom. She walked quietly, with her head down, as if ignoring herself.
Her body on autopilot, she made her way to class. She took her normal seat next to Julia. Glancing up, she saw Julia looking at her.
“Julia! Hey!” she shouted, forgetting in her excitement that they were in class.
Julia continued to look, but said nothing. With a growing sense of dread, Lindsay realized she wasn’t looking at her, but through her at the empty chair. 
Their teacher entered the room, wheeling in a TV.
“Class, I have some sad news. Your classmate Lindsay passed away this morning. She was involved in a car accident. It’s on the news, that’s why I brought in the TV.”
Lindsay watched as the reporter described the scene of her death.
“A mother and her daughter have been killed this morning on Chestnut St. They have been identified as Maria and Lindsay Greene. We believe they were on their way to Howard Johnson High School, where Lindsay was a senior. A car traveling down Grove St. lost control of their breaks and crashed into the side of the Greene’s car, which was driving through the intersection.”
Her teacher turned off the TV.
“Let’s have a moment of silence for her.”
A student coughed. Then another.
“Thank you,” said her teacher.
No one spoke for several moments. Lindsay got up, stopping at the door. 
“Well…let’s get started. Please turn to page 57 in your textbooks.” 

 

Prizes

 

Winner will receive this award: 

1,000,000 NP (donated by me)

 

Baby Paint Brush (donated by @Rauul )

 

500,000 NP (donated by @Athayde )

[Fikri]

i really like #3! at first i felt a little weird because i thought the story revealed the protagonist dead too soon but the ending really ties everything together in a perfect ribbon knot.