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Writers Showcase

Creative Writing Contest-Halloween Short Story Edition

11/6/2017

 
The creative writing club sponsored a contest this Halloween--here is the chilling first place entry.
​
                                                                                     The Morgue
                                                                                       by Karlin B.
​
                It’s been a year since my twin sister went missing. She had gone to the hospital to see it one last time before the bank repossessed it. My life hasn’t been the same since, crumbling around me like an avalanche. It used to be the two of us against the world. Now it’s just…me. It’s hollow and lonely. I’m broken, half of a whole. She was my best friend, the only person who really understood me, my whole world. I’ve been traumatized since then, and I’ve been steeling myself for when I make the journey up there. I’m going to find my sister.

                The rain pours down on my soaking brown hair, pelting me in unforgiving waves. I didn’t grab a coat in my rush to leave home so I wouldn’t change my mind. I hope I don’t catch a cold. That’s the least of my worries. As I wandered down the well-worn path, my feet went into autopilot as I got lost in memories of my sister and me. I can remember how we’d pretend to read each other’s minds in front of our friends and stay up late making each other laugh. She could always cheer me up, no matter what. CRASH! A blast of lightning flashes, tearing me away from memory lane and illuminating a rickety sign with weathered letters. The hospital. I’ve arrived.

               The abandoned hospital is scarier at night. Not one of my best decisions, but Mom would have killed me if she saw where I went, so I had to wait until she was asleep. She’s been doing a whole lot of that since my sister went missing.  I’ve gotta make it home safe. What with Dad away serving as a military doctor, she’s under a lot of stress. It broke my mother’s heart when my Dad left his steady hospital job to work in the military. His excuse was something about helping the greater good, and I get it, but…what about us? If he hadn’t left, my sister would still be with me and I wouldn’t be standing here in the dark, looming shadow of a dead hospital.

                I have to find my sister, but it would crush Mom to lose both of her kids, so I must be careful. I need to get home with my sister so I can see the smile finally return to Mom’s face. There’s no option.

               My gaze shifts to the rotting wood of the doorway. I gather all my courage and step inside.

                I inhale the familiar scent of cleansing wipes and half-dead flowers. This is the hospital that my Dad ran before he went away. It was abandoned soon after. My sister came here to see it one last time, but never returned.

                I take in the eerie hallway lined with rooms for patients in critical care. I go into every single one. My sister isn’t there. I look by the front desk with the fish tank that my sister and I would look at for hours, which now, of course, is empty. She isn’t there.
​
                I find the old staircase to the basement. The stairs creak as my foot hits each step. I take out the flashlight I brought and switch it on. The light reassures me.
               
               I remember this place. The morgue. I always avoided coming down here because it was, by far, the most terrifying place in the whole hospital. I want to turn around, but I know that I’d never forgive myself if I turned around now. My father always taught me: only when you give in to fear are you truly in danger. My sister wasn’t afraid of the morgue. She had always teased me for being a baby. She would come down here all the time. It fascinated her.

            I walk across the basement floor quietly. The wallpaper is torn and yellowing. The floorboards are loose or missing. I have to watch my step. There are tables with scales, cabinets with large steel drawers, bags, and bins everywhere. They wouldn’t have scared me so much if I didn’t know what they were for.

            Suddenly, the flashlight flickers out, and I am plunged into complete darkness. As I stand there, my imagination takes the reigns. I can hear the screams and wails of dying patients. I see the shapes of bodies under white sheets, stock still. I can feel the cold hands clinging to me, begging me to spare them from death, though I could not help them.

             I force myself to snap out of it, regaining control of my consciousness. I‘m on the floor. How did I get here?

            I don’t know why I was hoping to find her here. What if Mom was right? What if something dreadful happened to her? I had spent all these months clinging to a dead hope, convincing myself that she was still here. It’s time to go home. The reality crashes in: she’s gone. I’ll go home, comfort Mom in every way I can. I’ll try to be enough.
​
         I stand up and head for the stairs. I am about to turn around to begin ascending when I see a pair of eyes. The eyes are staring right at me. They were like none I’d ever seen before, almost human but not quite. They were bright, glowing. Boring into me, yet unseeing. Haunting. There was an essence about them that struck me as almost…familiar? Then, the face that the eyes belonged to emerged. All the breath left my chest. A being steps forward, out of the shadows saying, “Didn’t I tell you the dead were fascinating?”

                An odd sensation comes over me. I try to run but I’m paralyzed. It’s as if those eyes have taken control of me. I feel cold. I can’t think. I feel my chest tighten, gasping for air. Is this what dying feels like? I feel the life drain out of me as I sink back to the floor.

                                                                                                                  Emily?

Creative Writing Contest-Halloween Poetry Edition

11/3/2017

 
The Creative Writing Club sponsored a Halloween contest. Here is the very creepy first place poem!
​The Night of Halloween​
by Ryann S.

Two beady eyes
Peer through the mirror
Fake fangs, a plastic cape
And a well-practiced sneer
I step outside, as if in a dream
After all, strange things happen on the night of Halloween
 
Door to door
“Trick or Treat!”
Costumes and Candy
Time blurs as my bucket is filled
With what, I assume, can only be bricks
 
The neighborhood grows darker
But I don’t mind
All I can think of is the CANDY
Soon to be mine
crunch, crackle, crash
I pause in my tracks
But the sound from behind me does not last
As quick as it had started it
It was gone
I continue on my way, who cares what some sound means?
After all, strange things happen on the night of Halloween
 
Door to door
“Trick or Treat!”
Costumes and Candy
Time blurs as my bucket is filled
With what, I assume, can only be bricks
Soon I grow tired
All the walking had some cost
So my feet stumble home
Yet where is home?
I am lost.
Crunch, Crackle, Crash
Eerie eyes stare at me
They blink once, then twice, then let out a bone rattling scream
Of course, I run, I don’t need a college degree
To know that strange things happen on the night of Halloween.
 
Panting, sprinting
Wind whips my back
Someone—something is chasing
CRUNCH, CRACKLE, CRASH
As I race to get away
From the creature who pursues me with glee
After all, strange things happen on the night of Halloween
 
Door past Door
Tricks not Treats
Time blurs as my bag sprawls
The what, I assume, can only be--
 
My calves tighten
I fall all the way down
But the fear numbs my body
Softening the blow to the ground
Then the creature closes in--
I can see it now…
A cape and fangs the flicker and glean--
I close my eyes…
After all, strange things happen on the night of
​hall— 

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  • Home
    • Chaminade.org
  • Databases
  • Class Resources
    • General/All Subjects >
      • Citing a Source
      • News of the World
      • Resources for writing
    • English >
      • Poetry
      • Shakespeare
    • Fine Arts
    • History >
      • Ancient Civilization-Greece
      • 8th Grade Civil War Project Resources
    • Science >
      • 6th grade astronomy
    • Speech and Debate
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  • Summer and Core Novels
  • Online Resources
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  • Check These Out!
  • Eagle Readers/AR
  • Writers' Showcase
  • Public Library Information
  • E-Book and Audio Book Collection
  • Library Book Request
  • 7th Grade Science Resources

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