SPOOKTOBERFEST 2014!

UPDATE: Huge thanks to Jackie at Bouquet of Books for choosing me as one of this year's two winners! Check out the other winning entry by author DRC here.

 

 

 Hey all,

I'm so excited to participate in this year's Spooktoberfest '14, hosted by The Cover Girls!

Stories had to include the following five words: curse; cocoon; virus; chill; commotion

All stories also had to be 300 words or less, and could be accompanied by a photo or song to set the mood!

So, ready for something spooky? :)

Read on...

Under the Glass

 

Gravel crunched under Maree’s boots as she followed her neighbor, Colton, down a wooded trail. She hated walking home from school after the moon rose, but that was the curse of living in Rainey Hollow, the middle of freaking nowhere.

As they reached a gate half-choked by vines, Maree quickened her steps. A gust of wind parted her hair, leaving a chill kiss on her neck.

“Wait a sec.” Colton bent to tie his dirty shoelace.

Sighing, Maree studied a wispy cocoon clinging to an oak. She traced the arc of the early moon. Anything to avoid glimpsing the abandoned farm house beyond the gate. The house’s sides and caving roof, blackening over time as though stricken by some virus, made ghosts seem a real possibility. 

“What’s that?” Maree’s skin prickled as a blurry figure danced at the corner of her gaze. The woods had gone unnaturally still. No rustling bird wings. No grumbling insects.

A window creaked open, then banged shut. Again. And again.

Together, Colton and Maree turned toward the commotion.

Someone was standing in the topmost farmhouse window. The abandoned farmhouse window. A girl with midnight hair and a pale, sharp face. 

She was staring right at them.

At last, Maree found her voice. “Y-you see her, too?”

Colton nodded, fishing for something in his pocket. His iPhone. It shook slightly as he raised it to snap a picture. 

But the instant he clicked the button, the girl in the window vanished.

#

Tossing her jet black hair, Lillian shut the door to the attic room where Granny kept the model town. The miniature boy and girl figurines had looked so startled to see her on their walk home from school. It was almost like she’d really scared them.

Lillian smiled. 

She couldn’t wait to come back tomorrow.

The End

That's all for now! Thanks so much for reading. Wishing everyone a candy-filled, creepy Halloween!