Wasilla Library announces winners to spooky writing contest, celebrating youth creativity

WASILLA — The Wasilla Library recently announced the winners of their recent youth writing contest centered around Halloween.

“They were all great. They were all unique,” Wasilla Library youth services librarian Sara Saxton said.

The library’s Once Upon a Spooky Night Young Writers Contest challenged local students from first to 12th grade to conjure up the scariest story they could think of.

“It’s always interesting to me what the scariest things are for the kids, as opposed to what’s scary to adults. Like, one girl ended her story with, ‘... and they never told their parents.’ To me, that’s terrifying. I was like, ‘that’s so scary!’” Saxton said with a laugh.

Saxton said that 62 Valley children (plus one dad who got an honorable mention) from elementary to high school participated in the contest. She marvelled at the patience and determination it took to come up with a story, stick with it, and turn it in.

“The kids worked really really hard and I think the effort was really apparent,” Saxton said. “Writing is definitely a discipline.”

“I was hoping for that Alaskan slant in some of the kids’ stories, and we definitely did,” Saxton said.

Saxton emailed the parents of the winning writers. She said she got a reply from one parent who said, “I appreciate the Wasilla Library for taking the time to host a contest, which provided some light during a dark time.”

“Really, what we really want is to create positive avenues for connection in the community, so it was nice to get that feedback,” Saxton said.

Saxton and her colleagues reached out to schools across the district to get the word out about the contest. School librarians and teachers informed their students about the opportunity while the library continued spreading the word through social media. After gathering all the entries, they sat down to read and narrow down the top stories from each grade.

“Not only was it fun to read them, it was kind of a nice change of pace for our staff. Things have been stressful for so many people lately, so for our staff members to have a little break from what we normally do, and get to read some stories and think about the people that we’re serving kind of in a different way. It’s nice for us to be able to connect with our patrons in that way, and celebrate their creativity.”

The story contest follows a youth art contest from September. Saxton said the winning artists’ art submissions were made into bookmarks. The bookmarks are currently available at the library, where people can also page through a booklet containing winning stories from the writing contest.

The Wasilla Library is currently participating in a statewide program called Books Get Our Vote, an effort designed to educate Alaskan youth on the politics and the election process. Saxton said they have little voting booths set up in their youth section where local children can vote for their favorite book characters that would make the best president.

Much like the actual 2020 election, children can cast their votes at the library or mail them in. Saxton said it closes the same day as well, noting that they’ve already had a good amount of participation so far.

The lines for the 2020 election are now stretching outside the library lobby. Saxton noted that people who are there just for the library can just walk right in, past the voters.

“We’re thrilled to see so many people voting,” Saxton said.

Saxton said they’ve had to get creative with the surrounding conditions. She said their storytime sessions normally brought in about 150 kids a week with five different sessions. She said it’s currently limited to one virtual session, but there’s been a lot of participation on their Facebook page every Wednesday at 11 a.m.

“It was a huge part of what we do, but like I said, there have been some silver linings,” Saxton said.

For more information, call 907-376-5913 or visit cityofwasilla.com/services/departments/library

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com

Wasilla Public Library is pleased to present the winning stories and poems from “Once Upon a Spooky Night,” our recent writing contest for young writers in the Mat-Su Valley. These are the works that stood out from the rest, complete with their original spelling and punctuation. For those interested in reading the other entries, a binder will be available in the Children’s Room at Wasilla Public Library.

First Grade – Inara Quinn Voit“Howling in The Dark.”

In the dark i howl.

The scarecrow came to life.

He came running across the field.

He was chasing me!

There i was. We were face to face!

I got away so i could be safe.

First Grade – Bjorn Nelson, as told to Mom“The haunted hotel”

We took a regular bus all the way to Seward. The hotel was all gold. It has more than one room and they were all big. I went outside to play and when I got back my sister Ingrid was missing. We looked everywhere. The hotel workers did not help. I went to look outside and came back in. My mom was missing. I thought we were playing hide and seek. I went outside to look. I came back in. My dad was gone. I notice Ingrid’s stuff all over the hotel. I followed them and it led to Ingrid. Who was in a closet! Ingrid and I went to find Mom and Dad and saw a lot of spooky decorations. Lots of skeletons, spiders, spiderwebs, and ghosts. I walked around yelling Mom and Dad. I found traps and they were trying to get me. I walked into room 100 and found my mom. She hugged me and thanked me for finding her. I looked behind the couch and there was my dad. He was stuck. We went fishing and got hundreds of fish then went back home to my pets.

Second Grade – Molly Bradley“Molly’s spooky story”

I woke up with a fright, on a spooky night

I looked out my window,

And there was a ghost,

Next to my light post,

The light caught on fire,

It turned into a vampire,

I didn’t know what to do,

So I drove to the zoo,

No one was there,

Except for a creepy bear,

It gave me a scare,

And I hid under a chair,

Then I went home,

And looked at my phone,

It was seven am

The I heard,

Something absurd,

It was a moan,

I gave a big groan,

And curled up in a ball,

I said,

I don’t like fall

Third Grade – Jesse McClellan

“The Iliamna Lake Monster”

The wind roars,

but it’s not the wind.

The waves of the lake shake,

but it’s not the wave.

The sky blackens,

but it’s not the sky.

For the Iliamna Lake monster is awake, so let the night begin.

First you will hear the cry of the beast and you will hug your

blanket so tightly your fingers will hurt.

Then your little sister (or brother) will say,

“W-wh-what was that?”

“It-it’s alright, now go back to bed,” you will reply.

“Okay um…good night,” your sibling answers.

Then you will feel like you’re being watched from afar.

You want to run away from all of this,but you can’t.

“This isn’t real, this isn’t real,” you tell yourself.

You want to find out what the sound is coming from,

so you put on your favorite bunny slippers and sneak outside.

When you get outside you remember, “Dang it, I forgot my

flashlight!”

Your ears tell you that the sound is coming from the lake.

When you get to the lake you see something.

You can’t see it very well, so you step closer and closer.

Your feet are almost in the water.

Then you can finally see something.

It’s a purple and blue fin, like a fish fin, but bigger.

There it is again, the eerie sound that has been keeping you up,

but it’s louder and it is deafening.

In your mind, you come across and idea.

Then you think, “Nah, that can’t be it.”

But that thought in your mind won’t go away.

The thought that the noise is coming from the creature called the

Iliamna Lake monster.

It roams around Lake Iliamna, in the small town of Ninilchick.

In the wild frontier state called Alaska.

Then you hear the bloodcurdling sound again.

“No this can’t be real!

When I get back to town, I’m going to see a doctor about this

hallucination,” you will say to yourself.

But then you will realize that you are not having a hallucination.

You see the beast’s head that is covered with scales.

You want to scream, but you can’t.

You want to run but you can’t.

You want to tell someone but you can’t.

They’ll think you’re crazy and put you in an asylum!

Just as you are going to run far, far away, the monster of the lake

Disappears!

The beast will be back!

Fourth Grade – Cheyenne Snell“Summer and the Alaska Haunt”

It was a beautiful fall morning, yet another weird day for Summer Johnson. Summer just moved to Wasilla, Alaska from Dallas, Texas. Her parents named her Summer because she was born on Halloween night and they did not want Summer to have a dark name. Summer has only been in Alaska for two days. Close to her birthday, she has no friends yet.

As Summer was unpacking, all of a sudden, Slam! The door opened out of nowhere. Summer saw no one there. Until she saw two girls about the same age as her. They yelled, “welcome to your new home!” Summer was surprised in a scared way. They also said, “hi! My name is Eve and this is my best friend Rose!” Rose looked shy and Eve looked energetic and hyper. Summer did not know what to say. “Hi, my name is Summer”. Said Summer. “I am from Dallas Texas”. Summer said proudly. The two girls were staring at each other in amazement. Summer was surprised because Rose started to talk! Rose said, “wow! Your lucky because you get to experience snow for the very first time!” Summer looked confused, she asked, “what is snow?” The two girls tried not to laugh. They did not answer her question they just said, “want to be friends?” Summer said, “yes! why not?” Then the two girls left.

Summer was bord the rest of the day, so she decided to go to her new friends’ house. First she would have to ask her parents, that should be easy because her parents wanted her to have new friends. In fact, they even let her have a sleepover! They were going to have a real good time!

When she got to her friend’s house, the three girls put scary makeup on and watched a scary movie. Summer told them about her birthday party she was going to have on Halloween night. They told her secrets and shared their worst nightmares. Rose said her worst nightmare was getting chased by a zombie. Eve said her worst nightmare was going into the spookiest forest in Alaska, The Alaska Haunt. Summer’s nightmare was the scariest one yet, getting visited by a ghost.

The all of a sudden the wind started to howl, and the house turned pitch black. There was a voice, it sounded nervous and spooky at the same time. It whispered, “girls, you are in for a fright! You have made everyone’s worst nightmare come true!” The girls were terrified, but they listened to the voice. The voice continued, “you all need to go to the spookiest forest in Alaska, The Alaska Haunt! On this quest, you need to face your fears and risk everything”. After that, the voice went away, the power came back on, and the wind stopped. The three girls looked at each other in shock. “This can’t be good” said Eve. “By everyone did the voice mean just us, or literally everyone?” Rose said nervously. They went to look out the window, and what they saw was spooky. It looked as if everyone’s worst nightmare was about to come true!

Summer grabbed her phone and called her mom, “the sleepover may take longer than expected” she explained. Everyone’s parents agreed and the girls grabbed their coats, ran out the door, and started their epic quest. They decided to ride their bikes to The Alaska Haunt. Eve said, “I don’t know about this!” Then Rose said, “ what if it was a prank?” “No way! Did you see the craziness going on outside?” said Summer. “You have a good point, Summer” Eve said. “Let’s just get this over with then” Rose said.

The girls made it to the forest. They heard voices saying, “do not enter! You will turn into a ghost!” They saw spooky looking trees and shadows that looked like zombies. Rose shrieked. They tried to ignore their fears. The three daring, brave girls were still terrified. The girls tried to be quiet but then Summer said aloud, “I think we’re almost there!” (No answer) Summer started to talk again, still no answer. She looked back and saw that Eve and Rose were looking down at the ground and looked drowsy. It almost looked as if…they were floating! All of a sudden, she knew what had happened. Her friends had turned into ghosts!

Summer started to run, then she noticed her worst nightmare was coming true. She was not going to let that happen! She had a plan that would change everything back to normal again! So she ran, and she ran. Her ghostly friends and a zombie chased her to the end of the forest. Summer suddenly stopped, there was a riddle on a dead tree. It said, “what rhymes with dream and is at the top of your lungs?” She did not know what to do! After Summer read the riddle she not notice a dead end! She was trapped! Her instincts told her to scream at the top of her lungs. While she was screaming, the word SCREAM started to glow in the dead tree. She has broken the curse! “That’s it! A scream to the top of your lungs!”

Eve and Rose were ghost no more, but the zombie was still coming! Rose was so scared. Rose screamed “piece of cake!” and the zombie vanished into thin air just inches from her face. “We made it!” Summer yelled. “Let’s not tell each other’s worst nightmares ever again!” Eve nodded, “I know that’s right!” When the girls finally made it home, it was Halloween morning. You know what that means, Summer’s birthday! They celebrated and went trick or treating. Then they had ice SCREAM and a piece of cake. They lived happily ever after. THE END!

Fifth Grade – Charlotte-Joy Marciales“The Ghost”

The wind screamed into the restless night, tossing the branches of the trees into the houses so they slamming them into the clay shingles on the rooftops. Toby was running from the crash in his house. He could’ve sworn that he saw the same white hand from his dream in his room. Creepy. Was it really just a dream? Might it have been a ghost? Toby didn’t want to believe it. He ran to the junk yard a few blocks away from his house. It was open all the time. Toby’s best friend’s dad owned it, and they played in the summer on the old cars and scraps.

He ran past the open chain fence. Past the piles of junk and into the large shed where people might want to buy used things. Toby’s family was still sleeping. He wished to be sleeping too.

Just then, the lights flickered. Buzz! Buzz! Click! The lights went out over the junkyard. Toby’s heart stopped. He looked around wildly. Someone help me! Toby thought helplessly. Suddenly, he heard laughing. A deep guffaw echoed strongly against the walls of the store. A ghost appeared out of thin air with thick fog swirling around him. An ugly, big, bald ghost with a look of death in his eyes.

“Oh…ho…ho!” He singsonged. “Hello little kiddie! What are you doing?” Toby shook his head. His black hair was piled in a mess on his head. This couldn’t be real. Absolutely impossible. “Who are y-you?” Toby said shakily. He felt as it his knees were knocking together and his hands dropped limply at his sides. He held his breath, awaiting the answer.

“Oh, the little kiddie wants to know my name, huh?” The ghost teased, “Ha!” Then he made a terrible screeching sound like invisible nails on a chalkboard. Toby covered his ears. As he did, wood and metal scraps fell on him, piling on top of Toby. He yelled for help but there was no answer. “Nobody can hear the little boy, can they?” He mocked. He hovered over Toby like a hawk watching its prey.

When Toby got free from the wood pile, he made a run to the exit. The doors were locked! He tried to open the door again, but wouldn’t budge. He began to panic. The ghost was right above him, a box of nails in his ghastly transparent hands. Toby screamed. The nails dropped on top of Toby. They scraped and stabbed him. The pain was terrible. Blood trickled from his cuts and onto the floor. “Please.” Toby whispered. “Please stop.”

The ghost simply laughed as he flew off to get something more terrible to torture Toby. Toby tried hard to break the door open but it still wouldn’t move. Toby needed to find an emergency exit. It was an emergency! Toby froze in his tracks as the ghost appeared right in from of him. He couldn’t seem to move. He looked to the ghost’s empty face.

It was absolutely terrible. Toby had never imagined something so horrifying. The ghost’s horrid face was inches from his own. The eye sockets were empty. He had no mouth or nose. He dashed for the back door. But, instead of a door, the back wall had red, pink, and orange tassels hanging from the ceiling. It had colorful flower wallpaper and purple beads and rings attached to dark blue thread dangling on a door frame with no door. Toby brushed the beads to the side. Looking inside, Toby noticed a hall of mirrors. It looked like a fun house.

There was no time for fun or games. He needed to get out of the shed. The ghost was not far behind, holding a sheet of glass in his hands. He balanced it carelessly on one finger. It began to slip, falling through his grasp. Before it touched the ground, the ghost caught it and held it in two hands again.

“Oops, should be more careful with this” the ghost cackled feverishly. Toby had no choice. He ran into the funhouse.

A room of mirrors. With the ghost’s ghastly face in every mirror. This made Toby’s blood freeze. He stood in shock looking at all the mirrors. He didn’t know what to do next. Run? Scream? Hide? While he decided, he heard the same ugly guffaw he heard earlier. “Oh, I am amazing at interior design.” The ghost smiled, showing rows of dark grey teeth. Toby didn’t laugh. He didn’t move. The hall had stretched and morphed into a hexagonal room. Toby stared in shock at the ghost.

“Not funny huh, sad.” He dropped the sheet of glass over Toby. When it fell, Toby screamed a bloodcurdling scream that echoed against the six walls. As the glass came closer, Toby knew this was the end.

To this day, screams still can be heard in the abandoned shed. Sometimes you can hear the sound of glass breaking and a horrible laugh.

Sixth Grade – Whimsy “Willa” Rath“Child Thief”

On Christmas morning Lily got a doll. It was an expensive china doll, with light brown hair and green eyes, like Lily’s. Unlike Lily, the doll had no freckles, where Lily had lots of freckles. Her mother had made Lily and the doll coordinating dresses. Both dresses were blue, but Lily’s had purple trim and red buttons, and the doll had red trim and purple buttons. Lily loved the doll.

On New Year’s eve, Lily was playing in the woods near her house. It was getting dark, but she had a lantern, and having her doll with her made her feel braver. She went farther than she normally would. She came across a hole in the side of a hill. She was curious about it. It was dark and she had to duck to fit inside. Once she was inside, she found it was big enough to stand. As she walked, she held her lantern in front of her. At the end of a long tunnel, she found a door. She knocked on the door, and it swung open. She stepped inside and found a girl about her own age sitting with a black cat on her lap. The girl said, “we’ve been expecting you.”

Behind Lily, the door swung shut with a thud. Lily hugged her doll tight, and asked the girl how she’d known she was coming. The girl cackled, and Lily could never remember what happened next.

Bella was exploring the woods near her new house when she found a doll. The doll wore a tattered blue dress with purple trim and red buttons. The doll had light brown hair, and it’s green eyes were incredibly life-like. They seemed to watch Bella. She wiped its face with her sleeve, and found it covered with brown freckles. She took the doll home and showed her family. Her mom said, “it looks old, like it’s been out there for fifty years.” She helped Bella clean the doll up and do its hair. It’s eyes seemed to watch them the whole time. Coincidentally, Bella had a doll size pink nightgown with purple flowers that fit the doll, and it even matched on that she had. She loved that she and the beautiful doll now had matching nightgowns, but she wished the doll had dark brown skin and dark hair like her own.

That night at bedtime, Bella’s mom put the doll on the top shelf of the bookcase across from the end of her bed, and Bella fell asleep gazing at it lovingly. Sometime later she awoke with a start. She thought she heard someone whisper her name, then heard a skittering. In the moonlight she saw that her new doll was sitting on the second shelf from the top. She thought she must have imagined that her mom had put it on the top shelf, and she went back to sleep.

Again she was awakened by a skittering and someone whispering her name in a raspy child’s voice. “Who’s there?” Bella asked. There was no reply. She saw that the doll had again moved down a shelf. It was now on the third shelf, staring at her. She was starting to freak out a little bit, so she decided to go get her parents. Her parents came in, and the doll was back on the top shelf. Bella believed her parents that she must have imagined the doll moving to a different shelf, and she went back to sleep.

CRASH!

She was awakened by a loud noise and skitter skitter skitter… She sat up and looked around the room. The doll was on her floor, looking up at her with it’s life-like eyes glinting in the moonlight. It’s arms were outstretched, reaching for her. Bella screamed. Her parents came running in. She told her parents what had happened. Of course they didn’t believe her, but they put the doll in her closet anyway, locked the closet door. Her dad tucked the old skeleton key that went to the lock into the pocket of his robe. Bella tossed and turned, but eventually fell back to sleep.

In the morning Bella’s sister came in to wake her up for school. Bella was gone. The family searched the house. Her dad unlocked the closed, to search it just in case, and found that the old doll was also missing. “Local Girl Disappears, Leaves No Trace,” the newspapers read. Neither Bella nor the doll were ever seen again.

Carlos found the doll at an antique shop. He asked his grandma to buy it for him. His grandma had never seen such an unusual china doll before. It’s china skin was dark, it’s hair almost black. It wore a pink nightgown with purple flowers. Because it was so unusual, Grandma decided to indulge Carlos and bought the doll for him.

Lily couldn’t remember what the witch had said or done, but she knew that the only way her trapped soul could escape the doll was the trap another child’s soul to take her place. She had sworn she never would, but after fifty years she was happy to finally be at peace.

Bella stared up at Carlos our of her brown glass eyes, and wondered if she’d ever be able to do the same thing to him that Lily had done to her.

The End

Seventh Grade – Madison Mead“Outside the Bag”

Once upon a spooky night… Ahhhhhhhhh! That is the sound of October 1st, or even September 30th for us candies. We all live in fear of being eaten, especially during the Spooky Season. The thought of it makes me shudder.

Sorry for the interruption… I what, Cindy? Oh, I was supposed to interrupt! It was in the script! Oh, I guess you want to know who Cindy is. First of all, I am Carl the candy corn and I live in a bag in the candy aisle at the store. I live with 99 other candy corn’s. When you get put in a bag, they just choose random candy corn. You could get put with all, none, or some of your relatives. In this case, I got put with my sister, Cindy.

Anyway, it can get pretty crowded with 99 other bagmates. I mean, Imagine being in a small house with 99 other people and you’re not allowed to go outside. That’s how it is for us candy corn. Enough with the background info. Let’s skip to the story.

It all started when I started my non-profit organization called We Are Not Just a Snack (W.A.J.S.). I was working on rights for candy, and let’s face it. No matter what you do, there is always someone trying to eat you. I tried putting a commercial on Human Television (don’t ask) saying how gamey and disgusting we are, but my neighbor’s bag and many others disappeared the next day. I decided that particular idea wasn’t gonna work.

Anyway, I came up with a new idea – What if we advocated for candy rights and brought it to the President of the United States? I bombed that one too. The President got freaked out that a piece of candy corn (me) called him and told all of the stores to take 60% off all bags of candy corn. That idea didn’t work!

I finally discontinued W.A.N.J.S. In other words, I gave up. But the dreaded day came – the day our bag got bought. All of us felt the bag get lifted and saw the ceiling clench together. I tell you, 100 pieces of candy corn screaming and panicking is not a pretty sight. It’s just not. The bag suddenly flew (whee!) and landed harshly. Cindy somehow landed next to me and muttered the dreaded words, “I think I wet my pants.”

Okay, you might be thinking “big deal.” Well, candy corn live in close quarters, all in the same bag. The “wet” part of Cindy’s problem sorta went everywhere, including all over me. Enough of that! We felt the bag lift again (oh, boy! The “wet” stuff) and drop again a few more times until… WHAT! Sorry, Cindy’s sayin’ something. Oh. Apparently, I can’t say what happened next since it isn’t “appropriate for all audiences.” I’ll just tell you the corner of the bag opened and we all said the same thing. It wasn’t pretty.

Well, that was it. We were all gonna get eaten. That is until I got my most magnificent, awesome, spectacular, totally out of this world, did I mention awesome idea. “Jump!” I yelled and we all jumped off the counter and ran in all directions. We heard a scream – I hope it was the human – but I couldn’t look. I was sorta busy running for my life. I turned a sharp corner and got sucked up by a big machine that made a loud humming noise. How rude! Anyway, the strange thing is I saw Charlie (one of my bagmates) in the container I was trapped in.

“Hiya, Carl!” Charlie greeted with a toothless smile. (When I said “toothless smile” Charlie actually had no teeth!) Suddenly the container was lifted in the air and turned upside-down. You won’t believe what happened next… Ahhhhhhhhh! Don’t do that Cindy! As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted, you won’t believe what happened next… We fell out into a new container! (which smelled REALLY bad!)

Okay, not that intense right? Let me remind you that we ARE candy corn and we don’t have much brains. Charlie decided that it was a good idea to bang his head against the wall of the container. Wow! I am so impressed!

Before you chuck this paper across the room, let me explain. Charlie is not the brightest crayon in the box. It is a major accomplishment to get him to do anything with his head, so I guess this counts! Anyway, the whole bag somehow made it into the trashcan alive. That has to be a world record right there! I don’t mean to boast, but my Idea kept 100 candy corns alive. Enough of that. Now, what do we do? Where do we go from here? These questions filled my mind until I grabbed a microphone (didn’t ask how I got it) and addressed the bag.

“Hi guys. I’m Carl, remember me? I’m the guy who just saved your lives. Anyway, we have made a major achievement here. We escaped our fate and ended up in a dark…” That’s when light filtered through the container. A Human poked its head into the container and said something in a language I still don’t understand to this day. It left. Then it came up with backup. Oh boy.

I dropped the microphone and surprisingly enough, Charlie made a small hole leading out of the container. I yelled, “Go out the hole!” (okay 6th grade boys out there. Get your head out of the gutter!) And we all filed out. Once again, I saved our lives. Until a Human picked me up.

Okay, what was I supposed to do? I bit it and bit it hard. What, Cindy? Oh. I ran out of words.

To Be Continued… Maybe…

Eighth Grade – Sarah Kinder“The Curse of the Werecat”

Unlike their cousins, the werewolf, werecats do not turn into a humanoid feline, but into shadow cats with black fur and blood-red eyes. Large, sabertooth fangs grow from their jaws. Their speed surpasses a cheetah at full sprint. Unlike the werewolf, they only turn into their were-form under a blood-red moon. On nights when the blood moon rises, we notice only a dull red color; however, to the werecats, the moon is a vivid red as they melt into the surrounding shadow.

On a cold, crisp October day, Sierra walked briskly home. Frost glittered on the ground, crunching as she stepped in the grass. The wind blew through her obsidian hair and fallen leaves tumbled across her feet. She hurried her pace, eager to see her cat, Felix.

Sierra’s hear flickered with joy when she saw her house and she started into a short jog. She came upon her gray house and walked up the stairs. Felix sauntered up to her as she opened the door. Sierra mindlessly hung up her bag and lifted Felix into her arms. She nestled him next to her ear. Her favorite part of the day was listening to his rhythmic purring. Sierra hurried up the stairs, said hello to her parents, then went into her room. After settling Felix on her bed, she sat at her desk and pulled out a pencil. Nimbly, she sketched her Halloween costume, a witch cat with black ears, and a dark purple hat. A black tail, black and purple robe stretching to the ground, and tall black boots would finish the costume.

Something hissed from her bed; she whirled around to see Felix writhing around in her blankets, yowling and hissing angrily. Sierra jumped from her seat and ran to her cat. She wrapped her arms around him, attempting to calm him. He bit her wrist. Sierra shrieked in pain and dropped Felix. He had never done this before. Stunned, she watched as Felix darted across her room and out the door. Sierra shuddered as she crouched on the floor, staring at the door.

Her mom ran into the room, a worried look on her face. Sierra’s dad ran in behind her, eyebrows furrowed, confused.

“Sierra, what happened?” her mother asked, noticing the bite on her arm.

Sierra shivered on the ground. She worried about where Felix had gone, why he had done this. “Felix. He just… started to go crazy. He ran out of the house just now.”

Her father left for the first aid kit while her mother sat cradling her. When her dad came back, the kit in his hands, he cleaned and wrapped the bite mark in a bandage. He gently helped her up.

“Where do you think Felix went?” Sierra asked.

Her dad shrugged, though his expression showed worry. “I don’t know. He probably just needed some air. Try not to worry.” Her dad gave her a tight hug.

The next day, Halloween, Sierra walked out the door, clad in her costume. She turned behind the house, searching for Felix.

“Felix! Are you here?” she called out, eyes searching for him. The backyard was empty, same with the side of the house, where he usually rested in the chair swing. No luck. Sierra turned back, filled with worry, and turned down the road to school.

After school, she nervously walked out with her friends. Up the road, they turned off and Sierra ran the rest of the way home. Once home, she anxiously went upstairs. A note was taped to her desk. Her parents had gone for Halloween candy. Sierra looked around for Felix, checking all his favorite places.

“Felix! Where are you?” she called out, dismayed by his absence.

Later, her parents arrived home just in time for the first trick-or-treater. Sierra and her friends trick-or-treated the whole neighborhood until their bags brimmed with candy. Worried about Felix, she then went home to search for him.

“Sierra, are you sure you want to stay out later?” asked her mom. “We can all go look tomorrow.”

“I have to find him.” Sierra turned and left.

Darkness filled the sky and clouds shrouded the moon. As Sierra walked, the moon began to show through, turning a dull red.

A crash nearby startled her. Seeing a dark streak, she whipped around. An eerie hiss echoed through the darkness. Sierra turned in circles, trying to find whatever was around her. A clatter in the distance, a shadow precariously moving, hissing and yowling from the laneway. Something stalked her, with bright white, sabertooth fangs and blood-red eyes. A hiss slowly escaped its jaws. Black, saturated fur dripped with shadows as it moved. The moon shone red in front of it, now uncovered by the clouds.

The creature hissed, baring razor-sharp teeth. It drifted toward Sierra, paws silent on the ground, shadow and darkness falling behind. It leaped, mouth open wide, sharp teeth pointed at her. Sierra screamed, huddling on the ground with her arms over her head. Just then a shadow passed over the moon, a cloud. The creature paused as it landed on her, teeth barely sinking in. It yowled and ran down an alleyway. Sierra, panic-stricken, slowly stood up, her hands and legs shaking. Slowly, she walked back home. Once there, she ran upstairs falling onto her bed. She was curled in the blankets when the front door creaked slowly open. Something was walking up the stairs, silent as a fox. Cold chilled the air as it came through her doorway. Sierra shot up, looking around her room. Her door slowly opened, creaking on the hinges. She scooted back, touching the wall behind her. A black streak jumped on her bed and she shrieked, hiding her head in her arms.

She heard a rhythmic purring, then felt a soft, velvety tail tracing along her arm. Sierra peeked out, fear turning to joy when she saw Felix, calm and happy as ever.

High School – Cassie Crockett“From the Dark”

The road stretched ahead, long and dark. I took a quick look at the clock on the dash and saw it was almost 12:30 a.m. I asked Wesson how much longer it would be until we arrived at the campground. He thought for a moment.

“We should be there in another hour or so. We’ll have to sleep in the car since it’ll be too dark to set up camp.” He smiled at me apologetically, then added, “Sorry, Spencer.”

“At least Sophie will be comfortable since she has the whole back seat,” I muttered, turning to glance at her, where she lay sprawled out in the back.

We fell silent again, cruising along the lonely road. I couldn’t remember when we had last passed another vehicle. I resigned myself to staring out the window. At this point, we were driving through what I guessed was farmland. The light outside was too dim to see much; I could see hilly fields with large round lumps I assumed were hay bales.

My vision was starting to blur from sleepiness when Wesson rolled up to a crossroads and stopped. I looked up drowsily. “Why’d you stop?” I yawned. Glancing at the clock, I say it was 1:07 a.m.

“There’s a stop sign,” Wesson said matter-of-factly.

“But there’s no one else around,” I said, staring out at the empty road.

He shrugged. “It’s a good habit.”

As we got going again, I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye.

I stared hard at the hay bales. Most of them seemed to be ordinary, stationary…

…just hay bales.

Except – just then – I saw it again – something large, about the size of a hay bale, following along beside us.

Rubbing my eyes, I stared out at the fields again but saw nothing this time. I turned to Wesson. “Are we getting close?”

He glanced at me, then back to the road. “Still have about an hour to go; why?”

“It’s just… I’m ready to get some rest. Just tired.” I scratched my head, confused. Wesson “hmmed” and said nothing else.

I tried to look at my phone for a while, but the bumpiness of the road made me feel sick, so I looked out the window again. The trees were getting thicker now, hiding the open fields from view and whatever was following us. I was uneasy, but couldn’t do anything else but stare into the darkness.

After a short while, Wesson turned to me. “You doing okay, Spencer?” He asked with concern.

“Oh? Um,” I glanced at him. “Yeah, I’m doing alright, I guess; why do you ask?”

“You just seem… a bit on edge. You worried about something?”

“Well…” I hesitated, worried I’d sound crazy. “I kinda feel like we’re being followed.”

He chuckled, and I sighed to myself. “But there’s no other cars around,” he looked up at the rearview mirror to double-check his statement.

“I don’t think we’re being followed by a car…” I murmured.

“A person? On foot?” He sounded incredulous.

“If they have superhuman speed. I don’t know; I just saw something big in the fields moving really fast the same way we’re going. Just kind of… spooky. Whatever.” I grumbled, agitated. Turning to the window, I squinted at the ever-thickening trees. We were practically in a forest now.

I was getting close to convincing myself that what I had seen was just some sort of optical illusion with the hay bales, or maybe a cow running in the pasture. Yeah. Cows.

And then not even ten minutes later, I saw it again.

A shadowy, looming shape. Moving as fast – or faster than – our car.

I sat up straight, straining my eyes into the blurring trees. It was hard to see clearly with the shakiness of the car.

“I saw it again.”

“Saw what?”

“The thing I saw following us earlier, running in the fields.”

“You’re not letting that go, are you?” Wesson sighed. “Spencer, you’re probably just seeing things because you’re tired. It was most likely just a deer or something.”

I turned back to the window after catching another glimpse of movement. “Wesson, look!”

“Spencer, really, I—”

Before Wesson could finish, something appeared in front of the vehicle. Something large and fast.

I screamed.

Wesson screamed.

The brakes screamed.

The thing was massive and dark, towering over the car. I could only see its broad chest and thick limbs that thrashed wildly.

Still screaming, Wesson fumbled with the gearshift, trying to put the car in reverse to back away from the beast. With a terrifying crunch, the monster grabbed the hood and lifted the front end of the car.

“GO!” I screeched.

“I’M TRYING!” Wesson yelled back. He slammed the accelerator; the front of the car was tilted in the air, wheels spinning uselessly. Panicked, Wesson kept trying the accelerator in vain; nothing could be done as the creature lifted the car higher. With one mighty heave, the car went flying.

I screamed.

Wesson screamed.

Squeezing my eyes tight, I waited for the car to come crashing down; for it to crush us into nothingness and then the beast would come, we’d all die; poor Sophie would never know what happened and then—

And then nothing happened.

Everything was quiet.

Slowly, very slowly, I opened my eyes. I was still in the car – could hear it humming as it idled now – and Wesson was still next to me. The creature was gone; we were at the intersection where Wesson had stopped almost an hour ago. But the clock still read 1:07.

Wesson’s breathing was heavy. My heart was pounding. We looked at each other, sharing a knowing glance. Without a word, Wesson put the car in gear and did a U-turn, heading home.

A sleepy groan came from the backseat. “What’s goin’ on?” Sophie asked, her voice groggy as she stretched.

“We’ve decided we don’t want to go camping.”

Honorable Mention – Jeremiah Ovard (Homeschool Dad)“A Haunted Haiku”

Scratching in the walls

Time to put out traps again

This time it’s not mice