Wasilla Public Library winners of Halloween writing contest

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.

High School – Malia Hoagland

“My Own Monster”

I was afraid of the dark

And what waited in it

I was afraid of spiders

Their webs infinite

I was afraid of serial killers

Preying on young and pure

I was afraid of the devil

Creator of fear

I would scream

And wait for someone to slay my beast

Turn the light on

And the gloom would cease

Then I was afraid of aging

Working to live

I was afraid of blending in

Submissive

I became afraid of school

Hide from my bullies

I was afraid they could read my mind

Feed on my worries

I could not scream

For there was no tangible beast

The light had faded long ago

I was now the devil’s feast

It is now that I fear an image

A surface glimpse of hell

It holds all of my nightmares

And knows me well

A being of doubt

An evil that no light can scare

Its tongue now its weapon

I missed the sign that read beware

Here I stand

A new fear unlocked

Buried claws in my chest

Im prey now being stalked

“Please don’t hurt me”

I cry

It smiles

And I…

I smile back

The image moves

My hand traces the surface

The image mocking proves

“Hello” I whisper to my hell

“Hello” it says back

My stomach drops

The image fades to black

All this time the thing that preyed

The thing I feared

Knew my mind

And slept in my mirror

Not a spider

Nor a mocker

My demon was I

I, my own monster

7th Grade – Jack Christopherson

“The Dream”

Puffing, I ran into the school. I was late! I peeked into my classroom window and saw that my class was having a math test. ‘Darn it,’ I thought. I was about to open the door when I realized something weird about the scene. There ‘I’ sat at my own desk, but I was out here in the hallway. As I realized that was impossible, my ‘double’ turned toward me and smiled. It had sharp, shark-like teeth and a ripple of fur flashed across his skin. It was not human, but no one around it noticed.

The creature stood up from my desk and turned toward the door. It was coming straight at me, but nobody noticed it get up. Freaked out, I ran down the hall past a mopping janitor. I stopped at the front door of the school for a split second; heart racing. As I glanced over my shoulder I saw it bound toward me, straight through the janitor! It knocked his hat off and sent the soap water flying, but like the kids in my classroom, he didn’t notice. He just kept mopping like the bucket was still there.

I ran outside into the rain down the first alley I saw. ‘Dead end,’ I thought, as I skidded to a stop just shy of a puddle in front of a wall. Slowly, I turned around and watched with dread as it entered the alleyway. I couldn’t escape. “What are you,” I asked. It didn’t reply. It skulked closer toward me. Suddenly, it shoved me and I fell back, arms wheeling, into the giant puddle behind me. I didn’t land in the puddle, though. I went straight through it and into darkness.

When I woke up, I realized I must have been knocked unconscious. The room was completely dark except for a candle burning with a purple flame. As my eyes adjusted, I discovered a door and, with some work, I was able to open it and find a lit stairwell. The door slammed closed behind me. I went down the flight of stairs and discovered an amazing view.

It seemed I was on an island floating in the air, with many more floating islands in the distance. The one I was on had a giant mountain peak that rose above the dense foliage below. I stood at some kind of cave opening halfway up the mounting, so I started to climb down. I had just reached the jungle when I heard a shout. The sound led me to a man fighting…himself! The thing he was fighting was like the one that I had encountered. The man had gotten slashed with one of the monster’s claws, but he made quick work of his foe, and its body slumped to the ground as the head bounced away, oozing blood.

After the man sheathed his sword, he noticed me. “Well, hello there,” he said. “Did she send you here, too?” ‘I haven’t got the foggiest idea of what was going on,’ I thought as he approached.

“Welcome to the mirror dimension,” he said.

“What’s the mirror dimension?” I asked cautiously.

“Well this is lad! Come with me,” he said over his shoulder as he walked toward the forest. He didn’t seem to care if I followed or not, so I made a snap decision to trust him. We went further into the dense woods and trees enclosed on all sides. He seemed not to notice the strange creatures slinking through trees or crawling on the ground.

Soon we came to the edge of the floating island where there was a rope bridge linking the islands. I didn’t trust it for a second, but it held the man well enough, so I scrambled across it looking down into the endless void below. When I got to the other side, I asked him what was down there. “More islands we guess.”

‘WE?!’ I thought.

He started moving again down into a cave and I followed, afraid to be left behind.

Farther into the cave, the stone under my feet became wood and a light up ahead grew until it was clear we were in a giant room filled with candelabras, a long table laden with food, and a great door at the other end of the room. The food reminded me how hungry I was, so I made a beeline to the table. I loaded my plate with delicacies from around the world without wondering how it could have gotten here. Looking around for a place to sit, I saw skeletons seated on the other chairs with food still on their plates. Horrified, I ran from the room. With a rattle of bones the skeletons rose from their chairs to chase me. I ran up the stairs looking for the man who had led me here, but only found his lifeless body hung gruesomely above the stairs. I would get no help from him.

Panting for breath, I reached the top of the stairs to see my double, the man that had helped me, and another 30 skeletons clad with armor and weapons standing in front of me. I looked back down the stairs to see the other skeletons waiting for me. The features of the man in front of me began to turn skeletal, and my “twin” handed him a bag full of gold coins. “Traitor!” I yelled. “I don’t even know you,” he replied, “how could I betray someone I don’t even know?”

My “twin” reached forward, grabbed me by the neck, lifted me up with inhuman strength, and tossed me out of the window…

of the school?

Sure enough, I looked around and saw I was back in the school parking lot. Suddenly, hundreds of my ‘doubles’ came pouring in with no way for me to escape. They grabbed me and started ripping me shreds.

I awoke, heart thumping in my chest, I looked at my clock, and I realized that I was late for school.

High School – Keira Driver

“The Eery Sound”

One spooky night Thomas the Ptarmigan,

was very, very scared again.

He was getting ready to go down the hall,

when he heard the scariest sound of all.

Thomas went to investigate,

he was armed with a stick and a sheild, his cooking grate.

Thomas was about to open the door,

when he could move no more.

He stood frozen still,

because he heard a sound that gave him quite a chill.

He stood and thought and he thought some more,

he knew he just had to open the door.

Thomas gathered his courage armed with his stuff,

and opened the door with one big huff.

And down and around the bend,

he saw a light shining from the end.

Thomas followed the light and guess what he saw,

he saw his friend cat grooming her paw.

Now Caitlin the cat and Thomas the bird,

were very surprised no one could say a word.

They stood in shock, in surprise, in awe,

and Caitlin stopped grooming her paw.

Then after a minute or two went by,

Thomas was the first to say why?.

He asked Cait how she got in his house,

she answered “quite simply I was chasing a mouse”.

The she continued “I followed it down and up to a wall,

then all of a sudden I heard a strange call.

I put my ear to the wall,

then it opened up and there was a hall.

I walked down it and started to run,

then I saw a light as bright as the sun.

When I came closer to light,

I saw you and boy you gave me quite a fright.”

Then Thomas replied “Gee I’m sorry but you heard it too,

I thought maybe it was you.

As they discused what to do,

Thomas and Cait heard a yoo-hoo.

They turned around,

and saw what was making the sound.

It was their friend Pal the Dog,

who was sitting on a log.

He explained that he was singing a song,

and they laughed because it was Pal all along.

Pal was singing for a contest at the library,

the prize was a cup made of ivory.

He asked them to come along,

to help him sing his song.

They did and when the big day came,

guess who won the singing game.

They all did and were very proud,

and when they left there were greeted with a big crowd,

They all went home that day,

pleased that the eery sound had gone away.

4th Grade – Rosalyn Chatman

“the mean witch”

Once upon a time there was a witch who lived in a haunted house she had 22 cats and at Halloween shed let kids come in and scare them and them the kids wold turn in to monsters! But one day she went out on her Broom and crashed in to a tree and was never saw again! the end

4th Grade – Vendelin Maixner

“The Secret undead”

Once there was a guy named Nick. He was Ten years old and his favorite holiday was Halloween. He was really excited when his friends agreed to go trick-or-treating with him. He was going as a ninja. His friends were Frankenstein and a skeleton. As they were getting ready, they saw some weird shadows but just thought; “decorations.” and ignored them. They protested when Nick said there were going to the old woman near the graveyard but Nick said, “it was a dare so we have to go.” His friends said fine not knowing it was going to be the last house they ever visited! As they were trick-or-treating they saw some of the houses sometimes had arrows sticking out of them or even blood that looked so real. After they went to all the houses, they headed toward the Graveyard. As they arrived, they saw a flash of blinding green light! They rang the door and it opened immediately with a warty long nosed woman staring right at them! Nick was the only one to say, “trick-or-treat!” The woman said, “curse these annoying little children and send them to hell!” The kids screamed and ran away but was stopped by an arrow! they were being shot! A troll appeared and took Nick’s friends attention off the zombie archer and right went that happened, he got an arrow to the heart!

Nick was so sad, he fled, but did not go very far before lightning struck right in front of him! He fled the other direction but he saw a giant dragon with a zombie archer on it! He saw his other friend get killed by the zombie and got confronted by a ghost! Then, Nick crying the dragon shot a burst of fire at him! He barely dodged and the werewolf ate him!

The End

7th Grade – Meghan Kaufman

“The haunted library”

On a spooky day, a spooky scary night. A noise, an awful mournful moo-like noise came from the door way of the library.

For 2 hours it had been going on and every time someone tried to leave, a big creature tried to get in. And the people were getting restless…

“Mom, I’m bored!” wined a yong boy, loudly.

“Read a book,” she wisperd.

“SHHHH!” fifty or so people said.

It went on like this a wile with squirmy siblings and anxious Adults an so on.

By and by, the noises slowed and finaly stopped. but even though it stopped, nobody dared go out.

Amy and Andy, a pair of twins, like animals. They felt sorry for the thing outside. So, when no one was looking, the snuck out into the entrance past the bumpy seats, that Bobby their younger brother loved to play on, and out the doors as soon as the doors were open a monstrous moose ran in! He ran to the kids books before the twins knew what was happening. As soon as he got there he quite got out the moose who did not fit and read it!

After, he walked behind the counter and found a pen and paper and wrote: “Hi! my name is Marvin the moose! I can read and write and would very much like to come here often. Also, I’d very much like to thank the two kids who let me in, thanks.” and with that he went and read more books until the last person left. After that every day he returned to read.

the end