Scary Story Gallery

Nate led his 7-year-old twin sisters, Ella and Cate, out the door. It was Halloween, and
he was in charge of them for the night because his parents were staying home and handing out
treats. Ella and Cate were Elsa and Anna, and as far as Nate was concerned, the lamest They
walked out onto the sidewalk, but then turned right instead of left. Ella and Cate knew what this
meant: they were headed towards the Smith Manor! The rumor was that no one had gone in in
fifty years, and the last person who went in never came back out! The wind howled as Nathan,
Ella, and Cate approached the dark mansion.

“Natey, I don’t think this is such a good idea…” said Cate.
“It’ll be fine. And for the billionth time, don’t call me Natey!”
They walked up the front steps, the wind whipping at their hair.
“Natey… I have a bad feeling about this.”, whined Ella.
“Rrrrrgghhh… Ella! But, seriously guys, it’ll be fine.”
They knocked at the door… and no one answered.
“Well, that’s that. We’re leaving.”
“Cate, who said you were the leader here?” said Nate, sounding very irritated.
The trees creaked and moaned in the wind. Ella shivered and said “Nate, Mom said that you
could take us anywhere except the Smith Manor! She says it’s dangerous.”

--Callie Frederick, 6th grade

---------

Fiona was in the middle of the worst day of her life. Not only did 
she get laid off, but her mom called earlier saying that her childhood pet, 
Mr. Whiskers had died. She was so in her own head, that she didn’t even 
realize she was at Hawkland Park, until she ran right into a big oak tree. 
She fumbled a few paces back. 

“Ugh,” Fiona flinched, rubbing her forehead. It was then that she 
looked up to find a small little wishing well. She looked around. She had 
been living at Alla Avenue, just one block away, for an entire year. How 
did she never notice it before? She shrugged. Maybe it was fate. Maybe if 
she made a wish, all her troubles would just magically go away.  

Fiona stepped up to the wishing well, dug out a glimmering bronze 
penny, and held it close to her chest. She shut her eyes and thought, I​  
wish that all my problems would go away.​ The penny made a plop sound 

before hitting the water. She sighed and started to turn around, when she 
heard the voice.  

“Hello Fiona,” it said. 
“Who’s there?” she whipped around.  
“Nobody’s here,” the voice laughed. “I’m just in your head, but that 
doesn’t mean I’m any less real. Now listen, I can make all your problems 
go away, and all you need to do is one teeny tiny thing. I need you to kill 
one person by the end of the week. And-” 
“I’m sorry, WHAT?!” Fiona cut her off. The voice ignored her, 
“A​ nd​ if you don’t, I’ll kill you.” 
“Wh-what? This has to be a joke.” she gulped. 
“Ugh, why is this so hard for you? All it is is that death is getting a 
little tired, you know? With all these medicines and cures that people 
have invented, it’s really angered her. So, she sent me to spice things up.” 
“Can’t I get out of this somehow?” she asked, her voice as small as a 
mouse.  
“No,” the voice was sharp and curt, “You're the one who made the 
wish, you got yourself into this,” Fiona quickly walked away from the 
well, around the tree, down three blocks, until she got to her apartment 
complex. She opened the door, climbed up two sets of stairs, got to her 
apartment, and shut the door behind her. She plopped down on her bed. 
What was she going to do? Of course she wasn’t going to kill. She wasn’t a 
murder. The voice probably wasn’t even real. What she needed was 
therapy.  
And all though she’d made her decision, she still kept pacing back 
and forth. W​ hat if the voice is real? Shouldn’t she at least consider ​Killing?​  
She thought to herself. ust then her phone chimed. An email.​ M​ eeting: All 
LCPs MUST ATTEND. ​ Ugh. She was still getting work emails. Her old boss did 
say it would take 3-5 days to shut down Fiona’s work email. And that’s 
when it hit her, Mr. Shellman, her old boss. She would call him, invite 

him for a nice lunch, and when he’d come, she’d kill him. She picked up 
her phone and dialed his number.  

“Fiona? What a…..surprise.” 
“Yes, well, I felt bad about yelling at you the other day. I know that 
laying people off can’t be easy for you, and I wasn’t making it any easier. 
So, I’d like to invite you over to lunch tomorrow.” Fiona tried to sound as 
nice as possible. 
“Oh, how nice, thank you. I’ll be there,” he said. 
“Great I'll send you the address. Bye.” she said and hung up the 
phone. All right, now all that had to be done was to set it up.  
Oh. My. God. What had she just done? Okay, so she invited him for 
dinner, that didn’t mean she was going to ​Kill​ h​ im.  
Ding Dong. ​ Fiona opened the door to find Mr. Shellman. Small and 
old, with liver spots all over.  
“Come in,” Fiona said, opening the door wide. He came in, and 
Fiona shut the door behind him. 
“This really does seem lovely,” Mr. Shellman said, eyeing the baked 
potatoes, and various side dishes I’d made, “You know I’m really glad you 
understand why you had to be one of the many laid off. You know, out of 
everyone, you were, fine, average, mediocre. I mean that last report, 
woof.” 
Fiona was shaking with anger. She swept over to the counter, 
picking up the scarf. Mr. Shellman smiled, and took his place at the table. 
She walked behind his chair, wrapped the scarf around his scrawny 
neck, and pulled.  
“Fiona,” he stammered, “What are you doing?”  
“Me? Oh, nothing,” she said, pulling the scarf tighter around his 
neck. He tried pulling the scarf away, but he was too weak. So she just 
kept pulling, and pulling, until his hands fell, and he stopped stuttering.  

Fiona pulled the scarf away, and turned to look at his limp little 
body, horrified. How could she have done this? She had let her anger take 
over, and a man was now dead because of it. 

“I’m very proud of you,” the voice was back. 
“Oh no,” She was crying now. 
“Oh hush, look on the bright side, now all your problems will go 
away,”  
“Like k​ illing​ someone?” 
“Oh yes, just like that,” the voice said 
“All right go ahead,” Fiona said, taking a breath, her cheeks still 
damp.  
“Okay, here…. you…. are” And like a puppet cut from it’s strings, 
Fiona fell with a thud. 

--Maya Mastropasqua, 6th grade

---------

I didn’t plan to die when I walked into that bank, but I did. I had walked in to deposit
some gold I had just gotten off my most recent bounty. While I was in line, two men strode in,
dressed in all black with red bandanas covering their noses. Some of the people who had heard
enough stories to know what was going on raised their hands, including me. Others just stared.
The slighter of the two men held two revolvers. We couldn’t tell his skin tone, but he seemed
malnourished, his gloved hands grasping the gun butts with slender musician’s fingers. He wore
a black ensemble with no skin showing, and a hat tipped so far over his face we could only see
the dark silhouette of a slender chin. He looked about 22, judging just by figure and height. As a
bounty hunter, I have a good eye for things like that. He appeared almost scared, his hands
trembling ever so slightly, back just barely hunched. The other man was heavyset, or perhaps just

muscular (it was hard to tell under his shapeless shotgun coat). His meaty, gloved hands grasped
two sawed-off double barrel shotguns, and a hat tipped low over his wide bandana-clad face,
giving him the appearance of having no facial features, just like his slighter friend.

I thought about clawing my revolvers out and firing, but with two sawed off double
barrels, the thick man would have me scattered in chunks on the wall before I could cock the
hammer. Besides, if I managed to somehow do it covertly or extremely quickly, there was still
the kid with the revolvers to worry about. He seemed trigger happy, and I didn’t want to risk
firing any shots.

I processed all this in a second. “Get in a line against the wall. NOW!” screamed the
scrawny one when people were hesitant. We scrambled to follow his orders, but I’m not sure if
that was the right idea.

While the muscular man walked up to the front desk and blew the gun hand clean off the
guards arm, the revolver kid shot a child in the shoulder and cocked the hammer again as if
nothing had happened. The little boy crumpled to the ground, wailing. His father started to turn
around, and the revolver boy shot him twice in the head. Y​ eah, I​ thought grimly, ​definitely
trigger happy.

“Hey! Honor among thieves, remember! Jeez, Bee. You know the big S doesn’t like us
doing more than we have to!” The meaty man reminded Bee in a guttural voice that sent shivers
down my spine. Bee didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he seemed to have no regard for human life at
all. An unsettling flash of red came from below Bee’s hat.

“Shut up, Dee!” Said Bee. Now an even brighter flash of red came from below Dee’s hat,
and he snarled in Bee’s face. “You’d do well to respect me, spider-freak. I outrank you.”

At this point, I was confused. ​Spider-freak? ​I thought. What the hell was he talking
about?

You could almost see Bee’s eyes widening beneath the shadows underneath his hat, and
he visibly struggled to recover from that personal attack. Eventually, however he composed
himself and spoke in his arrogant tone again.

“Dee, search the vaults. The Big S needs some gold!”
“You think I don’t know that? He told me first!”
“Oh, is that right Dee? When did he tell you then?”
“Oh, eff off Bee!” Dee shouted as he stalked staunchly towards the back room that held
the vaults.

After some time, Bee seemed to grow bored. He pulled out a revolver, spat on the wheel,
and polished it, checking his reflection as he went. Then, without warning, he riddled a man's
head with a pyramid of three bullets. He was dead before he hit the ground. As a shooter and
marksman myself, I could not help be impressed by the grouping and accuracy of the shots, fired
from across a ten foot room. Each one of them were kill shots. But even as a bounty hunter and
former outlaw, I could not imagine killing someone in cold blood as he just had.

Bee began moving down the line, shooting people as he went. Some people started
screaming their heads off, only to be abruptly silenced by the C​ RACK-CRACK-CRACK o​ f Bee’s
Schofield.

I was last in the line. He stopped when he got to me, and smiled widely.
“Good luck, my friend,” He said. B​ ANG!

I woke up staring into the face of a chiseled black man with a French accent. His shirt
had a sheriff's star that proudly stated in fancy lettering T​ he Big S.​ He grinned widely at me,
maliciously.

“Hello friend! I see you’ve met Demogorgon and Bael, my demons! Welcome to hell!”

--Declan McMahon, 8th grade

---------

Elise Miller

I’ve recently been making journal entries about a creature. I'm not sure if it's real
or i'm just going crazy, It’s been a quarter to eleven for a while now, or that's what my
clock says. I can’t hear any noise, just my heart beating. They didn't strap me down in
ankle and wrist wraps like they would have when it's time for bed. In fact, I haven't seen
them since they brought me into my room. It was a little confusing. There was no
screaming from other patients, no hysterical laughter, not even any sounds of nurses
patrolling the halls during the night. There wasn't any light, just the pale moon shining
down from my one window which was too far above me for me to see anything.

I creep up carefully from my bed, making a point not to make a noise. I stand up
and put socks on to soften the thud of my feet, and walk over the floorboards. I know
won’t make a sound. I put my hand on the knob of the door and carefully twist, wincing
as it creaks open. I peek outside my room, to find a blackened hallway, but no one in
sight. As I pad down the halls, I can't shake the feeling that something is watching me,
or to phrase it better, stalking me. Like I’m prey and it’s the predator. The air feels
different too, almost colder. The thought of something watching me is scary. I whip
around just to calm my nerves when out of the corner of my eye, I see something retreat
into the darkness that fills the room, I don't know if i’m imagining it or if its real, but my
instincts kicked in and I run past hallway after hallway until I manage to find a broom

closet. My heart is racing, and goose bumps are starting to develop all over my arms
and legs. Whatever person or creature is out there is going to find me soon. But I have
nowhere to run. This is a dead end, and surely if I went out now something would
happen to me. This is my last journal entry. I'm not sure if this creature is in my head or
not, I’m going insane, I can’t take it anymore, so I'm facing it tonight.

--Daria Oxley, 7th grade

--------

Grinning, I chase Lucas and Allie up the hill. We pause in front of the old gate, panting heavily.
“Hey, what’s in there? Can we go in?” Allie asks, pointing at the gate.
“I dunno…. just some old gate. A doctor used to live there, but he died... It’s locked, anyway.”

But as I look, I notice that it isn’t locked now. It’s open, just by a crack…. but wide enough for
the small bodies of Lucas and Allie to slip through.
My eyes widen. I leap towards the gate, and see Allie stepping through.
“No, Allie. You can’t go there! Let’s go to my house instead!”
But Allie laughs and slips through the gate and disappears into the brambles.
Lucas grins at me and follows Allie.

I’m still for a minute, shocked. I glance in the direction of my house, minuscule in the distance. I
don’t have time… so I run in after them.

“LUCAS! ALL-IEEE!” I call into the forested path.
I run, not caring where I end up.
Then I jump as I collide with a small, red-headed figure.
“Lucas! You scared me! Where’s Allie? Where’s Allie?”
Lucas shrugs.
“We have to find her! This place- it isn’t- the rumors…. We have to get out, quick.” My voice
shakes.
“Okie!”
“ALLIE!” Lucas calls. “All-“
But I throw my hand on his arm, signaling for him to be quiet.
“What’s happening?” Lucas says in a stage whisper.
I try to hush him. “I heard something- Lucas. We need to hide from the- the monster!” I invent
wildly.
He grins evilly, and is silent.

A tall figure moves in the direction of the gate. We hear the gate locking… and steps toward us.
I wait, heart pounding. The gate’s locked… Now how do we get out? The figure nears us, and I
make out an old lady with yellow teeth, pale skin, and white hair covered in a beanie. She
doesn’t seem to notice us, even with Lucas’s bright red hair. Muttering to herself, she takes a
turn in the opposite direction.

She bumps into a tree, curses, and keeps walking.
Slowly, she vanishes into the blur of trees.

” This place is cool!” Lucas looks delighted.
“Come on… we need to find Allie!”
I double check the gate, and sure enough, the man has locked it.
“One thing at a time, June…” I mutter to myself, trying to keep calm.

Lucas and I wander around for a few minutes, making sure to avoid the direction the man
disappeared into.
We turn to the right, to the left, right again….. but pretty soon the surroundings blur into each
other. The trees and rocks look the same, no matter how much we walk.

“My feet are getting tired.”
“Where are we going? Are you lost? Where’s Allie?”
“I wanna go home!” Lucas is stumbling, and it’s obvious he’s exhausted.
The sky is darkening, and it’s getting late.

“You know… I think we should take a break. How about you rest?” I’m hesitant to leave Allie,
but it’s obvious Lucas can’t go much farther.
“Okie!” Lucas lies down and fiddles with some acorns, softly muttering.
“Fighter, prepare your fire… Godzilla is coming on starboard….”
I smile weakly, and close my eyes. This is almost normal…. I’m actually not panicking! I try to
relax…

Suddenly, a figure is looming above me. He’s a man, and old, like the lady we saw earlier, but
he’s different. He looks, harsher, more intelligent, and ancient.
I yelp, look over at Lucas… or where Lucas used to be. He’s vanished.
Looking at the man, a sudden thought hits me. Could this be the doctor? But of course, he’s
dead…. or is he?

The end

--June Price, 6th grade

------------

Tammy invited me to a costume party via text last week. I'm supposed to meet
her in an hour yet my costume is unfortunately not top notch. It wasn’t my first pick. She
chose it. The knife with blood on it looks extremely fake. At this point I have to leave
regardless of looks or I may be late. I snatch my keys and get ready to go,but before I
can, I hear a knock on the door and head to answer it, but when I do I see a familiar
face looking back with vampire fangs shoved in her mouth.

“Hey Olivia,” Tammy pulls out her fangs to talk to me, “so the party got canceled
and I was wondering if we could host it here instead?”

I look annoyingly at her as if displeased, “I don't think so, especially on such short
notice.”

“But didn’t you say your parents were gone for the weekend?”
I can’t believe her. “Since when did you listen when I talked?”
“Pleaaaseee,” she makes a begging face and pouts, “I’ll give you my candy.”

“Fine. Get in.”
She steps through the door and a few people follow. Great. I don’t even have
food to serve the five of them. I’m glad that's all there is though. I couldn’t entertain any
more of them. Of course the guests immediately raid my fridge, helping themselves to
whatever lies in there. One kid pulls out my dinner and of course digs in, but not before
pestering me.

“Do you have ketchup?”
I look at him, slightly pissed, “Why would I have ketchup?”
“Who doesn’t have ketchup,” he looks at my shirt and then back at me, “also
how’d you do the fake blood without ketchup?”
I stutter, “Ketchup isn't the only- you know what I don't have to explain myself to
you.”

I turn around and head towards the bathroom. I can’t handle people bombarding
me and my poor fridge. Yet as soon as I open the door to my bathroom, Tammy is there
looking at her phone with a slightly alarmed and concerned look, which in turn concerns
me.

“What’s wrong?” I look down at her phone and read the text for myself when she
doesn’t respond.

One of the costumes isn’t a costume after all.

I try to think of all the costumes the kids came in tonight, Tammy is a vampire,
Alex is a werewolf, Raven is a fairy, Adam was a clown and I was dressed as a serial
killer. Of course the message isn’t real but still a chill runs down my spine.

“That's fake, right?” Tammy looks up at me, “I mean there's no way.”
“Duh, haha.” it’s an awkward response because the message unsettles both of
us.

Tammy leaves the bathroom and heads towards my living room, probably to
clear her head about the whole situation. I leave shortly after.

I walk into the living room to see everyone sitting on the couch with their phones
open. “What is it?”

Raven looks at me and responds, “We all got the message.”
Adam looks up from his phone,“And the doors are locked somehow.”
“What, they don’t lock from the outside, at least without a key.” everyone looks a
little startled at my comment.
“Well, they did today.” Alex tries to explain away the weird coincidence.
My hands shake a little as I look around, seeing all the doors closed. What's
going on? “If you guys are playing some sick prank on me, I’ll kill all of you!”
Adam looks at me, “That sounds like something a serial killer would say.”
“First to accuse is certainly suspicious.” Raven leans back and crosses her arms.
“What is this, some sick game?” Tammy looks at us already arguing, “what if this
is real? The only people we don't have to worry about are the clown and fairy.”
“Hey! Me too.” I chime in, “It’s not like i'm gonna have murdered someone, let's
be realistic here.”
Alex looks at us as if we're crazy, “Okay before we even entertain the idea of this
being nothing more than one of you guys playing a Halloween prank, let’s acknowledge
vampires and fairies and whatever- aren’t even real.”
“Who said that!” Raven yelled.
Everyone gave her a suspicious look and she didn’t say anything anymore.
I look around for a second. “Since this isn’t real, let's split up to find something to
open my doors.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you're not supposed to do?” Adam yelled.
“Olivia’s right, none of this is real and we're gonna find something to open the
door faster if we split up to find it.” Tammy for once manages to agree with me on
something.
I scoff, “Thank you!”
Raven and Alex nod in agreement and Adam agrees reluctantly.

Me and Tammy look through the pantry, but nothing of use catches either of our
eyes so we leave. After that we search the kitchen and then the bathroom one more
time. I ask she leave for a moment so I can clear my head and she does so willingly. I
take a few necessary deep breaths and attempt to calm down. It’s all going to plan.

I leave the bathroom and hear someone scream, I rush to the living room and
see Adam laying there lifeless. The only telling clue to his demise is fang marks on his
kneck.

“What happened??” I step backwards.
Raven tries to speak through her tears and hyperventilating, “We just came
downstairs to see him lying here, it has to be one of you two!”
“Hey lets not start accusing people yet!” Tammy said trying to calm us down.

I look at the mark on Adams neck and then back at her, “Why is there fang marks
on his neck,”

“Don’t look at me as if I would know!” Tammy jumps.
Alex looks her up and down, “Your the one dressed as a vampire!”
“Well it’s not like they’re real fangs! Here-” Tammy attempts to pull out the fangs,
but they wont budge.
“Tammy, did you, oh my god.” Raven covers her mouth and steps back, catching
herself before falling.
“Wait no I swear it’s just stuck! Come on guys you have to believe me!”
Alex and Raven are already trying to break the front door down, I run to help
them keeping my distance from Tammy who now looks very suspicious. The door
doesn’t budge but we keep pushing, looking back Tammy is still trying to pull out the
fake​ fangs.
Her attempts still unsuccessful she calls for Raven, “Please Raven, just help me
run hot water on them I know they’ll come out! I promise!”
Raven looks at her resourceful and whispers to me and Alex, “If I end up dead,
we know for certain it was her.”
Alex grabs her arm and looks at her, as if pleading with his eyes. Yet she still
walks away.
I look around but end up kneeling by the door, next to Alex. We sit in silence for a
moment until he gets up and walks to the bathroom, this is the moment I’ve been
waiting for. I wait a moment and then follow Alex into the bathroom, he stands alone
staring at the vent on the back wall already opened.
“So it was you,” he says turning around to face me.
I chuckle, “It was so obvious too.”
“Not really.”
“Okay well, still.” I pull a knife that was tucked into my pants out.

--Lola Christ, 7th grade

--------------------

The smell of pine lifted from within the damp undergrowth, spreading thinly across the air, following the
path of trees and fields leading to the location of the tale told here.

Married couple, Linda and Timothy Donahue had moved into a small home on the west side of the forest
outside of a small town of Missouri. The house was about 45 minutes outside of the town entrance and
was considered to be a reasonably remote area. The Donahue home was a small, one story, two bedroom,
one bathroom house with a dull beige kitchen and living room area.

Mr. and Ms. Donahue made the choice to go on a weekend trip to a larger city about four hours away
from the forest entrance. Shortly after arriving at this large and barren city, they chose to stay overnight
and through to Monday, when they would begin to slowly drive back and plan to be home mid-Tuesday
of August 3rd.

They began to unpack the car after they returned to the Missouri Forest. “Honey, do you remember where
I pla-,” Timothy walked to the kitchen where he noticed that the cupboard had been opened. A container
of stale crackers was out on the counter, the lid was still in the cupboard.
“Yes?” his wife asked, walking through the low doorway with a large black suitcase slugging behind her.
“Did you-,” he glanced back at the cupboard, the crackers, and then back to Linda. “Oh nevermind. Here,
I’ll help you with that bag.”

Ms. Donahue smiled as he grabbed the bag and brought it through the hallway and into the bedroom.
Linda grabbed a cracker from the opened container, the unpleasant softness and moist aftertaste ran a
sliver of disgust through her smile.

“How long have these things been sitting out?” She called to the other room with a sigh, throwing the
container into the emptied trash below the sink.

The two began noticing things slightly out of place: cans of food went missing, ice from the fridge found
as cold motionless water sitting on the counter, bags of chips or other snacks would disappear and then
reappear on the kitchen table days later, little things that each assumed was the other’s mistake and
wouldn’t bother to call attention to.

Three months after the weekend trip, these little mistakes began to seem less and less likely to be caused
by either of them. After searching through the emergency supplies in the cabinet, Timothy discovered that
the single bag of dog food had been ripped open without thought, and nearly half of it was already gone.
The couple had moved into this house with a small terrier but it had died early on due to health issues.
The bag of emergency dog food had been packed at the beginning of their time in the Donahue home and
left in case they chose to get another dog.

After contacting the police, the couple drove in to the town. The operator had told them to come in and
file a report since they had yet to investigate any solid proof of a crime in that area, through the screen
you could sense her sarcasm but they decided that it would be a good source of clarification for if
anything was occurring and why.

“I swear, someone must be breaking in somehow. It’s a possibility that someone would move things in a
robbery, right? Right??” asked Mr. Donahue in a tone with rising panic.

The officers glanced at one another with looks of worry. “There were no signs of a break-in as well as the
fact that a continued robbery without theft in your location is just illogical.” stated a tall officer, his face
filled with doubt and suspicion. Ms. Donahue explored potential possibilities with a group of several other
officers standing by the check-in desk of the police station. Murmurs of hallucinations or lack of sleep
filled the minds of everyone with the exception of Linda and Timothy. Unfortunately, they were told to
merely go back home and call the police if they found proof that something really was happening.

Once home, the two went to bed with worrying thoughts of what might occur during their slumber. Mr.
Donahue could not bring himself to dream. Instead, he began to set out bait to lure the crime. He gathered
up several cans of food and stocked them in the cabinet near the dining room table. He admitted to
himself that he might be losing his sanity once he started cutting out a large hole in the couch. He climbed
into the hole, securing his location as he reassured himself on his very ‘reasonable’ plan, claimed that this
was merely to watch the cabinet through the night and determine what ‘illogical’ events were occurring in
his house.

The first night of his watch, Mr. Donahue began to enter the land of dreams and the clock ran past
without him, awaking the next morning at dawn. He immediately checked the trap, rushing past the
counter and to the opened cabinet. Nearly half of the stocked cans were missing and one was left empty
on the kitchen floor. He thought someone must have broken in while he and his wife were sleeping and
the burglar must not have noticed him lying on the couch. Of course that must have been it since it was
the only possibility that made sense to his tired mind. Mr. Donahue still desired confirmation of this
conclusion. He was going to move the canned food and watch the cabinet throughout the night without
falling asleep.

After eight cups of coffee he was fully energized when no one should be fully energized. Past midnight,
he watched from within the couch as the latch of the ceiling attic door creaked and the lock began to turn.
The noise, soft, rattled, and rusted as the attic door slid to the left and stopped with enough room for Mr.
Donahue to see empty cans rolling down the stairs leading to the remainder of the storage space. Mr.
Donahue wrinkled his face, trying to view what could possibly be up their and stealing their things. A
wisp of white skin dashed down the steep attic stairs. The blur of the figure faded and became almost
translucent, only visible under the dim kitchen lights as it moved through the dull kitchen. Mr. Donahue
could only stare at the creature in the dim beige kitchen as it rummaged through the pantries. The creature
was pale white, standing on tall, beam-like legs. It had no feet. Instead, there was a point or tip of balance
at the edge of each leg. It had the same for its arms: long, pale white, and beam-like with no hands but
each edge had three points.

The figure suddenly became alert, turning in the direction of Timothy and remaining motionless while
patrolling the location with its eyes. This creature had no distinctive or describable face: nothing but two
narrow black eyes and a gaping mouth filled with rows of teeth and hunger. It continued to rummage
through the remaining cabinets in search of the canned items Mr. Donahue had placed the previous
morning. After a few minutes the beast had captured the location of these cans, and gathered them with its

beam-like arms before crawling up the side of the house’s wall. It climbed across the ceiling with only a
shallow breath and it’s skin faded once again, almost to the point of transparency. The large creature
climbed into the dim attic, closing the latch door with its back leg and creeping out of sight. Mr. Donahue
found himself letting out the breathe he had been holding for the past few minutes, looking up at the attic
to confirm himself being awake.

By the next morning Mr. Donahue could almost believe that what he had seen the night before was a
hallucination. It was doubtful, suspicious, and unreal. He elaborated on description of every moment of
this creature’s presence, baffling Linda to the point of disbelief.

The next night Linda and Timothy hid in and near the couch once again. Past midnight, they watched as
the attic door latch swung open. The pure white being climbed out of the attic, crawling along the surface
of the wallpapered ceiling and down the same wall of the dull beige kitchen. Linda gasped shallow air.
The beam legs and arms, the deep dark pits of black eyes, the rows of teeth: this unparalleled sight
challenged their understanding of reality and this world as a whole.

The next morning, sleep deprived Linda and Timothy discussed the being’s presence as if it was a book,
summarizing each minute as a paragraph. They decided to set another form of trap. They prepared a
strategy to confront the unknown creature, using themselves as bait. They prepared cans of food,
scattering the cans throughout the kitchen to lure the pale being. They set the remainder of cans on the
kitchen counter and merely sat at their seats nearing nightfall.

The creature came upon the night much quicker this time.. It was only 11:23pm when Linda noticed the
figure creeping out of the attic and along the wall once again. It stopped suddenly, staring down at the two
humans sitting at the table, as they starred back up at the creature. It scurried back up the thick wall and
across the wallpapered ceiling, it’s skin almost invisible in the moonlight shining through the window
above the sink.

The being climbed past the kitchen and into the living room, sliding down the thick red-brown wallpaper
and reaching the floor rug. Timothy stood from the table, the tall dinging chair falling onto the rugged
carpet, Ms. Donahue was frozen, trying not to offend the creature that could easily digest him or her. It
jumped onto the living room table, scurrying to balance itself as its legs began to slide across the table. Its
legs skidding with a terrible shriek, both Donahue’s wincing at the sound but trying not to lose the

creature from view. It skidded to a stop and jumped into the air, stabilizing its balance mid-jump and
smashing through the sliding glass door and out onto the balcony. The pure contact of this beast and a
object in their world was some sort of clarification and confirmation that this was not imagined into the
minds of a lonely couple living in a house of the Missouri Woods. The figure climbed up the side of the
balcony and climbed down onto the grassy undergrowth and out into the deep Missouri forest. And, at
that moment the world seemed utterly illogical.

--Isabella Schainker, 7th grade

---------

N​ ice

“Hello!”
“Mom”
“Who’s this?”
“Your daughter”
“No”
“That’s impossible… You don’t exist”

​ 24 years earlier in the suburbs of St Louis Missouri

“Wow husband! It’s a girl!”
“I can't believe it! We’re so lucky”
“What a great baby”
“So nice”
“Very nice”

​ 2 years previous to that
“Do you think this is safe, hon?”
“Of course why would the ranch put us in danger?”
“I don’t know everything just seems very off”
“They’re just strange but they seem very nice”
“I mean just give them a try at least. OK?”
“Fine. I mean, I guess”
“Thank you, they’re nice”
“So nice”
“Very nice”

“Shhhh you two, I, the white woman am now speaking.”
“If you decide to be with the ranch you have to spend your time in school.”
“You have to listen to the nice teachers”
“They are so nice”
“Very nice”

​ A few days later
“You don’t exist”
“What? I am in fact confused.”
“Let me explain: When this earth was created there was a glitch. We call the glitch the
multipartum. The earth as you know it is called the multipartum, but the thing is it doesn't quite
exist either. It’s essentially a dream within your subconscious, but you will never wake up. So
you do exist in the normal earth, doing whatever you would normally do acting however you
would act except you’re also here. You just never were aware of it. Me, everyone one around

you is real, in the sense that we all have emotions and if you punch me I will feel pain, but we
are like projected images, that live in this strange dimension. You can do whatever you want, as
long as you never have a child. Since this is a weird reality right in between the lines of real and
fake giving birth will lead to you having a person who doesn’t quite exist just like me, but with all
the properties of a real person, and that, that is a very dangerous thing.”

​ Back to the hospital in St.Louis suburbs
“I love her”
“I know”
“We can't”
“We can’t love her”
“Remember what a the nice people at the ranch said?”
“Yes but-”
“Weren’t they so nice”
“They were nice”
“So nice”
“So let's get rid of this baby”
They wrapped their arms around the baby very carefully just as new parents would be expected
to, and walked. They walked out of the hospital into their house, into the kitchen where they
grabbed the longest knife they could find. Slowly they carved a strange shape that appeared to
be that of a circle and triangle into the sleeping baby’s head. The baby did not wake. It would
never wake.

Back to the beginning
“Honey this isn’t you”
“We got rid of you”
“Remember?”
“Hon of course she doesn’t remember haha”

“Oh of course she doesn't ahaha”
“Mom? Dad? What are you talking about”
“Are you the ones who put the scar on my forehead?”
“Hahah, where are you?”
“Mom, did you and dad put the scar on my head? I need an answer?”
“Don’t be silly. Now tell me where are you?”
“Why?”
“We want to see you again! After all you are our daughter.”
“But I’ve barely met you”
“When your mom gave birth to you, we were young and didn't know anything, We want to see
you.”
“I’m at the Shell gas station off the highway”
“Amazing. See you there”
In unison mom and dad walked out of the door, and climbed into their SUV. They buckled up
and drive off towards the highway. They had a job to finish. A job they thought they had finished
24 years ago.

---Milo Trejo, 8th grade

-----------

6776 Goldbury Lane

“I’m so excited! I’m going to get so much candy this year!” 12 year old Alice
exclaimed. She was about to go trick or treating. Her plan was to do it with her best
friend, Eve, but Eve had disappeared 4 days ago. She was last seen at 6776 Goldbury
Lane. Alice grabbed her bag and went off into the night.

Kids flooded the streets. Alice held tight to the bow planted on her head. She was
dressed as Alice from​ Alice in Wonderland​.

As she approached the first door, her bag fell out of her hands, and flew away

into the night.
“I knew I should’ve brought a jack-o-lantern instead,” she sighed. Alice began

walking back to her house to grab another bag.
Alice had just reached her house, and was about to knock on her own door when

her mom swung open the door, and tossed out some candy. Alice knocked again.
Another face full of candy. She knocked a third time, and her mother finally opened the

door.
“What do you want, kid?” She asked with the least amount of enthusiasm.
“Mom, I would like another bag, mine flew away,” Alice replied as calmly as she

possibly could.
“Oh sorry sweetie, kids have been bombarding us.”
“It’s okay. But can I have another bag now please?”

“Sure.” Her mother disappeared into the house.
A few seconds later she returned with a pillowcase in her hand.
“I couldn’t find a bag. I used to use pillowcases when I was younger.” Alice took
the pillowcase and ventured on.
She decided to skip the first house. She didn’t want to lose her pillowcase, and
that house was probably bad luck.
It was the end of trick or treating. Well, almost. Alice was going to head back

after the last house. 6776 Goldbury Lane. Her heart thumped loudly. The last place Eve
had been seen. Alice slowly walked up to the house. Alice lifted a shaky hand, and
rapped on the door, a friendly-looking man answered. He had a curly black mustache,
and was dressed head-to-toe in gold. A gold shirt, gold pants, gold socks, and gold
shoes.

“Trick or treat,” Alice offered.
“A​ lice in Wonderland​!” he exclaimed, “My favorite storybook character.” The man
pulled out a bowl of FULL SIZE CANDY BARS! Boy, was she glad she had come here!
“You can have two if you want. I haven’t gotten many trick-or-treaters, and I l​ ove
Alice in Wonderland.​ ” He put an emphasis on love, yet it sounded like he wasn’t a fan of
it. Alice reached in and grabbed two Hershey bars.
“Thank you,” Alice turned and was going to head down the pavement back to the

street when she realized that when she had turned away, the man’s face looked like it
had shifted. Rapidly, Alice turned back to the man, but he had disappeared. Again, her
heart began to race. She turned back to the street. There was the man. He had his face
pulled into a creepy, terrifyingly large smile. Alice began to sweat bullets.

“Don’t leave now!” He shouted. Alice walked backward. He walked forward. She
bumped into the front door of the house. The man ran at her. Just before he reached

her, he disappeared into thin air. And now there was a huge wall. All the way around the
yard and the house. Just a gray, cement wall. The door behind Alice opened, and she
fell in. But she didn't just fall into the house. She fell down. There was no ground. She
fell for a while. T​ his is like when Alice falls into the rabbit hole.​ Alice thought. But this fall
was different. It felt cold.

After a few more minutes of falling, Alice landed in bone chilling, icy cold water.
“You’re here,” a voice called. Alice froze. ​Who or what was talking to her?
“Can’t you see me, I’m right here,” it called. Alice did not want to see what the
thing was. A figure appeared next to Alice in the water. Alice swam out of the water onto

land. Her shoes had fallen off, and the ground felt strange.
“It does feel strange doesn’t it,” the thing called. ​Oh, moss. A​ lice thought.
“No, not moss, flesh,” the thing said. Alice panicked and jumped back into the

water. She fell farther down. Down, down, down.
After a few minutes of falling again, Alice fell into more ice cold water.
“Welcome back,” the same voice called. It appeared next to her, and Alice ran

onto the land.
“It’s not moss, it’s flesh,” it calmly stated. Alice jumped back into the water. She

fell for a longer time and landed in the ice cold water again.
“You can’t escape,” the voice stated. Then it came to her, ​this is a loop. I have to

do things correctly to keep going. Every time I do something wrong, I restart.
“Yes,” the thing said. For the first time, Alice took the time to take a long look at

the thing. It appeared to be a girl. It had blonde hair that had been dirtied with mud

among other things. She had a dirty cloth dress on. It had some red and brown spots on
it. Chills went up and down Alice’s spine. The girl looked at her, and Alice quickly
turned away. She mustered all the courage she had, and stepped onto the flesh. Alice
tiptoed on the disgusting floor. It was fairly dark, but she could still see some things.
Such as the flesh underneath her. It was flesh colored (if anyone could imagine what
that looked like) with red veins in it. She could also see a little bit of the wall next to her,

but it wasn’t very clear. The girl didn’t follow Alice.
A few minutes of walking went by. The space was wide, yet she felt like she was

trapped in a small space between two walls that were slowly closing in on each other. It
smelled musty, and the cold, damp air only added to the creepiness of the space. Alice
could feel something next to her. She couldn’t see it, but she knew something was
there. For a few seconds, Alice thought. If she put her hand to the wall, she would find

out what it was. That could also lead to something not so good. With a terrible sick
feeling in her stomach, Alice reached out to touch it. She could feel crawling things. She
leaned her face closer to see what it was. SPIDERS! They were black and had long
spiky legs. They were crawling all over Alice’s hand. One was about to jump right onto
her face! The hair on her neck stood up. She immediately drew back her hand and face.

Just like that, Alice was falling again. She was sick of this. This happened over
and over again. She had gotten rather used to the fall. It lasted for a good few minutes.
This gave her time to think. I​ didn’t do anything wrong. Why am I falling again? What do
jumping in water and pulling my hand and face away from a wall have in common? ​Alice
was still pondering this when she fell back into the water. Unfortunately, she hadn’t
gotten used to the coldness of it. It was as if it got colder every time. Alice wasn’t going
to wait around for the girl to appear. She started out of the water and didn’t even listen
to the girl speak.

After a few minutes, Alice could hear the crawling of the spiders. She knew they

were there, which seemed to make her feel less scared. Slowly, Alice put her hand to
the wall. She could feel the crawling of their long legs all over her hand. Alice persisted.
She wasn’t going to let some spiders scare her away from her goal.

Running her hand along the wall, Alice began to feel bumps and cracks in it. She
could feel more spiders coming out of the gaping cracks, and the bumps felt like they
were in some sort of pattern. The sequence seemed to be 1 bump, 3 bumps, 2 bumps,

4 bumps. Then it would restart. She felt the bumps for quite a while. Then suddenly,
without any warning, Alice crashed right into a wall. Alice stumbled backward and then,
just as suddenly as she had run into the wall, Alice was falling through the sky again.

Okay, I jumped into the water, I pulled my hand away from the wall, I crashed
into a wall and fell backwards. What do these things have in common? Well if I think
about it, I ran away from the flesh when I jumped into the water. I pulled my hand away
from the spiders and I fell away from the wall. I know! S​ PLASH! Alice crashed into the
water for the 4th time.

Alice’s thoughts continued as she got out of the water. Her feet had gotten quite
used to the flesh by now, and the spiders didn’t phase her anymore. I​ drew back from
things. If I draw away from something, I restart. No more being startled. ​Following the
bumps, Alice continued.

A few minutes later, just before she crashed into the wall, Alice stopped. She put

her free hand on the wall. There were bumps on the wall. Four altogether. Alice put 4 of
her fingers on the 4 bumps. She was falling, again. Exasperated, Alice thought. W​ hat
could I have done this time. S​ he splashed back into the water and did the same thing.

When she had finally gotten to the wall again. She put her fingers on 3 of the
bumps. Alice restarted. She persisted. Alice tried 2. It didn’t work.

Alice was wet, she was stomping, in no way, was Alice in a good mood anymore.

She wasn’t scared; she was annoyed. She got to the wall and put 1 finger on 1 bump.
Nothing happened. ​Wait a minute. The pattern of the bumps is 1, 3, 2, 4. ​Alice fingered
the bumps.

“One, three, two, four,” she whispered. The wall opened up. Something pushed
her in, and she was falling once again.

This time, when Alice landed, it was boiling hot water. Alice leapt out of the
water. She waited, but there was no girl. The ground didn’t feel strange, it felt like sand.
Hot sand! Alice leapt back into the water. SPLASH! Into the icy cold water. Alice did the

same things she had done before.
Finally, Alice landed in the boiling water. She expected the sand to be hot. Alice

went as fast as she could.
“AHHHH!” Alice screamed. She had tripped on something and was plunging

head first down into the darkness below. Heart racing, mind swirling, arms flailing, Alice
cried out, “HELP!” Then she blacked out.

Alice awoke on her back. She was wet, but wasn’t in any body of water. The
ground was cool and felt like grass. It was still dark, but Alice looked around anyway.
Her eyes had pretty much adjusted, but there wasn’t much to see.

“Hello,” something called. Alice looked in the direction of the voice and stood up,
expecting to see the girl again. Her eyes focused on something gold. It was the man
she had met at the house. His face was still curled into the nasty smile.

“Look away,” someone called. It wasn’t the man. His voice was large. The voice
that she heard was small and quiet. Much like her best friend Eve’s voice was. Out of
the shadows, stepped Eve. Alice’s mind was erased. All she could think was. ​Eve is
safe! ​Alice ran over to her.

“I thought you were dead!” Alice exclaimed.
“The Golden Man took me here. I just wanted to practice trick-or-treating and I
met him at his house. I’ve been trapped here ever since.”

“Enough with the hurrays,” the Golden Man screeched. He flung himself at the
girls. The two pulled away from each other and barely dodged him.

“I’ve been doing this over and over again,” Eve cried, “I just can’t seem to defeat
him and make it to the other side!”

“What’s on the other side?” Alice asked.
“The escape,” Eve answered. The man was now running at Eve. Eve dodged

and began running.
“There...are...weapons...over...here,” Eve puffed. Alice took off toward Eve.

When she reached her, Eve tossed her a stick.
“Not much of a weapon,” Alice said.
“This is all we get,” Eve answered. The Golden Man appeared.
“You can’t hide!” He shouted. His fingernails grew long and he began swatting at

the girls. Eve ran while Alice whacked his hand with the stick. Then they switched: Eve
whacked and Alice ran. They did this over and over again.

Soon, the Golden Man drew back his fingernails and grew long, pointy, sharp
teeth instead. He gnashed his teeth at the two girls. They dodged and hit him in the
back as many times as they could.

The Golden Man was going after Alice when suddenly, he turned around and
snapped at Eve. He got her leg and wouldn’t let go. Anger overcame Alice. The
Golden Man wasn’t going to win that easily!

“NOT MY BEST FRIEND!” Alice screeched as she jumped onto his back. He
thrashed his body around trying to get her off. She stabbed the stick into his back and
he cried out in pain. He shriveled to the ground as if he were melting. Alice looked at
Eve’s leg. It was bloody, but wasn’t gone.

“Can you run?” She asked.
“I think so,” Eve replied unsure. Eve stood up and started off; Alice followed in
pursuit.
They eventually reached a door. Eve tore it open and ran out. Alice followed.
When Alice stepped out, she was amazed. It was bright. It looked like midday.
“Want to go home?” Eve asked.
“You bet I do!” Alice exclaimed. She wasn’t thinking about the thing that had
occurred just seconds ago. All Alice wanted to do was go home. The two girls linked
arms and began to walk back to their houses.
On their way home, they stepped on some wood planks. The two plunged into
darkness and landed in icy cold water.

The End

--Reeghan Walsh, 6th grade

--------------

Silence

“And then, the man attacked him from behind!” King said. After a

basketball game in San Francisco between the Warriors and Bucks, King, Jamie,

and Michael were going back home, telling scary stories in the dark

neighborhood.

“Seriously,” Jamie said. “That story was as weak as Michael’s mustache.”

“Hey!” Michael replied.

As the group of boys were joking around with each other, they noticed a young
boy by himself, looking lost and scared.

“Hello,” the boy said. “Can you please help me? I don’t know where my
family is.”

“Oh,” Jamie replied. “They’re right behind you.”
As the boy looked around, Jamie pushed him onto the concrete ground.
The teens were known as the “bully trio” in school, and sometimes around their
neighborhood. King gets sent to detention everyday, Jamie steals money from
kids and pushes them around, and Michael is a straight A student, but wants to
be tough. So, he hangs around with the bullies.

King and Michael laughed at the boy, while Jamie kicked him on the
ground. As soon as Jamie was tired, he left the boy there, soaking in his own
tears.

“You ain’t real ones,” the boy said, with every word giving him pain. “You’ll
all be sorry that you messed with me. You all will be silenced.”

“Yeah right,” Jamie replied.
The out of control trio just walked away, leaving the boy without any help.
Soon, it was 10:00 PM, and the teens were looking for some more people
to punk. “Come on King,” Jamie yelled. “How far are we from your
neighborhood?”
“Not too long, idiot,” King replied.
As the three kept walking, they all stopped in their tracks once they found
where they were.

“J’s Amusement Park,” Michael read. “Home to the real ones.”
“Let's check it out,” Jamie said. “We all know I’m a real one.”
“That boy didn’t think you were,” King said, bringing out laughter from him
and Michael.
“That boy was dumb as rocks,” Jamie said. “Hope his family never finds
him. Now, come on wimps, let’s go.”
King and Michael didn’t argue. Jamie was the team leader. Both were too scared
to take the lead, knowing what Jamie would do to them as punishment if they
ever stood up to him.
When the teens entered the park, they saw run down rides and fun
houses.”
“This stuff doesn’t even work,” Jamie said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I thought you wanted to play here. We don’t want you to be disappointed,”
Michael replied sarcastically.
“Stop with the sarcasm,” Jamie said back. “I’m heading home.”
But, when Jamie was trying to find the exit, it wasn’t there. In fact, they didn’t
know where they were.
“There’s no cellphone service,” King said. “We should have never come
here..”
“Don’t worry,” Jamie said. “I know where we....”
“Jamie,” Michael said. “Why did you stop.”
“Do you guys here whistling?” Jamie replied.

King and Michael shook their heads. But then they heard it. Quiet whistling
that became louder and louder, leaving shivers down all three of the boys’
spines.

“Don’t be scared guys,” Jamie said. “This is all just someone punking us
because we’re trespassing. This is child’s play. Give us something scarier,
whoever you are.”

Jamie’s wish got answered. Fog started surrounding everything in the park,
covering ride by ride, and even the trio.

“Jamie!” King yelled. “Where are you man? I can’t see anything.”
“I remember being next to the ferris wheel,” Jamie said. “But then…”
Silence.
“Jamie?” Michael asked. “Where are you?”
When the fog disappeared, it left Michael and King on separate ends of the
amusement park. “Have you seen Jamie?” Michael asked.
“No,” King replied. “He couldn’t have just disappeared. Could he?
“Look,” Michael said back.
Michael pointed to a wide, but less large fun house tent made up of
different colors, with some of it being covered in red stains that looked recent.
The tent was sucking in the fog that surrounded the kids.
“Let's go in,” King said. “For Jamie.”
All Michael could do was shake his head, which was all he had to say.
Both teens walked into the tent. King and Michael decided to split up so that they
could cover more ground. King headed to the broken hall of mirrors. Every mirror
featured a word to a saying, until the final mirror said “die”. Michael went to the

grounds of dead Chuckles the Clown, where his compatrients put his corpse in a
hole in the dirt, instead of saying a proper goodbye. But, when the two teens met
up, they both still couldn’t find Jamie.

“No luck,” King said. “Maybe we should…”
What King was about to say got interrupted by an echoey laugh, then a
loud horn.
“Trespassers!” the voice said. “You will all remain silenced!”
Loud footsteps came directly their way, scaring the teens each second.
“Lets run,” Michael said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” King replied.
It seemed like every time the teens took a step, the voice followed.
“You will all be silent!” the voice said.
Both started to run out of breath, until they found a hidden doorway to a
room. Once the teens entered the dark room, they shut the door, and went to
different sides of the space, being quiet so as not to be heard.
The voice stopped.
“Where’s a lightswitch when you need one?” King whispered.
“Are you kidding me!” Michael replied. “We just got chased by who knows
what, and you’re worried about where the lights are?”
“Found it.” When King turned on the switch, the boys could see about 50
stone people compact in the room. Some were scared, while others looked like
they were trying to fight whatever was coming at them.

“This is creepy,” King said. “C’mon, we’re supposed to be finding Jamie.”

“Dude,” Michael said, “I think I found him.”
Michael had found Jamie, but he was stone, frozen on his knees. He
looked like he was begging for mercy.
“What happened to him?” Michael asked. “We gotta get out of here.”
“No,” King said. “Jamie’s our homie. How are we going to portray him like
that?”
“I know,” Michael responded. “He’s our friend, but he would’ve wanted us
to be alive and carry on.”
Before King was going to respond, fog started to rise in the room. Michael
looked back and forth between his stone friend, and the mysterious fog, and
figured out what was going on. After figuring out the situation, he just opened the
door and tried to run out of the fun house, with King following him.
“Michael,” King said, running out of breath. “Stop, please, come back!”
Michael didn’t listen.
Once Michael got out, he waited for King.
“King?” Michael asked, stepping closer and closer to the entrance, “Where
are you?”
Fog started to come out of the tent. But, instead of spreading, it started to
straighten, turning into chains. The fog wrapped around Michael’s legs and
yanked him to the ground, trying to take him back to the tent. Michael tried to
hold his ground, but his focus got interrupted when a child started to whistle at
him.
It was the same child that Jamie pushed.
“Kid,” Michael yelled, “Help!”

The boy said nothing for a while. But, he lifted his finger up to his mouth,

only saying one thing: “Shhhh.”

The boy faded into fog, shocking Michael. He lost focus, letting the fog win

the fight. As Michael was dragged back into the tent by the fog, everything went

silent.

--Trevor Walton, 8th grade

--------------------

Cypress Tree 

 
The sun beams down and strikes me like an arrow. I can feel the 
fatigue fall over me, stronger with each step. The sheep can 
feel it too, and they are less eager to eat than usual. The 
plains are clear of any source of shade, but I can see a grove 
up ahead. Sluggishly, I walk towards it and the minutes feel 
like years. But, as soon as I step into the shadow of the trees, 
relief washes over me. I slump down under a tree and lean 
against the trunk. Closing my eyes, the exhaustion takes over 
and I doze off. 
 
What seems like moments later, I can feel someone shaking me 
awake. I open my eyes and see my y​ ia yia​ looking at me with 
alarm. “What the heck!” I exclaim. She sighs, relieved, and 
crosses her chest.  
 
“Georgious, what were you thinking?” she asks, “Couldn’t you see 
it was a cypress tree?” I reply that I did and she groans 
exasperatedly. “These trees, they are evil! You sleep under it, 
Hades has you! Your soul is gone!”  
 
Is she serious? “​Yia yia​, it’s just a tree!”  
 

She looks at me like I’m the crazy one. “Hades puts crowns of 
cypress on his victims!” she says. “Don’t let him make you one! 
These trees, they seduce you with shade. Next time, rest under, 
but do not fall asleep!”  
 
I roll my eyes.  

 
“Georgious,” she says warningly, “Promise!”  
 
I sigh, annoyed.“Fine! I promise!” She nods approvingly, and 
drags me back home. 
 
“No!” I yell as the old ewe runs away, toward a grove of trees. 
I chase after her, but the heat prevents me from running fast. 
She disappears within the clump of trees, and I follow her in. 
The trees offer shelter from the heat, but it makes it darker 
and harder to spot things. I call for her, hoping that she lets 
out a sound, any sound at all, but the thicket remains silent. I 

sag down against one of the trees, exhausted. I recline against 
the trunk, close my eyes, and drift off. 
 
 
“You sleep under it, Hades has you!” my y​ ia yia’s ​face appears. 
I remember something I haven't thought about for years. I was 
sleeping under a tree, a cypress I think, and my ​yia yia​ had 
woken me up and made me promise to never fall asleep under one 
again. I suddenly realize that this is the tree I'm under right 
now. I try to wake up but something is preventing me. My eyes 
feel heavy and I can’t open them. I can feel the tree’s branches 
pulling me under the earth and I try to scream, but my mouth is 
glued shut. The roots wrap around me and grow longer and longer 

as they plunge towards the ground. As we drop lower, I notice 
that we’re above a river. The sound of drums fill my ears as I 
land on the cold, stone floor.  
 
I am surrounded by corpses. They groan and murmur as they 
surround me. They seem to have no control over their bodies, and 
keep walking into each other. One of their pale arms brushes 
against me and I shiver. It’s deathly cold. I back into the wall 

and hug my knees. I should’ve listened to y​ ia yia.​ The sound of 
drums fill my ears again, louder this time, and as I stare 
ahead, a cloaked figure on a long and narrow boat looks straight 
at me.  
 
I back away, towards the wall as the boat drifts forward, 
towards me. It bumps into the bank, but he doesn’t stop looking 
at me. With his hooked nose and angry eyes, I think I know him, 
or have heard of him. He reaches his arm towards me and curls 
his gnarled, rotten hands in a beckoning gesture. He wants me to 
come with him, and, for some reason, I stand up and walk towards 
the boat. 
 
“Do you want me to come with you?” The bearded face nods. “Are 
you Charon?” I ask. Again, he nods. I hesitate, I know I 
shouldn’t trust him, but- I look back at him. His eyes are 
filled with fury, but not at me. They’re eyes that have seen 
things that have haunted him. He sees me looking at him and 
clears his throat. With one desperate look back at my little 
spot on the wall, I climb into the boat.  
 
He starts to row with an oversized oar. I stare at him and he 
looks back at me. He grunts, and inclines his head to a seat I 
hadn’t noticed before. I sit down. We row towards a huge metal 
gate. It has an intricate pattern of chains. I guess it’s for 
security, but as soon as I see what’s guarding it, I don’t think 
they need it. 
 
A huge dog with three heads paces in front of the gate. Again, 
the sound of drums echo through my head. The dog looks at us, 
and seeing me, he growls. Spit gushes out of his huge mouth and 
he bares his massive teeth. Charon looks at me with surprise. I 
freeze up, what’s going to happen to me?  
 
“You’re not dead?” This is the first time I’ve heard him talk. 
His voice is husky and low.  
 
“I-I don’t know!” I say. This is the truth. I don’t know what’s 
happening. He looks at me skeptically. Then, looking at the dog 

first, who growls in an… I guess an assuring way because he 
snaps his fingers and I suddenly… wake up. 
 
I’m breathing heavily and sweating. I am still under the cypress 
tree, except it’s night now. “Whoo,” I exhale in relief, “It was 
just a dream!” I stand up, dazed and head back home. 

 
I find my y​ ia yia b​ y the fire when I get home, waiting for me. 
She jumps up when I enter and flings her arms around me. “Where 
have you been?” she cries.  
 
I tell her that I fell asleep under a cypress tree. “You were 
wrong, nothing happened to me!” She falls silent. “Did you have 
dreams?” she asks me. I reply that I did and she crosses her 
chest.  
 
“What’s wrong?” I ask, but she just backs away from me into her 
room. I try to follow her, but she slams the door. “Y​ ia yia, 

what’s wrong?” I ask her, worriedly.  
 
“Just go to sleep!” she yells.  
 
As I climb into bed, that feeling of relaxation that caused me 
to fall asleep under the cypress tree overcomes me again. I have 
that feeling of not being able to wake up again, and the sound 
of drums pounding fills my ears. My stomach plunges down into 
the depths of my body, while my heart is in my mouth. Head 
pounding, my breathing becomes faster and faster, until it’s 
nearly gone. The roots squeeze me, suffocating me, but the drums 
are faster at this point, like they were the last time I landed.  
 

This time, I wake up in a dark cavern. My head aches like it’s 
being pulled apart. There is no one around this time, and I can 
see the gate behind me. Instead of the river, there is a 
circular door, and while it’s black like night, because it is 
night, there’s something unnatural about it. Like a pulling 
feeling that makes me want to go through it. Maybe they’ll send 
me back home like last time.  
 

Two huge thrones of a smooth, black stone sit in front of me as 
I walk in, with two huge figures seated in them.  
 
One of them, a woman with dark black hair and pale skin, looks 
straight at me. She’s wearing a long, dark purple dress with 
flowers of the same color in her dark hair. Because of the kind 
expression on her face, I ask “Where am I?” 
 
She smiles at me. “You are in the underworld!”  
 
“And who are you?” I ask. There’s something about her that seems 
familiar. 
 
“Persephone.” she replies. I notice that her fingers are 
intertwined with the other giant’s hand. I look at him. He has a 
mane of black hair and light brown skin. He must have seen me 
looking at him, and glowers at me. I look away, quickly. Who 
would want to anger the god of death? 
 
So,I turn back to the woman. “And, why am I in the underworld 
again?”  
 
She laughs. “You slept under Hades’ tree!” she says, “You have 
been brought here as his sacrifice.”  
 
I gulp. Maybe ​yia yia​ was right, or maybe I just heard her 
wrong? “What do you mean by sacrifice?” 
 
All of a sudden, two arms grab me from behind. I struggle 
against them, but they are too powerful. They pull me towards a 
wooden structure I hadn’t noticed before. People in black robes 
surround it. They’re carrying torches. I realize what they are 
going to do as they keep pushing me towards it. They try to push 
me up a ramp, but I throw them off. 
 

I tried to run to the gate where the dog had been. Maybe I can 
escape from there. But, there are too many of them. They lift me 
up and carry me towards the structure. They shut the little 
door, trapping me inside. I can hear footsteps and a low 

chanting. Then, a crackling sound, as the first torch is thrown 
on.  
 
It catches the left side on fire. I try to move to the right 
side, but that’s aflame as well. One by one , the torches are 
thrown until the whole structure is burning. I can feel the fire 
catch my arm and I cry out.  
 
The pain is like nothing I have ever experienced before. It’s a 
horrible, searing pain that overcomes my whole body. I just want 
to get away from that source to the extent that it overbears all 
my thoughts, even ideas that could save my life. My body 
blistering and the heat sweltering, the smoke swirls around me. 
It isn’t quite filling up the room, there’s an air pocket. 
Dancing around me, letting that little bit of life that I have 
left torture me. It’s taunting me. Each breath I take makes me 
more and more light-headed until I close my eyes and give up 
living. 
 

Holly Young, 7th grade

----------------------

Chapter one 

Thank god for jewelry 

Shana woke up, breathing heavily, in a cold sweat. She looked around the room and confirmed that 
the horror she had just witnessed wasn’t real. Shana took a moment to breathe. She saw light streaming 
in through her window. She got up and rubbed her groggy eyes. Shana opened her closet. A mountain 
of clothes cascaded over her head. Leaving her closet bare. T​ hat's strange, s​ hana thought. That had 
never happened before. A strange glow came from a corner of the closet. She started to walk toward it 
but she reconsidered..  

“ What the,”she said sitting down. She was puzzled over the fact that the glow was eerie and 
colorful at the same time. It was like the northern lights, but weirder. The greens and blues were a dull 
and black wisps of smoke that seemed to be flowing into the air. She tried desperately to think about 
times tables or something that bored her, as she started to crawl towards the glowy- ness. Her times 
tables were working, she grabbed hold of the glow and let 8x7 be unanswered. No pain. No danger, so 

far so good. She let herself take a good look at what she was holding. A necklace, it had a black leather 
string, with a charm the shape of a lotus flower. The lotus was blackish blue and the swamp green 
leaves had sickening black thorns on them. She looped it around her neck. Her mouth opened and it 
let out a blue and black wisp of smoke. A cold heaviness was added to her thoughts. 

“ SHANA,” screeched her little sister, shiela, “ IT’S TIME FOR BREAK FAST.” she 
scrambled to her feet. And ripped the necklace off her neck. She ran down stairs into the kitchen. The 
T.V was blaring teletubbies, for her little brother jack.  

“ So would we possibly have any like family heirlooms,” shana asked inconspicuously, as her 
mom dropped a slice of a dutch baby onto her plate.  

“No, why would you ask,” 
“School, project ,” she said quickly, coming up with an excuse. She shoved the buttery 
shuggery bites into her mouth and ran upstairs to her attic room. She shoved her halloween costume in 
a plastic bag with the target symbol on it and she started to hurry toward the door. Then she stepped 
back and slipped the necklace into her pocket, it was perfect for what she was going to be.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter two 

The cat is in the bag 

 
“I've got your pumpkins all read for you”. shana and sheila came into the room. Her dad and jack were 
at the table with the pumpkins gutted, and you could take the stems out to put the candle in. but there 
smooth surface was bare, ready for carving. Jack was sitting at the table in his lady bug costume, eating 

a handful of gummy bears. A shrill scream came from behind them. Shana looked back to find her 
sister open mouthed and crying. 

“You killed them daddy how could you.” Sheila said, bawling. Her dad held out his hands with 
a look of confusion. 

“ I'm not killing mine any more,” Sheila said. Shana was. 
 
 

She roamed the dark streets looking for a house that looked like it had good candy. Shana had 
her friend of course. She looked around at the cats and mummies that used to be people. Claire walked 
next to her in all black clothes and cat ears. She was bubbly jumping from house to house gathering 
twizzlers and snickers and Reese's peanut butter cups. Shana was dressed as a sorcerer. Suddenly some 
older kids bumped through them and her necklace was ripped off. It fell to the ground. The glass 
smashing into tiny pieces. She instinctively put up her hands to avoid getting splintered eyeballs. 
Something pale white escaped the glass leaving behind a strong odor. Coughing and sputtering they 
got to their feet.  

“Umm, shana,” Claire said pointing to a house that looked awfully familiar. Then it hit her. It 
was her house. Or she thought it was.it was a different color had a different vibe , and had definitely 
not been so spooky. It was dark black and worn, but was still the same style of the house that shana 
lived in. there blinking fluorescent lights going off inside her house.  

“Wow,” shana said in alarm. 
“Oh you guys don’t know about that house,” a red haired boys said that was about the same 
age as them, “ apparently the other owner of that house died , the owner of that house knows all about 
it,” said the red haired boy pointing to the house next to it then walking away.  
“ Should we go to that house for more information,” Claire asked, beating shana to the 
question, she nodded scared. They approached the house. Ding… dong. Shana pressed the cold 
doorbell and waited. The could hear muffled cursing from the inside. The door opened. 
“No you may not have candy,” a woman said, closing the door quickly.but not quick enough 
because shana stuck out her foot to block her from closing the door. 
“We don’t want candy,” shana said. 
“You don’t?” said the woman. 
“We want information, on that house,” the woman smiled. 
“ come in,” 
 
 
 
 

“So I’m guessing that you know what happened in the house right, the lady died, she's 
haunting the house, blah, blah, blah,” the lady said, blowing on her hot tea. They nodded. 

“Well it’s only partially true, she did die in that house but she's not haunting it, or at least not 
anymore,” she said calmly sipping out of her mug. 

“Then what happened,” Claire asked desperately. 
“ I trapped her,and I'll tell ya what happened , many people were talking about her death, and 
how no one wanted to move in because strange things were happening, lights would go out when 
people would walk through walls. Pieces of the ceiling would suddenly fall and knock someone out, so 
me, a witch-” 
“ wait a second your a witch, like the good kind, right,” shana interrupted 
“Yes, now, as I was saying, I went in, then I found her in the attic, where people started to go 
missing, and I trapped her in a lotus necklace. And it's a good thing that it won't break because if it 
does, she would get out and, boy would she be angry,” the woman said in a clueless voice. They 
exchanged nervous looks, 
“It didn’t break right,” she said holding a cookie moments away from her mouth, 
“Well-” claire started to say, 
“You have to trap it again,” the woman said, “ here have this to lure it with,”she handed them a 
black in white photo of a man, “her one true love, it's what I used to trap her,” they nodded and got up 
to go outside. They opened the door with a creek. Suddenly darkness came over them. The street was 
totally dark. They stumbled blindly through complete darkness. A hand clamped onto her back. She 
looked back to see only a hand and nobody connected to it. It disappeared and she heard a shriek in the 
darkness. Claire. She looked over and saw Claire strapped in a hospital bed that was rolling back in 
fourth. She was dropped on her butt a moment later. She felt the same cold hands wrap themselves 
around her neck. She reached up to pry them off. They disappeared and she didn’t stop to catch her 
breath. She ran through the darkness to find Claire. She heard the same squeaky hospital bed. Then 
she understood. The spirit was changing shape.  
“Claire!” she yelled through the darkness, “ it’s the spirit changing its for- ca,ack-uck,” the 
boney hands were back. Pressing hard against her throat. 
“ gah, take that evil spirit,” said Claire, wacking the hands with her plastic trick or treat 
pumpkin. But the spirit morphed into a rope and duct tape. It tied her hands together, and the duct 
tape covered her mouth. Then she noticed another revelation. It couldn’t turn into two things at once. 
She grabbed the plastic pumpkin and dumped the candy out into her crystal ball basket. She’d separate 
the candy later. She set the pumpkin on a bush she could just make out then she slipped the photo into 
the leaves of the bush. She hid. The duct tape and rope disappeared and there was a chainsaw hovering 
over the fake pumpkin. At the last minute she grabbed the pumpkin and ran to the house where her 
sister's blank pumpkin still sat. she dropped the photo into it and waited. She didn’t have to wait long 

because the spirit was barreling toward the pumpkin. It jumped inside and as soon as it’s wispy tail 
disappeared the pumpkin’s stem went back down.  

“Let's bury this thing,” shana said, claire nodded.  
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter three 

Normal halloween 

 
“ How was your guys Halloween,” their mom said with the sound of spoons clanging against 
soup bowls. 
“Normal,” sheila said, right as shana said, 
“Awsome.” Halloween had been her best. They were all sitting at the dinner table eating soup 
and garlic bread. Well actually Jack was looking through the small amount of candy he had gotten. 
Everything Jack said was nonsense but as he sat on the ground yelling “ gos, gos, gos,” she started to 
understand what he was saying.it was a stretch but could he have possibly seen the spirit.  
“Gos der, gos der,” when no one responded he tried again, “ gos, gos, gos der,” the he started 
crying, 
“I’ll change his diaper,” shana said. She walked up the stairs holding jack. When they passed his 
room he reached his hands back to it and cried harder, 
“Gos, in woo, ack have piture,” just to satisfy him she let him down and he ran to his room. He 
came wading out holding something, he placed it in her hands, it was the picture of the man. He did 
see it. Then he opened his mouth and black smoke curled out of it. His eyes deepened. And the black 
turned bluish. He let out a cackle and he stomped into his room again. A trail of smoke lingering 
behind him.

--Y​ nez Foxe-Robertson