Contest: Sparkle—Holiday Writing Contests
Host: -svnny_skiies-
Order: Halloween #1
ㅤ└─ deadline: 1 November 2024

Prompt: You don’t believe in the rumours that say a certain scary book is cursed and that anyone who reads it will meet their maker by the end of the week. So naturally, you read it. And then things start going wrong.
ㅤ└─ word limit: none but two chapters max
ㅤ└─ word count: 2588

Results: second place

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Contest: Project Athena | Challenges 
Host: Project_Athena 
Order: October Challenge(Horror)
ㅤ└─ deadline: 31 October 2024

Prompt: Every year, your neighbourhood sets up a haunted corn maze. This Halloween, you join a group of friends to go through it, but halfway through, you realize the people in costumes aren’t from the maze. No one in the group recognizes them, and they won’t stop following you.
ㅤ└─ word limit: 5000 words max
ㅤ└─ word count: 2588

Results: runner-up

Genres: horror | short story | spiritual [christianity]

Warnings: angels and demons | curses | death | false teachings | ghosts

Five days before Halloween.

“Look what I found!” Hiro exclaimed as he entered Kayla’s bedroom for the group’s annual weekend before Halloween sleepover, brandishing a small black book.

Chiara’s heart raced as she studied the cover. The Devil’s Handbook. She had heard the rumours of the supposedly cursed book — whoever reads it will meet their maker by the end of the week. Chiara had never believed in such fickle stories. After all, she had God with her, protecting her, because if God is for her, who can be against her? However, she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she read it. Would she really end up meeting God? Or was it just a story to deter little children from reading adult content?

“We should read it,” Kayla suggested with a devilish smile. “Halloween’s coming up soon. Might as well get into the spooky vibe.”

Hiro and Ryan voiced their agreement, leaving the twins, Chiara and Claire. Chiara, the older one, merely shrugged. “Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We will die by the end of the week and meet our creator?” Claire pointed out.

Kayla scoffed. “Do you really believe in that?”

“Come on, Claire. It’s just a rumour, and as long as you believe in God, everything will be fine. Have a bit more faith, will you?” Chiara said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s not-”

“Even if we do die, then we get to meet God earlier.” Chiara reached out for the book. “I’ll read it first.”

She felt as though her heart would burst out of her chest as she slowly opened the book, excitement and a tinge of fear coursing through her veins. “The Curse of Satan,” she read aloud as everyone listened with rapt attention. “Before the Fall of Adam and Eve, Lucifer, the morning star, was one of the highest ranking angels in the angelic host and was once anointed as a guardian cherub by God, Himself. He was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, blameless in all of his ways.

However, Lucifer was destined for much more than an angel of service. He was born to rule. And the Holy One knew what Lucifer would become and did His best to curb it, but it wasn’t enough to stop Lucifer.

Jealous of the power Lucifer held, God expelled him from Heaven and threw him down to Earth. Lucifer was made a spectacle before kings, and as if it was not enough, God made a fire come out of Lucifer. The King of Kings let it consume the innocent angel, reducing him to ashes in sight of all who were watching.

All the nations that knew Lucifer were appalled by him, believing in the false accusations of God and condemning Lucifer as the Devil, now more commonly known as Satan. And everyone who stood up for him was marked a demon and cast down to join Lucifer. No longer beautiful, Lucifer swore to get revenge against his betrayer by taking away what He loved the most — mankind.

Satan was not a devil by choice. He was forced to embrace his new scars, forced to become the villain of the world.”

Chiara scoffed at the absurdity of the twisted version of Ezekiel 28 she had just read. Whoever wrote it surely didn’t know what they were talking about. How could God be jealous of a measly angel that He created Himself?

“I’ll read next,” Ryan said, and Chiara passed him the book.

Turning to a different section, he started reading. “Victoria. Ah, a real horror story,” he said excitedly. “Back in the olden days, witches were considered taboo and brought nothing but bad luck to their village. Anyone suspected of practising witchcraft was sentenced to death, be it through burning at the stake or stoning to death.

One of the first women to be labelled a witch was a young maiden named Victoria, and she had the gift of casting out demons. For years, she had been titled as a saint in the village’s Christian church. The sick, the disabled, and the troubled all went to her for help.

That was until the whispers of witchcraft took root in the hearts of the village elders…She was wrenched from her home and burned at the stake. And when she did not die in the fire, the villagers snuck into her room in the middle of the night and killed her in cold blood.

Her soul, however, was trapped in the physical realm, unable to cross over to the spiritual realm. Satan saw her potential and struck a deal. He would turn her into a demon spirit, but she was his to command. Seeing as to how her God had left her to die at the hands of her fellow believers, she accepted.

With her hair hanging around her face like a curtain, she haunted her wrongdoers, her mouth opening wide to reveal gruesome black teeth, stained with blood, as she–”

“I think that’s enough for tonight,” Claire interjected, and the rest nodded in agreement, each suddenly aware of the growing shadows in the bedroom.

“Hey, my dad is helping set up the corn maze this year. Do you guys want to go?” Kayla asked, trying to lighten the mood. “He said this year’s maze is unlike any other. They’re setting up statues and stuff inside, I think. Some of them will also dress up and pose there and jump out at you when you least expect it.”

Choruses of “Sure.” and “I don’t mind.” came from the four of them, even Claire hastily agreed, anything to distract themselves from the story they had just read. And when Kayla’s parents stopped by to remind them to go to bed early, no one protested.

Three days before Halloween.

After the night at Kayla’s house, Chiara couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread, as though something bad was about to happen. It started off with her waking up to find scratch and burn marks down her back as she changed into her school uniform on Monday morning.

“What the-” she mumbled as she squinted at the raw, red patches on her skin, wincing as she gently pressed them.

She frowned as she tried to remember if something had happened the night before, but all she could recall was scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest for her Halloween costume inspiration. It was too late to buy a whole costume, so she was resorting to pairing what she had. If not, she could stop by the store to get a few items to spice up her look.

Glancing at her watch, she cursed and smeared some ointment over the marks and buttoned her shirt up. She quickly grabbed her school bag and rushed to school, dragging a half-asleep CLaire with her.

“Woah, what happened to you two?” Hiro asked the moment he saw the twins.

“Bad morning,” was all Chiara said. “What happened to all of you?”

Her friends shared looks of apprehension before Kayla said, “After the sleepover, did…did the two of you experience anything…weird?”

Chiara froze as Claire suddenly looked more awake than she had been all morning. That was all the reaction Kayla needed.

“You don’t think the rumo-”

“No,” Chiara said firmly. “Rumours are rumours for a reason. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“But maybe-”

“No.”

Kayla opened her mouth to argue, but Ryan, ever the peacemaker,  in. “Maybe we should just head to class,” he said quickly, ushering them towards their classroom.

Ever since that interaction, everything went downhill for Chiara. It seemed as though everywhere she turned, the shadows seemed to follow her wherever she went.

Halloween.

“Chiara! Come on! If we’re going to meet the rest on time, we need to leave now,” Claire yelled up the stairs as Chiara put the finishing touches to her outfit.

“Just a second!” Chiara shouted back, giving her reflection one last look over.

Satisfied, she made her way downstairs where her friends were waiting. They had decided to match this year, with tight black clothing and devil’s horn headbands on their heads.

“We better go now,” Claire said anxiously, and this time, Chiara didn’t protest. She knew that if her parents saw them dressed like little devils, they would have a heart attack after grounding her and Claire for the rest of their lives. Chiara would rather die than be confined in the house with the only time she was ever allowed outside would be to go to church.

The group of them hurried out as quickly as possible. Once they were on the streets, Chiara felt a sense of relief, the taste of freedom sweet on her tongue. She let herself enjoy the coolness of the night, eager to forget the happenings of the past few days — she laughed at Ryan’s jokes and joined in with Kayla and Hiro’s playful banter. The only person who didn’t let loose was Claire.

“Come on, Claire,” Ryan teased. “Loosen up a bit and don’t look so scared. We haven’t even gone into the maze yet!”

Claire shook her head. “Don’t you guys feel that?”

“Feel what?” Kayla asked, annoyed.

“Like someone is staring at us,” Claire said.

“Look, Claire, if you’re going to be so paranoid about everything, then don’t hang out with us,” Chiara said. “You keep ruining all the fun. Go find someone else to hang out with or go home. Stop being such a wet blanket.” Turning to the rest of her friends, she said, “Let’s go. I want to check out the corn maze.”

Kayla grinned and looped her arm through Chiara’s. “Yes, ma’am.”

Leaving Claire behind, the four of them made their way to the entrance of the maze. “Hello, lads, lasses. Welcome to the Maze of Horrors,” Kayla’s father said enthusiastically when he saw them approach. “I’m sure the lot of you are old enough to know how to work the maze. Now, there will be some of my friends in there, all glamed up and ready to sca–I mean greet you. Don’t be alarmed if they look different, yeah? You can go in now.”

He shooed them into the entrance of the maze. “Don’t be afraid to scream,” he said with a wink before turning to the next group waiting to enter.

Hiro stepped into the dark maze first, eyes darting towards the shadows that covered every turn. Chiara, Kayla, and Ryan followed suit. The four of them huddled together as the wind blew fallen leaves across the dirt ground and owls hooted in the distance.

The corn frield that made up the maze sat at the edge of the village, bordering the woods that many claimed were haunted — from witches’ huts to disappearing children, the stories could go on forever, and Chiara never had a reason to believe they were true until she stepped into the maze.

The team this year had outdone themselves. Wooden figures held up lit torches every few metres, casting a dim glow in the maze but also creating dark shadows that lurked where the light couldn’t reach.

We’ve got this, Chiara thought as they passed by three figures holding torches. I got this. There’s no reason to be scared…Shit, was that a pair of yellow eyes around that corner? Stupid. It was fake–

Chiara screamed as one of the figures jumped out at them, grabbing her shoulder in the process. She flailed around, trying to get out of its grasp.

“Oh, calm down,” the figure said between fits of laughter. “It’s only me.”

Chiara leaned against Ryan, her hand pressed over her racing heart as she recognised who it was. “Ms Sheryl?” she gasped.

Ms Sheryl stepped further into the light, her eyes dancing in amusement. She wore a simple scarecrow costume with a straw hat covering her greying hair. Unlike the rest of the scarecrows, however, she wasn’t holding a flaming torch.

“Nice to see you kids,” the older woman said. “Now, hurry along. The next group will be coming in soon.”

They all grasped onto each other’s hands and continued through the maze.

“Is it me, or is the group behind very fast?” Hiro asked as they rounded another turn.

“They’ve been following us since our run-in with Ms Sheryl,” Kayla said.

Chiara peered over her shoulder as a group of boys appeared around the corner. One of them flashed her a menacing grin and ruthlessly swiped his finger across his neck before winking.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before…” Chiara said.

“Neither have I,” Ryan added.

Suddenly, Hiro let out a shrill scream. “You don’t think it’s because of the book, do you?”

“Run!”

Chiara didn’t need to be told twice before she broke out into a sprint. Her lungs burned, and her muscles ached as she desperately tried to lose her pursuer, but it seemed as though the night had other plans for her. With the moon hidden behind a passing group of clouds and the torches magically extinguished, the maze was plunged into total darkness.

Her heart dropped as panicked screams and shouts for help filled the air. She recognised their voices — Kayla, Hiro, and Ryan. Then silence.

Beads of cold sweat ran down her brow, her heart pounding in her chest. She willed herself to continue running. Maybe if she could get out of the maze…

Chiara gasped as she tripped and fell onto the dirt ground, and before she could get to her feet, a voice came from behind her, “There you are, Chiara.”

It was as if her body had frozen in place because no matter how much she willed herself to get up and run, Chiara couldn’t move.

“You know, I never understood why you pasky humans always think you can just outrun your problems,” the boy continued. He drew out a knife as he advanced towards her. “Well, guess what? You can’t outrun me.”

Claire, she thought desperately, trying to drag herself away. I need to get to Claire.

“How cute,” her assailant sneered. “Hoping to save your sister? I think it’s a little too late for that.”

A ragged scream tore through her throat as pain exploded in her chest. The boy ripped the blade from the gaping wound and plunged it in her thigh, inciting another cry of pain. Tears streamed down her cheeks as a choked sob fell from her lips.

“Sleep tight, Chiara,” was the last thing she heard before her vision faded into darkness.

Chiara blinked as her vision cleared to reveal a brilliant throne room. Seated on the largest throne was a being Chiara could only ever imagine, and surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones where the twenty-four other elders were seated. Lightning flashed across the room, illuminating the glass floor beneath her.

“Am I–”

“Step forward, child,” a voice boomed around her.

Chiara hastily approached the throne, her mind still reeling from the events that led up to this moment.

“W-What?” Chiara stammered.

“The Devil’s Handbook was a curse created by Satan with the intention of taking away what I love the most,” the Lord replied. “The moment you and your friends opened the book, Lucider and his demons have been plotting your deaths, and Halloween was the perfect opportunity for them.”

“So what happens now?” Chiara asked.

The Lord’s eyes hardened, and his lips pressed into a straight line. He spoke so sternly that it filled her with a deep sense of dread and despair that she wished she hadn’t asked or opened the book.

“Judgement.”