A Harrowing Halloween: Assorted Short Stories

Trigger warnings: Graphic images, violence, mentions of death.

Image credits: EtsyCA
Editor’s note:
A fateful night, it’s All-Hallows’-Eve,
Eerie calm and silence is all that prevails.
You don’t know what will happen next,
Brace yourselves, ahead lie macabre tales.

“You have the prettiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen" he called out to his date, who followed him from the living room to the kitchen. "The prettiest? So you’ve seen many other pretty brown eyes huh?" she teased, as she sipped her wine. "No darling, only a few, but not a pair like yours in the collection" he laughed and exposed a line of jars inside the cabinet.
-A.M.

Image credits: madhauscreative

I’ve been paralyzed for the past 6 years. I was getting checked up for a simple sprain I sustained while running. I loved my life, and now I can’t even move or talk at all. My beautiful wife takes care of me all day along with providing for us both. She’s afraid of needles but administers my injections to me every day and kisses my cheek afterwards. Until she forgot a dose today. I could wiggle my toes.
-A.M.

Image credits: Ellie Dingwall

The stitched up autopsy body lies on the steel frame, solemn and pale. I curse my forgetfulness as I run back to the room to collect my notebook. An ominous feeling consumes my mind. I sense the sound of rustling feet in my ears, as I turn around to face the hundreds of stitched up bodies, forgotten and gone too young.
-P.A.K.

Image credits: Freepik

The sound of the waves crashing into the rocks resounds in my ears as I run on the sand, praying that I shouldn’t slip. The pitch-black sky looked like a perfect storm, and I could feel the night growing colder. In the lightning, I see the red water and cold bodies washing up to the shore, staining the white sand beach maroon.
-P.A.K.

Image credits: Flickr

“Look at me.” Her silky voice filled his ears. A singular bloodshot orb locked into his, staring into his soul. His petrified eyes shifted to the eye patch and her pupils dilated further darkened to a near black shade. Not a single emotion passed her haunting face yet her lips were pulled into a twisted smile, she tilted her head and dragged a bony finger across his face before gouging his eye out. “I swore to you— an eye for an eye.”
-T.M.

Image credits: trapnsxt

I was searching for some juice when I heard her voice call me from the bedroom, a melodic sweetness that was the object of all my love. The woman I adored, the one I begged to marry me. My hands trembled as I opened the fridge, a sigh of relief escaping when I saw inside—her head, frozen, still safe. Too bad that she had said no.
-S.M.

Image credits: Monika Mostowik

Their eyes follow me as I move across the dim room, unblinking, hateful. My dolls—each carefully crafted, with their mouths sewn and hair combed —now stand as the sole testament to my skills. They should be grateful, I think, for being chosen as my canvas. But these humans seem to be entirely unappreciative of true art.
-S.M.

Image credits: Pixabay

It has been three years since my mother died. My father is adamant that her soul resides in a better place, where peace is all she has. But I no longer agree with his sentiment. For a few days, she has been lingering outside my window—pale, withered—with a smile too cruel, and eyes gleaming with malevolence, her finger beckoning me. My father thinks she’s at peace, but I know she’s waiting and, perhaps, for me.
-J.S.

Image credits: Aarena Namaskk

The one recurring question during the investigation into my father was whether I knew where the rest of the bodies were. I told them the truth: I had no idea. They claimed they wanted to confirm the identities of the victims, which they couldn’t easily do with what was left—a clotted mass of carnage was all that remained.
-J.S.

Image credits: SIN

I woke up to a low, rhythmic grumble vibrating over my face, a sound too close and intimate. "Get off me, Suzy, it’s too late for your 'gifts,’ " I whispered, pushing against the weight pressing down on me. That’s when dread flooded in—the yellow eyes staring back weren’t Suzy’s, for she had been dead for three days, and her eyes were green. As my eyes slowly opened to face the eyes staring back, I realized the purr was but a sinister growl– and I was to be the gift of prey this time.
-N.P.

Image credits: EatSleepDraw

Breaking and entering homes wasn’t just a pastime; it was a way of life— a thrill of power. As I entered the dim room, my heart sank. There she was, the old woman, sitting upright in bed, her smile grotesquely stretched from ear to ear, like a mask that had slipped. The chilling truth hit me—I was the one trapped, with her and the shadow looming behind her, a dark figure pulsating with malevolence, waiting for its master’s command. My breath caught as the air thickened with dread, and I realized the game had changed—now, I was the one being hunted.
-N.P.

Image credits: Gabriella E