Halloween Party - The Writing Contest!

You could hear a screech escape his jaws, as he stared, wide-eyed, outside his den, under a dead juniper bush. "L-lavender?! Lilac?! B-but you both died in the fire..." He stammered, as he slowly backed away from the ghostly apparitions, into his den. One of the identical cats smiled, it's emerald eyes smoldering with cruel amusement. "You though we were gone? If that's true, who are blocking you only exit path?" His fur stood up, his eyes flashing with terror. "You already caused me enough pain!" He yelped. The other one spoke. "Not enough." They quickly turned in unison to a twig poking out, a dry leaf hanging limply from a connecting stem. There was a flash. Suddenly, the branch was on fire. Soon, the whole bush was consumed with bright flames. "Good bye." They mewed with satisfaction, and then, the two twin ghosts shimmered away.

Freedom.
It’s where you can perform any deed without someone’s jurisdiction.

It was moment of clarity, on that day where they felt as if they could do whatever they pleased, something had awakened in them. When passing thoughts became full blown ideas. When speculation became reality.
Perhaps, they had harmlessly thought, it was time for a certain someone to meet Death himself, that would show them to show more respect. Free from the firm grasp of their moral compass, they concocted the plan, perhaps at first just as a personal joke. But, it snowballed until the day. Spiriling madly out of control. Not once did they stop to reconsider.
“Why did you bring me out here?” the certain someone had said, glancing at their surroundings. “This seems like a pretty spooky place for there to be the chrysanthemums.” They looked at their presumed friend, noticing the cold, almost wicked stare. The process commenced.
“No need to get upset, life is too short.” The freed individual whispered, “What is there really to worry about if you’re dead?” they raised their weapon preparing to deal the final blow, wishing they could see into that certain someone’s head. Were they praying? Hoping that something would stop the timer? That their savior would just swoop in and stop the process? That the freed individual would perhaps change their mind?

Complete freedom.
It’s where you can perform any deed without someone’s jurisdiction. Without your own jurisdiction.

The kids are his



Hello, all. I've no idea how to start this off, but I need help. Advice. Suggestions. I need you to read my experience so the day I disappear, someone might feel a speck of sadness, or something close to it. God knows my family never would, but that's not the point of this post. The only horror from that is mine to deal with, and eventually theirs when I bleed them like pigs. But enough on that.


The point of this post is - I need help, or something. Like I said, suggestions, or advice. Or if you have none, just a good listener.


It happened about three weeks ago. It was on Sunday, a Sunday that was like any other Sunday of mine - long, hard, and nothing close to the respite most people get. I was woken up with three of my nine siblings at six in the morning, forced to help my disabled father with whatever strikes his fancy (that day it was bear baiting and pulling cattails from our pond), mow the lawn, do yard work, laundry, homework, and take a shower. Simple enough, yes? It was fine, fulfilling even, though I've never gotten used to getting dirty. That's why I showered as soon as I could. I wish I hadn't - maybe it wouldn't have happened to me if I'd let one of my brothers shower first. Maybe if I could have dealt with the dirt on my legs and under my nails long enough to watch a YouTube video. Maybe if I had washed the dog first. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Maybe I'm thinking about the past too much, but I was safe then. I know safety isn't possible now.


I finished working in the yard only ten minutes before the rest of my family, but that was all it took for me to claim the first shower. I grabbed some comfortable clothes to change into when clean, locked myself in the bathroom, started the water, and undressed. Normal pre-shower things. Nothing seemed wrong, but I was probably too wrapped up in getting the dirt out from under my nails to notice anyway. I got into the shower moments after my clothes were off, disregarding the imperfect temperature momentarily to wet down my muddy legs. It's always a nice feeling, getting all the gross stuff off your body. I can't say that time was any different. I can say, though, that the nice feelings didn't last. It didn't take long for me to realize that the water wasn't quite coming out as it should - though I was annoyed more than worried. I hit the shower head against my palm a couple times without result, then tried turning off the water for a couple seconds to hopefully make the well catch up, or fix whatever happened to be wrong with it. The water wouldn't turn back on. I got angry, but of course that didn't help. I was defeated and still filthy.


With a sigh, I straightened up and shoved back the shower curtains without turning, but quickly froze as a breeze brushed across my wet, cold skin and the feeling of being watched pulled the dripping hair on my arms and neck straight up. I shivered and breathed out shakily, squeezing my eyes shut as my increased heartbeat pounded a warning in my head, mixing with the panicked thoughts already taking residence there. It was only the faint, insistent memory that I'd locked the door and no one could have gotten in that loosened my frozen joints and opened my eyes. I slowly turned my head toward the openness of the bathroom, teeth clenched. My eyes met an unnaturally tall, black figure, something that shouldn't exist let alone find its way into my bathroom. It was hunched over due to the low ceiling, and its long, thin arms dangled surprisingly close to the floor, their length only beaten by twisted, tentacle-like, pulsing and writhing masses of black SOMETHING protruding from behind it. The off-white, almost gray, expanse that was its face was way too close for comfort, but that would have been true even if it was a hundred feet away instead of three. I opened my mouth to scream a millisecond before it opened its arms to me, tentacles making enticing beckoning motions and drawing my eyes to the creature's center. My mouth snapped closed and I stared for a moment that felt like a lifetime before I tried taking a step toward it. My panicked thoughts had stilled, been replaced with silence and dream-like white noise at the same time, and my heartbeat now seemed to be pumping a desperate rhythm not to get away, but to get as close as possible to the creature's inviting embrace. Wouldn't it be wonderful to let his long arms wrap around me? Wouldn't it have been so soothing to be so totally enveloped by this wonderful being? Wouldn't pressing into his dark folds fix every problem I faced? I'll never know, because my hypnotized mind didn't account for the height of the bathtub, and I went tumbling forward.


My eyes broke contact with the creature's center, and the scream I'd tried to emit earlier came ripping out of my throat and into the world, mixed with the sound of a screech from the tall entity and things being wiped from the bathroom counter. I swear I felt the tentacles reaching for me, but my head connected with the edge of the toilet and I couldn't be sure of anything after that.


When I was young, I was kicked in the face by a horse, and blacked out for the couple seconds it took me to fall to the ground. I swear that's as long as it felt I was unconscious, mere seconds, but that couldn't have been enough time for the creature to do what it did - which was get me back in the tub. The water was on, just a little too hot, and steadily hitting my soapy stomach. The problems with the water were gone, I was clutching my sudsy pink shower sponge, and nothing was wrong. I was laying on the bottom of the tub, but that wasn't especially weird as I was known to sit or lay down occasionally anyway. Just not after apparently hallucinating a horror experience and losing the memory of half washing myself. I was disturbed, but logic dictated that what had happened actually didn't. Still dirty and with nothing else to do, I sped through the rest of my shower in a daze, feeling nauseous and confused. I kept trying to think of a way to explain what had happened, and had just blamed it on sleep deprivation and stress when I shut off the water and moved the curtains back again, slowly, cautiously. I peeked out after taking a deep breath. It wasn't there. I relaxed momentarily, my eyes resting on my reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. I saw something on the wall I swear wasn't there before. I turned. I looked. I froze. This is what I saw:


You can't blame that on sleep deprivation or stress.
I don't know what he wanted, or all that he did to me. I do know that child abductions have suddenly picked back up in my area, though, just like the lore says. And I know that my period has been late for a month. Maybe... The kids are his.