In the October edition of the Over 12’s clubCREATE magazine, we created a competition where our members could show off their creative writing skills by sending us their Halloween themed poems or short stories. Our winner would not only receive a gift card, but they’d also be featured in our December mag! From eerie tales to heartwarming poems, we loved reading everybody’s entries! In fact, we loved everybody’s entries so much that we felt like we needed more than one winner. Congratulations to all three of our winners, we’ll be sure to create more writing competitions so we can keep reading your fantastic entries!
It’s very spooky on Halloween night,
The ghosts and goblins will give you a fright.
Watch your back, do not be blind.
If you’re not careful, who knows what you’ll find?
You might see things like little black bats,
Or you might see things like scary black cats.
On every porch there’s a pumpkin or two,
With their creepy grins smiling at you.
It’s very spooky on Halloween night.
As the trees sway in the breeze, we walk across the street with ease.
I witness the joy on the other children’s faces, as I knock on the door my heart races.
I smile and begin to speak, ‘Hello, trick or treat!’
‘Hello, kids’ the woman smiles as she opens the door, handing out the candy. I’m thinking, ‘I still want more’.
We say thank you then move to the next house, with my friend beside me dressed as Mickey Mouse.
We walk up to the doorbell, I ring it once hoping for my friend Mel.
She walks to the door and opens with a smile, she recognizes us and says, ‘It’s been a while’.
We talk a bit then leave with our candy. We walk up a hill to our next stop, Mandy.
All the decorations on the way. I look at a house’s pumpkin’s on display,
One of them I can’t help but stare, my friend nudges me, I jump then glare.
I quickly tidy up then move to knock, I hear someone rush to the door in a shock.
‘Trick or treaters?’ Mandy’s dad asks confused. We stand there looking at him, kinda amused,
I then speak up answering the man ‘Yes’, my friend adds ‘It’s Halloween. Couldn’t you guess?’.
The man thinks for a moment then once again speaks, ‘Oh, where are my manners’ he then hands us our treats.
As we leave I count ‘Two, four, six…’, my friend then looks and comments ‘Oh wow, what a mix’.
At the next house, we, unfortunately, see a big, scary skeleton in a tree.
We stare in shock then go up to look, ‘How’d it get up there?’ I ask as we shook.
‘Like our spooky friend?’ A teenager comments at the door, we pretend to not be scared, ‘I don’t know, It’s kind of a bore’.
The teenager smiles and brings us a bowl, we look at all the candy, we’re on a roll.
As we leave I then ask my friend, ‘So, ready to go to the other end’,
I point to the end of the road where a big house stands, my friend’s eyes move to where my stare lands.
We give each other a look, ‘What we should do?’, ‘I don’t know, maybe we should go home too’,
our eyes glance at the kids going into their homes, ‘yeah besides, I hear there’s a ghost that always roams.’
I yawn as the sky grows dark. My friend then yawns, and it interrupts his remark.
My friend just nods, and I smile with content, I then state, ‘A Halloween well spent.’
As we walk in with smiles shown, I tiredly say ‘heyyy! We’re home’,
then rest with our treats and tired eyes, I look at my friend and then finally realise,
‘Maybe this foster thing isn’t actually a bother, after all, I’m happy you’re my new brother’.
Halloween. Everyone loves it – the kids love the candy, the parents love cooing over their kids in goofy costumes, and the elderly neighbours love being interrupted from their otherwise peaceful evening to be practically forced to give candy away… for some reason. Then there’s me. My name’s Cassie, and I’m 17 years old. I’m too old to trick or treat, so there’s really no reason for me to like Halloween. The problem is, my parents have decided that I’m ‘old enough’ to take my twin siblings, Robert and Sarah, on their annual trick or treat round. They’re not allowed far, for security reasons, but it still feels like it’s been lasting forever. Especially since 8-year-olds don’t move very fast.
I’m standing at the edge of a driveway, waiting for Robert and Sarah to finish receiving candy from one of the more generous neighbours, when I felt a shiver go down my back. I quickly turned around and saw what should have been a pleasant cottage, but instead was a creepy, old house with broken windows and no lights on. It looked like it’d been abandoned for years. Then I blinked and it was back to normal. Did I imagine it?
“Thanks, you!” I hear the twins call as they run past me to go to the next house.
“Wait!” They turn to look at me, confused, “This house doesn’t feel right. Maybe we should skip it?”
“Skip it?!” Robert yells, “We only have four more houses to go, Cassie!” Sarah agrees,
“You’re probably just imagining things!” Reluctantly, I agree, but this time I walk to the door with them and stand ready, just in case. They ring the doorbell about 50 times, as usual, and stand impatiently, waiting for someone to open the door. Then I hear a click, and a trapdoor opens right under their feet, causing them to fall.
“Sarah! Robert!” I scream, and without thinking, jump in after them. It’s a quick drop and suddenly I’m in a dark room. I can hear the twins crying. I see movement – an old, ugly woman. I briefly have time to process before I feel the adrenalin kicking in. With strength I never knew I had, I feel myself blocking every attack from the woman, until she tires enough for me to use her own shawl to bind her wrists. I follow the noise until I found my siblings, tied in the corner. Relieved, I untie them and called the police.
A few hours later, the woman has been arrested and our parents have arrived. One of the policemen awards Robert and Sarah with some extra candy for their bravery. It was at this moment, seeing the kids’ faces light up, despite all they’ve been through, it hit me – why all the adults love this holiday so much, even though they get nothing out of it. Seeing the young people in our lives happy is a glorious thing, if only it hadn’t taken me nearly losing them to realise it.
