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Make a character dress up as something unusual (a cat, a giant pumpkin, etc.) in your story.

Posted in Halloween on Oct 31, 2025

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✍️ 12 stories

It's So Fluffy

Submitted to Contest #327

The Elite Guard is waiting on the other side of the temple gate to arrest me. Which is going to make it very hard to get to the Ladder God. And if I can’t get there, there’s no way I can sacrifice myself. “You could stuff me in a saddlebag again,” I can’t believe I just said that. Not that I have anything against saddlebags, but the beast the saddlebag is attached to is a whole different ball of wax. Those tiger-like dignits and I don’t get along. Actually, it’s just me, but who can blame me. They have very sharp teeth, and their bone struct...

37 likes 21 comments 21
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Eight Legs, No Alibi

Submitted to Contest #327

Painfully hungover, I pushed the black Ray-Bans over my eyes in hopes they would shield some of the fluorescent lighting from the Queen Street Bodega. I roamed the aisles slowly, as if the cure for this malevolent hangover might reveal itself between the Lays and the random rack of off-brand plungers. Although I had been in here almost every day for the last five years, I scanned each shelf with unbridled determination.I grabbed a Protein Lean bar, whatever the fuck that is, and dragged myself to the cooler. Two Gatorades, yellow and red, on...

13 likes 6 comments 6
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Humans Make the Best Winterwear

Submitted to Contest #327

Rica tightened the stitches in her knee, patted the folds of her skirt into place, then raised a fist of sickly green to rap upon Mr. Sporespire’s door. When it swung open to reveal Mr. Sporespire — a smile shining from beneath his fungal cap — Rica snapped to attention, throwing a mock salute. “Sir! I’m here about a monetary opportunity sir!” she announced, beaming. “Miss Cadáver!” He chuckled, amused already. “Please, come in.” He moved his lanky form aside, and Rica stepped into the classroom. “I’ve actually been grading your class,” he w...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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Bess

Submitted to Contest #327

She rode into town on 25-year old mare, given to her on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday. Bess never was a rough and tumble kind of gal. She rode Sal everywhere the day the horse came into her possession, and Bess never seemed to mind that Sal went one speed--slow, with a slight limp. It turned out that if a horse lived long enough, there might be some hip dysplasia, or one leg might just be a little shorter than the other three. Bess eschewed the car, the bus, and she would have turned up her nose at the subway if she had lived in a l...

12 likes 8 comments 8
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The Lighthouse Keeper

Submitted to Contest #327

The storm had been building for three days, and Margaret knew what that meant. By the fourth day, they would come.She stood at the top of Gulf Point Lighthouse, watching the gray-green waves slam against the rocks below. The beam from her lamp swept across the churning Atlantic, regular as a heartbeat. Thirty-two years she’d kept this light burning, ever since her father’s hands had grown too unsteady for the work. Thirty-two years of solitude of fog and salt spray.And every seven years, for one night only.The visitors.Margaret descended the...

11 likes 6 comments 6
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Clarissa Valois-Bourbon and the Halloween Party Challenge

Submitted to Contest #327

"I hate to break the news to you, Clarissa, but it turns out that, in fact, you can't hold your breath for a whole minute straight. Therefore, you lost the bet."Even though these words came from the mouth of my best friend, Emily Davis, I couldn't believe what I just heard. "Ooh! That wasn't very nice of you, Emily. You should know by now that I can only hold my breath for a maximum of half a minute," I angrily sneered back. "Also, what will be my punishment for losing the bet?" Emily didn't say anything as she quietly left the room while st...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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The Cats of Willowbrook

Submitted to Contest #327

I. Elliot had never liked costumes. He was much more at ease when he could blend into the background – preferably in the dusty corners of the Willowbrook Library. The thought of people staring at him was enough to make him sweat. But this year, his best friend Marcy had cornered him with a grin and a dare. He always found himself acting weird when she was around. It was like half of his brain just shut down whenever she came around. Nobody else would ever be able to corner him into going to the Harvest Festival – not that anyone else would e...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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Butternut Squash

Submitted to Contest #327

“I want to be a squash this year,” Hazel tells me. I’m sipping coffee on the porch, pumpkin spice creamer, frothed to perfection. A dash of cinnamon. You used to tease me. Basic, you’d say. No one really likes pumpkin spice, you’d say, if people really loved it they would have it year round, not just in the fall. It’s just the idea you like. You didn’t drink it on principle. Men don’t like pumpkin spice, you’d say. It’s the idea you don’t like, I’d say. “Mommy, did you hear me? Can I be a squash this year?” Hazel rests her hand on my leg. Ma...

10 likes 8 comments 8
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Crunch Time

Submitted to Contest #327

CW: Physical violence, domestic abuse, animal abuse It began with a bang. No, not the fireworks, those finished hours ago. It was the kind of bang that makes you somehow certain that something just exploded out of, not into, existence. The sound of a crunch that sickens you, a reverb felt through wheel and seat. A meaty thunk that tries to push your insides outside. “Nick!” your girlfriend cries. Her name is unimportant – she won’t be around for long. “What was that?!” Always with the shrieking. You grimace. Your head is still hurting from t...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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Just Another Halloween

Submitted to Contest #327

Just Another Halloween "Aaahhh!" I screamed, gaping at my reflection in the bedroom mirror. Why did I agree to do this? "You okay in there, Noni?" Juliana's impatient voice called through the closed door."Fine. Be ready in a sec." Trying not to stare at my horrible image, I forced a pleasant smile to my face, and joined my sister. I'd promised to dress up for my friend Tina's party, but I had to take my bratty sister trick-or-treating first. That's what had started this whole crazy mess!I'd constructed my costume out of a curtain and a pair ...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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St Paul's Cathedral (a fragment; a shaggy cat story)

Submitted to Contest #327

ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL (a fragment; a shaggy cat story)In his youth Chris fronted a bar blues band. He was tall and blond and charismatic. Phil was the lead guitarist, more intense, kept his head down as he played. Mike, Chris’s brother, played bass and like the rest of the band favoured black and brown pullovers. Mike hated summer when you were supposed to wear bright colours. Russ was the drummer, and kept himself a little apart from the others. Of course there was another bar blues band starting up in those days. In fact they were myriad but...

4 likes 2 comments 2
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October 31st, 2024

Submitted to Contest #327

October 12th, 2024, Three girls walk into a Walmart, eyes immediately drawn to the Halloween section to the left. One of them takes off towards the aisles of candy and costumes, obliviously cutting off another shopper as she did so. The other two followed; one on their phone, the other apologizing to the shopper as they also passed by. “We should get our costumes!” “Right now? We don’t have anything planned.” “What? What'd you say?” “We’re talking about what costumes to get, Ems.” “Oh, okay.” Tera watched as her friends began to look at the ...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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