“That’s an awfully spooky costume you got there,” the neighbor giving out candy said. Problem is, I wasn’t wearing one.

– Odin Kirmse, 12

“Trick or treat!” I heard from the front, rushing with my candy bag to the door. I found the door wide open, a trail of dirty footsteps reaching in front of me.

– Zhiqi Wang, 12

I felt someone wrapping its arms around my stomach; I tried to wake up but couldn’t. Suddenly, I heard a whisper. “It’s time,” I looked at the clock and it said 6:66 a.m.

– Josette Amine, 12

I had gotten used to being the last man on earth. I heard a knock at the door for the first time in many, many years.

– Andrew Weir, 11

I went down to get some water, and then I heard footsteps that weren’t my own. The sound of creaking floorboards haunted the way in front of me.

– Kayla McCaskill, 11

I hated it when my dad pretended to be a shark and play with my toes while we were swimming. I really hated it when I felt him doing it now while I watched him flipping burgers on the grill.

– Adelle Patterson, 12

I heard my daughter from the door, ”Daddy, I can’t sleep”. I hadn’t heard that voice in seven years.

– Marcus Burton, 10

I tried to ignore the scratching at the door, knowing it was my cat begging me to let him in. I looked down to see that very cat settling down on my lap.

~ Emily Nichols,  9

The consistent dripping of water was never a concern. Until the faucet began oozing red.

– Meikel Camacho, 11

As a young boy, I lived on the second floor of a old cabin in the woods and constantly felt watched. One day, I found a ladder outside my window.

– Yi-Hsiu Wang, 11

My dog barks constantly every night in my room. One night waking up, I saw the shadow of a man in the bedside table.

– Kerstie Laurence, 12

There’s been a persistent leak in my closet ever since my wife committed suicide. It was even stranger when I sealed the crack in the ceiling.

– Andrew Weir, 11

I crawled under the covers in the cold night, expecting to have to warm them myself. My blankets were bundled up and far warmer than the room around them.

– Emma Bean, 9

My wife asked me to stop breathing on her neck. I was on the other side of the bed.

~ Ashlynn Wessels, 9

I heard laughing downstairs, so I went to see what that was. I later found out it was my dead body.

– Josette Amine, 12

All I remember was me jumping three feet in the air. When I turned on the lights, I saw a tissue box on the ground seven inches from my left foot.

~ Justin Chen, 12

I walked downstairs at 3:00 a.m. to get my package that had been delivered. I leaned against my door, preparing to unlock it, and it swung open under my weight.

– Anna Terry, 10

I reached down from my bed to pet my dog but was met by another hand slipping into mine.

– Griselda Maya, 12

I smiled into the mirror, getting ready for the dance. My reflection laughed and walked away.

– Marcus Burton, 10

The sound of my phone ringing is a familiar one, but the sound of my boyfriend’s voice on the other end of a call isn’t so.  After all, he’s been dead for five months.

– Ana Kinnebrew, 9

I always thought my reflection might move if I looked away. I never thought how much scarier it’d be when it moved while I was watching.

– Andrew Weir, 11

My mom came in my room when I was sleeping and tucked me in. I opened my eyes and see my mom walking in saying, “Are you cold?”

– Briana Ochoa, 11

I stared at the smiling face outside my window. I was 14 stories up.

– Kendra Barkley, 9

I opened the door to my apartment and my dog greeted me with a bark and a lick. I’m not sure what was stranger, that he’d been dead for years or that he was put back together.

– Andrew Weir, 11

Dreaming of a bright sunny day, until all I could see was pitch black and feeling someone covering my mouth and nose. Until I opened my eyes, I was not dreaming, it was my neighbor.

– Renee Munoz, 10

Once upon a time there lived a magical princess. The end

– Karim Benchouia, 12

I never believed in ghosts. Then I attended my funeral.

– Marcus Burton, 10

When the voice in my head stops talking, he makes the people yell ‘spill red paint’. I haven’t heard it in quite some time.

– Sean Askew, 11

I always thought my reflection might move if I looked away. I never thought how much scarier it’d be when it moved while I was watching.

– Andrew Weir, 11

I could smell the blood of my dog in my room. This isn’t the first time I could smell blood coming from somebody who lived in my home.

– Josette Amine, 12

I accidentally grabbed my sister’s shirt today from the closet. It was the red shirt she burned in seven years ago.

– Christine Zhu, 12

I heard foot steps of someone creeping up behind me and my sister. When we turned around we saw a reflection of two scary identical twins that look exactly like us; except, there was no mirror.

                                                                                                              – Kylie Seifert, 10