Thank you to everyone who entered our first-ever Two-Sentence Horror Story Contest! We’re thrilled to announce the winners, who will receive gift cards to a bookstore of their choice, plus a horror book from the Friends of the Library Bookstore! Your creepy contributions made it a spine-tingling experience, and we loved reading each one! It was so hard to pick just three winners, so we’re including 20 more of our favorites. Happy hauntings!
Top three winners
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Sirens blared and I shoved through the crowd to catch a glimpse of the crash at the police barricade. From the wreckage, the firemen extracted the mangled remains of a woman who looked exactly like me. — Kristen A.
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Roses are red, violets are blue. I planted a garden, love, so they'll never find you. — Nichole H.
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"I'd like 40 pounds, bone-in, young, and with good marbling — do you have any fresh cuts today?" "I think I have just the thing," replied the headmistress. — Cristina L.
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"I'm sorry, Ray, but this library only serves members of the damned." Ray would've cursed, but unfortunately he didn't swear and was only a member of the darned — Trash C.
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She lay awake, resisting the urge to look outside and dreading the work she would inevitably do tomorrow - the work she had to do every day. The shovel standing in the backyard, perched by a mound of dirt, was a constant, mocking reminder of her husband’s relentless nighttime crawl back toward the surface and his revenge. — Devyn B.
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I always assumed Doppelgänger Lake was named for its crystal clear waters. But as blood ribboned the icy waters and my vision faded to black, my own face smiled back. — Kristen A.
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My son says that there is something hiding under his bed, I bend down to take a peek underneath. Under the bed I see the pale white face of my son, staring back at me with dark lifeless eyes, open his mouth and whisper in a small quiet voice "Help me, Father." — Xzavier B.
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My mother sobbed in the passenger seat next to me, hands black and grimy, saying she was sorry. I didn’t know why until I pressed the brake pedal to the floor without any resistance at all. — Anna M.
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My best friend brought a bouquet to my birthday party today. It's identical to the flowers I put on her grave last year. — Marissa W.
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My dearest, you brought me roses every week, so it's only natural that I do the same at your grave. But, darling, please stop bringing them back--you're scaring the children! — Nicole H.
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Written words have a spooky magic; simple shapes upon a page, or screen, they enter your mind and begin to speak. This ghost lives within your head now, until the message runs out, and then departs, you hope — Jeremy F.
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“You look beautiful tonight,” he said to her, reaching his arm across the dinner table. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, and pretended to ignore the maggot that had just fallen from her hollow eye socket. — Isabelle D.
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"You have the body of a twenty-one-year-old!" he said. "I've warned you to stay out of my trunk!" I said. — Joel P.
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The mirror cracked, but her reflection smiled back. She wasn't smiling. — Hyogeun K.
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The phone illuminated in the darkness as she glanced at a new message. “You’re finally here” it read, as a clammy hand wrapped around her mouth. — Cee-Cee S.
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Motion in his peripheral vision caused him to look up, and he smiled softly at the window, marveling for the umpteenth time at how effective the “Free kittens to a good home” sign was at drawing lone women to his farmhouse. He placed the skull he’d been caressing back in the trunk with the girl’s clothes and the rest of her bones, then walked briskly to the door, eager to meet his new doll. — Cat J.
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Children’s laughter filled the house as the windows were thrown open and the crisp fall air blew through the hall. I froze in the darkness, jolted awake by the breeze from windows I never opened, and disembodied giggles from children I do not have. — Avery B.
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Forgetting why she had entered the kitchen was a familiar inconvenience to Elizabeth. Taking stock of her surroundings- the bullet holes in the wall, Lucas cowering in the corner, the gun in her hand- helped to jog her memory. — Quil E.
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The voice on the radio called his name, promising secrets of the past. When he switched it off, the voice continued, now coming from the shadows behind him. — John B.
- I heard my mother calling from downstairs and as I got up to find her, I reached where she was. She pulled me into the room and whispered, “I heard it too.” — Andra B.