Halloween Challenge, Day 27: Fire Within (poem)

A pumpkin with a carved in face,

A dark and empty husk…

Light a candle, inside it place,

About the fall of dusk…

The fire within, a life now made,

A kind and gentle soul…

A smile shown that will not fade,

And makes the lantern whole.

I had to think about the last several things I have set on fire and remembered the Jack-o-Lantern I carved with my family not so many days ago. Did you and your family get a chance to carve a pumpkin this year?

It’s not too late!

This is my entry for Day 27 of the 31 Days of Halloween writing challenge (set something on fire) hosted over at Flutter by Literature. Be sure to check out all the great posts over there!

Here’s links to my other entries for this year’s challenge:

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10—11—12—13—14—15—16—17—18—19—20—21—22—23—24—25—26

Halloween Challenge, Day 26: Mirror, Mirror (story)

On a stand in the corner of the bedroom is a full length mirror. Usually I don’t pay it much attention, it’s my wife’s and I seldom have reason to look in it. In the dead of night a few days back, however, the mirror began glowing with an eerie light, waking me up.

It had been a long day and we were tired so I didn’t pay it much heed. I just grabbed a blanket from the closet and covered it up. The room returned to a sleep aiding dark at once and I went back to bed.

In the morning my wife asked about the blanket over the mirror. I shrugged, what I remembered seemed like a dream and I told her I must have been dreaming about the mirror glowing and covered it up. She chuckled a bit because those things just don’t happen, glowing mirrors that is.

As she removed the blanket from the mirror a shadowy figure reached out and pulled her inside. She screamed as she was drug into this unknown world. I ran straight for the mirror hoping that whatever gateway had opened through would still be there. I covered my face just before impact but ran into nothing. I had passed through. Looking behind I could see the window into our bedroom from where we had come but all around was simply darkness.

I heard my wife still screaming and struggling somewhere further on, so I took off at a run in that direction. Passing another window, I noticed our bathroom on the other side but I kept running, I had to get my wife. I stumbled over something and tripped, face planting into a surface I could not see. My wife yelped, apparently it was her I had tripped over. Without a word, I grabbed her hand and raced back toward the last window.

We jumped through, landing on the sink vanity together. I turned back to the mirror but all I could see was my own panic stricken face. I reached out gingerly, touching the surface of the mirror. The feel of the solid glass sliding beneath my fingers only a small reassurance. Not wanting a repeat of such a horror, we now have no mirrors in the house, at least none large enough to fit through. Getting ready for work with a dental mirror has certainly been a challenge!

[The End]

Shop mirrors at Amazon!

This was my entry for Day 26 of the 31 Days of Halloween writing challenge (a mirror that pulls you in to a world of darkness) hosted over at Flutter by Literature.

Be sure to check out my other daily entries:

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10—11—12—13—14—15—16—17—18—19—20—21—22—23—24—25

Special thanks to OpenClipart-Vectors @ pixabay for the mirror image

Halloween A Year Past, Another 7 Days (collection)

One of the things I enjoy about some of the content I create is that it is timeless, as enjoyable now as when it was first unveiled to the world. This post compiles a collection of the Halloween Challenge posts I published for 2017, entries 19 through 25. I hope you enjoy them!

Here is day 19 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Fog

Read slowly and let your imagination unfold.

[Begin scene]

A dark and old cemetery, shrouded in a heavy fog…

Unable to see through the thick cloud cover hovering around the stones you instead strain to listen…

A scraping sound permeates the air, the sound of something dragging…

A loud thud! just beyond the fog’s edge, what could it have been?…

A night bird screeches in the distance, the scraping stops in response…

Your fear begins to express itself as you start to quiver, a sense of dread imminent…

Unable to quell the feelings building inside you, you flee, leaving whatever was in there behind.

Safely away, you can relax and enjoy the rest of your day 🙂

[End scene]

I hope you found it enjoyable!

Here is day 20 for JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Potion, in a bit longer poem than I originally expected.

[Begin scene]

Do you think one of these potions,
Would help me regrow my hair?

I’ve been through all other motions,
Yet my head remains quite bare!

It would be so very easy,
To take of these potions and drink.

Yet my insides feel a bit queasy,
There is much to fear I think.

One of them could bring to life,
a creature from deep within.

Oh how that would cause much strife,
I don’t even know where to begin!

Another might make me fall in love,
with someone I would rather not.

It makes me cringe now thinking of,
with whom I would tie the knot!

I think it is quite safe to say,
I’ll be leaving these potions sit.

My head will keep its hairless way,
And my life, I’ll get on with it.

[End scene]

Here is day 21 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Decorations. This one also could be used for day 1 as one of my more favored decorations just happens to be pumpkins and Jack O’Lanterns.

[Begin scene]

Very many options there are,
With a pumpkin to decorate…

I’d say that they raise the bar,
Just what fun you can create…

They can range from friendly and cute,
With a smile you cannot refute…

Others are ever so creepy,
And some just simply are sleepy…

With a candle inside, to enlighten their eyes,
They make hallowed decors complete.

[End scene]

I think I lost my rhyme in there somewhere 😉

Here is day 22 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Forest.

[Begin scene]

Lost! You don’t know how, the trail markers had been easily visible, yet you haven’t seen one now in some time. If you hadn’t lost the trail you would have been back to the parking area and on your way home. Instead, standing here in the dark pine forest, the sun having set an hour ago, you fight a panic rising within you.

You begin to worry how long the batteries in your flashlight will keep going and are thankful for the little bit of moonlight that streams through the pines here and there. With nothing else to do, you continue to move in the direction you expect the trail to be, knowing you still should not be far from the car.

Then you hear it, a cacophony of noise somewhere up ahead. No idea what could be making such a horrible sound but recognizing it as a sound created by others, you head towards it at a faster pace. It continues to get louder as you approach, is it simply because you are closer or is the sound actually increasing?, you wonder to yourself.

Still hurried you begin to slow as you approach, hoping to get a look at the source before stumbling upon it. You are very close now, just beyond this next rise you are certain. Silence! The sound stopped and the forest stands deathly silent. You continue to head up over the rise, more cautious and aware of the sounds of your feet at each step. You can see there is a clearing ahead though there is not enough light to make anything out. You turn off your flashlight, letting your eyes adjust. There is no movement but you catch glimpses of moonlight reflecting off of a car. A car? This is the parking area?!

You move closer and can tell that the car is yours, no other cars are here. Something is sitting on the hood of your car. Too small to be a person and sitting too still to be living, assuming that any animal that size would have fled at your approach. You reach the car and see that a small rag type doll, its eyes sewn as ‘X’s’ is sitting there. It reminds you of ritual dolls you have seen from movies and gives you the shivers. Why is it here? Who put it here? Are you truly saved from the forest?!

[End scene]

Here is day 23 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Graveyard.

I hope my being a day behind for the last several installments didn’t bother anyone too greatly.

[Begin scene]

Graveyards are such interesting places,

I wander around and imagine their faces…

Who was Jon Smith or Betty Jones,

They once were here where now there are bones…

I think of just how their lives might have been,

How the world was quite different a place back then…

I also think of what future people will say,

Will they wonder of me in a similar way?

[End scene]

Here is day 24 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Skeleton

[Begin scene]

Reporter: Are we going to see your trademark moves in the game today?

Skeleton Player: Nah, coach benched me. Says I don’t have any skin in the game…

[End scene]

🙂

Here is day 25 of JNW’s Halloween Challenge: Moon

[Begin scene]

The man in the moon looks down from the sky,

From this vantage point he begins to cry…

Why are they hurtful, why are they so mean,

These people of Earth, yes lots I have seen…

Somewhere among them I long to find,

All that are loving, all that are kind…

So share a kind word, find someone to love,

Be the good person he is speaking of…

If you can do this, even just try,

I know he will see you next time he flies by.

[End scene]

Hopefully ‘a good person’ is already part of your identity.

That’s a wrap! I hope you’re enjoying this run up to Halloween! Stay spooky!!

Remember to shop Amazon for all your spooky needs

Halloween Challenge, Day 25: Lobster Tale (story)

So the other day I decided to treat my wife and make a home cooked meal for her. She really likes various seafood and lobster is no exception. While it isn’t one of my favorites, I decided to try my hand at it. I fired up my tablet, found a great video tutorial, and got started.

So the first step, add some water to a large pot (large, lobsters are big), add a couple teaspoons of salt, and bring to a rolling boil. Sounded easy enough, all I needed at this point was some water and salt.

Wouldn’t you know, I could not find the salt anywhere. Standard Morton salt, blue container, girl in a raincoat. In its normal place in the cupboard was a container labeled ‘Salty Vigor’. I didn’t know my wife had switched brands. Probably due to our new budget.

So I proceeded to measure out the few tablespoons into the water. It briefly turned the water a bright green which I found odd but then turned clear after a few seconds. Once the water came to that nice rolling boil it was time to add the lobsters.

This sounds pretty easy, place lobsters in pot, place lid on pot, and wait. Nothing to it. Except when I placed the lobsters in the water, they glowed green and punched through the side of the pot! Boiling water spilled everywhere and I had to jump back to avoid being scalded.

Well, no lobster for us that night. We ended up going out for dinner where I related these troubles to my wife and asked her to switch back to the Morton salt. She had no idea what I meant. She had not bought any new salt lately.

[The end]

Are you a seafood buff? Added any vigor to lobsters lately? I don’t recommend doing so 😉

This is my entry for Day 25 of the 31 Days of Halloween writing challenge (your spices are replaced by potions) hosted at Flutter by Literature. I’m still a day behind but I will catch up. I promise!

Be sure to read my previous entries here:

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10—11—12—13—14—15—16—17—18—19—20—21—22—23—24

Special thanks to FotoshopTofs @ pixabay for the lobster image