Halloween Flash Contest

[The Counter Cultist(Sawyer)]

Ad- 3 points
Seriously, good work with this one. I stand by the belief that possession is one of the scariest horror tropes ever and you played on that fear like a damn fiddle. Choosing the perspective of the possessor was great style choice, and as always it was very well written.

Jason-2 points
Alllllmost gave you the top spot. Alllllmost. It was a good story, sufficiently creepy and unsettling. Ad's just happened to scare me a little more. Overall, I think this is some of the best writing you've ever done. Definitely keep it up.

James- 1 point.

Like the above two stories, this one succeeded in giving me the creeps, but not quite to the same level. And really, that's how I'm reviewing these stories. It's less how its written(because it's written superbly) and more to do with personal feelings I think. Sam gave me a really good possession story and I'm a sucker for that, and I just found Jason's story to be a hair scarier. All in all well done.

Honorable Mentions

Jenny

I liked this a lot. Really interesting take on the Bloody Mary story. Somehow I thought it lacked the punch the three above did, but it's still a very well written flash none the less. Hang out more. We miss you.

Pete
Soooooo, to be honest I didn't really care for this one. It was a good idea. It was well written. But I don't think you really executed it very well. I think James said it best in that it was less effective that the original creepy pasta due to you being immediately aware that you're in a coma and your loved ones are trying to reach out to you. Overall good effort but it just misses the mark.

Injin
No.(All jokes aside this did get a few laughs out of me. Especially the end)

Sawyer
Stop trying to rip off Stephen King you boring, hack of a writer. Just be yourself jfc.

[ASGetty ((Zovo))]

Hey, guys, listen. So, I read Pete’s entry and well, I did it. I woke up. No seriously, I’m in a hospital bed right now writing this. There’s not much else I can do, even holding the pencil is hard. I hope you can see this. Nine years. There is so much I’ve missed I haven’t even begun to get caught up.

My hair looks terrible, by the way. My family insists that this is the “in” thing, that this particular style is what people are wearing now. But my sister cut it so there’s a solid chance that’s a lie. Also, I have a sister! I never told you guys about her because I apparently didn’t remember.

Nothing is like it was with you, the whole world is different here. The sky is actually orange. I asked my mom if it was because of pollution, and she assured me that it’s always been that way. And strangely enough, I know she’s right. Seriously. Blue sky is obviously absurd, whoever even heard of such a thing.

Anyway, here, I wanted to do this for you guys.

James, I liked the idea of your story, and the creeping death aspect at the end is unnerving, but I think actually having seen the guy in the cave was unnecessary. Too much description made it hard insert my own fears into the narrative. The unknown is more frightening. Also, while I see you’re going for a sort of panic/manic thing with the language, overuse of the word “fuck” just got distracting.

Ref, I like the twist on the Bloody Mary story. I also like that, despite the fright of being locked behind the mirror, a lot of the tension came from the protagonists fear of what would happen to her friends. That helplessness of knowing something bad could to happen to people whom you care about and there’s nothing you can do about it; that’s terrifying. Which is why it’s kind of a bummer that you shift back to the main character wondering how she’ll get out rather than twisting that knife at the end.

Sam, there were some really rich descriptions in there… in fact, it was all really rich description, but not really much of a story so it didn’t do a lot for me. It gains substance if I pretend like it was a continuation from James’ story and I’m Claire. But that’s about it. Reducing the possessor’s motivations to simple destruction I think works against you. You diminish the story by diminishing the antagonist’s investment in the action.

Sawyer, I think I’ve seen this movie… Is it “Sandlot” or “Monster Squad” or somewhere in between. Of all the entries, this one is almost certainly a product of my sub-conscious mind trying to wake me up. Thank you.

Dragon, you did a lot of world building in this very short piece. There was a lot of interesting detail that, while foreign and interesting to me, was mundane and terrifying to your characters. It was clear that the horrors they lived with and the decision that had to be made were both terrible and commonplace to them, which drew me in looking for answers which I think I’m glad you addressed with uncertainty. One of your better stories, I’ really like to see you writing like this more often.

Injin, I skipped to the end and knew everything it had to offer.

Okay so, anyway rankings are as follows:

Jason in first
Then Ref
Then James

Special thanks to Pete and Sawyer for waking me up from a nine-year coma. Really appreciate that, an I’m super sorry you guys all had to figure out you’re all figments of my imagination like this. I wish there was an easier way to break it to you. Figured I owed you reviews at the very least.

Anyway, I’ve gotta go. The doctor says I’m way overdue for an audit and probably just crawling with body-thetans by now. Who knows, maybe that’s you guys? Wouldn’t that be fun?!

Again, thanks for keeping me entertained for nine years. I’ll drop in for visits occasionally, unless I go Clear. Praise L. Ron.

[Kaez]

Well that's that, folks! Thanks to everyone for writing, way more entries than expected.

In first place with 15 points
Jason
Congratulations!

In second place with 13 points
Sam

In third place with 9 points
James

And an honorable mention with 8 points
Reffy

[Jenny (Reffy)]

We should definitely do something like this again! Was super popular! But maybe will a bigger deadline.


Also, grats Jason!