2025 Spooky Story Competition

Ava ran desperately thorough the garden, searching frantically for a place to hide, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight on a gap between the doghouse and the fence, she dashed in there quietly, willing herself not to make a sound. The wind whistled and rustled the autumn leaves as she heard gentle thuds move closer. As the footsteps receded, she started breathing shakily, suddenly, a head poked round the doghouse, “Gotcha! Okay, your turn to seek now.” Callie said. “I can’t believe you found me.” Ava whined to her older sister “Okay, one, two, three—” “Kids, time for dinner!” called their mother, Charlotte. After dinner, Ava was sent upstairs, her parents saying that a six-year-old needed a lot of sleep, to which she objected profusely, but in the end obliged. She crept up the creaking stairs, grumbling about Callie not having to go to bed, as she came to her bedroom, she noticed that the window was open which her parents had said no-one should open to conserve heat in the house. She walked over and tried to pull it shut, as she did this, the paint made a crackling sound as it split and fell into the ravine far below and disappeared. She gazed downward and scoured the gorge for the water that ran down, looking for her dog which had disappeared a week earlier, her parents had said that Lucky would leave for a few days to look for its old owner who was declared a missing person. But Lucky had been gone longer this time. The shrill sound of her mother asking if she was in bed yet rose Ava from her thoughts. She called back that she was and hurried into her bed.