Ryan's Halloween
Story
Congratulations Ryan for
winning 1st Prize for the 7th and 8th grade writing category.
Love Grandma
|
Seventh grade,
Trinity Catholic Middle School, Stamford.
October 31, 2005
The Stamford Advocate coordinated a
middle-school writing contest for Halloween. Participating
students were asked to write an ending to a story provided by
the Advocate. Ryan won first prize for the 7th & 8th
grade category. In addition to getting his photo and story
ending in the paper, he’ll also receive a $25 Borders gift
certificate. |
 |
By Mary Beth Faller
Special Correspondent
Published October 31 2005
Mary Beth Faller's story about Jennifer and the black cat that may be
a ghost tickled the fancy of 354 young writers, and oh, what spooky
stories they wove. Just about everyone agreed the cat Jennifer
encounters as she puts on her costume on Halloween night is indeed a
ghost, but some writers cast it as a witch. In many story endings, the
cat went berserk, killing Jennifer and her family. Other times, the
cat was a benign specter who merely followed Jennifer and her friend,
Brittany, while they went trick-or-treating, then disappeared. All the
stories had one thing in common, though: They were great fun to read!
Thanks to the teachers who had their classes work on the stories
during school, and to the individual kids who took time to write at
home.
It was very hot for October. Halloween
was the next day and it was more than 80 degrees. Jennifer trudged
home from the bus stop, sweaty under her backpack. She couldn't wait
to get home and have a cold drink. She needed to hurry because
Brittany was coming over to plan their Halloween costumes.
She banged through the front door and went straight to the kitchen.
Her mother was sitting at the table reading a big book.
"What's that?" asked Jennifer, gulping down some orange juice.
"I got it at the library today. It's an old history book about our
town, and look at this!" Her mom held up the book.
There was a black-and-white photo of their house. On the porch sat a
black cat.
"Cool," said Jennifer. "What does it say?"
"Well it's very interesting. This is a very old house. A very rich
family used to live here a century ago," said her mother. "But one day
they just disappeared. Isn't that odd?"
"It's creepy!" said Jennifer, turning to run up the stairs. She wasn't
really interested in history and she wanted to get ready. At the top
of the stairs, she turned down the hall. Just then, out of the corner
of her eye, she saw a dark flash.
What was that? she thought. She looked around. The sun was shining
through the big hall window and the curtains moved softly in the
breeze. There was nothing there.
Jennifer's room was hot and stuffy, so she pushed the window wide open
and looked out. Brittany was walking down the street toward her house.
"Hey Brit!" she called. "Come on up!"
The two girls tried on lots of old clothes and makeup while they
decided to what to wear for trick-or-treating. Jennifer was trying to
squeeze into an old black dress she had found in the attic.
Brittany was carefully applying blue lipstick.
ACHOOO!
The mirror was spattered with lipstick and spit.
"Oh gross!" screamed Jennifer, giggling.
ACHOO! ACHOO!
Now Brittany was a mess. Tears were streaming down her face and her
nose was running.
"This is so weird!" said Brittany, sniffling. "It's like an allergy
attack. I only get this way around cats and you don't even have a
cat."
ACHOO! ACHOO!
After the red-nosed Brittany left, Jennifer found her mom still at the
table reading the big old book.
"Jennifer, this is so interesting," said her mom. "That family
disappeared exactly a hundred years ago tomorrow!"
"What happened to them?"
"Nobody knows. A friend found the house empty except for a black cat
roaming around."
Jennifer looked at the photograph again. It was kind of spooky to
wonder what happened to the family.
Later that night, it was still hot. Jennifer tossed and turned,
kicking off the covers. The next morning, she was grumpy at the
breakfast table.
"What's wrong with you?" her mom asked.
"I don't know. I had nightmares all night about black cats," she said.
"Must be Halloween."
She felt better when she thought about all the candy she and Brittany
would get while trick or treating.
Jennifer raced through her dinner that night. She couldn't wait to put
on her costume. She would wear the old black dress and go as a scary
witch.
"Bye!" called her mother as she left to take Jennifer's younger sister
trick-or-treating.
She was alone in the house.
The black dress was laid out on the bed. Jennifer pulled off her
T-shirt and wriggled into the dress. It was a little tight and kind of
stuck over her head.
She pulled and pulled but she was trapped inside the dress. It smelled
kind of musty and it was dark in there.
Finally she gave one big yank and pulled the dress down until her head
popped out.
There, on her bed, sat a black cat.
What happened next? Below is Ryan's
continuation of the story
Ryan,
seventh grade,
Trinity Catholic Middle School, Stamford
Then, the cat let out a screeching cackle. Not the kind you would
expect to come from a cat, but one more like an old woman. Jennifer
just sat there, paralyzed with fear. A whirlwind appeared, seemingly
out of nowhere. It spun around the room and encircled the cat.
Jennifer heard the bizarre cackle again. Then almost as suddenly as it
had begun, the whirlwind stopped. In the cat's place stood a women.
She was tall, apparently quite old, with gray hair and a black dress
almost exactly like Jennifer's. She was wearing black shoes with
square gold buckles and a black leather belt with the same sort of
gold buckle.
"Who- who- who are you?" stammered a confused, terrified Jennifer. At
this the woman let out the same, sick, screeching cackle the cat had.
"Y-you're the cat!" exclaimed Jennifer.
"Ha! I transformed into the cat so that it wouldn't be so obvious that
I was immortal! You know, more people don't think very much about a
cat, even if it has been hanging around for two hundred years."
"Y-you're immortal?"
"Y-yes, I am." said the woman mockingly. "I've been sucking the life
out of anyone that moved into this house to retain my immortality."
"You're a witch!"
"I've been waiting for you to figure that out." At this a smile crept
across the woman's face.
The last thing Jennifer heard was that horrible, screeching cackle.
About three years later a girl named Bess was walking up the stairs to
her bedroom to get her Halloween costume. She walked into her room,
turned on the light, and stepped into the closet. She found her
costume -- a black dress and hat. She would be a witch that year. She
grabbed the costume and turned to leave the closet. There, on her bed,
sat a black cat.
