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You are here: Home / Free Fiction / When a costume isn’t & Left Behind

When a costume isn’t & Left Behind

October 30, 2018 By Eric Douglas

Below are my contributions to my annual Halloween short story collection. These are two flash fiction stories, each exactly 100 words each. For the last several years, I have asked writing friends to contribute their own stories.

Here is the link to read the rest of the submissions. You can find the links to the previous years, plus loads of other free reading goodies, on the Free Fiction page.

 

When a costume isn’t

“That’s a great costume!”

“Wow, you’re so realistic!”

“How did you get your face to look like that?”

People laughed and shouted to friends. Kids ran past, dressed as…well, just about everything. Celebrities, politicians, witches and ghosts and superheroes.

The young woman walked around the neighborhood stunned. She was confused when she first saw the crowds on the street. And then things got weirder when people handed her candy and other treats.

What sort of weird tradition is this? She thought. This is how I look all the time. Wait until I show them what a witch can really do.

 

Left behind

Eric woke up at his usual time on November 1.

He laughed to himself about the BS he heard the night before. The “veil between worlds grows thin on Halloween” the woman walking down the street said. Such rubbish.

The night before, when the kids came around for trick or treat, he kept his lights off and stayed inside. He didn’t believe in handouts.

Eric flipped on the television, but no one was there. The cameras were on, but the talking heads weren’t in their seats.

No one was outside either. Where was everyone? It was like everyone had disappeared.

Filed Under: Free Fiction, New Releases

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

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