horror short stories!!

[mjohnson092088]

because i'm bored, and right now it's really dark and rainy outside my house, i decided to create a new thread to tell: scary stories!! oooOOOOOooooOOOOOOOoohhhh!!!!

i've always had a love for scary stuff, whether it was games, books, movies, what have you. but mostly, i love telling them, especially around a campfire. now that my sister had her second child, i can't wait to tell them scary stories before they go to bed (effectively keeping them up all night, and her too, i hope. )

anyway, you can post stories you've heard, stories you've read, maybe even stories you've made up. granted, as i'm ASSUMING we're all adults here, it's not going to be that scary, but this is entirely for fun. so, i'm going to kick this off with an old favorite of mine from a book i read in elementary school. bear in mind as i'm doing this from memory, the story may not be 100% the same if you've heard it before. anyway, i'll kick off the thread with a favorite of mine, so here goes.

The Red Ribbon

Bill whistled as he strolled through the park. He was on his way to meet his girlfriend, Sally. He could smell spring in the air. He jingled the engagement ring in his pocket and thought about asking Sally to marry him.

Sally sat down on a park bench and Bill kneeled down in front of her. “Sally,” Bill said, “you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. I love you and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?” Sally laughed and said, “Yes! I will marry you.” As Bill gazed lovingly at his bride-to-be, his eyes lingered on the red velvet ribbon Sally always wore around her neck. “Why do you always wear that red ribbon?” Bill asked. Sally said, “Bill, I must never take off my red ribbon!” Bill smiled at Sally and left the ribbon alone.

Bill and Sally were married that June. Bill found a lovely little house in a nice neighborhood and they moved in. Bill bought Sally many party dresses. But Sally always wore her red ribbon with each outfit. Bill thought this was odd. Sally just smiled and said, “I must never take off my red ribbon.”

After a few years, Sally found out she was going to have a baby. This news delighted Bill. Sally talked with her friends who had babies. Bill talked with his buddies who had children. They talked together late into the night about what they had learned from everyone. When the big day came, Sally said, “Please tell the doctor I must not take off my red ribbon!” Bill was frustrated. But he promised Sally that he would tell the doctor.

After the baby was born, Bill gave Sally flowers. “Thank you for the flowers, Bill,” Sally said. “And thank you for telling the doctor I must not take off my red ribbon.” Bill did not understand why the red ribbon was so important.

“Do you want to hold little Billy?” Sally asked.

Bill, Sally, and little Billy lived happily for many years in the small, lovely house in the nice neighborhood. When little Billy was a baby, he would sometimes reach for the red ribbon around his mother’s neck. Sally would gently take his little hands in hers and coo at him, saying, “Mommy must never ever take off her red ribbon!”

The red ribbon had frustrated Bill for a long time. He loved Sally with all of his heart, but did not understand her need to wear the red ribbon. After many years, Bill had an idea. “Our anniversary is coming up. I will buy Sally a beautiful necklace. She will take off that old red ribbon so she can wear the beautiful necklace!”

Their anniversary came. Bill took Sally to a fancy restaurant overlooking Central Park. They had a delicious meal. Then Bill gave Sally a velvet box with a beautiful diamond necklace in it. She opened it, smiled, and tears came to her eyes. Bill put the necklace around her neck and started to take off the red ribbon. Sally stopped him. She said, “I must never take off my red ribbon!” Bill sat back in his seat with a huff. He looked at Sally and shook his head. “I may never understand,” Bill said.

Sally gently placed the diamond necklace back in the velvet box and closed the lid. “It is lovely, Bill. I will treasure it always,” she said. “But I must never take off my red ribbon.”

“Why?” Bill asked, as he had for so many years. Sally smiled sadly and shook her head. She did not answer him.

Late that night Bill was still awake. “I’ve loved Sally for more than twenty years. But she insists on wearing that horrible red ribbon around her neck. I think it’s about time I found out why.”

Bill got out of bed and walked around to Sally’s side. Bill carefully pinched the ends of the bow on the ribbon. He began to slowly pull on the ribbon. The bow became smaller and smaller. The loops of the bow pulled through and only a half-knot was left.

Bill slid his finger under the half-knot and tugged.

ZIP! The red ribbon gave way.

POP! Sally’s head came off. It rolled right to the floor, bouncing in the moonlight!

One large tear fell from Sally’s eye.

“I warned you!” she said.
_________________________________________
i actually copied this one from scaryforkids.com. it's taken directly from the first book in a series that i read in my elementary school library, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. totally NOT for kids though, and i'll show you why. this is an illustration in the second book for one of my favorite stories, which i may retell, "The Thing".

[Voltire]

First, you shouldn't always assume things. I'll tell you this: my brother is not an adult. Besides, why would you think everyone on here is an adult? Even if they are, some people do not act like it.

Second, a story:
One day a boy named Charlie Wackaweed, was making a wish on a star. He did not know that the wish he would be making would change his life forever.

It was late one night, when Charlie was looking at the stars. He had heard that if you wish on the first star you see, your wish will become true. So he spotted the first star that he saw, and he made a wish on it. His wish was that whatever he said or did, for it to come true. So for instance if he would say "Let it snow" it would snow.

Just a few days later, he was sitting in Geometry class wondering about the test they would have in about 5 minutes. When he got the test, he sat there wishing that he would ace the test. He took the test that was supposed to be very hard and he thought that it was easy. He got it back and it was an A+. he was amazed because he had never had a test and aced it before, and this test was probably the hardest one that he had ever taken. He asked all his classmates what they had gotten on the test and they all replied " A C+ or lower. Charlie was very excited that he had gotten a better grade than Chris, who was an A+ student ,and Chris had made a C-.

There was this one kid that Charlie did not like. He wished that something bad would happen to him. The very next day he was out of school. Charlie asked his teacher where he was he said " He is in the hospital with a very deadly disease. It came on him so fast, and none of the doctors have a cure. It is really weird. I have never seen anything like it."

The very next day, Charlie heard that the kid with the deadly disease had died. Charlie was upset about the whole situation. He knew that it was his fault that he had died . So he went to his funeral with sorrow and regret.

He was at home, alone, late one night. All of a sudden the phone rang. He ran down the steps to answer it thinking that it might be his parents. He picked up the phone and he heard the dial tone. He thought to himself "That's weird" and then he went back up to his room thinking no more about it. This happened several more times and he still ignored it. Then all of a sudden the door bell rang. He went down to answer it again thinking that it might be his best friend Jarred. He opened the door and said "Hey Jarred......what's....." but then he noticed that no one was there. He thought to himself "It must be those little kids that live down the street prank calling and ringing the doorbell and running." So he then went back up the stairs to his room, thinking no more of it. Then there was a peck on the window. He was really starting to get kind of scared and curious. He went to the window, opened it and yelled "Get out of here you little kids!!" But still he saw no one. Since it was starting to get really freaky, he decided to go and watch some T.V. He flipped on the T.V. and right then the power went out. He knew that the kids couldn't have done something like that because he didn't have a fuse box. He now realized that the kids couldn't have done any of the other things now, and he was starting to get really scared. He went and got a flash light and he saw red eyes across the room and was coming very fast towards him. He all of a sudden heard a low, creepy, but familiar voice calling " Charlie..........Charlie...........Charlie.....how could you do something like this to me?" Charlie replied "Who are you? What do you want from me? I have no clue what you're talking about." The voice replied "You do know what I'm talking about Charlie Wackaweed."All of a sudden, it jumped out behind the shadows and Charlie saw a beaten, flesh removed, kid that Charlie recognized as the kid that he had wished that something bad would happen to. His eyes were blood red, and the flesh that he had left was purple and blue. Charlie was scared to death. He told the kid that he had never meant for him to be killed or even hurt, but he didn't believe him. The kid replied "Now it is your turn to follow the pain and death that I had suffered through." Then the kid took Charlie out of the house, and tied him up to a tree. The kid then dug a huge hole and then untied Charlie. The ghost said to him," I'm sorry that it has to end this way Charlie, but this is what you have to repay me by doing. Good-Bye Charlie!" Then the kid threw Charlie in the hole and buried him alive.

No one really knew what had happened to Charlie Wackaweed. Until one day a clipping all of a sudden appeared in the newspaper telling what had happened and who had actually killed the kid that Charlie didn't like. I am telling you now, be careful what you wish for because it just might come true.

[Mogri]

“I warned you!” she said.

I read that book! Sally deserved it for being too big an idiot to just tell him what was up.

[Nathan Karr]

I'm not sure if this one is horror so much as it is horrible; I can't tell if it's scary or just creepy.

There once was a town near a forest. Well, to tell the truth straight, this has happened many times, but this story is only concerned with one town and one forest, and aside from their neighboring eachother, nothing about either of them is important to the rest of this tale.

On the edge of town lived a man and his niece, and in a cottage in the forest lived the niece's grandmother. The girl was called Red Coat because she wore a red coat (or, perhaps, given the red coat because she'd been named Red Coat). Red Coat lived with her uncle because her father had been torn apart and devoured by a pack of wolves, and her mother was sent away for reasons she was told she'd understand later.

When she was twelve years old, Red Coat was sent into the woods with a basket of goodies for her grandmother. "Stay on the wide, winding path," her uncle warned her, "And do not converse with strangers."

When she had walked for almost twenty minutes, humming to herself, she suddenly saw a man. She could have sworn, and not being raised by a more solemn guardian, would have sworn, that this man had not been there two seconds before.

The man was tall and slender; he was clearly a woodcutter, for not
only was he dressed in such a manner, but he carried with him a heavy tree-felling axe. His face was so unremarkable as for that fact to be remarkable.

"Where are you going, little girl?" he asked, with a high and nasal tone.

"To my grandmother's house," Red Coat replied, before remembering that she'd been told not to talk with strangers.

"I know her," the slender woodsman said, "for I've just come from there. There are wolves about, and so I'm heading home to grab the silver axe I recieved from the pond fairy. Silver, I'm sure you know, is the best thing for killing wolves. But if you want to reach her in safety, you'd be best to take the straight and narrow path to the left ahead, for wolves tend to attack on the wide and winding path."

"Thank you," said Red Coat, before they parted ways. Something
about the man seemed unright, but she could not place it.

Before long, she reached the fork in the road; to the left, a straight and narrow path that led to the houses of the three Pig Brothers, two since demolished and converted into gravesites for their late owners. To the right, the bumpy road which led to the house of the three bears. Ahead, more or less straight, was the wide and winding path.

She remembered what her uncle said about taking the winding path, but she figured that he would want her to take the path that the woodsman said wolves would be not as likely to use.

Before going down the left way, a large brown dog came out from behind a tree. It said to her, "Where are you going, little Red Coat?"

"To my grandmother's house," she said, and holding out her basket said "to bring her a basket of goodies." She did not think to ask why the dog knew her name, since, after all, she was wearing a red coat anyway.

The dog sniffed the basket and stepped back. "Why are you taking the left road? It will take you there, eventually, but the wide, center path will take you there faster."

"The woodcutter said there would be wolves on the wide path, and so he advised me that this way was safer."

"The man with no smell?" the dog asked, "Why would you trust him?"

Realizing now both that she'd been told not to talk to strangers and that the most unsettling thing about that slender man had been his lack of any aroma, Red Coat promtly shut up and walked down the wide road.

Now, it is true that the wide road was shorter, but it was also much less straight; the dog, which if you hadn't guessed by now was more specifically a wolf, ran down the path to the left.

Wolves are a good twice the speed of a man, so it was not long before the wolf ran past a pile of straw marked with a cross of stone; it
then ran past the pile of sticks, also marked with a cross of stone.

The third pig was about to place flowers on the graves of his brothers, but ran inside his stone house and grabbed his axe when he saw the wolf running down the road. His fears were not unfounded, but today the wolf was not hungry for pork, nor was it seeking revenge for its brother's death.

The wolf arrived at the house of Red Coat's grandmother first; finding the old woman alone, the wolf toar out her throat before she could scream for help.

After this, the wolf ate most of the grandmother, and put some leftovers on the table. It also put some of her blood in a wine glass. The wolf had barely enough time to mop the floor and put on the old woman's clothes before Red Coat knocked at the door.

Lying in the bed and pulling the covers over itself, the wolf said "Come in, Red Coat."

"I brought you a basket of goodies," Red Coat said, placing the basket next to the bed.

"It smells good," the wolf said, almost gagging, "but I've just eaten, and I'm feeling a little unwell. You must be hungry from your long walk; go to the table, there's some long pork and some wine."

Now, Red Coat didn't hand out in the seedier side of town, so she didn't know what 'long pork' meant, and assumed that it was just pig. Was there a difference between eating the meat of a pig who can talk and mourn and build a house and eating the meat of a person who can do the same? Not really, but the people from this place tended to overlook that.

After she had taken a bite, a robin knocked at the window. It sang "Little Red Coat, stupid turncoat! Your grandmother's flesh you're eating!"

"Grandmother," Red Coat, called, "a bird is saying that I'm eating you."

"Forget the bird," said the wolf, "They'll say what they want."

When she drank, a raven knocked at the window and crowed. "Nevermore! Stupid girl, you drank granny's blood! Bad girl, evermore!"

Now, you'd think a girl as old as twelve would know the difference between blood and wine by taste, but Red Coat was clearly a little dense.

"Grandmother," said Red Coat, "a bird is saying that I'm drinking your blood."

"'S not my blood," the wolf said, "I've got all mine. If you're done eating, come and rest by my side."

Red Coat got up, and walked to the bed. The wolf took off the blanket.

"Grandma," she said, "What big ears you have."

"All the better to hear you with, my dear."

"Grandma, what big eyes you have."

"All the better to see you with, my dear."

"Grandma, what a long muzzle you have, with a cold nose on the end."

"All the better to sniff you with, my dear."

"Grandma, what a long tail you have."

Frowning, the wolf said, "Are you really this foolish, little Red Coat? I'm not your grandmother; I'M THE WOLF!"

A woodpecker knocked at the window and laughed.

Before Red Coat could scream and run away, the wolf grabbed her and said "I'm not just any wolf, Red Coat. I am your mother."

"No," Red Coat said, "That's not true; it's impossible!"

"Search your heart, you know it's true. I am a wolf...and so are you."

Rushing to the mirror, Red Hood said "Mirror mirror on the wall, hi!"

The mirror said "If I had a hand, I would slap my forehead. What do you want, little red wolf?"

After a few minutes, Red Coat finally got to see her reflection. "I'm a wolf," she finally realized, but was then struck with another realization. "I'M NAKED!"

"You're wearing the same red coat I gave you when you were born," her mother said, "you got that color from your father. I left you with his brother and let you think you were a human to protect you from the one who had your father killed."

"Who was that?" Red Coat asked.

"We just finished eating her."

You see, Red Coat's mother and father were a wolf and a huntsman, who had fallen in love after mutually stalking and seeking eachothers' annihilation. They got married, but it was taboo in wolf culture for anyone but the matriarch to get pregnant, so granny had the hunter torn to shreds and eaten.

Red Coat's mom took the guise of a human and left her young pup with the brother of the man she'd loved, and she then watched and waited for the day when the old woman would let her guard down. The old wolf granny, feeling herself being eyed in this way, disguised herself as a human and hired the woodcutter to kill her daughter as well.

The tall woodsman had been standing outside the front door where Red Coat had entered.

Red Coat said to her mother "The un-smelly man is out front waiting to kill the wolf when it leaves. Let's leave the back way and take him by surprize."

The slender man had heard most of this story and viewed it with contempt and revulsion. He knew he couldn't very easily fight two wolves at once; saddended, he maintained his No-Smell spell and walked back home. He hoped that his wife was finished taking his son and daughter on their walk by now...