2024 Fall Writing Contest 

   Madelyn's mother clasped the diamond necklace around her daughter's neck.

   "This was mine when I was younger. Before that, it was your grandmother's and before that, it was your great-grandmother's," her mother told her.

   Madelyn lightly grazed the beautiful necklace with the tips of her fingers. 

   "I love it," she whispered, hugging her mother tightly.

   "It is very dear to this family. It has been around for generations. You look beautiful in it, sweetheart," her mother told her. 

   Madelyn smiled and wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders. It was very cold in the room, as it was outside.

   "Now, you must finish getting ready, Maddy. The governor's winter ball starts at seven. It's six o'clock now," her mother said.

   "Why can't you go with me?" Madelyn asked.

   "I have to stay here with your sister. You'll be fine; Thomas will be there with you," she replied.

   Thomas was Madelyn's 19-year-old brother. Oh, how she despised him! He always treated her like she was so much younger even though only two years separated them.

   "But--"

   "Hush, child. You will have a fabulous time!"

   Madelyn shut her mouth and let her mother wrestle with her wild brown hair. After a half hour of tugging, curling, and fluffing, she looked, seemingly, ready to go.

   "Oh, darling, you look stunning! Go show your sister. She will think you a princess!" her mother said.

   Maddy still had the blanket wrapped around her shoulders over her dress when she walked into her little sister, Nellie's room. Her three year old sister's face lit up when she saw Maddy.

   "You look so pretty! Like Cinderella!" Nellie shouted. "I wanna look pretty like that too!"

   Maddy smiled.

   "Madelyn, are you ready to go?" Thomas said from the doorway. She turned and nodded. Thomas took her by the arm and they walked out the front door and got into the Coach.

   The street was covered with snow and lit up for Christmas which was only four days away. Christmas was Maddy's favorite holiday. Seeing the town aglow made a happiness bubble up inside of her. A happiness that only came around this magical time of year. 

   The governor's mansion was lit up, too. A string of people were gathered outside, waiting for the event of the season to officially start. Maddy and her brother joined the crowd. Thomas pulled out his stopwatch.

   "Not much longer," he muttered. A sense of nervous joy rose up in Maddy. She had never been to this annual event that her mother spoke so highly of. She had always stayed home with Nellie before this year. 

   "It's a magical evening, Madelyn. It really captures what Christmas is all about," her mom would tell her after she returned home.

   Suddenly, the giant doors of the mansion opened and light flooded outward. The guests filed inside, mostly two by two. Maddy clung to Thomas as she absorbed every little thing. 

   The light, the music, the chatter, the laughter, but most of all, the joy. She slowly made her way to the grand Christmas tree. There was a beautiful star ornament that she could see her reflection in. 

   Maddy closed her eyes and smiled. Thomas linked his arm with hers and led her away from the tree.

   "Miss Orville, it's wonderful to meet you," the governor greeted her.

   "It's nice to meet you, too, Sir," Maddy said.

   "Thomas, Madelyn, I do hope you enjoy the ball. And tell your mother I say hello." The governor disappeared into the flood of people. 

   That night, Maddy and Thomas shook hands and talked to many fine people. They all had one thing in common: they were happy.

   When she got home, Maddy's mother asked how the ball was.

   "You were right, mother. It really does capture the meaning of Christmas."

CHRISTMAS DAY

   My mom was filming me, smiling and laughing until I heard "It's gone! It's gone! Oh my god, where is it?!"

   I turned around to see her hand on her chest, clenched hard as if she couldn't breathe. I dropped the wrapping paper I was holding up and quickly ran towards her. Well, I ran as quickly as I could wearing a too-tight onesie with no sock grippers on the bottom. 

   "What's gone? What happened?" I asked as my hands stretched towards her shoulders. 

   "My necklace!" she cried, her curly blonde hair bouncing up and down as she frantically turns around and searches the couch cushions. 

   "It's gone! I never take it off!"

   Mom has had this parkly diamond plated necklace for as long as I can remember. She always tells me it's been in our family for over 17 generations, and one day, when it's my turn, it will be passed on to me. To be honest, I couldn't care less about a sparkly family heirloom. I don't even like jewelry, but someday I'm supposed to wear a flashy diamond-filled necklace?

   Mom ran across the house and grabbed the phone off the table. 

   *click click click*

   As I heard the numbers slide back into place, I realized she only dialed three total numbers:

   9-1-1

   It was like I had an involuntary reaction to stop her. I ran across the house to calm her down.

   "Mom! What are you doing?"

   "Yes, yes, it's an emergency!" she yelled in the phone. 

   "You probably just set it down somewhere--"

   "No, you need to come here immediately. We have been robbed."

   "What?!"

   Mom seriously told the police we had been robbed. She was hysterically sobbing on the phone. I stopped trying to get involved. Instead, I just listened to her talk to the operator. 

   "You can come now then? Yes, yes. Thank you," she paused for awhile. "Okay, goodbye."

   She clicked the phone back into place and set the wire neatly wrapped up beside it. She looked over at me standing in the doorway with an untold expression on her face. 

   "Go back up to your room, baby. Christmas will come back tomorrow."

JANUARY 13TH

   Back to school after winter break makes my heart shatter into a million different pieces. But hey, it's a new semester, which means I get to meet some new friends! My psych class is now an art class, and meeting the art teacher felt like meeting Miss Frizzle from The Magic Schoolbus. It had an assigned seat next to a girl named Kat.

   "Hey! Nice to meet you!" she said before I could even set my stuff down. 

   "Hi," I replied.

   "Are you excited to paint?"

   Paint? We have to paint? I'm not good at drawing, let alone PAINTING!

   "You'll do great, I know it!" she added.

   "Cool it, Kat," the teacher butted in. 

   "I'm just making friends!"

   "We both know you're only being nice because I said if you're good today I'd get you Starbucks after school."

   "That's not true, Mom!"

   Wait, the teacher is her MOM? She must have seen my facial expression change, because she then faced me and whispered, "Yes, I'm her mom. Shocker."

   I didn't want to disrupt the mother-daughter dispute, so I stayed quiet. Luckily the teacher quickly changed topics and asked me "How was your winter break?"

   "Very good! I got a cool Pokémon card for Christmas and a nice plaid fuzzy blanket!"

   "Very nice!" she exclaimed. She reached for her neck and continued, "My daughter for my this beautiful necklace for Christmas!"

   and that's when I saw it.

   My mom's necklace.

   That shiny family heirloom.

   My teacher smiled and added:

   "It's the only gift she's ever gotten for me brand-new!"

   I looked back at Kat, her face red as a cherry.

   "Yep. All by myself," she reassures her.

   I looked back at my teacher again, then down at her necklace. 

   I say nothing.

   Mom and Dad just left for their weekly date. Before they left, they told me two very important things: the first, the most important one, was about Mommy's necklace. It's her favorite and they always told me not to play with it.

   "It's very, very old, Maria, and very delicate," Daddy said to me. I don't know why he and Mommy alwasys feel they need to lecture me about that stupid necklace. I'm seven now, old enough to count on two hands, and they still think I'm stupid enough to play with it. 

   I knew that if I was caught even breathing on that necklace that I would be grounded for the rest of eternity.

   The second thing that Mommy and Daddy told me before they left for their fancy dinner without me was that the babysitter would be late again.

   I sighed, staring at myself in the parlor mirror. My golden pigtails rested on my shoulder, and my evening pajamas shine on a dark, navy blue, even darker in the unlit entryway. I hate my pigtails but Mommy makes me wear them because she says they look cute. I don't want to look cute. I'm not that little anymore and she doesn't understand that.

   I see car lights flicker by the house from the window above the front door. I expect it to be my babysitter finally arriving, but the car doesn't pull into the driveway and just keeps driving by the house. 

   I sigh again, looking back to the mirror.

   "She's always so late..." I think, getting groggier by the second. Usually when she comes I'm stull hyper from the sun being in the sky, but tonight she's extra late, enough for the sun to disappear and for me to feel sleepy.

   I look around the living room, thinking about if I should wait more or just go to bed. I crawled up the stairs and walked sleepily to bed. I curled up in my favoirte blanket, the one that has a mismatch of red, black and white. It's so dark and quiet without my babysitter reading to me, and I shiver even though I'm warm.

   Suddenly, the old phone Daddy keeps in the upstairs hallway starts ringing. I've never answered the phone before. I don't go to pick it up, but it just keeps ringing and ringing. I finally pull myself out of bed and pick up the phone.

   "Hello?" I whisper into the old, black phone. "Is anyone there?"

   The only sound emanating from the phone is quiet, muffled breathing. As I'm about to ask again, I feel a cold hand on my shoulder. I jump and turn around--

   no one was there.

   I'm so scared that I run back to my room and climb under my favorite blanket and wrap it around me. Shivering, I hear the creaking floorboards of the stairs as if someone is walking up them. But no one is on the stairs, because the footsteps are too loud to be from someone I know. 

   Now the footsteps stop and I hear running from the hallway towards my room. I pull the blanket around me tighter, hoping that whatever it is goes away or that Mommy and Daddy come to save me from the scary sounds. 

   The cover gets torn away from me and I scream as I look up and see a tall dark figure staring back at me through glowing red eyes.

   Through my screams, I see that the monster is holding Mommy's special, silver necklace. The creature rips it apart in front of me while I scream. All I can think about it how Mommy and Daddy will think it was me, that I broke their special necklace. They'll never believe me when I tell them what happened. They'll think I'm just a little, broken, problem child. 

   But I'm not little or broken. I'm older and wise than I ever was.

   Even after the monster disappeared an left the broken necklace on my bedroom floor, I sob, knowing what they'll think of me.

   But it wasn't me... it was him!

   A dark void fills the room. No sound except for that of a faint ringing. You look around, engulfed in the black, with only one light. A hall, long and gloom, with only one thing. A single white light, and a lone black telephone resting underneath.

   It rings again.

   You look onward towards the gleaming device, the only thing you can see or comprehend.  You contemplate to yourself what to do, but you know it is pointless for there is only one option. Swallowing your fear, you bein to work your way towards the phone.

   It rings again.

   As you approach, a flurry of thoughts attack your head: Why am I here? Why a landline? I thought these stopped being used years ago? Why does this feel so familiar? 

   Suddenly it all stops. Your body. The ringing. The creaking of the telephone.

   Not a single sound.

   You stand, scared and alone, as the light begins to flicker. You try to run, to scream, to do anything. But you can't. You are being held by the chains of darkness, unable to try anything, as the light, your one hint of escape, of freedom, goes out.

   It's cold. It's dark. It's gloom. It's... terrifying.

   It rings again.

   Hearing the phone ring again, you know hope is not lost. You break from your invisible shackles and RUN. You run like this is the only way. The only way to escape. Yet once you reach where it had once been, it is gone. You instead begin to fear. You panic, as you have no control anymore. 

   No. Control.

   Floating among the sea of black, you struggle to think. To try and come up with a solution. As your eyes begin to tear, you see a sparkle. The shining of something that should not be there. A crystalline star. One lone star, like you, floating in the vast nothing. You begin to imagine yourself holding onto the star, and it leading to the end.

   It rings again.

   You begin to squirm and struggle towards the star. You know this can answer something. As you are floating towards the star, it begins to move, as if you and it are intertwined in a rhythmic dance. The motions bring it to you so close, yet so far.

   After what feels like an eternity, you grace the beautifully carved crystal with your soft touch. And, it shatters. As it shatters, you begin to feel hopeless, as if all is lost, but soon you realize. You realize that the shattered pieces are like gleaming diamonds, lighting a path toward a bridge.

   But to what?

   It rings again.

   You see the black landline again, lit, shining, floating in the emptiness. You begin to walk on the diamonds, making leaps and strides to get to that darned phone.

   Finally, you lunge and grab the phone. You look at it, free once after all. You pick up the phone and listen, only to hear words from a language once gone.

   "Memento Mari."

   You wake to a dark hall. Void and empty. With no sound, except for that of a faint ringing.

There it sat, gleaming in the sky, a star of crystal and light. 

Oh how it shone so very bright. 

To the star the creator spoke: 

"Creation of mine, the most divine, 

your light is bright, it breaks the night, 

and so I name thee, the star of morning. 

The world is begun, and you, my angel, 

will always herald the sun." 

With pride the star's heart did fill, 

and he obeyed the creator's will. 

The star grew prideful and even vain 

and to the night he did proclaim: 

"I am Lucifer the Morning Star, 

the most beautiful of any others there are."

After much time all the stars had grew, 

from star that hovered to angels who flew, 

and there he sat, next to the throne. 

Still, of all the angels, he was God's most beautiful. 

To God, Lucifer spoke: 

"Father, now to you I had reshown 

the mortals are prideful, they are vain, 

so cast them from their mortal plane. 

They ate the fruit, the only one forbidden, 

their sins long hidden." 

Of Lucifer's vanity, God had not known, 

and so from heaven the angel was thrown. 

The crystal star of his heart did not fall apart, 

instead it turned black with hate. 

"God is to blame." 

Lucifer had fallen and became a prince of Hell, 

the name of his father the Morning Star cursed, 

though only one of many angels, 

Lucifer Morning Star was the first to fall. 

The more beautiful the angel, 

the more spectacular the fall, 

and the son of the Morning Star 

was the most beautiful of all.

   There once sat an old snow globe upon a shelf of a thrift store. No one knew who had donated it or why; it seemed to be in decent shape though. Little did they know, there was life in that very globe. If you looked closely, you could see a rather older woman doing everyday tasks in the house.

   This woman's name was Jessica Anks. She lived her life like any other, despite living in the globe. She would sit on her old wooden porch, a porch that would creak with every step. With a rocking chair which would sway with her body in it, sway with the wind. She didn't keep track of the days. What reason could she possibly have to do so?

   Jessica enjoyed life like any other, sitting in the rocking chair while crocheting. No one knew where she got her yarn, and no one asked. She would just sit there crocheting for hours, looking out into the sky. No one had looked into the snow globe in years.

   Until a young girl laid eyes on her. She begged and begged her parents for it, saying, "Please, Papa, please," until her father gave in. He picked it off the shelf slowly and carefully, taking it to the cashier.

   The little girl was so excited. She sat patiently in her seat on the car ride home, thinking of how much fun she would have with the new snow globe. 

   They soon arrived home, her father getting her out of the car along with the snowglobe. He let her carry it inside. She carefully held it in her hands. It looked huge compared to her tiny fingers. She brought it to her room, sitting it down on her desk. She could not take her eyes off of it!

   Meanwhile, in the globe, Jessica sat in shock. Someone wanted her. Someone wanted her little snow globe. She had dreamed of this day... the day someone finally took her home.

   The little girl sat admiring the globe taking in every detail and imperfection. She carefully picked it up again, holding it with only one hand this time, one little hand. She flipped it upside down, wanting to see it snow inside. She let every small piece settle on the bottom before flipping it back up. Her eyes followed every little piece of snow falling. She tried it again, getting it upside down, letting the snow settle before flipping it up. This time, her hand slipped, the snow globe crashing to the floor.

   Her tear filled eyes look down at it. At the small pieces that lay there on the ground. The small pieces that were once the beloved snow globe. Jessica, buried beneath the debris, crocheting unfinished, a smile slowly having been wiped away.

   I lived in a small town. Pretty much everything you could picture from the phrase "small town." Small neighborhood, limited attractions, etc. So of course my friend and I look for anything interesting to waste our summer days away on.

   "Julia," my friend, Anna, said to me one day as we sat and watched TV, essentially doing nothing. "Have you ever thought about exploring that old mansion at the to of Benny's Hill?" she asked, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

   Of course, it was a horrible idea. I've heard countless rumors and stories about that place. But as far as I knew, it was abandoned.

   Next thing I knew, we were standing at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the old, yet big, mansion.

   "This is a bad idea," I said, trying one last time to convince her to go back with me. But she ignored me, starting to trudge up the hill. And of course, I followed. We made it to the top, now right in front of the creaky home. I glanced to my left, over at the pumpkin patch. I shivered, remembering the stories kids told about the pumpkins eating kids whole. 

   I reminded Anna of it now, trying to change her mind last minute, but she was a natural born daredevil. I followed her up the steps, noticing her grin out of sheer thrill. We slowly peered inside, glancing at the entryway that led to a living room. We walked slowly, my lips sealed shut, too scared to say anything. Countless thoughts reeled my mind as we entered the living area: What if someone lived here? What if we got devoured by pumpkins?

   Suddenly, my thoughts were cut off by the high pitched scream of my friend. My head shot up, looking for the source of her terror. Man eating pumpkins? 

   No.

   Just an old woman, about 70-80, simply knitting, her huge glasses making her appear scarier than she really was. I was stunned in fear, frozen like ice. And Anna?

   She was gone. She just booked it, gone. 

   I was alone.

   Curse her.

   What the lady said next, I definitely did not expect.

   "Hello there," she started, smiling sweetly. "Oh you must have wandered in. Come, come. I've been needing company anyhow." She got up, and I followed her, too stunned to even speak.

   She led me to the kitchen, gesturing for me to sit. I did.

   "Kids like you wander in here all the time," she said, placing a glass of water and a steaming hot slice of pumpkin pie in front of me. "Here, have this. It's fresh."

   I finally spoke. "You won't feed me to your pumpkins?"

   She laughed, her shoulders shaking as she did so. 

   "Of course not," she said. 

   I hesitated before trying the pie, and it was delicious. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all. At least, that's what I thought as I blacked out, the pie causing me to feel queasy.

   Just like any normal day, Anne woke up to her lovely pumpkin patch as usual. The sky had just begun to awaken, the trees were rustling in the wind as divine as ever. She got out of bed and got ready for the day ahead. After she got ready, she went outside to check her mail, not expecting anything but bills. 

   Nobody cared for Anne. She never even received a birthday card. As she opened the old and utterly rusted mailbox, she saw a package inside. She thought it was terribly strange. She hadn't ordered a package in oh so long. But that wasn't the only think in there, there had also been a note. It was signed, ANNE MOORE.

   She became spooked. Chills began to travel down her spine. Anne snatched it out of the mailox and bolted inside. She laid it down on the counter in the kitchen. She paced around the living room, not knowing whether to open it or not. 

   She finally decided to open it and hesitantly walked over to the package. She began delicately opening it with her smooth, gentle hands. She looked at what was inside: a large snow globe.

   It was almost been recognizable... like she had seen it before. It had a house, and not just a regular one. One she had been close to before... the so called "haunted house" everyone had been murmuring about for the past couple of months. 

   Anne was intrigued. Who sent her this? Who knew her address? She needed to know. The question and wonder was digging into her head like a groundhog does dirt. It was like a hunger that needed to be fed. She grabbed her truck keys and drove all the way to town. She finally made it to Main Street and held up the globe in front of the house, making a comparison. 

   They were the same.

   Exactly the same.

   She hopped out of the truck and grabbed the flashlight out of her trunk. She began walking to the house. Her legs were shaking, her mind was tied up with worry, fear, and determination. She walked inside and saw a huge mess: windows broken, wood on the ground, all of it.

   She went to the upstairs part of the house, but quickly turned back as she heard her name: ANNEEEE...

   She ran out of the house and never went back again.

From what I remember, fall was yesterday.

The birds were singing and trees a-sway,

the gentle breeze cradling and rocking me away,

slowly whispering everything was okay.

Pumpkins were dancing, lit up

and happy, knowing they would die

when November came around.

But to their knowledge they were

only safe and sound in the arms of fall,

jeweled and crowned.

As I was thinking of the pumpkins, I realized

that I shall be like them, too...

that I'm alive now, real and true,

dancing in every moment, finding joy in all my blue

finding the love in a paper I didn't want to do,

priding myself in the emotions I feel

even though I won't feel them forever,

finding faith in my strongest endeavors.

Pumpkin o'pumpkin, glittering in orange

Thank you for teaching me this important lesson

Never again will I ever not live in the present.

Pumpkin o'pumpkin, for it's November 1st

Mom's throwing you out, over the hill you shall burst!

Pumpkin o'pumpkin, I'll never forget to live in the moment,

and not in the guts of your head.

   There once was a pumpkin who lived in a snow globe. The pumpkin sat in front of the house in the snow globe wondering if it would ever get a good look inside. One day, a girl picked up the snow globe and turned it upside down. The pumpkin was scared, thinking it would fall as it looked up to see mini paper bats as far as it could see.

   As the snow globe was put down, the pumpkin looked around and his home was covered in paper bats! The pumpkin looked around to see if there was any way to help the bats, but there was nothing. The pumpkin frowned at the bats, feeling like he couldn't help his friends... just as he sees the little girl flip over the snow globe again. 

   The pumpkin held his breath, ready to fall any moment. After a few seconds, the pumpkin looked down, realizing he was stuck to the ground. The pumpkin looked up, noticing the bats starting to fall again once the snow globe was put down.

   The pumpkin felt something fall on his brown stubby stem. He looked up to see one of the paper bats had fallen on top of him. He looked up at the paper bat, worried. 

   "Are you okay?" asked the pumpkin, looking up at the paper bat. 

   "I'm okay. Thank you for asking," said the paper bat. 

   The pumpkin smiled at his new friend. 

   Suddenly, the snowglobe was being shaken! The pumpkin looked around for the cause of the shaking as the paper bat held onto the pumpkin for dear life. The snow globe started falling off the shelf with a loud crash as the glass of the snow globe broke. 

   The pumpkin and the bat looked up instead of the glassy roof of the snow globe was a tall shelf with books stacked on it where the snowglobe used to rest. The pumpkin hopped off of his side, wondering how they were going to get back up. 

   "That shelf is pretty tall. Do you think we could find something to help us climb it?" asked the paper bat as the pumpkin spotted some dark purple fluffy yarn.

   "We can use that!" said the pumpkin happily. As he grabbed the paper bat to help her up and started to hop over to the string. The pumpkin grabbed the end of the yarn and hopped over to the shelf, threw the end of the yarn onto the shelf. The paper bat was trying to grab the plastic bottle over but it wasn't going anywhere. 

   "Happy to help," his new friend the pumpkin helped get the water bottle over to hold down the yarn.

   "Hold onto me. I'll carry us up," said the pumpkin as the bat held on, the pumpkin climbing to the top. 

   Ever since then, the pumpkin and the paper bat sat on that shelf, best friends ever since.