11-14 years
Second place
Creatures of the Night
Priya Christianson, 11, Coquitlam
There was nothing to watch on TV, just the news.
The phone rang. I ignored it.
My mom had said not to answer the phone while home alone.
It rang again, and this time I picked it up.
A pre-recorded voice blared out, “Hey kids! Who wants to see the circus? This one is lurid, disturbing and great for all ages! We are coming your way, just two blocks away!” Creepy, but probably a prank call, I thought.
Minutes later, the phone rang again.
This time, the voice sang out, “We are only one block away, one block away today!”
I was getting scared now and decided not to answer the phone anymore. The phone rang again, and I could hear the voice in my head, singing about being on my street.
Each time the phone rang, I could imagine hearing the voice saying, “Five houses away… four houses away… three… two… one…”
Piercingly, the doorbell rang. I jumped. Feeling craven, I somehow managed to force my tremulous hands into unlocking the door.
As the door swung open, I gasped as all my fears were in front of me.
Standing there was a grotesque clown, its makeup running down its face.
The clown’s eyes spooked me the most, black and empty. “Boo,” the clown said, and began to cackle loudly. My scream awoke the maddening horror of the night.
Ominously, eyes appeared, glowing like smouldering embers in the shadows. Figures appeared as if from no where. I was petrified, rooted to the ground. Creatures I can’t begin to describe began to crawl towards me. “Yes” said the clown. “All your nightmares are coming true.”
My mind catching up with me, I slammed the door and ran upstairs. I tripped and fell, smashing my nose against the floor. My nose began to bleed.
Tears started to stream down my face. I stumbled to my room and hid under my bed. My heart was thundering in my ears. As the clown made his way slowly up the stairs, I could hear the distant screams of all the children in the town.
“I’m coming…” the clown called, his voice echoing eerily down the hall. I knew I was done for, so I began to pray. Please I whispered, please. I didn’t know what I was praying to; I just hoped it would help me.
I continued to pray to myself as the bed started to rise. The clown was lifting it up! It peered at me. “Got ya,” he said. He brought out a knife.
“Please!” I cried out and screamed at the top of my lungs.
Suddenly, I heard my mom and dad calling my name. The clown vanished abruptly into thin air. My parents came into my room where they saw me shaking under the bed. I scurried out from under the bed and leapt into my dad’s arms.
“What’s that?” my dad said.
Lying on the floor was a clown’s nose.
