Walk the Plank: Halloween Flash Fiction

The YA Buccaneers issue a flash fiction challenge once a month called Walk the Plank. For one reason or another, I have not participated yet - the main reason is that I'm more of a long-winded writer.

This month's ghostly theme intrigued me, so I dashed something off during my lunch break Monday.

The characters in this short piece come from my WIP, BEAUTIFUL BIRD, and I have a feeling that a similar scene will eventually make its way into the manuscript.

Writing flash fiction is HARD. The best I can say is that I started and ended it with the prompts and hit 200 words exactly. Here's my attempt:

It was a cold Halloween night. An icy wind screeched off Lake Superior. The store was dead, for lack of a better term.

“Go on,” Vivian – Bride of Frankenstein – said. I’d dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. “Enjoy your evening.”

I didn’t want to walk home, but I convinced myself that the only ghosts that could haunt me tonight were of the trick-or-treating variety.

Or the ones in my head.

I should have skirted around the Cathedral, a few extra blocks to avoid the old cemetery. He was there, with Jessa and the others, at the gate. They wore dark pants and jackets. Elliot wore a black toque. What were they planning?

Jessa snickered as I walked past. Even with my coat, there was no doubt about my costume – long braids, gingham skirt, ruby slippers.

I could feel Elliot staring. Normally I would tuck my chin, scurry away, but something made me turn, meet his gaze.  His eyes were soft, caring. My heart skipped a beat.

He shrugged. “What can I do?” he asked.

I saw the dark figure behind the tombstone too late, the wispy black hands around Elliot’s neck, dragging him into the cemetery. I screamed.

Want to give it a whirl? Walk the Plank with the YA Buccaneers and enter to win a copy of THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR by Dawn Klehr!