WINNER: Aaliyah Allen, ’29
Dead eyes–Is what I loved the most.
Dark and Stony!
Why do you say I’ve lost control of my mind and I have gone mad?
I can hear the demons that tell me things.
They say it’s Sarah who broke me.
She wanted to quit our friendship that I loved.
We had friendship bracelets we wore all the time, secrets only us could hear. So why quit?
Why be broken?
I soon realized.
I wanted to hurt her and feel her blood.
I was moving on,
So I began to analyze her every day the opposite of stalking.
Am I crazy?
My patience began to lower and my neediness was rising.
I decided at the game that I was going to kill Sarah.
I’m not cruel! Ha, this is sweet revenge us humans do all the time.
So why was it wrong when I did it?
I wanted to see the fear and see her dead, that’s all!
I sat in the front row watching as my blood was running through my body
like an anchor hitting the sea bed.
I had called Sarah over to the field; clear just her and I.
She looked at me all confused.
With no hesitation I sprung at her, digging my nails in her face.
I cut her skin with my knife.
Blood flowing out everywhere!
She fell down to the turf with a series of cries and moans
which only made me more eager.
With her down, I took out my electrical wire from my bag.
Wrapping the wire around her neck until there was clear purple and no pulse.
With my knife I sliced her body into pieces.
Pure joy this brought me!
I left her body there on the turf.
For all to see in the morning to come.
It was I who killed her!
‘
The Final Instructions by Akasha Brackett, ’29
Congratulations. You have been selected to work the night shift at Children’s Dream Land on Tin Lake Boulevard. There you will serve as a production supervisor, determining materials and manufacturing methods for new toy concepts.
In the reception room, the list of tasks are on the desk. Complete each one by the end of the night. Be sure to introduce yourself as well so the factory knows who you are.
RULE NUMBER ONE: Laughing will occur as soon as you leave the reception room. Cover your ears if you must. The toys are laughing at you. Ignore them. Proceed with your first task at mind.
RULE NUMBER TWO: Go inside the Happy Time Playroom sometime before the clock hits one a.m. The animatronic, Lullaby King will give you a pack of food from the supply room. He eats children, so any worry is unwarranted, and frankly, unprofessional. Just don’t be afraid; fear is delicious to him.
RULE NUMBER THREE: At one a.m., enter the Testing Rooms. Low growling will bellow from the basement down the hall. When that happens, tie the snack to the anchor near the stairs and throw the food inside. It’s how he used to eat. DO NOT GO DOWN THERE; It doesn’t pass on desert.
RULE NUMBER FOUR: One a.m. to two a.m., you might spot a baby doll on the floor wearing a friendship bracelet. Don’t move it. It reminds her of the children who once filled the factory. MOTHER will harm anything that poses a threat to her children.
RULE NUMBER FIVE: Three a.m. to four a.m. is Happy Hour. The dolls are excited to torture you with exposed electrical wires. TRUST NO ONE.
And remember… Your job was never to protect the factory, it was to protect the town from what’s inside it.
~
Jacob Bonilla, ’27
Hours have passed and you’ve only gone deeper into the labyrinth of the pizzeria. Light is
scarce as your flashlight is the only source you have. The place is run down, decaying as it has
failed the test of time. Rotted walls expose pipes and infrastructure, electrical wiring dangling as
sparks fly. You make it to the center stage; the sight of a once beloved party spot turned into
your worst nightmare, like war broke out and you were witnessing its aftermath. You shine a
light on a robot standing front and center; it’s a fox, by the looks of it, a pirate fox. His anchor
emblem on his hat glimmers with the shine of your flashlight. Something else glimmers: a
bracelet, hanging just off his bottom jaw. It seems familiar, you reach for it. As you grab hold of
it, the robot’s jaw snaps; the crunch of your fingers echoes through the room. You scream in
pain as your blood drips from the bot's mouth. You break your hand loose, falling back, then
another hand shoots out his mouth: a human hand. The sight of this makes you nauseous, but it
intrigues you enough to investigate the pirate to see where the hand came from. You hop on
stage, dust rising as you set foot and you try to pry the mouth of the bot open. It locks in an
open position as you take a peek inside: a corpse lies inside, a person all too familiar. “Abby!?”
As your mind races in horror, you hear the locks holding the jaw open loosen up due to their
poor condition. In a moment’s notice, your body runs cold as the jaw hinges shut and the last
thing you feel is your friend’s bracelet in your hands, drenched in your blood.
~
The Anchor Man by Emani Burt, ’27
The MPD got a call yesterday about two college girls gone missing after a party. They were last seen at their apartment around 9PM. I arrived today at the crime scene, the apartment’s perimeter was blocked with caution tape.
“Johnson! Wait up!”
“Officer Smith!” he replied.
“What do we have so far?”, I said to him.
“Not much yet…”
We got into the house, and my gosh, it’s a wreck. I started off investigating the living room until Johnson called me into the bedroom.
“You gotta see this…” he said in a disturbed tone.
He showed me a bracelet covered in blood.
“.Looks like a friendship bracelet,” I say, “we might have ourselves a homicide.”
“We’ve had a lot of homicide cases… might have something worse.”
“Like what?” he said.
“There could be a serial killer.”
“A witness called in and said that she woke up from screams nearby and saw a man holding a chain with an anchor attached. Just like other cases.” I said.
I walked toward the closet, opened it, only to discover the bodies.
“Ugh! The smell!”
“Smith, call the Monroe Ambulance. I’ll go find more evidence,” said Johnson.
I dialed the number and it kept going straight to voicemail. Something was off… I called MPD, still nothing.
Suddenly the lights turned off. Everything had blacked out. I almost tripped over a loose tile on the floor. I lifted, and… I couldn’t have been more horrified. It was a police uniform, with Johnson’s badge on it. I ran to the laundry room to check the circuit box, someone cut the electrical wires. It didn’t make sense to me because… only me and Johnson were here. I heard the door lock and loud breathing. “Johnson???” I cried.
“Case solved….” he said in a distorted tone. Then he swung an anchor across my head.
~
For their entertainment by Sydney Chambers, ’28
I blink and instantly the scent of the ocean breeze and metal fill my nostrils. I look down and see my hands gripping an electrical wire that’s wrapped around Michael’s neck. I scream as I pull my hands away as if I was burned. His head falls back lifelessly on his bed. I ran out to see the ship deck and the swaying waves. I feel sick and begin emptying my disgust, fear, and dignity into the waves. I look around frantically to find my other 2 crewmates who were supposed to be on board, I see Kyle. Kyle’s body impaled on the anchor’s right hook. I suddenly feel sick again and puke. I finally remember Simon, my closest friend. I ran to his room, my footsteps heavy and desperate. I swing the door open, the smell of beer and death flood my senses. I see Simon looking directly at me, laying on the bed. His right eyeball was hanging out of its socket. His throat slit open like scissors tore through paper. A broken beer bottle lays peacefully on his chest, the bottle not knowing it just assisted in murder. I fall to my knees, looking down at my blooded hands. I then suddenly heard a loud “DING”, it rang through my ear like a church bell. “ACHIEVEMENT: GAME COMPLETED”. I then see the word “DEAD” in front of Simon. I run out of the room to find the same word in front of micheal and kyle. I then look up to see 2 people, looking directly at me through the screen. A girl and boy, they look at each other excitedly and fistbump. The little girl has a friendship bracelet, I lock that image in my memory. When they turn the game back on, I’ll make my escape from this hell.
~
Kayla Johns, ’29
The water was murky and dark, thick and choking like an oil spill. My gurgling screams rushed to the surface. Above the disgusting expanse of water, loomed a dark, uncanny figure taking the shape of something it should not be. An evil with a stolen identity. Around its hand was a friendship bracelet once bright and beautiful with homemade beads now crusty and dark red. Those same hands with that friendship bracelet were the same hands that pushed me into the lake. The same hands that threw me down in the water with an anchor.The same hands that struck me with a jagged rock. The same hands that wrote cryptic notes foreseeing my death. The same hands that were supposed to be buried feet under after being crushed in a fallen asylum after being told not to go. The hands of a best friend that I lost this very same day a year ago. It was painful to think that this wickedness had taken over someone I once held dear to me. The worst part is, I won’t get to figure out what it is. My death will become another unfortunate death. The obscurity mocked me, watching me sink to the bottom, my death being amusing. I wondered why it wanted me dead. I wondered what all the torment and bloodshed was for. Why couldn’t it finish me off quickly. Then I saw it. The slick, black surface of a wire. It looked like it was torn from the nearest utility lines. I had a sickening feeling that I was about to be electrocuted alive. The thing stood longer and I sank further down. Even If I tried to escape it was too late. It dropped the wire and the last thing I felt was a paralyzing sadness.
~
Anna Sikkema, ’29
The wire frayed. Darkness fell. Not the kind of dark where you can’t see your hands in front of you, but the dark where the world around you seems to be slipping away. The kind of dark that illuminates every spider web and crevasse, the kind of dark which makes the world feel hollow. A small girl was looking for something in this dark.
“What are you looking for,” asked a soft spoken voice. Another girl slightly appeared from the shadows of the cave. Few of her features were visible; her eyes matched the emptiness of the cave yet still maintained the same chocolate color as the girls. She had slightly longer hair but the same dark tone.
“My bracelet,” the first girl said unfaltering, her gaze unwavering from the ground, “My name is Lucy by the way.”
“How interesting…” And like they had known each other forever, she knelt down next to Lucy and they began searching together in the dark cave. The girl seemed to glide across the moist cave floor, knowing every cranny. At last her eyes rested on something faintly visible and she picked it up. It was a small bracelet with a singular charm, an anchor. The girl glided over to Lucy and opened her left hand.
“You found it!” Lucy carefully ran across the cave to the girl’s open hand . The bracelet stood out on the girl’s hand as it seemed to be almost translucent. On the girl’s wrist was the same bracelet, fraying the tiniest bit with age seeming like that friendship had long been gone… yet she was little. Lucy went to reach for the bracelet in her hand when the girl’s cold, dark, fading hand wrapped around her wrist and slipped her own bracelet onto Lucy’s. She grinned shyly, whispering, “Together at last…”, as the world around Lucy began to fade.
~
Beyana Smith, ’26
Ashen Crest was the unspoken town, a place haunted by silence and fear. Nobody dared to speak its name. It sat empty, but Valerie felt it waiting for her to return. The abandoned street lights flickered, struggling to hold back the dark that seemed to settle into every corner of the town. Whispers echoed through alleys in the emptiness. Valerie stepped in, reading the Welcome to Ashen Crest sign, heart pounding out of her chest. She hadn’t been to Ashen Crest in years, not since everything changed. Annie, her best friend, went missing weeks ago, and something inside Valerie had a chill that felt not her own. Forced her to come back, to find her. Their bracelets, old and worn from years of friendship, still flickered when they sensed each other nearby. Ahead, the dock came into view, and there was the old anchor where they used to meet as kids, laughing and talking about everything. Now it was rusted and old, curled across the dock. Valerie’s bracelet flickered stronger as she approached the dock. “Annie?” she whispered. Three tall, impossibly thin, and faceless figures emerged from the shadows. Suddenly, a hand appeared, grabbing her wrist. The glow from Annie’s bracelet made her feel relieved until she realized the fingers were stiff and cold. Something or someone is wearing her bracelet. Valerie yanked free, stumbling into an electrical wire along the dock. It sparked, sending flashes of light across the planks. During the flashes, she saw Annie at the water’s edge, Annie’s pale face, her eyes hollow, her body unnaturally still. Dark energy reeked from the figure’s hands onto her chest. They pulled her soul,feeding their own life. Valerie lies on the ground, bracelet flashing wildly. The last glow of Annie’s soul and then Valerie’s was drawn into the figure’s darkness. Darkness swallowed them both. Ashen Crest never lets go.
~
The bracelet in the dark by Henrietta Thetford, ’29
Last summer me and my best friend Junia made matching friendship bracelets. Mine was purple and blue, hers was pink and orange. We said we would never take them off but one day Junia went missing. The whole town was looking for her, even her opps.
Weeks later, I went by the old boat yard even though my mom told me not to. The ground smelled like decayed animals and there were broken anchors everywhere. They were all rusty and heavy, just lying in the mud. That’s when I saw it. Junia’s bracelet. It was stuck on the sharp edge of one anchor. My heart skipped a beat, and I thought I would faint.
I picked it up and suddenly I heard this buzzing sound. At first I thought it was a bug, then I saw sparks. There was an electrical wire dangling down from one of the broken poles, spitting little flames. I swear it hissed my name. I should’ve run but I didn’t. I just stood there holding her bracelet, my hands shaking.
The wire snapped loose and whipped the ground near me, burning the dirt. I heard a scream. It wasn’t me. It was Junia. It came from the dark under the boat, like she was trapped inside the anchor’s shadow. I shouted her name but all I heard back was laughter, scratchy and too close to my ear.
I dropped the bracelet and ran so fast I didn’t even feel my feet hit the ground. When I looked back, the anchor was glowing red, and the bracelet was gone.
I never saw Junia again. But at night, sometimes, my wrist feels heavy, like she’s still holding onto me. Everything goes silent just for a moment when I feel Junia’s presence around me. Like she’s breathing down my spine.
