Following this post are six story lines for you to choose from,
each with unlimited possibilities.
Special thanks go to KAV who is the main contributor.
Please note the rules of the Challenge and enjoy!
Full Version: The Halloween Challenge 2006
RomanceFanFiction.net > The Highlights - A Place To Start > Seasonal/Holiday Challenges > 2006 Seasonal/Holiday Challenges > Halloween Challenge 2006
Following this post are six story lines for you to choose from,
each with unlimited possibilities.
Special thanks go to KAV who is the main contributor.
Please note the rules of the Challenge and enjoy!
Halloween Challenge - Option #1
She had been drawn into the shop in spite of her resolve. Each day this week she had paused longer than she should to stare into the intriguing murky darkness within. Each day she resisted the lure and made it back to the office in time, somehow knowing that if she were to go inside, it wouldn’t be a simple task to come back out again.
Today she had crossed over the threshold and stood for a moment soaking up the ambiance of the cluttered room. It was magical – in an fragrant and dusty and very ancient kind of way. Spellbound, she turned this way and that, trying to comprehend the oddities that surrounded her. Though unfamiliar, the objects on the shelves beckoned and she let her heart lead her to a display of filigree pendants that hung from the ceiling.
Hesitantly she traced the spiral shape of bent metal, jumping back in surprise when something sharp bit into her finger. She stared at the dot of blood that beaded on her fingertip and thought disjointedly of fairytales about bewitched young women and the princes who freed them.
“There. That wasn’t the right one, was it, dear?” The swimming features of a wrinkled old crone gradually became clear and, blinking away the haze that still clouded her vision, she tried to regain her composure…wondering when she’d lost it to begin with.
“Excuse me? I didn’t catch that.”
“The spirals, dearie. You touched the wrong one. Sometimes they call with malicious intent. Sometimes with benevolence. It’s best to choose the latter if you want to travel a smooth road. Try again.”
Thinking that she really had to leave or she’d be late she nevertheless returned her attention to the spiral designs dangling before her eyes. They were all beautiful, reminiscent of ancient druid symbols. Coils representing eternity, fertility and endurance. She tried to find another that appealed to her, but none of them did. Hesitantly, wary now, she reached to touch the first pendent again. This time a crackle of electricity buzzed from her fingertip to her heart and she felt the glow encompass her entire being.
“Oh my…” she gasped, as a gentle tug brought the heavy weight of the circular metal into her hand, the soft purple velvet of it’s ribbon contrasting sharply with the cold glint of metal against her skin.
“Oh my, indeed,” the old woman echoed in a paper-thin waver. “It happens like that sometimes, but in all my years I have never witnessed such an occurrence. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I knew you were the one the moment I set eyes on you and you have just past the first test. May the next two be as smoothly met.” While she uttered these incomprehensible words she tugged the pendent from nerveless fingers and placed it around the young woman’s neck.
She felt the heavy weight nestle between her breasts, burning reassuringly close to her heart. In an almost trance-like state she allowed the old woman to escort her to the door of the shop and usher her back out onto the street. She squinted in the glaring sun of Indian summer and then turned back in consternation, realizing that she hadn’t paid for the pendant that circled her neck. The boarded up storefront that confronted her caused a startled exclamation of surprise to pass from her lips and then quickly grew to alarm as she noticed the shadowy figure lurking in the shelter of an adjacent alleyway.
She had been drawn into the shop in spite of her resolve. Each day this week she had paused longer than she should to stare into the intriguing murky darkness within. Each day she resisted the lure and made it back to the office in time, somehow knowing that if she were to go inside, it wouldn’t be a simple task to come back out again.
Today she had crossed over the threshold and stood for a moment soaking up the ambiance of the cluttered room. It was magical – in an fragrant and dusty and very ancient kind of way. Spellbound, she turned this way and that, trying to comprehend the oddities that surrounded her. Though unfamiliar, the objects on the shelves beckoned and she let her heart lead her to a display of filigree pendants that hung from the ceiling.
Hesitantly she traced the spiral shape of bent metal, jumping back in surprise when something sharp bit into her finger. She stared at the dot of blood that beaded on her fingertip and thought disjointedly of fairytales about bewitched young women and the princes who freed them.
“There. That wasn’t the right one, was it, dear?” The swimming features of a wrinkled old crone gradually became clear and, blinking away the haze that still clouded her vision, she tried to regain her composure…wondering when she’d lost it to begin with.
“Excuse me? I didn’t catch that.”
“The spirals, dearie. You touched the wrong one. Sometimes they call with malicious intent. Sometimes with benevolence. It’s best to choose the latter if you want to travel a smooth road. Try again.”
Thinking that she really had to leave or she’d be late she nevertheless returned her attention to the spiral designs dangling before her eyes. They were all beautiful, reminiscent of ancient druid symbols. Coils representing eternity, fertility and endurance. She tried to find another that appealed to her, but none of them did. Hesitantly, wary now, she reached to touch the first pendent again. This time a crackle of electricity buzzed from her fingertip to her heart and she felt the glow encompass her entire being.
“Oh my…” she gasped, as a gentle tug brought the heavy weight of the circular metal into her hand, the soft purple velvet of it’s ribbon contrasting sharply with the cold glint of metal against her skin.
“Oh my, indeed,” the old woman echoed in a paper-thin waver. “It happens like that sometimes, but in all my years I have never witnessed such an occurrence. I don’t know why I’m surprised. I knew you were the one the moment I set eyes on you and you have just past the first test. May the next two be as smoothly met.” While she uttered these incomprehensible words she tugged the pendent from nerveless fingers and placed it around the young woman’s neck.
She felt the heavy weight nestle between her breasts, burning reassuringly close to her heart. In an almost trance-like state she allowed the old woman to escort her to the door of the shop and usher her back out onto the street. She squinted in the glaring sun of Indian summer and then turned back in consternation, realizing that she hadn’t paid for the pendant that circled her neck. The boarded up storefront that confronted her caused a startled exclamation of surprise to pass from her lips and then quickly grew to alarm as she noticed the shadowy figure lurking in the shelter of an adjacent alleyway.
Halloween Challenge - Option #2
“Try again,” Jack said darkly, bracing himself against the driving rain and keeping his gun steady on the suspect. The man’s eyes hardened, flickering between him and Bobby. A slow thin smile began to spread across the cracked skin, bending it in an unfamiliar pattern.
“No reason to try, already done,” he croaked.
“We’re looking for a confession mate,” Bobby snapped. “What did you do with Lisa Brig and Marley Stapleton?”
Jack winced at the old man’s laughter, his blood turning to ice as the cackle’s pitch began to rise. “Save us the time and it might help you too.”
“I don’t need your help,” the man spat. “It’s far too late for me, and just maybe for you as well…”
Gleaming in the dim light, the man’s gaze fell over Jack’s shoulder and from behind him he could hear Levi’s low growl, followed by a high pitched yelp. “Cover me,” he ordered at Bobby, whirling back to Sue, to find the place where she had stood vacant, the golden’s tail barely visible under the SUV. “Sue?!” Striding back, he halted where Sue had been moments before as the rain began to lash even harder, driving any Trick-or-Treaters that might have passed into the safety of their homes. “Myles?!”
“Here!”
Across the roof of the car, Jack spied Myles hurrying across the storm-blackened clearing, Dimitrius close behind. “Is Sue with you?” he demanded, thunder and lightening drowning out the answer, but a shake of Myles head was all he needed. The old man’s cackle grew louder and Jack clenched his teeth, safetying his gun. It had taken him ten strides to reach the car, he returned to the old man in six breaching his space and leaving only breathing room between them. “Where is she?”
“Try again,” Jack said darkly, bracing himself against the driving rain and keeping his gun steady on the suspect. The man’s eyes hardened, flickering between him and Bobby. A slow thin smile began to spread across the cracked skin, bending it in an unfamiliar pattern.
“No reason to try, already done,” he croaked.
“We’re looking for a confession mate,” Bobby snapped. “What did you do with Lisa Brig and Marley Stapleton?”
Jack winced at the old man’s laughter, his blood turning to ice as the cackle’s pitch began to rise. “Save us the time and it might help you too.”
“I don’t need your help,” the man spat. “It’s far too late for me, and just maybe for you as well…”
Gleaming in the dim light, the man’s gaze fell over Jack’s shoulder and from behind him he could hear Levi’s low growl, followed by a high pitched yelp. “Cover me,” he ordered at Bobby, whirling back to Sue, to find the place where she had stood vacant, the golden’s tail barely visible under the SUV. “Sue?!” Striding back, he halted where Sue had been moments before as the rain began to lash even harder, driving any Trick-or-Treaters that might have passed into the safety of their homes. “Myles?!”
“Here!”
Across the roof of the car, Jack spied Myles hurrying across the storm-blackened clearing, Dimitrius close behind. “Is Sue with you?” he demanded, thunder and lightening drowning out the answer, but a shake of Myles head was all he needed. The old man’s cackle grew louder and Jack clenched his teeth, safetying his gun. It had taken him ten strides to reach the car, he returned to the old man in six breaching his space and leaving only breathing room between them. “Where is she?”
Halloween Challenge - Option #3
“What do you know about pookas?” Tara asked the bullpen at large during a quiet lull mid morning.
Bobby just coming in from a Starbucks run deposited her favourite brewed beverage onto her desk and smiled with interest. “A new band you’re following?”
Tara shook her head.
“Some kind of superior firewall,” Myles guessed eyeing Tara’s impressive array of electronic gadgets.
Again Tara shook her head.
“A new dog breed,” Sue suggested, furrowing her brow as she tried to figure out the combination. “Poodle of course and...Pekinese? Cairn terrier?…”
“No!” Tara sighed with exasperation.
“All right…I’ll bite – what is a pooka then?” Jack asked, knowing that Tara was just dying to tell them.
“An Irish fairy spirit – a shapeshifter, though it usually appears in the form of a black horse with fiery yellow eyes,” Tara answered rather bleakly.
“Oh,” Lucy looked around at her coworkers and gave a little shrug. “Well, you learn something new every day.”
“Ah,” Myles suddenly exclaimed in understanding, his fingers steepled in front of his face as he contemplated his woebegone friend. “I don’t usually make the connection with your choice of conversational topic gambits – but I think I might see one here. Halloween.”
Tara nodded. “All Hallow’s Eve. The day before All Saints Day.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I thought you liked Halloween. You’ve been talking non-stop about your Halloween party tonight. We’re all going – complete with costumes.”
“That’s before I saw him this morning.”
“The pooka?” Bobby ventured.
“Black coat, flowing mane, grazing right beneath my window when I woke up this morning,” Tara informed them darkly.
“Did she say she had a horse in her yard?” Sue sought confirmation from Jack. “In the city?”
Jack nodded in the affirmative, but his expression indicated he was just as clueless as she was. They both turned their attention back to Tara.
“Not just a horse – a pooka in the shape of a horse,” Tara felt compelled to clarify.
“No offense, Tara, but how can you be certain that it was a pooka and not just some stray horse?” Jack asked curiously.
Tara rolled her eyes. “I’m an investigative agent Jack. You think I didn’t check it out thoroughly? First of all, dogs stray. Horses roam. And there aren’t any horses within miles of my neighbourhood since I live downtown! Now I know that’s circumstantial evidence – or lack of – ” Tara paused, looking puzzled for a moment, but then went on. “Anyway, I conducted a thorough interrogation.”
“With who – neighbours?” Myles guessed.
“With the pooka of course.”
“A talking horse?” The question echoed around the room.
Tara nodded. “Gives new meaning to the phrase ‘straight from the horses mouth’, doesn’t it?” It was a feeble joke and they could all tell her heart wasn’t in it.
“So, what did this…thing…say to you?” Bobby asked with infinite patience and a trace of worry.
“Enough to make me decide to cancel my party – I’m uninviting you. No one is coming near my house until tomorrow morning at the earliest!” Tara looked directly at each of her dear friends in turn. Her troubled countenance and tear-filled eyes told them that she was serious. Her voice rang with deadly conviction when she added, “You all mean too much to me and I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. The pooka told me that I should beware the evil that lurked around me and that someone I loved was going to die in my home tonight.”
“What do you know about pookas?” Tara asked the bullpen at large during a quiet lull mid morning.
Bobby just coming in from a Starbucks run deposited her favourite brewed beverage onto her desk and smiled with interest. “A new band you’re following?”
Tara shook her head.
“Some kind of superior firewall,” Myles guessed eyeing Tara’s impressive array of electronic gadgets.
Again Tara shook her head.
“A new dog breed,” Sue suggested, furrowing her brow as she tried to figure out the combination. “Poodle of course and...Pekinese? Cairn terrier?…”
“No!” Tara sighed with exasperation.
“All right…I’ll bite – what is a pooka then?” Jack asked, knowing that Tara was just dying to tell them.
“An Irish fairy spirit – a shapeshifter, though it usually appears in the form of a black horse with fiery yellow eyes,” Tara answered rather bleakly.
“Oh,” Lucy looked around at her coworkers and gave a little shrug. “Well, you learn something new every day.”
“Ah,” Myles suddenly exclaimed in understanding, his fingers steepled in front of his face as he contemplated his woebegone friend. “I don’t usually make the connection with your choice of conversational topic gambits – but I think I might see one here. Halloween.”
Tara nodded. “All Hallow’s Eve. The day before All Saints Day.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I thought you liked Halloween. You’ve been talking non-stop about your Halloween party tonight. We’re all going – complete with costumes.”
“That’s before I saw him this morning.”
“The pooka?” Bobby ventured.
“Black coat, flowing mane, grazing right beneath my window when I woke up this morning,” Tara informed them darkly.
“Did she say she had a horse in her yard?” Sue sought confirmation from Jack. “In the city?”
Jack nodded in the affirmative, but his expression indicated he was just as clueless as she was. They both turned their attention back to Tara.
“Not just a horse – a pooka in the shape of a horse,” Tara felt compelled to clarify.
“No offense, Tara, but how can you be certain that it was a pooka and not just some stray horse?” Jack asked curiously.
Tara rolled her eyes. “I’m an investigative agent Jack. You think I didn’t check it out thoroughly? First of all, dogs stray. Horses roam. And there aren’t any horses within miles of my neighbourhood since I live downtown! Now I know that’s circumstantial evidence – or lack of – ” Tara paused, looking puzzled for a moment, but then went on. “Anyway, I conducted a thorough interrogation.”
“With who – neighbours?” Myles guessed.
“With the pooka of course.”
“A talking horse?” The question echoed around the room.
Tara nodded. “Gives new meaning to the phrase ‘straight from the horses mouth’, doesn’t it?” It was a feeble joke and they could all tell her heart wasn’t in it.
“So, what did this…thing…say to you?” Bobby asked with infinite patience and a trace of worry.
“Enough to make me decide to cancel my party – I’m uninviting you. No one is coming near my house until tomorrow morning at the earliest!” Tara looked directly at each of her dear friends in turn. Her troubled countenance and tear-filled eyes told them that she was serious. Her voice rang with deadly conviction when she added, “You all mean too much to me and I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. The pooka told me that I should beware the evil that lurked around me and that someone I loved was going to die in my home tonight.”
Halloween Challenge - Option #4
Something whispery soft and sticky tickled her face and she jumped back in disgust, wiping the remnants of the spider web from her skin. She shuddered with distaste and peered into the gloomy interior of the abandoned house. She’d come here on a whim – following a nearly non-existent lead on a case that was rapidly turning cold – and now she was regretting it. She should have reported in. Waited for someone to come with her. The flashlight she had brought was next to useless – it’s weak beam barely highlighting the dust particles that rose into the air as she walked down the hallway. There was just enough light to make out the dust-covered furniture in the expansive great room. Her imagination began to run wild as her eyes skirted over the grotesque shapes. A couch or settee, a table…even a grand piano – all cascaded with stark white sheets that fluttered eerily in the autumn breeze coming in from the front door which she had carefully left open.
“There are no such things as ghosts,” she told herself sternly, forcing one foot in front of the other as she moved into the shrouded room. She was here, she might as well do a preliminary check and then, if she found what she was hoping to, she’d go back to the car and call in. Unable to shake the creepy feeling that was only growing with each second she spent in the deserted house, she carefully directed her flashlight around the perimeter of the room first. Determined to take her time and do a thorough job she failed to notice two things. First, the dust-smudged footprint in front of the piano and second, the sudden blast of wind that shut the door with a resounding thud.
Something whispery soft and sticky tickled her face and she jumped back in disgust, wiping the remnants of the spider web from her skin. She shuddered with distaste and peered into the gloomy interior of the abandoned house. She’d come here on a whim – following a nearly non-existent lead on a case that was rapidly turning cold – and now she was regretting it. She should have reported in. Waited for someone to come with her. The flashlight she had brought was next to useless – it’s weak beam barely highlighting the dust particles that rose into the air as she walked down the hallway. There was just enough light to make out the dust-covered furniture in the expansive great room. Her imagination began to run wild as her eyes skirted over the grotesque shapes. A couch or settee, a table…even a grand piano – all cascaded with stark white sheets that fluttered eerily in the autumn breeze coming in from the front door which she had carefully left open.
“There are no such things as ghosts,” she told herself sternly, forcing one foot in front of the other as she moved into the shrouded room. She was here, she might as well do a preliminary check and then, if she found what she was hoping to, she’d go back to the car and call in. Unable to shake the creepy feeling that was only growing with each second she spent in the deserted house, she carefully directed her flashlight around the perimeter of the room first. Determined to take her time and do a thorough job she failed to notice two things. First, the dust-smudged footprint in front of the piano and second, the sudden blast of wind that shut the door with a resounding thud.
Halloween Challenge - Option #5
“It’s a love potion.”
“I don’t know…”
“Look, you want them to be happy, don’t you?”
“Y-y-yes…but…”
“But nothing. They aren’t figuring out their happiness on their own are they?”
“W-w-well, maybe they just need time.”
Brows arched in disbelief.
“Okay – maybe they need a little nudge in the right direction, but when I called you, I didn’t expect a…”
“Genie? You shouldn’t have rubbed the lamp then. Now, do you want your first wish to come true or not? Because I’d just like to get the three of them over and done with before enjoying another thousand year snooze if it’s all the same to you.”
“It’s a love potion.”
“I don’t know…”
“Look, you want them to be happy, don’t you?”
“Y-y-yes…but…”
“But nothing. They aren’t figuring out their happiness on their own are they?”
“W-w-well, maybe they just need time.”
Brows arched in disbelief.
“Okay – maybe they need a little nudge in the right direction, but when I called you, I didn’t expect a…”
“Genie? You shouldn’t have rubbed the lamp then. Now, do you want your first wish to come true or not? Because I’d just like to get the three of them over and done with before enjoying another thousand year snooze if it’s all the same to you.”
Halloween Challenge - Option #6
“It’ll never work,” Lucy laughed. “And I should know.”
“It could work,” Tara offered, peering over her mug of coffee.
“And tomorrow I could wake up and find that the little hooligans who call themselves Trick-or-Treaters have refrained from their annual ritual of toilet-papering my house,” Myles mumbled.
“They toilet-paper your house?” Tara choked a giggle.
“Considering the state of modern childhood, does that surprise you?” Myles frowned.
“Takes a lot of gumption to toilet paper a FBI agent’s house,” Bobby smiled.
“No one has ever toilet papered my house,” Dimitrius quipped, reaching for a coffee cup.
“You need our help solving your case Myles?” Jack grinned, unbuttoning his coat. Guilty expressions were his answer, Tara shaking her head and returning to her desk, Myles and Bobby turning their backs and Lucy walking unusually fast towards the file cabinet. It wasn’t hard to spot a plot, the question was how to handle it, which first meant, finding out what the plot was, then beating them to the punch line. Settling in his chair, he began to take inventory of the team’s uneasiness when Sue entered the Bullpen, shifting his focus in a single breath. Her smile gone, her gaze averted, she crossed the room silently instead of her usual cheery ‘good morning’. Briskly removing her coat, she dove into her seat, hiding behind her computer to brush away the last trace of tears. Even as he stood, he could see her set her jaw. Grabbing the case file they had been working on yesterday, Jack walked to her desk, perching on the side and waited for the brilliant hazel eyes to lift and meet his.
“It’ll never work,” Lucy laughed. “And I should know.”
“It could work,” Tara offered, peering over her mug of coffee.
“And tomorrow I could wake up and find that the little hooligans who call themselves Trick-or-Treaters have refrained from their annual ritual of toilet-papering my house,” Myles mumbled.
“They toilet-paper your house?” Tara choked a giggle.
“Considering the state of modern childhood, does that surprise you?” Myles frowned.
“Takes a lot of gumption to toilet paper a FBI agent’s house,” Bobby smiled.
“No one has ever toilet papered my house,” Dimitrius quipped, reaching for a coffee cup.
“You need our help solving your case Myles?” Jack grinned, unbuttoning his coat. Guilty expressions were his answer, Tara shaking her head and returning to her desk, Myles and Bobby turning their backs and Lucy walking unusually fast towards the file cabinet. It wasn’t hard to spot a plot, the question was how to handle it, which first meant, finding out what the plot was, then beating them to the punch line. Settling in his chair, he began to take inventory of the team’s uneasiness when Sue entered the Bullpen, shifting his focus in a single breath. Her smile gone, her gaze averted, she crossed the room silently instead of her usual cheery ‘good morning’. Briskly removing her coat, she dove into her seat, hiding behind her computer to brush away the last trace of tears. Even as he stood, he could see her set her jaw. Grabbing the case file they had been working on yesterday, Jack walked to her desk, perching on the side and waited for the brilliant hazel eyes to lift and meet his.
Here are the Guidelines to Entry: A) To start an entry, simply open a thread - feel free to use your title and add your name ie 'Option 3 - Pooka Halloween - Starbuck'. Copy and paste the Intro story at the beginning of your story and begin writing.
B ) Be sure to include your rating in your Topic Description Line (G, PG, PG13, PG17).
C) Multiple entries are allowed, but please complete your story before beginning another.
D) All stories must be completed by October 31st - after which entries will close, and voting for LEVI's will begin shortly thereafter.
E) The stories will be judged by the readers within the following categories (note - some of these are different then challenges):
1. Best Romance (STFBEye)
2. Best Mystery (STFBEye)
3. Best Paranormal (STFBEye)
4. Scariest Story (STFBEye)
5. Most Creative (STFBEye)
6. Best New Writer (STFBEye) (has had NO other stories/scenes on the board)
7. Best Story in a show other then Sue Thomas FBEye*
* For those who have tried their hand at Fanfiction other then STFBeye, here is a category for you. You will notice Options 1 and 4 do not name the character. Title your story, include the show you are referencing, rate the story, paste the intro and off you go. This category will be judged as Best Overall Story.
HAVE FUN!!!!
Jen
(A final note: When posting these stories elsewhere - first and foremost, your story always belongs to you the writer. We at no time have purchased nor request any proprietary rights over your work. Since the introduction to this challenge, hence the premise, was written here... please credit the author, as you yourself would want to be credited for your work, with their name and a link to this site http://www.romancefanfiction.net . Thank you.)
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