Young Readers League 2017 Writing Contest

1st place

Category 2 (ages 12-14)

The Ghost Story

by Christopher Souza
Age 12 (Grade 6)
Blair Middle School

 

It was a dark and gloomy night and the wind howled like hunting wolves. Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning hit one of the graves at the cemetery. The explosion was so big that it destroyed a few tombs. After the smoke cleared, a ghost appeared. This ghost appeared to be cloudy white with eyes and mouth that looked like an endless hole that could consume anyone in its path. Unfortunately, this was a ghost that could bring back other ghosts. This meant that he would have an army of ghosts. Day by day, the ghosts would haunt homes in the nearby town. These ghosts were on the mission take over the town and make it their own.

In the town, when the first person saw the ghost, he screamed, “GHOST!! GHOST!” People fled their homes and went running as far as they could, except for one person. This person was an old grandma who was hard of hearing, and could hardly see anything in front of her. When a ghost arrived at her home to scare her off, she didn’t even notice it. She was too busy vacuuming her living room of cat hairs. To get her attention, the ghost had to shove her. The startled grandma ended up turning the vacuum on the ghost, where it got sucked up with all the cat hairs.

Word got out how this grandma defeated the ghost with her vacuum. The town’s people returned to their homes to grab their vacuums. One by one, the ghost were sucked up until they were gone.

The town‘s people rewarded this grandma with a new vacuum, and called her “The Ghost Slayer.” She was just happy with a new vacuum, and one that didn’t smell like a cat.

Contest info: In 300 words or less, tell a ghost story.

Special thanks to our judges:  Allison Hill (Vromans); Shauna Redmond, Jean Penn, Leela Perea, Robin Reidy and Rosa Cesaretti (Pasadena Public Library).

Copyedited by Faith Malicdem, Teen Blog Assistant

To view more stories from the contest, view the list:  http://pasadena-library.net/kids/2017/ghost-story-contest-winners/