Fall Writing Frenzy 2022 prompt image #1 (Credit: Samantha Hurley / Burst)

Autumn is well and truly here, and I’ve entered Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez and Lydia Lukidis’ fun kidlit writing contest #FallWritingFrenzy again. This time, unusually for me, I’ve abandoned my picture book proclivity and have gone for an older, scarier, spooky vibe instead! Here’s my 200-word entry, in response to the picture prompt above:

Evil Takes Flight

In a dark, chilly field, where just hours earlier noisy families chose cheerful orange globes for their Halloween displays, an ancient evil rose from the depths and crawled up through the roots of three pumpkin vines. Soon, hidden beneath the smooth skin of three pumpkins – one large, one medium, one small – there began a fizzing, an unnaturally fast ripening, an audible squirming and festering. The medium pumpkin grew two nodules which erupted into thin stick-arms. With one arm it picked up the small pumpkin; with the other, it dragged itself over to the large pumpkin, hooked its stick-fingers into it and hauled itself up on top. Next, the stick-fingers punched eyeholes and a leering mouth into the small pumpkin and carefully positioned it to form a head. A sickly glow and a foul stench spread into the now strangely warm night air. The carrion-like reek did not go unnoticed. Crows flapped like tattered shrouds in the sky, then descended to pick at the rotting mulch with their sharp beaks. As they feasted, the pumpkins’ glow faded and was finally extinguished, only to shine out from each crow’s eyes as the evil took flight, up and away into the unsuspecting world.