Friday, October 29, 2010

A Halloween Tale of Terror

©2010 Susan Noyes Anderson (poetry only)
Suzy McMurphy loved Halloween fun.
She loved scaring her friends most of all.
She gave them the shivers. She gave them the creeps.
Suzy spooked them and made their skin crawl.

She was never a princess, a frog, or a nurse.
Ghoulish costumes were all she would choose.
Her Halloween glee came from tricks, never treats...
and from scaring folks out of their shoes!

Of all trick-or-treaters who came to their doors,
parents dreaded sweet Suzy the most.
Each year, she turned into a demon or witch, but
this year, she turned into a ghost!

Suzy left her warm house with a flashlight in hand,
then she started to slither and slide.
She met up with the neighborhood kids on the street.
They were walking, but she seemed to glide.

It was only pretend; she was wearing a sheet,
but as Suzy swooped up to each door,
she was moaning and wailing and haunting so well
that her pals couldn't take any more.

They said, "Stop it, Suzy! You're freaking us out!"
But she only smiled bigger...groaned louder.
By the end of the night, all her friends were a wreck.
Knees were knocking! (She'd never felt prouder.)

Her bag was full up; it was time to head home;
Suzy sent off her crew with a shriek.
“Say good-bye,” her friends begged. Suzy just shook her head.
As a ghost, she preferred not to speak.

When she turned up her street, Suzy felt a slight chill,
and a gust of wind swept down the lane.
Did the street lights seem dimmer…more ghostly, somehow?
Was that mist?...Was it starting to rain?

Suzy shivered. She knew it was not from the cold
that the hairs on her neck slowly rose.
She tried to quit gliding and run for her door,
but that isn’t the way a ghost goes.

A ghost goes straight up, and that’s just what she did.
Suzy rose, then she floated away.
She skimmed through the treetops and crept like a cloud
to a place that was cold, damp, and gray.

At last, she was home. As she reached for the gate,
it creaked once and then swung open wide.
She gazed at the graveyard in horror and moaned,
but a strange power pulled her inside.

“Welcome home,” the wind whispered, or was it the spirits?
She knew them as voices of doom.
But never had fear known a fear like the one
Suzy felt, when she saw her own tomb!

She reached for the roses that someone had placed
at the foot of her newly dug grave,
then looked at the words on the headstone and read,
while the dread hit her heart like a wave.

“Suzy McMurphy,” it said. “Here she lies…
And forevermore, here she will lay.”
As she felt herself shifting and changing, like vapor,
the ground started calling her name.

In terror, she screamed. “Suzy...Suzy...” she heard.
“Suzy, wake up. It’s just a bad dream!”
The sight of her mom at the side of her bed
was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen.

Her Halloween bag, filled with treats, was right there
where she’d left it a few hours before.
Suzy smiled with relief and then laughed right out loud.
But she froze when Mom said one thing more...

“Here’s the rose that you left on the floor.”
∞§∞

This Halloween tale is dedicated to Jeremiah, Carli, and Bryce...
the most spook-tacular grandkids in the world.

with lot of love always
from their scary old Grandma A.

=)

30 comments:

Amy said...

EEEEEK!!! I love it! Keith read it with me and loved it as well. What a deliciously creepy tale. Wow. I hope your grandkids have a wonderful Halloween, and none too scary, too.

Jocelyn Christensen said...

Good, creepy stuff!!! Excellent!

Katie said...

Totally creepy with the music especially!!! You are one creative lady! Your grandkids will LOVE it! Any plans for Halloween?

Lisalulu said...

that's grrrrrreat! You ARE the best Grandma in the world!

Pearl said...

Cute! And I just loved the music with it. Good job!

Pearl

Kat said...

This was wonderful Sue! Loved it, especially that little spooky twist at the end. I think your Suzy and my Cindy have alot in commom :) Kat

Kat said...

oops - common....K

Darlene said...

What a neat neat story. I'll bet the kids loved it, I surely did! It won't be long before Halloween and we are trying to figure out where we can go, so we won't have to go to the door every minute for three hours. It really gets expensive!! Oh well, if we must, we must........hope you have a Happy Halloween.

Kelli said...

Hi, i followed your link from Cheryl K's blog, and read your awesome poem. Love it! Can't wait for my grandkids to come over and i will read it to them. Happy Haunting!

Donna said...

You remind me of my beloved Grandmother who told us made up stories every night before bed. She was just amazingly fun...and so are YOU!!!

Terra said...

Sue you just blew me away! Amazing tale, truly amazing. I am going to print this and keep it for when my girls can handle it! Just amazing.

CB said...

Oh my gosh Sue that was really scary and creepy! The rose at the end was the perfect touch!
I think I'll tell this one to Trent tonight before he goes to bed - ha ha.

karen said...

OOOoooooooooOOOOOOO!! That was just right amount of spookiness with a twist. The music set the perfect tone. Did the grandkiddies love it?

Caroline said...

Spooooktacular!!!!

I actually read this out loud because I got so excited! This is fantastic. I can see this in the form of a children's book. We've been reading some fun Halloween stories this year and this is better than any of them!

Have a great weekend!

Teachinfourth said...

Things like this are always welcome at Halloween!

Good work, Sue…and thanks for the invite over.

Stef said...

That is scary! Nice!

alpinekleins said...

OoooOOoo yes . . . very haunting :) Love it, so much fun.

Kristin

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

WOW! All joking aside, this should be a children's book and I think you know that.

It has the magic of a story AND the magic of that rhyme and meter small children love.

I would need to get one for my daughter's classroom library, one for my little nephew and one for my friend's daughter. For real.

I KNOW you can make it happen,
Sue!!

yaya said...

What a great poem and very scary! I will have to print this and use it at the campfire in the creepy woods next Halloween party! Your are so talented!

Unknown said...

OOOhhhh...that's what Suzy gets for terrorizing her friends!
You've definitely got to make that one into a little Halloween book!!

Jess said...

I loved this one Sue- marvelous job! I guess miss Suzy got a little taste of her own medicine.

Lisa Loo said...

Perfect!

Grandma Honey said...

Mothers always make things better. They have such power.

That music alone is enough to scare me :) but I love it.

Unknown said...

What a great Halloween tale! I love it!

Myrna Foster said...

Creepy, especially with the bleeding rose at the end.

Em said...

It rained. No it POURED most of the night. And brennan would have rather been a ghost.

Deborah said...

Oooh this gave me goose bumps, so well done, just brilliant!!

Jenny said...

Holy ghosts and goblins! This was a really creepy read.

I hope your Grands aren't going to have the same nightmares I suspect I am going to.

Yikes.

Amazing right Miss Sue.

Unknown said...

OH! Great story SUE! This is your best yet! I love it!

I have a friend whose daughter is just like Suzy...only her name is Lucy. You got her spot on!

VK said...

Very cute and a story with turns. Like it!