Chills & Thrills Anthology

A Merry Scary Christmas | Winners

The following were the top entries from our A Merry Scary Christmas contest. Congratulations to all our winners!

The full list of entries can be found here.

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PROMPT

It's the winter holidays and your family decides to visit the newly renovated resort. You're the first to arrive and decide there's time for a nap. Just then, you hear a knock on the door. A paper is slipped beneath the door and scrawled in bright red ink is a single word: HIDE.

A chill runs down your spine—your family wouldn't have arrived this soon, and they wouldn't play pranks on you either. What or who else could it be? And what happens next?

  

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WINNING ENTRIES

#1

by JustCarmen22

A smile spread across my lips as I unlocked the door to my family's suite at the newly renovated Jamaican resort. Being Canadian, I was overjoyed at how warm and sunny the place was this time of year. It was winter, for Christ's sake!

The air-conditioned interior was huge and spacious, with a contemporary design. A Christmas tree stood by the door, and beside it were a few boxes with Christmas decorations hanging out.

So they let you do your own decorations, I thought gleefully.

This was going to be fun! And the best part about it was that I was the first one there. My parents, boyfriend, and little sister wouldn't arrive until the next day so I had the place all to myself– all thanks to my great boss who let me off a day earlier than planned.

I got started on decorating right away and after roughly five hours I was finally finished. I randomly chose one of the three bedrooms there for my boyfriend, Kevin, and I. After a quick shower, I decided to take a nap.Just as I was about to doze off, there was a knock on the front door. I hurried to open it and was shocked to find there was no one there. The hallway outside the front door was empty. I decided it must've been my imagination and locked the door.

Just as I was about to return to my room, I spotted a neatly folded piece of white paper on the floor behind the door. I was certain I hadn't seen it there before. I picked it up and unfolded it. In the center of the paper, written in crimson letters, was the word 'Hide'.

I gasped and began to panic as the paper slipped from my hands. My heart hammering in my chest, I looked around for something I could use as a weapon. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen, then did exactly what the paper said. I rushed to my bedroom and locked myself in the closet.

I pressed my ear against the closet door and listened. My heart accelerated as I heard footsteps and rustling coming from the living room. I didn't move, barely breathe, and tightened my grip on the knife.