Flash Fiction Winners 2017

24th September 2017

Our first flash fiction competition seeking a gothic story attracted some wonderful entries. These were the nine prize winners:

Death Grip
She paused in the crumbling entrance to Lucy Tower; examined the graves. Sky pressed down, a
dark grey hand, and the gravestones kept their secrets, encircled by ancient stone, the tree
looming. A movement behind her. Stale breath in her ear and suddenly, a hand of bone, clasping
her shoulder.

Helen Fielding, Corby Glen, 1st prize, adult category

The Girl in Black
At the old mansion door, brochures in my sweating hands, hardly wanting a reply.
I hear soft singing.
Behind me a small girl, dressed in black, dark hair to her waist. Cold eyes.
”Are your parents home?” I ask.
I knock again, hoping that when I turn, she’ll be gone.

Tricia Lowther, Durham, 2nd prize, Flash Fiction, adult category

Dark Night, Fens
Dark night on the fens. A traveller strikes out, wending her way through treacherous marsh. Lost,
she sees far in the distance a pale green light. Onwards then. Dense sludge sucks at her ankles.
The light beckons, deeper into quagmire. She stops to catch her breath but finds herself caught.

Kaja Franck, London, 3rd prize, adult category

Eliza Grey
Flowers shielded rows of abandoned gravestones.
A news article; beaten into the swollen ground by foot.
The news of a girl, Eliza Grrey, found tortured to stone cold silence, dead.
I watched pale faces, cold voices visit her grave.
I hovered over watching as they cried for me, Eliza Grey.

Libbi Barton, William Farr School, Welton, 1st prize, secondary category

My Monster Husband
He was staring at me. I just stood there waiting for him to say ‘I do’. Panic filled his eyes. His skin
started to fall from his body. Within minutes he was dangerous. Furiously ripping the church
apart. He turned, came towards me. ‘Till death do us part’ I thought.

Elena Ailward, Edwinstowe, independent entry, 2nd prize, secondary school category

The Gargoyle
A stony footpath winds through the blackened forest leading to an ancient graveyard. Sadly, the lonely gargoyle sits atop of the gravestone, waiting for the usual visitor – a young girl. She sits in black with huge boots and a spiked collar sobbing in the cobweb infested, dark fog. He sighs.

Olivia Sherratt, Vale Academy, Brigg, 3rd prize secondary school category

On the Edge
Standing alone, on the edge of the void. Ravens mock and harass me. Iniquity shrouds the final light;
all hope is eradicated. If I were you I wouldn’t save me: this is my destiny… I leap…The joy of heaven
inches closer the water rushes up … impact …pain …agony …death.

Aide Turner, Skegness Junior Academy, 1st prize, primary school category

The Attack!
The last thing I heard was its demonic, sinister laugh. I had entered its domain of inhumane spirits.
Shadows danced on the walls. Everything that surrounded me looked dim and disfigured. I felt
something firmly griping my neck but I was unsure what it was. The darkness slowly consumed me.

Nicole Katie Attenborough, Skegness Junior Academy, 2nd prize, primary category

The Abandoned Mansion
The hideous monster and the ghastly ghost were trying to invade the abandoned mansion. Brutally, the monsters gathered a gigantic rock and threw it into the dilapidated mansion and that caused it to collapse. They sprinted back to their secret, bloody lair to be secure and protected. Will they survive?

Patrick Lacey, The Bluecoat School, Stamford, 3rd prize, primary category