Spooooooooooky!

It is a happy Halloween indeed here at 826michigan. The annual Treat Parade has brought a rotating cast of slightly-smaller-than-pint-sized cows, monkeys, witches, princesses, a stop sign, and more through our robot shop. Programs Coordinator Catherine Calabro is dressed as Luke Skywalker (and sporting a wig that looks exactly like Princess Diana’s hair in the eighties). Communications Coordinator and Jeopardy! Champion Amy Wilson is dressed as Super Kale, a costume as creative and clever as she is. I have, at the suggestion of a new volunteer, outfitted myself as the perfect costume for a very pregnant lady: The Golden Snitch. This has allowed me to 1) basically wear my pajamas to work, and 2) wear my running shoes (the only shoes I have that FIT) and have them actually make sense with the outfit.

Now that I’ve painted a tableau for y’all, let’s get to the matter at hand. We thought it might be quite lovely if we, on this quite brisk and really feeling-of-fall day, shared some student work with you. And, in the spirit of the season, we thought it might be best to share some of the spookiest stories that have lately been written in Drop-in Writing. (Note: No Drop-in Writing tonight! Go Trick or Treating! Make yourself sick on candy; you can write tomorrow!)

So, tuck in, grab some peanut butter cups, and prepared to be SCARED STIFF by our collection of Spooky and Bizarre Stories from Our Most Terrifying Program: The Deadliest Drop-in Writing!

Knitting Yarn
by Hyewon

An old, spooky old woman, Mrs. Calloway, pulled me up with my enemy: Knitting Needle. I am a yarn. Don’t think yarns can’t think. I just can’t say, except for that I’m better than the humans who control me! I can roll myself and go anywhere if there isn’t an old lady watching me all day long. I can hold my breath forever (well, I think).

I’m new to my home, so Mrs. Calloway hadn’t used me yet, which means I didn’t have to hold my breath. Finally, she decided to use me. I watched her all day, of course, and she’s AWFUL at knitting, so I don’t have to worry that much. Someone picked me up. I suddenly realized that it wasn’t Mrs. Calloway’s hand! She always hugs me and kisses me and does disgusting stuff to me, but this hand’s nails were polished and they held me safely.

Uh oh.

I started practicing. Practicing holding my breath. If I can’t hold my breath I’m going to die. Of course yarns die too, just like humans.

She started.

I don’t know how many time had passed, but my body and my head started to shake. I couldn’t hold my breath anymore. My blood would have been spilled all over if I had it. My tail turned black and my eyes turned white.

A Poem
by Sangmin Lee

“What the heck, my house ate my BED!” I said.
“What the heck, my school ate my house!” I said.
“What the heck, Michigan ate my school!” I said.
“What the heck, Chicago ate Michigan!” I said.
“What the heck, Yellow Stone ate Chicago!” I said.
“What the heck, the whole state ate Yellow Stone!” I said.
“What the heck, the whole Earth ate the whole state!” I said.
“What the heck, the moon ate the whole Earth!” I said.
“What the heck! Space ate the WHOLE WORLD!”

CHOMP!!!!!!!!!
by Angela

“Oh no! The hand! The hand! Red Alert, Red Alert!” the healthy raison oatmeal cookie screamed. Me and my brother – I, a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, he, an M&M cookie – started running. We were up on the top floor if the cookie jar. We were drinking the white sweet cream of the milk that ran through the crack in the jar. Unfortunately, I left my chocolate shoes at the river. My brother still had his red and blue M&M sneakers on. I tripped over a rock and the chocolate around my eyes smeared. Before I could get up, the hand was wrapped around me. I felt the squishiness all around me. Rubbing the chocolate away, I looked down.

I screamed.

When I was little I hated heights. Now, what if the hand dropped me? Then I looked up, worst mistake in my life! The light nearly blinded me! After that I smelled the putrid breath. It reeked of rotten milk, not the type back in the jar. At least one good thing would happen: I had always wondered what it would be like to die. Would it be really painful? Then I hope he’ll bite my head off first!

I saw white shiny squares. They were closing around me.

Bye, world.

CHOMP!!!!!!!!!!

So Spooky
by Brian

It was a dark and stormy night, and the monster was right outside the house. Lightning shook the house and the lights went out. There was a tornado coming towards the house and the monster already broke the window. I ran over to my neighbor’s house but there was no one there. Suddenly I got zapped by lightning. My hair was standing up.

I kept getting zapped by lightning.

Then I fainted.

I woke up in a hospital with a cast around my leg and arm.

When I got home it was raining again. I asked my mom if we should go into the basement but she said we didn’t have a basement. But the car door was broken off so I had to sit with the door open. Then all of a sudden I fell out of the car. Then the monster came back and it was bigger than the big tree. It reached down, and it ate me.

The End