Happy Fall everyone! The Fall Writing Frenzy is a writing contest created by agent/author Kaitlyn Sanchez, and co-hosted by children’s author Lydia Lukidis. This year is the third edition of the contest and I decided to throw my scarecrow hat into the ring to try to win one of the great prizes.

Writers needed to pick one of 13 images to inspire their writing piece, which has to be 200 words maximum. Here is the image I selected and my story follows. For the list of all the stories, make sure to visit Lydia’s website. Thanks for reading!

The Scariest Student

Penelope quickly learned it wasn’t easy being the only living girl at Brantwood Hall School for Young Ghosts. She couldn’t fly. She couldn’t walk through the walls. She couldn’t even make things float around the room. In fact, the only thing Penelope could do was follow the Brantwood Hall school motto: Cura, Non Terrent.

Care, Don’t Scare.  

No one at Brantwood Hall used the front door the right way except for Penelope. So, when the doorbell rang one afternoon, everyone turned to her. As she opened the door, a tall woman wearing a bright red blazer walked right past her into the front hall, closely followed by a group of people in suits.

“Oh, no! Not again,” said Headmaster Higgins.

“You see, like I said it needs a lick of paint, but it would make a fine building for your new school.”

“Excuse me, who are you?” asked Penelope.

“Oh! You scared me to death!” said Red Blazer Lady, noticing Penelope for the first time.

Me? Scary? Penelope burst out into laughter. Then everyone in school joined her. Terrified, the Red Blazer Lady and her friends ran away.

“Hooray for Penelope!” shouted Headmaster Higgins. “The scariest student at Brantwood Hall!”

THE END