Library Seasonal Contests

 

 

Congratulations to the winners of the Dr. John Archer Library & Archives 2024 2-Sentence Horror Story Contest! We received 41 entries from students, faculty and staff, of which all were judged by a blind-review panel of library staff. Here are the two lucky winners whose tales impressed our judges: 

 

She lay in bed when she heard the baby monitor cackle to life, a raspy voice whispered, “I’ll take care of him”. Her heart pounded as she looked down the hall to the empty nursery – the one she hadn’t used since the miscarriage. 
Riyaa - Undergraduate Student, Biology

Have you ever buttered someone up? I have, and they tasted delicious. 
Josephine Bellegarde - Undergraduate Student, Indigenous Art History
 

Runner-Up Stories (received one or more votes from the blind-review panel)

• He bought a bouquet of roses at the store late that night.  Little did he know the same flowers would be on his tombstone the next morning. - S.H., Undergraduate Student
• As the darkness tightened it's grip on my trembling hands and pulled me deeper into it's embrace, I realized my mistake. My ears had heard no music, yet I had accepted the whispered request for a dance. - B.H., Undergraduate Student
• Eons after its death turned the sun dark, doused in seemingly cosmic wrath, all other stars die as well, one by one until none can sustain life ever again. The universe, its empty vastness any common sense defying, is freezing to death, incomprehensible to any mind, killing its own creation; life as a whole, perishing as it existed: without any hope for meaning, afterlive, remembrance or peace. - L.O., Graduate Student
• The hobbled, hunched-over man across the hall glared at me, squinting through his dead, blackish eyes which betrayed a wretched life of struggle, loss, and horror, as dark brown spittle slid slowly down his stubbled chin and onto his filth-encrusted shirt, and just as I began to ponder how this existence blesses some, yet almost comically curses others, like this pathetic wretch, it suddenly became clear to me in that precise moment how fortunate. Oh – it’s a fucking mirror. -  L.H., Staff
• As she stepped away from the crater of water, a chill crept up her spine when she caught the sight of the shadow behind her long abandoned spaceship. It shifted in silence – she wasn’t alone on this deserted planet. - R.P., Undergraduate Student
• After a grueling 6 hour day working on the edits to my doctoral thesis, I sighed with relief as I shutoff and closed my laptop. Later that night, a pang of terror washed over me when I realized that I forgot to press save. - J.M., Faculty
• Studying alone on the fifth floor of the library, she discovered a hidden room filled with ancient books, each containing a different horror story. When she opened one, the tale inside began to unfold around her, and with rising terror, she realized she was no longer reading—it was her heartbeat echoing through the pages, and she was the main character, trapped in the story's twisted plot with no escape. - V.S., Undergraduate Student
• Oh, to be young and naive again, I used to think. Now, at 70, with my thoughts slipping away, I’m not so sure it was ever worth wanting. - A.C.G.S., Undergraduate Student
• I really hated when my upstairs neighbors made noise walking around at night. When I went to confront them, the apartment above me had a "vacant" sign nailed to the door and a heavy chain padlocked to the door. - K.S., Undergraduate Student
• When I’m in my room and I feel someone watching me, I turn around. Now, I know I have to look up. - L.C.R., Undergraduate Student