Threshold
Fiction by Krista L.
9th-12th GRADE RUNNER-UP FOR THE 2025 FALL YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. We asked young writers to pen a spooky story between 150–300 words. Our judge said: “‘Threshold’ is a quick-paced, delightfully eerie piece of fiction. Full of mystery and sharp, ominous details, this spooky story is sure to leave readers checking for notes in their own pockets.”
She stumbled, gasping in a vacuum. Darkness pressed on her eyes, silence burned in her ears. She shook her head to clear an alkaline, chemical smell — a red point of light blurred with the motion. A switch?
Click. Squinting in yellow incandescence, she saw a bedroom, off-white walls empty, unmade bed askew, black windows hanging as portals to the void outside. What the hell? Where is this?
By instinct, she pulled a crumpled note from her pocket, covered in frantic penstrokes she recognized as her own.
you forget every time you walk in a room
theyre keeping you here
pushing you over the threshold
keeping you in the dark
get out of here NOW
youve got to remember
your name is
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— is what? Oh, god. She dropped the memory with shaking hands. She scanned the room for an escape, stealing a terrified glance back at the door that leaked shadows. The windows?
She opened one and hoisted herself up. Nothingness pulsed beyond glittering glass.
She jumped.
She lay as an aching tangle of limbs, tickled by blades of grass. Birdsong floated towards her on the fresh breeze with the smell of earth and wildflowers. The sky was aflame, trees rimmed with gilded gold. When was the last time I saw a sunrise?
As if to answer, she pulled a neatly folded note from her pocket. This must be my handwriting.
You forget every time you step outside.
It is not safe for you here.
The light blinds. Darkness is truth.
You must come back.
Return to your home behind you.
You will remember all.
She stood up unsteadily, under the shadow of a cozy little cottage — presumably her house. She opened the polished oak door with a creak of rusted hinges. I have to trust myself, right?
And she stepped
over the threshold.
