Waiting (Contest Winner)
Fiction by Stella I.
9th-12th GRADE WINNER FOR THE 2025 FALL YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. We asked young writers to pen a spooky story between 150–300 words. Our judge said: “‘Waiting’ reimagines the trope of the ghost story. Not only is it scary, it also explores grief, jealousy, and sisterhood in subtle, layered ways.”
It has been seventy-three days, nine hours, and forty-six minutes since you died.
You don’t remember how it happened. One moment you were there, heart pumping, life flowing through your veins. Then the next, you were here. On the other side of the veil. You knew this was coming, eventually.
You just never thought it would happen this soon.
Your sister was devastated, of course. She still talks to you every night. You wish more than anything that you could answer.
But you know that someday, sooner or later, you will be together again. So you wait, lingering by her house as the days get shorter and the leaves are dipped in gold. You watch her slow progression from grief to acceptance. You watch as she forgets you.
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Then one day, something happens. Your heart would be racing, if it was still capable of beating. This is it, you think. The wait is finally over. You’re not sure what to feel.
Her car approaches the patch of ice. Against your will, a countdown has started in your head.
Five. Four. Three —
The car stops. Carefully, the vehicle eases around the ice and continues on down the street. You watch as the taillights disappear into the mist, feeling guilty for your morbid disappointment.
The days drag on, meaningless. You start noticing how much she smiles now. You haven’t seen her crying in weeks. One day, you watch bitterly as she throws away your favorite potted plant.
She never talks to you anymore.
When she ignores your birthday, something inside you snaps. Why should she have happiness, while you are completely alone? Why should she live, when your life was cut so tragically short?
She shouldn’t, you answer yourself as you drift into her house that night.
You’re done waiting.
