The Vibewire Horror Writing Competition came to a screeching halt earlier this week as the deadline for submissions arrived.

Over the past few days, several of us here at Vibewire have been reading and judging the freaky stories that have been sent to us…

There were some unique and morbidly fascinating ideas thrown at us, from dead dogs to severed thighs, self-loving plasticine to white-wine induced homocide, cadavers with pink-eye to the haunting beast Rasheesh and even failed pick-up attempts to back-breaking poltergeists!

Whilst reading our mouths dropped, our hopes of a happy world froze and our eyes scanned the submissions for traces of brilliance.

It is always a tricky task to judge the creative writing of another person, and to find fault in words that are not our own. Here at Vibewire we appreciate the time and effort that every entrant took to write their horror story, so everyone who entered will receive a participatory certificate!

The four runners up for the 2009 Vibewire Horror Writing Competition are:

5th place: The Taxidermist by Joseph Miscura

“Hector didn’t move. As Tom drew closer towards him he realised that both of the man’s eyes were made of glass. He turned to see a man who looked exactly like himself standing with a surgeon knife. The fleshy, naked form of Hector was intact on the floor nearby, cemented with clay. Tom shook with fright and asked with a quavering voice,

“Who are you?”

4th place: Plasticine by Robert Lort

“Her voice scrapes and grinds, hissing static and cackled laughter. Flourishing over her body are small white feathers which grow out of her skin. Small ones occasionally break off and drift whimsically in the wind. The feathers are yet too small to enable her to fly. Bemused she selectively smooths and neatens up the tousled and unkempt edges of her feathered skin, longing for that moment of magnificence when they will be strong enough to lift her frame delicately into the air.”

3rd place: It Smells Like Rain by Jessica Barabas-Bui

“She looks down and sees that her hands are bloody, broken, beyond repair. Her pen which was previously tracing along the paper, is now digging into her forearm. Blood seeps from the wound and she is aware that if she removes the pen then the dam will break and it will begin to pour out of her. The pen ink appears to filter into her, the black spreading up her arm and racing its way to her neck…”

2nd place: Financial Crisis by Dan Steiner

“He thinks about it for a sec. He thinks about his shitty apprenticeship wages and working the night fill at Coles every second day. He thinks about eating the same fucken peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day. He thinks about the fact he could be fired at any time. He thinks about how things were before the kids – sex, sleep-ins, fun times, zero worries.
He takes a knife from her.”

And without any further word nourishment, the winner, of a Horror DVD Pack plus a double pass to see the film Paranormal Activity is……..

Way Down in the Hole by Omar Sakr

So if your spine needs chilling, give Omar’s winning words a read!

All entrants will be contacted via email regarding the distribution of their prizes and/or certificates.

Inspired to write now?

Check out our latest writing competition at http://portal.vibewire.org/2009/12/songs-sunshine-and-your-story/