Catch the Pumpkin

(This scary story is sent by Nora, a Grade Four girl from the USA. Her elder sister, Natasha, has complimented the story with a sketch.)

The man next door brought us a scary pumpkin he had carved. Though the orange pumpkin was giant, it seemed very light.

We put it on a windowsill out of the way so we did not have to look at it too often. Every once in a while, though, I sneaked a peek. It had a different face every time I stared at it. Day after day, its face looked scarier and scarier.

One day, when I went to look at it, it was gone! I called my friend Sally and told her everything that had happened.

When Sally arrived, she said,

“The pumpkin couldn’t have gone too far. It doesn’t have legs, so it must be slow!”

I agreed with her. We rushed outside in search of the pumpkin. All of a sudden I heard a hissing sound. It was coming from behind me. Very slowly I turned around. I paused for a minute. I turned in the other direction and started running. Sally must have looked behind us too. She was running next to me.           

“You also saw the ghost which was behind us, right?” I asked her once we had escaped from the ghost. 

The ghost was a blue ghost, which could hover above the ground. She nodded, but I wondered why she still looked frightened. I looked around us. Then I realized why Sally looked so scared. We were in a cemetery! The wind was making some really creepy noises! I think Sally knew perfectly well what I was thinking. She tapped my back and I whirled around and noticed something. The ghost was back and would never give up!           

“Doesn’t water destroy ghosts?” I asked Sally. 

She nodded. We both looked at the sky and saw raindrops starting to fall. Sally and I both knew what the new plan was. I cupped my hands and raindrops rapidly began to fall in them. I looked at Sally and she nodded back at me. We threw the water at the ghost and watched it disappear. I wasn’t surprised that worked. There was still one more thing to do: catch the pumpkin. That shouldn’t be too hard because I just saw it dash by me!           

“The pumpkin!” Sally yelled and started running after the pumpkin, so I did too. 

I jumped on top of the pumpkin. The pumpkin tried to knock me off but couldn’t. I held on very tightly. I was heavier than the pumpkin.

The pumpkin needed to be destroyed. I would destroy it by smashing it so it couldn’t cause any trouble. I thought that this pumpkin would make some really good pumpkin pie! If I wanted to destroy the pumpkin, I would have to give the man who carved the pumpkin a present. I would need to make up for destroying the pumpkin.

The pumpkin pie idea worked! I smashed the pumpkin. Sally and I made a pumpkin pie and presented it to the man next door. We have now realized that one must always be careful when one gets a scary carved pumpkin.

Art: Natasha, 13, USA

 (An original story by Nora. Protected by Copyright 2016.)