Halloween Ghost Story Contest -- 2018
Middle School Winners

Second Place

---

Our second place Middle School category winner was written by Zoe Kim, a homeschooled student living in Encinitas, California.

---

The Cave of Crystals

by
Zoe Kim

At midnight on one halloween, a golden-haired girl with green eyes crawled out of the rain and into a cave. Luna was freezing, wet, and exhausted from running in the cold rain. She pulled out a damp box of matches and tried, desperately, to start a fire with a few twigs, but an icy wind blew the feeble flame out. Luna moved away from the entrance of the cave where she had been crouching. It was then that she realized how large the cave was.

Her curiosity aroused, Luna wrapped her sodden cloak tighter around herself and ventured into the depths of the cave...

It was even colder in the back of the cave then it had been outside. Stalactites resembling stone teeth hung down from the ceiling of the cave and stalagmites rose up from the ground.

This cave is spooky, Luna thought. Kind of like a haunted house, but... more mysterious.

She tucked a lock of her golden hair behind her ear and ventured on.

Soon, the moonlight could not reach her and it grew to dark to see. Luna pulled out her lantern and lit it with her last match. Encouraged by the yellow-tinted light, she continued.

Something crunched under her foot. Luna looked down and bit back a scream. The lantern slipped from her hand and shattered on the stone floor.

It was a bone. In fact, she realized that there was a whole human skeleton lying below her and many more scattered about the cave. Some of the bodies seemed more recently dead than others.

Luna walked backwards, away from the bones. Then she cringed. I can't retreat, she thought. Not when I've come this far. There's something at the end of this cave, I can feel it. I want to know what it is. I can't turn back.

Luna noticed that there was a long sword lying beside the skeleton nearest to her. As she lifted it up, she felt warm from the inside. It was as though the power of the sword was flowing through her, too. She decided to take the sword with her, and continued in the darkness.

Up ahead, Luna could see a faint light. Could I have reached the end of the cave? She wondered. Maybe it emerges outside, and that's moonlight. She walked on hopefully.

Luna came to a huge cavern. The walls and ceiling of the cave were covered in turquoise-colored crystals. They glowed with an eerie green light. And in the exact center of the cavern was an enormous, spherical gemstone, the same color of the crystals that lined the walls. Beneath the surface of the gemstone, a white substance swirled and curled into patterns.

Luna stared in awe at the gemstone. This must be it, she thought. This is what I was meant to find. And she stepped forward and touched the gemstone.

That was a mistake.

The gemstone exploded, and Luna was thrown backwards by the force of it. She landed hard on the ground. The sword clattered to the sword next to her.

The next thing she knew, a spirit was standing in the place of the gemstone. She was a beautiful woman with pale skin and long black hair reaching to her feet. Although she was beautiful, the woman seemed cruel and powerful in some way. Her eyes were pure black with no whites.

"Ah, another fool seeking riches and glory," The ghost woman hissed. "Why have you come to my caverns and awakened me?"

Luna trembled with fright. Then she stood up and lifted her sword. "I sought shelter from the rain," she answered.

Acantha studied her intently, her eyes narrowing. "All of the skeletons whom you saw earlier were people who came here seeking riches. Many, too, claimed to need a place to sleep."

The ghost floated closer. Then she flexed her fingers and sent a bolt of lightning at Luna.

Almost instinctively, Luna lifted the sword and deflected the lighting. It disappeared. Acantha's face shifted into a hideous scowl. "I see that you've found that sword... but it won't be yours for long!"

Luna backed up, holding the sword in front of her. Meanwhile, Acantha got closer and closer. Then, when Acantha lunged forward, meaning to strike Luna down with a jolt of energy, Luna was prepared. She plunged the sword into the ghost. Acantha howled in anguish, and Luna saw to her own surprise that the ghost was actually affected by the sword.

And then Luna knew. I have to put Acantha back to sleep, she realized. I have to use the sword to do it.

Luna fought her way to the center of the cavern. Then she lifted the sword over her head and drove it into the ground.

Acantha screamed. The sword began to glow and spin, and Acantha was sucked into it. Luna looked at her. Acantha's eyes were vengeful.

Acantha cried out in pain. Then she reached forward and struck Luna with her last lightning bolt just as the sword consumed her entirely.

Luna fell to the stone floor of the cavern. A searing pain coursed through her chest. I'm going to die here, she thought. Then everything turned black.

When Luna awoke, she was still on the ground. I have to get out of here, she thought. Then she boosted herself up and started to walk. Luna walked out of the cave of crystals. She passed the skeletons without a backward glance. She finally emerged from the cave.

It was early morning. The sun peeked out from behind cottony clouds. Luna looked at her hands and was surprised to see that there was a mark on her left hand, rather like a tattoo. A perfect circle, the color of the crystals in the cave, with a mark that looked exactly like the sword Luna had found in the cave.

Luna smiled. She would never go back into the cave of crystals again. But the mark on her hand would remind her of the adventure.

She started to walk. Towards the sunrise.