Morrison student, Leni Sewell, has been chosen as the winner of The Forum Shopping Centre’s spooky story competition. Budding young Sittingbourne writers were asked to get into the spirit of Halloween and complete the below paragraph:

The cold night air surrounded Sarah as she walked along the deserted cobbles, alone. Aware it was Halloween, Sarah thought of her friends all out trick or treating and wished she was with them. A noise sounded in the distance, which Sarah realised was getting closer and closer. Holding her breath, she stopped in her tracks and slowly, carefully, turned her head...

The shopping centre received well over 150 entries and chose Leni’s story, ‘A Puzzle of Crime’ as the overall winner. Leni, aged 12, was awarded a £50 New Look voucher and Fulston Manor School received a £100 voucher to spend at The Works. English teacher, Mr Rupert Spedding, said “I was thrilled to hear that Leni had won the competition. When I read her story it really stood out and left me wanting more – which is just what you want with any sort of creative writing. We are all so proud of her at Fulston”.

Monica Rana, Centre Manager of The Forum Shopping Centre, commented, “We’d like to thank all the local children who took the time to enter the competition. We thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories and some definitely gave us a fright. Leni’s story stood out because it was very different and left you wanting to know what happens next. Congratulations to her and Fulston Manor School; we hope she enjoys spending her voucher.”

Leni Sewell’s full story: A Puzzle of Crime

The cold night air surrounded Sarah as she walked along the deserted cobbles, alone. Aware it was Halloween, Sarah thought of her friends all out trick or treating and wished she was with them. A noise sounded in the distance, which Sarah realised was getting closer and closer. Holding her breath, she stopped in her tracks and slowly, carefully, turned her head...

“Hello”, cried the old, cackling man. Sarah cover her mouth, “Who are you?” she trembled. “Me?”, he questioned, “I am a noble man and I would like it if you could take this box for me!” Sarah took the box and looked at it, then stared back up at the old man, but he wasn’t there, he had vanished. She ran back home straight away in fear.

The next day it was bright and sunny outside and Sarah sat down with a cup of tea. She opened the box and there was a puzzle. She firstly took out the edges and put them gently together, realising the wall looked familiar. She was building her puzzle up bit by bit and also recognised the little clock hung upon the wall. Then in a flash she saw it. It was her doing the puzzle in the room!

She carried on the puzzle slowly, realising a black figure in the corner. Shaking, and with an alarming heartbeat, she raised frantically and looked up . . .