WARNING: Contains a bit of gore.

It was supposed to be a nice quiet Halloween night with the family. Just the blood relatives. But it became the night to dismember when the werewolves showed up.

Now, not every Halloween is a full moon, but this one was. And I had warned the family that we should go to Vlad’s house instead of mine. After all, he has guards with dogs and we would have had lots of protection. After all, Vlad does live in a castle. But no. He and the rest of the family wanted to “slum it” as they said. They just wanted to hang out in the burbs. Which meant that we were having the party at my house. After all, I was the normal one. At least the most normal.

People started showing up shortly after dark. We heard the howling start, but it was far off. We did not even really think of the full moon. We just thought it was coyotes or regular wolves.

Vlad joked, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if those stupid werewolves showed up?”

The Count smiled. “They are your relatives Vlad. Maybe they’re sore you didn’t invite them.” He laughed. “Wah ha ha ha.” And, as always, thunder rolled after he laughed.

There was a knock on the door. “I wonder who that could be…” I rolled my eyes. I knew exactly who it was. I opened the door. “Hey Jack. ‘Sup.”

“Aroooooo! Can’t believe you didn’t invite us, bro.”

I nodded over my shoulder toward Vlad and the Count and the small gathering of family. “I just wanted to have a quiet Halloween for once.”

Jack nodded. “Just the blood relatives, huh? It’s okay. But you know…”

I nodded. “Yeah. I know. You’re my brother-in-law. Vlad said my sister, your wife, could come. He even said you could come as long as you were house trained.”

Vlad and the Count and the other family members laughed. Thunder rolled.

Jack snarled. “Arooooooo! Laugh all you want, you all. But I brought treats.”

Vlad sneered. (I could tell he was doing it without looking.) He said in a nasty tone, “Right, wolf man. What treats did you bring?”

My sister came in the door pulling a rope. A huge cart scraped the hardwood as she continued pulling. I saw what was in the cart and dropped my head into my hand. “Where’d you get ‘em, sis?”

She smiled. “They were on sale at the department store.”

Vlad and the Count had turned away from the door, but they turned around to hug my sister. Their arms were reaching out wide to embrace her when they saw the cart at the end of the slack rope. They each gave her a quick kiss instead of the big hug they had prepared for and went to the cart.

Vlad asked, “They’re not…”

“Dead?” Jack finished. “No, Vlad.” We know you and the Count and the blood relatives like warm blood. I’ll take the arms and legs when you two and the rest have sucked their blood. And those two…” He nodded toward my sister and me. “Those two normies can eat the pizza we brought.”

“Hey!” my sister interjected. “We’re only half normie. I’ll have a nightcap neck with my pizza.”

“I’ll pass. No bloodlust in me tonight. And I certainly do not want to eat with Jack.” I looked at the arm Jack had pulled off the body of the old lady Vlad had sucked dry. I looked at my sister. “And the old folks home is not a department store.”

She shrugged as she finished sucking on somebody’s neck. The Count was on his second neck.

Jack was gnawing on the humerus of the first dismembered bloodless corpse. He looked at me. “Oh yeah. We brought so many folks from the department store because we weren’t sure how many relatives would be here. Plus, the kids are here with us too.” He smiled. Then he whistled.

I started walking toward my entertainment room and without looking back called out to them all. “I’m going to watch a movie. The Great Pumpkin.”

The kids howled as they came into the front room. “Aroooooo! Can we drink and eat while we watch, Uncle Drac?”

I slumped. “Yes.” I sighed. “You might as well bring all your treats.”

Jack howled, “Arooooooo! This is gonna be a night to dismember!”

“You said it, Dad! Aroooooo!”

Vlad came up to me and whispered. “Don’t tell him, but I’m beginning to like your other relatives.”

Jack laughed. “I heard that.”

Everybody laughed. It was indeed a night to dismember. And remember.

[Write a story about a memorable event, but which is invaded by a hoard of creatures. Is the wedding crashed by zombies? Were vampires invited into the prom venue? It’s up to you to envision and create a night to dismember!
DailyPrompt prompt submitted by Bernard Wicks]

“Everyone knows you don’t wanna make the witches angry.”

“What’re they gonna do? Put a hex on me?” Joseph laughed.

“It’s not funny, Joseph.”

Jackie whisper shouted, “Yeah, Joseph. They put a hex on Penny last week!”

Penny looked at the ground. Jackie pointed to her own nose.

Joseph laughed even louder. “You’re saying that big zit on Penny’s nose last week was because of a hex! Oh, that is rich.”

Penny looked up at Joseph. “Shh. They’ll hear.”

“And what’re they gonna do to me?”

Jackie scoffed. “If we were lucky, they’d make it so you can’t speak.”

Penny looked at Jackie. She whisper shouted, “Don’t even suggest anything. They’ll just take it as a challenge. Or a suggestion.”

It was Joseph’s turn to scoff. “Ha! They can’t hex me. I don’t believe in witches. I don’t… Ribbit.” Joseph grabbed his throat. “I… Ribbit. Ribbit.”

All of a sudden, there was a dull thump. Joseph felt himself on the floor. He grabbed his throat. He thought he heard himself say, “Ribbit.” But the sound came from outside his bedroom. Not from his own throat. It was just a dream. It was just a dream. He spoke the words out loud, “It was just a dream.” Joseph sighed. “Ribbit.” He grabbed his throat again. He tried to speak again. “Maybe I won’t make fun of witches anymore.”

Joseph got back into his bed and tried to go to sleep again. He closed his eyes. He heard more than one cackle outside his bedroom window.

“Definitely, no more making fun of witches. Ribbit.” He grabbed his throat again.

It took a long time for Joseph to get back to sleep.

[“IEveryone knows that you don’t want to make the witches angry…”
Write a story starts with this line.
DailyPrompt prompt Inspired by Otakage]

The proposed FutureReady recommendation cuts the current credit of CTE from high school graduation requirements. Perhaps the policy makers are thinking that the Financial Education course will be a CTE course, but it is not mandated as such. Even if it was mandated to be a CTE course, there should still be a full CTE credit beyond this as a requirement.

CTE classes are an important part of every high school student’s education. A friend of mine used to say tongue in cheek that CTE classes are the courses that the other classes are there to support. The grain of truth in his statement is that CTE courses put into practice the foundational material and skills that the academic classes teach. CTE teachers show the students how to apply the other courses to the world of work and give relevance to what students learn in their other high school courses.

I have been the beneficiary of CTE classes in my own education. I took an Architectural Drafting class in high school, which helped me in my college drafting course when I went to the University of Washington to become an engineer.

I have since left the engineering profession to become a CTE educator. I have been a CTE educator for over 30 years and have seen firsthand how not only my students but all CTE students have benefited from CTE classes and, more importantly, CTE teachers.

The CTE students who invest their time in CTE courses and in student leadership through Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) are the ones who are entering and completing college programs, both two-year and four-year programs. They are the ones completing certificate and apprenticeship programs. They are the ones entering the workforce prepared to do the jobs they are studying and training for. They are the ones becoming productive members of society and helping others to do the same. And they are the ones who will be hurt by the current recommendations of FutureReady if these recommendations are legislated and at least a full credit of CTE courses is not required for high school graduation.

But the damage will be wider spread than to just to those who currently take CTE courses. Indeed, the damage will be greater to those who do not already know the value of CTE courses. For those who are not required to take any CTE courses will not see the relevance of those academic courses they are required to take. The CTE course offerings will dwindle because students are not required to take them, which will mean that even those who want to take these courses will not be able to do so. Some of the students who only go to school to be in those CTE courses will stop attending. And so both higher education and the workforce will be bereft of even more quality candidates than they have today.

Am I overstating the effect of the eliminating the CTE course requirement? Perhaps. But I am not so sure. For it seems to me that CTE is the hidden gem of public education. The only ones who want to get rid of it are those who do not know any better or those who are jealous of its success.

So why has it seemed that the CTE world has been silent on FutureReady? I think it is because the proposal has changed before anybody noticed. The Draft Graduation Framework of July 22, 2026 is not the same as it was in earlier drafts, where CTE was still a graduation requirement instead of an additional nebulous requirement (as it currently stands). No supporter of CTE would look at the current proposal as a benefit to any student.

FutureReady is not ready to be enacted the way it currently stands. A full credit of CTE must continue to be a high school graduation requirement. Students, institutions of higher learning, and the workforce continue to need it to be so.

“The Birds. I never should have watched Alfred Hitchcock last night. Now, even the birds sound suspicious.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Ah c’mon, Jessica. How can birds sound suspicious?”

C-caw. C-caw!

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah. It was a crow. Just a normal crow.” He looked at the gathering of crows. “A lot of crows.”

“And you know what a bunch of crows is, right?” Jessica did not wait. “A murder. A bunch of crows is a murder of crows. A murder!”

“Yeah. I get it, Jessica. Murder.”

Caw. C-c-caw. Caw.

Jonathan looked in the direction of the nearest crow. “Uh… Uh, that was weird. And a little…”

“Suspicious,” Jessica said as she nodded.

“Maybe.”

“And you didn’t even watch the movie!”

Jonathan shook his head. “I’ve never seen it. Ever.”

“But you still think it sounded suspicious.”

Jonathan was non-commital. “Maybe.”

C-c-c-caw. C-c-c-caw. C-c-c-caw!

Jonathan looked at the gathering crows. “All I know is that it’s time to leave.”

Jessica looked up at the gathering crows and nodded as she walked toward the vehicle. “Yeah. Time to go.”

***

The crows watched the vehicle drive out of sight.

“Do you think she’ll watch the movie again tonight, Jackie?”

“Nah. She’s spooked. Just like they all get.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“That Hitchcock. What a genius!”

“You can say that again.”

“That Hitchcock. What…”

“He didn’t really mean to repeat it.”

“C-c-caw. C-caw. C-c-caw.”

“Caw. C-caw.”

[It was the kind of morning where even the crows sounded suspicious…
DailyPrompt prompt]

I have written some Halloween stories that I plan to post here on my blog, so I figured I should lay the groundwork first.

I am not a guts and gore type of writer. It is just not how I think. But beware. (The next sentence may be a bit of a spoiler.) One of my stories has a little bit of gore. (Now, back to the rest of the story.)

I wrote the stories that are to come as prompts for DailyPrompt. Which, as I have said before, is a great website (and app) that I use to just have some fun writing. Some different fun. After all, I have great fun writing regardless of whether it is writing this blog or writing a poem or writing a book. I love to write. It is just part of who I am. But there is something about writing to a prompt.

The thing that I like about writing to a prompt is that it forces me to think of stories and poems in a different way. Instead of creating something completely from scratch, I get to start with the seed of an idea. Which is normal, mind you. That is actually how I write. I get an idea or the seed of an idea and the story comes. Not necessarily all at once, but it eventually comes. For instance, I have been writing one story in my head for nearly thirty years. I even wrote the beginning, but it stalled. Now, the ending finally came to me, so I just need to finish writing it. Along with all the other stories that I still need to start, finish, edit, or work on in whatever state it is in.

I treat the DailyPrompt prompts as a challenge. A challenge to create a complete story or complete poem in a sitting. I do not do it every day anymore. (I did for over 100 days, skipping most Sundays, and came out with a book of those stories and poems. Hint hint.) Instead, I pick and choose the ones that I want to write something for. I write a poem about this or short story about that. It is great fun.

Which is how I came to write some stories out of my norm. Maybe even a little out of my comfort zone. They were great fun though. And they might even be okay. You, dear reader (both real and imaginary), get to be the judge of that. You get to determine whether I made the grade or not.

One more thing about DailyPrompt prompts. Not everybody treats them as a challenge to create a full story or complete poem. (Okay, maybe complete poems.) Which is great because the prompts are just there to get people to write something. Nearly anything. But I like to write complete stories because that is who I am. If I am going to respond to a prompt, I am going to finish the story. Even if it is a bit longer than some people are willing to read. After all, I figure that if I am going to make a story public, I may as well make it complete.

I hope you enjoy my Halloween stories. They are not truly Halloween pieces except the last one. The one that will go live on Halloween. But they are creepy enough or scary enough (not too scary though) or at least different enough to be included in a Halloween collection. I hope you enjoy them.