Welcome to Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids, where it’s always the spooky season – full of chills, thrills, and spine-tingling spooks! Micro Terrors are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger ears, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night, and some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now… for tonight’s MICRO TERROR!!!!
LOVE BUG
Every desk had one sitting on them; a tiny red box with a sparkling ribbon tied elegantly on top. They were no bigger than a necklace box, which had the girls in the classroom hopeful. However, sixth grade girls wouldn’t normally receive such a gift from sixth grade boys. Not to mention EVERY desk had them — girls and boys alike.
Suspicion immediately fell on the teacher, Mr. Mavis. But he denied it as well. Those who knew Mr. Mavis well-enough knew it wasn’t out of character for him to surprise the class with special gifts. He’d done it in the past with other holidays; Snickers on Halloween, candy canes on Christmas. Why would Valentine’s Day be any different? They only thing was, he always admitted it up front and it was never some kind of ultimate secret.
These little red boxes, however, did appear to the entire class to have come from a mysterious origin; a secret admirer even. Well, the entire class with the exception of one. One of the ten students sitting in Mr. Mavis’ sixth grade classroom was not who they seemed; a wolf in sheep’s clothing with a secret agenda.
A girl in the back of the classroom, Jenna, was the first to flip the small red box over in an attempt to find out who it had come from. She noticed a tag taped to the bottom of it. “Love, Bug,” it said. She quickly nudged Bridget — a brunette girl with blue Disney princess-like eyes who sat next to her — to let her know about the tag. Upon seeing it, Bridget wondered who ‘Bug’ was. He — or she — had to have been the one who left the gifts. She looked around the room, her thought process instinctively picking out the boys who had names which began with B.
Brendan Love would have been too obvious. He barely said a word to anyone in class all year long, and wasn’t much one for showing affection. Plus, he also had a red box on his desk, which he appeared to be shaking and smelling in an attempt to identify its contents. Although, Bridget assumed that since Mr. Mavis wasn’t responsible, then the culprit, as they were, would have also supplied themselves with a false box to throw off suspicion. This is kind of thrilling, Bridget thought, trying so hard to suppress her excitement.
Bridget then focused her attention on Benji Blake. He was definitely a stronger candidate for the mysterious ‘Cupid’ that went undetected in the classroom. Benji was as much a ladies man as a sixth grader could be; well, he tried at least. He was a little blonde flirt that wouldn’t go down without a fight — fights that he always seemed to lose because of his unknowingness of when to stop. If one girl ignored him, he’d just move on to the next. Rinse and repeat.
In the front of the classroom, Lucas Quinn had also noticed the tag at the bottom. “Love, Bug,” he read softly to himself. He immediately turned to his right and looked down at the socks the girl next to him wore. They were black with red ladybugs speckled on them. Emma Sophia was always known as ‘The Bug Girl’’ (of course there was a ‘bug girl’). She considered them cute, like most kids would consider puppies and kittens cute. On most days, her attire consisted of something that incorporated bugs. Today it just happened to be the ladybugs on her knee-high socks.
Emma felt Lucas’ gaze and flashed him an uncomfortable smile. She didn’t like being looked at with such a curious eye; she didn’t like not knowing what people were thinking about her. If you’re thinking something, you might as well say it out loud, she thought. I’m not a mindreader. At least when Benji Blake — the legendary ‘Failure of Flirts’ — thought something, he said it outloud. Best to be denied immediately than to drag this out any longer than it needs to be, she thought about Lucus’ fanatical stare.
Lucus’ stare was something that also caught the eye of Jayden Burke halfway across the classroom. He had been crushing on Emma Sophia since just before Christmas, but had yet to find the courage to make his feelings known to her. Even though he was sure she would deny him, just as she had Benji, he still longed for the desire to talk with her about her favorite bugs, sit on the playground with her, or even share a lunch table. Holding hands would have been the ultimate, but Jayden wanted to play it slow and cool. In time, Jayden, he would think to himself.
“Do you think there’s candy in here?” Jaxson Gruber (who sat behind Jayden) said to him, tapping him on the shoulder and holding up the little red box.
Jayden shrugged.
“I hope it’s candy,” Jaxson said, a glimmer of hope in his eyes for a sweet treat. “I don’t know what else it could be.”
Jaxson sat back in his seat and studied the box. He wanted to pull the ribbon and unveil the surprise, but no one else had yet. He didn’t want to be the first one. Or, did he? I could get this party started right now! he thought.
“Of course you want it to be candy!” the boy behind Jaxson laughed. The boy kicked his foot on the back of Jaxson’s chair, immediately souring the mood. Rowan Davis was a bully, always picking on the others in class. He made fun of Emma Sophia for her love of bugs, he picked on Benji Blake for never landing a girlfriend despite his endless attempts, he scoffed at Lucas Quinn for being a hopeless romantic. But, Jaxson Gruber was his favorite target, even though there was no real reason for it. That was just the raw nature of a bully.
Jaxson closed his eyes and wished Rowan away. Jayden could tell that once again, Jaxson was bothered by this bully the same way most of the class always was; he was a terror.
Lastly, sitting by the window that looked out onto the playground, was Mia Hart. She was one of the more quiet ones in class, although very attentive. From the moment they all entered the classroom and were greeted by the little red boxes, her inner accusations were ping-ponging off each and every student as she tried to narrow down the mysterious Cupid.
And it didn’t take her long to figure it out, either. To her, it was obvious within seconds who the culprit was. The only thing she now wondered: What could have possibly been in the boxes?
The students were growing impatient. All but one of them had thoughts about the box’s contents and who could have left them. Mr. Mavis could see how antsy everyone was becoming.
“Ok,” Mr. Mavis said, “before we jump back into the lesson, go ahead and open the gifts. I don’t need these little things to be a distraction all day.”
Mr. Mavis had barely finished his sentence before the entire class — minus one — tore into their boxes.
Candy? Jewelry? The anticipation was killing them. Mia Hart, however, was slow to open hers. The student that she suspected of leaving the boxes was the only one not opening theirs; theirs was nothing more than a prop. Mia was now concerned that there wasn’t a lovey-dovey reason behind the gifts, but more of a malicious one. Mia stopped opening her gift and pushed it aside.
That’s when the screams of the children ripped through the room. Demonic bugs with dozens of legs, fiery-red eyes and jagged fangs burst out of the boxes, screeching and skittering like an unstoppable torrent of terror!
Each box contained an endless flood of the demon bugs. They gushed out in continuous streams, covering each of the children from head to toe. Their screams eventually went silent as their bodies were encrusted within a thick husk of bugs. Mia was the only one still screaming. She had stopped opening her gift box, but the insanity that unfurled in the classroom was enough to entice her box of infernal insects to burst out as well. She was completely covered within seconds.
Mr. Mavis — frozen in fear — remained in front of the classroom. He watched nearly all of his students be consumed by the wicked, creepy-crawling evil. The only student that remained sat as still as a statue, almost as if it weren’t really him to begin with, but instead a copy of him; a malevolent imposter.
At his home, Benji Blake — the real Benji Blake — lay in bed, “sick” for the day, and not even once regretting his decision to summon the vengeful spirit that he did. Every girl denied him. Every boy laughed at him for it. He couldn’t be a failure or a laughing stock if those girls and boys weren’t around anymore. A person could only take so much. Soon, the vengeful spirit’s real-world manifestation that sat in the classroom would be back, confirm the deed is done, and collect its payment.
However, the spirit didn’t know yet that Benji would not be able to pay up. He refused to. He couldn’t bring himself to the level of sinfulness required by the spirit as payment. But none of that mattered to him. Just knowing the laughter and constant denial was gone forever …that was all Benji Blake wanted. Whether he could afford it or not.
Thank you for listening to Micro Terrors!!! Join us each Saturday for another scary story! For more fun, visit our website at MicroTerrors.com where we also have spooky games you can print out and play — like wicked word searches, mysterious mazes, and more! MicroTerrors.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media and even send in your own scary story for us to tell! Plus, you’ll learn more about our author, Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old! I hope you’ll join me again soon for Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids!
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