Winners tune in to the dear departed

Ghostly ancestors inspired two young storytellers to prizewinning glory in the Star-Advertiser’s first Halloween Fiction Contest for keiki.

Chrissy Hori, a fourth-grader at Ma’ema’e Elementary School, won the elementary school division with her story about Skarie, a boy who swallows a chicken bone and encounters the ghost of his dead grandfather in the hospital. Jennifer Kimura, a sixth-grader at Niu Valley Middle School, won the middle-school division with her tale about her unsuccessful search for her great-grandfather’s gravestone and a mysterious wood rose. They will each receive $50 and their stories are printed here.

Chrissy, 9, was encouraged to enter the contest by her uncle, but she isn’t sure where the idea for her story came from. "I had to think of stuff, and that one was something that came into my head," she said.

Chrissy, whose favorite subject in school is art, sometimes finds writing difficult "if you have to write a report in school." But she clearly enjoys creative writing — she even writes letters, in longhand, to her friends.

Her story originally was loaded with descriptive details about Skarie and his grandfather, said Chrissy’s mother, Patty Hori. "I had to help her cut it, because she had 700 words," she said. "Her story was a lot longer than what she had to submit."

Chrissy is also involved in the morning news broadcast at her school and is second vice president of student council. For Halloween she’s planning to trick-or-treat as a witch.

Jennifer, 11, drew on personal experience for her story. "We did go to the cemetery to look for my great-grandfather," she said. "But we couldn’t find any gravestone. And we did pick a wood rose, but then I threw it away."

She grew up hearing a lot of ghost stories from her mother, Joy Kimura. "It would be like, ‘What kind of stories do you want? Do you want stories of when you were a baby? Or when (brother Jonathan) was a baby?’" Joy Kimura said. "And she would go, ‘Tell us a ghost story.’

"I don’t tell them too much because then we all get freaked out. … But I do think it helps with their imagination."

Jennifer also reads a lot of fiction — the Harry Potter books are among her favorites — and likes to write short stories and send them to her aunt, who lives in Boston. "She’s a voracious reader, and I know her writing has improved because of all the reading that she does," Joy Kimura said.

Jennifer studies judo and plays violin. For Halloween she is planning something more friendly than spooky.

"I’d like to get dressed as a veterinarian and walk with my dog," she said.

MY GRANDFATHER

I won’t forget the day that I saw my great-grandfather. 

It was almost summer and the weather was getting hot. My dad picked up my younger brother Jonathan and me from school and drove us to Nuuanu for judo class. We were a bit early, so Dad decided he wanted to go to the cemetery to show us his grandfather’s grave. We drove to Nuuanu cemetery, got out of the SUV and walked to the middle where the Japanese gravestones were located. The graveyard was still and quiet, except for the occasional car rushing by in the distance. 

Strangely, we looked all over the cemetery but my dad couldn’t find his grandfather’s gravestone. We walked around, again and again but couldn’t find it. "I know it was here," my dad insisted, so he kept looking. 

Jonathan wanted to go back to the car. "It’s too hot here," he whined. 

On the way back, my dad found a big bush of wood roses and handed one to me. "Take it," he said. I told him I didn’t want to take it because mom told me never to take stuff from the cemetery. "Don’t be superstitious like your mom" he scolded, so reluctantly I took it and stuffed it in my gym bag. 

We went to judo class, but I kept feeling tired and very sleepy. After class my dad dropped us off at home. Mom met us at the door. "What did you bring home?" she asked. She had a worried look on her face. 

"Nothing," I replied. I thought, how could she possibly know about the wood rose? We ate dinner and I took a shower and was just getting ready for bed when my mom suddenly appeared in my bedroom and asked again, "What did you bring home?" 

I took out the wood rose from my gym bag and told her I was sorry, that dad took the wood rose from the cemetery and that I only brought it home because he insisted I take it. She opened her eyes wide. "Not that," she said, her voice shaking. "That!" and she pointed towards the hallway. I looked behind me and gasped. There was the image of a man. 

He smiled and whispered in a spooky voice that I could barely hear, "I am your great-grandfather."

Jennifer Kimura
Sixth grade
Niu Valley Middle School

SKARIE BUT NOT SCARY

In 1998, there was a 13-year-old boy named Skarie Singer. 

One day, while eating lunch on the benches at Mailamu Middle School, Skarie choked on a chicken bone. He was scared to tell anyone, for he didn’t want to be taken to the hospital. He couldn’t walk without fainting, for he could not breathe. When he awoke, he found himself in room #238 at Mailamu Hospital. Coincidentally, he was in the same room that his great grandfather was in six months ago, where he passed away.  

Skarie missed his Grandpa. The nurse asked how he was feeling, and he said fine, but he was actually in a lot of pain. On Halloween, Skarie had surgery and he was very scared. His Grandpa told him not to worry because he’ll be with him during the surgery. When the surgery was done, Skarie opened his eyes for a short time and told his parents that he hopes that no other child chokes on a chicken bone at school. He told his parents not to worry about him because he will be with his Grandpa in heaven, closed his eyes and died.

That same Halloween night, Skarie’s friends Amanda, Caylee, Alex, Jonah and Noah were sleeping over at the school with the Glee Club. They were telling ghost stories and talking about how they missed Skarie and knew that Skarie was looking forward to the sleepover. They ate a very late dinner on the picnic benches and as they were eating musubis and chicken, Caylee started to cough. 

Amanda asked her friend, "Caylee, are you okay?" Caylee said that she thinks she swallowed a chicken bone and hoped that the same thing that happened to Skarie wasn’t happening to her. Then, she felt a slap on her back. "Thanks, whoever did that."  She turned around, and no one was there! 

"You are welcome," said a voice. It came from right behind her, but she saw no one except her friends sitting and talking stories. The voice they heard sounded just like Skarie’s. Everyone was freaked out and scared.  

At bedtime, Noah swore that he felt someone next to him in his sleeping bag, but there was no one. Noah figured it was Skarie since they were best friends. No one could sleep, so they stayed up talking about Skarie and it felt like Skarie was right there.

Chrissy Hori
Fourth grade
Ma’ema’e Elementary School