The Girl Named Ella by Samantha R. – 2025 Youth Scary Story Contest Winner

Ready for a scare?  The 2025 winner of the Youth Scary Story Contest for 3rd through 5th grade is Samantha R., a 4th-grader at Harvey Elementary School.  Judges felt that Samantha did a great job of putting the audience in Ella’s shoes - “I loved how creative this story felt and how you could really feel Ella’s fear.”  Because the audience only knows as much as Ella does, the ending is satisfying to discover...and if you're anything like one of our judges, it might remind you of a classic horror movie from 1999.

Want to read more scary stories?  Check these out:

• “The Lost Boy and the Graveyard” by Oubre K., our winner for grades PreK - 2
• “Between the Trees” by Madison R., our winner for grades 6 - 7
• “Whispers in the Woods” by Julia K., our winner for grades 8-12

The Girl Named Ella by Samantha R.

In a small town deep in the state of Washington, there was a girl named Ella Bick. She lied at home with her mom, living what was seen almost as a normal life. But what Ella didn't know was that her “normal life” was not what it seemed to be. 

"Ella, the bus is coming soon! Hurry up!" her mother yelled. 

"Coming mother!"

Ella grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs. She grabbed a piece as she ran by the kitchen on her way out.

"Bye mom, I'm going to school!"

Once Ella got to the bus stop she saw her best friend, Tracey, getting onto the bus. She ran and caught up with her so she could sit next to her. She sat next to Tracey but Tracey seemed to not realize that she was there. 

"Hello?!?!" Ella yelled to her.

Tracey said nothing. Complete silence. Ella didn't think much of it and went on with the ride. Once Ella arrived at school, Tracey kept on ignoring her. She thought maybe Tracey was having a bad day but something felt weird to her. As Ella continued throughout her day, she realized not only Tracey was ignoring her but the people in her class were also ignoring her. She knew at this moment that something was definitely different. 

Midway through school Ella started to feel uneasy and didn’t want to stay at school anymore. She ran out of school and went straight home feeling scared of what could happen next. Once she arrived home her mother asked her,

"Honey, what are you doing here?" 

As soon as she saw her mother, she bursted into tears. 

"Nobody is listening to me! It’s as if I'm invisible. Tracey didn't talk to me all day, not on the bus nor at school. The people at school just walk past me. Did I do something wrong? I- I-" 

“Ella calm down sweetie. Everything is okay. Breathe." 

Ella listened to her mother but she noticed something weird. Her mothers tone. She was being calm. Too calm. 

The next day, Ella woke up and decided to go back to school. As she got on the bus, she saw Tracey and sat next to her once again. 

"Hi Tracey, how are you?" Silence."How's your family?”

Tracey just sat there. Blank face. No reaction.

“Tracey why arent you talking to me!?! Listen to me please!!!” Ella yelled but no answer. Once Ella got off the bus, instead of going into school she ran back home, up to her room.    

Minutes passed and later her mother knocked on her door.

"Ella are you in there?"

"Leave me alone." 

So Ella's mother went away and Ella stayed for the rest of the morning in her room. Once the afternoon came, she went down to the kitchen to get food. As she was preparing her food she heard a weird noise come from her backyard. It was a constant repeat noise and she decided to head out back and investigate. In the backyard of their house, there was a small trail that led into a big community forest. She realized that the noise was coming from inside the forest. She followed the path into the forest.

As she was walking, she kept on seeing many missing flyers. She approached one of the flyers to realize it was a young girl, around the same age as her. The girl even almost looked the same as her. The poster seemed to be old and ripped up. The nail holding the paper seemed to be rusty as if it was there for many years. She ripped the poster off the tree and realized there was a back side. 

"Ella Bick. LOST! 10/5/2018. If found please call-"

She froze. Could this be me, she thought. Same photo like me, same name. Ella got uncomfortable. 

“Can this be me? There's no way.” As she walked back home, all she could think about was the poster and if that was her, why was she on a missing poster. She decided to investigate more about this so-called Ella Bick. She went down to the police station to see if she could find anything on the “Missing” bulletin board. She saw many posters of Ella but she realized that they all had one thing in common. The phone number was faded out. It was almost as if someone did not want the number to be seen anymore. She grabbed one of the posters and decided to take it home to ask her mom. 

“Mother!!” she yelled as she bursted into the door. “Listen to this, Ella Bick Lost ever since October 5. Look, this looks like me too!”

As she got close to her mother she realized she was crying at the kitchen table. She had something in her hand. She got close and saw it was the same poster she had found. 

“Oh Ella.” Her mother cried. “Where are you? Why can't you just come back already.”

Ella came to the realization it was her. She was missing. She was lost.