”horror story ”dark birthday

🎂 “The Thirteenth Candle”

It had been years since the old Holloway House at the edge of town had seen light, let alone laughter. Windows boarded up. Weeds strangling the porch. Rumors whispered that something terrible had happened there decades ago—a birthday party gone wrong. Kids never came back. No bodies were found.

Just thirteen empty chairs around a moldy cake.

But kids always dare the stories, don’t they?

1. The Dare

“I dare you to do it,” Chris said, grinning. He was always the instigator. “Go inside Holloway House, spend the night, and come out tomorrow—on your birthday.”

Mara hesitated, brushing her red hair behind one ear. She’d just turned thirteen at midnight. Her friends said thirteen was unlucky. She never believed in that. Still, something about the house made her skin crawl.

“Only if someone comes with me,” she muttered.

No one volunteered.

She laughed it off. “Fine. Chicken.”

So at 8:00 PM, armed with a flashlight, a backpack, and a half-dead phone, Mara stepped over the rusted gate and walked alone into Holloway House.

2. The Cake Room

The air inside was wet and smelled like rot and rust. Wallpaper peeled off in long curls, and the wood groaned beneath her sneakers. The silence was thick, muffled — like the house had swallowed all sound.

She explored the first floor, whispering “hello?” like an idiot to the shadows. Her flashlight flickered.

And then she saw the door.

It was perfectly clean. Freshly painted red, with a brass knob that gleamed. It shouldn’t have been there.

Mara turned it.

Inside was a long dining table set for a party. Streamers hung from the ceiling like dried veins. A cake sat in the center, pristine white icing, with thirteen black candles.

Her name was written across it.
“Happy 13th, Mara!”

She dropped the flashlight.

3. The Guests

One candle lit by itself.

Then another.

Then a third.

Each flame whispered when it came to life. Mara backed away — but the door slammed shut behind her.

She turned to the table. The chairs were filling. Shadows sat in each, hunched and twitching. Their faces… wrong. Pale, waxy. Mouths too wide, eyes too black. Like mannequins melted halfway into humans.

They clapped in unison.
“Make a wish,” they rasped.

“No.” Her voice cracked. “This isn’t funny.”

Another candle lit.

And another.

Her heart raced. Twelve flames now.

The shadows were all smiling. And Mara realized there were only thirteen chairs.

One left empty.

And the thirteenth candle still unlit.

4. The Game

A high-pitched giggle came from under the table.

Then something crawled out — no taller than a child, but twisted, its arms too long, its head tilted as if broken. It wore a party hat.

The thing walked on hands and knees to Mara and held up a birthday card, its fingers scrawny and bloodstained.

She took it with trembling hands.

“Happy Birthday, Mara! To escape the game, blow out the candle. But be warned: only those who refuse the wish may live. What’s your desire?”

Her throat closed.

She couldn’t run. The door was gone.

The creature lit the thirteenth candle.

5. The Wish

Smoke curled around her. The shadows leaned in, their mouths stretching into wide, toothy grins.

“Make a wish,” they said again. “Anything you want.”

And she wanted to wish — for her mom to be alive again, for her dad to stop drinking, for her life to be better. It would be so easy.

But the fear in her gut screamed that was what they wanted.

Mara stepped back.

“I wish for nothing.”

Silence.

The shadows stopped smiling.

The candles flickered… then burst into black flame.

The guests screamed — high-pitched and raw, like tearing metal. The table cracked in half. The creature lunged—

—and the world turned inside out.

6. After the Party

Mara woke up on the front lawn of Holloway House, covered in ash. The sky was gray with early dawn. Her phone buzzed beside her.

A new message:
“Happy Birthday, Mara.”
No number.

She looked up.

The house was gone. Not burned. Not collapsed.

Gone.

But sometimes, when she’s alone, she hears clapping behind her.

And thirteen candles light up in her dreams.

Want a sequel? Maybe what happens if someone does make a wish?