Boogeyman

The Stuff Of Nightmares

The little blond boy walks down the long hallway. He lived in a beautiful countryside home. The shadows seem to live in the house more than them. It swallows everything and dances around taunting them as it eats everything. It could be beautiful at times, other times it felt like a nightmare.

Roger is snapped out of his thoughts as his name is screeched down the hallway, “Roger!” 

There was his mother’s voice calling him down for breakfast, she sounded stressed and tired. Roger can smell pancakes and his mouth waters. Those were his favorite meal, with a nice side of bacon. He climbs into his chair and his mother sits a plate of food in front of him. Strawberry pancakes, bacon, and buttered toast. It makes him drool even more.

His father just drinks coffee and glares at them all like they ruined his morning. He seems to hate all of them yet he got his wife pregnant twice. Once with Roger and now baby Clare who is sitting in her high chair eating homemade mush.

The family is awkwardly silent. The only sounds are Clare babbling and cramming the mush into her mouth. Winifred sets another plate down at Micheal, he just scoffs and sips his coffee, “It’s cold.”

“You didn’t even touch it.” She retorts reaching for the frying pan,

“Did I stutter?”

“Did I stutter?” Winifred asks raising her frying pan, “Roger go outside to play.”

“Yes mama.” 

Roger is thankful he washes his plate go in the backyard to play. Which he doesn’t stay in the backyard for long there isn’t much to do out there but poke bugs with sticks.

Roger  has never been so happy to get out the house. It was freeing in a way. The blond didn’t have to hear his father screaming or his mother and sisters screams. He played with a few older neighborhood boys for hours. The oldest boy, a tubby boy named Wolfgang, had gotten a new soccer ball for his birthday which everyone was having a grand time with.

Soon the streetlights started coming on and that’s when the stories got passed around, “If you don’t stand in the streetlight, the Boogeyman takes your family away. He only leaves you behind him.” The eldest boy, Wolfgang speaks.

“What’s the Boogeyman?” Roger asks, his voice quivers that creature sounds scary,

“It’s a monster that steals your family away!” Peter, the second eldest boy, shouts, waving his fingers at Roger.

Roger gulps, “M-Monster?”

“Yeah!” Wolfgang says grinning, “Isn't it cool!?”

“Y-Yeah.” Roger lies scared,

“Better stay under the streetlights!” They say to Roger, "I heard that Gladys went missing because of the Boogeyman! She didn’t stay under the lights and it gobbled her!”

Little Gladys Kessle went missing last summer and her mangled body was found this winter animals got to her but the kids spread rumors it was the Boogeyman. The kids couldn’t believe a human could do that. The adults tried covering it up, so the remaining kids could still play outside. The Kessle house now remains dark and cold, the garden in disarray.

Roger watches his friends leave one by one back to their homes. Roger knows he has to get home or his mother will be made. He hops from light to light trying to not step out. Something touches his arm and he cracks. Roger cries as he runs away, he doesn't know where he's even running too. He just tries to stay under the lights. He froze seeing his house.

There's no lights. Just darkness to get to his home, the only light he can see is inside the kitchen of his home. Roger bites his lip and makes a mad sprint as fast as his stubby little legs can take him, he doesn’t think he’s ran that fast in his life, not even during soccer. Roger swears he felt something grab his sweater sleeve.