Roger's hand goes into the oily substance the Boogeyman left behind. And for some reason he licks it. Which isn’t the oddest thing he’s done in his twenty-years on this hell spawn called Earth. Roger’s face scrunches up some in disgust,
“Licorice?” He licks the floor, “Indeed it’s licorice.”
Then he spots something on the floor. It’s the picture he took of John that morning only it’s disoriented and grainy. It’s peeking out from underneath their bed. Roger grabs it and begins to weep. He can’t lose another loved one to this monster!
Roger forces himself under their bed. He can feel the box spring dig into his back, cutting and tearing into his clothed back. He worms his way further in, army crawling at this point. Roger need his John.
Roger let’s out a startled scream as he goes head first into a pit. He screams louder as blackness consumes him. He kicks and twists around trying to grab onto anything there wasn’t anything to grab onto though. The blond tucks the picture into his shirt. His head spins and a wonderful aroma fills his nose. It felt like being slapped gingerly,
“Cookies?” Roger was so confused, “What the hell?”
Roger twists and does a backflip so he’s falling head down, “What in the world is going on!? When am I going to lan-“
His face slams off a table and there’s startled screams followed by, “Another one?”
Roger groans and holds his nose. There was a boy with tan skin, tight ebony curly hair, and teeth that poked out from between his lips. He has small brown eyes and his nose is a little crooked. He’s about early 20s at best guess but Roger’s face is throbbing too much to care.
Roger then remembers seeing the face only younger on a milk carton as he ate breakfast as a kid many years ago. That was little Freddie. Some immigrant kid got snatched up shortly after arriving.The picture on the carton left as quickly as it came and no spoke of little Freddie again.
“Did it get you too?” Freddie asks pushing his curls out of his face,
“What? The Boogeyman? No… it took my fiancé and our unborn child so I came after it.” Roger says he pauses, “You're the boy on the milk carton.”
“Well I’m not a boy anymore…” Freddie scrunched his face up a little, “What did you do to get the Boogeyman to take your child and wife?”
Roger didn’t feel like correcting Freddie, “What do you mean what did I do?”
“Usually if the Boogeyman takes something you love, you fucked up somewhere.” Freddie says, chewing his long nails, “You want a cookie, darling?”
Roger takes one, “.. I did kiss Debbie.. but she forced it.”
“That probably did it then.” Freddie says sitting on a stool,
“Bleh! Raisin!” Roger sets the cookie down, “The Boogeyman took my father away and now my fiancé why is it targeting me twice!”
“Once is a blessing, twice is a curse.”
Roger looks at Freddie who’s wrapping a curl around his finger, “I’m going to defeat the Boogeyman. Stop him once and for all.”
“No one can.” Freddie says lifting his raggedy shirt up to show a nasty jagged scars.
“Well I’m going to do that.” Roger huffs and tries to find the door.
Freddie opens the door for him, “I’m coming with you.”
“Fine.” Roger says, “At least you’ll keep my sanity in check.”
Then again was any of this sane?
Freddie laughs nervously and follows after Roger. The land looks like a normal town except the colors were washed and blurry. Roger can smell licorice. It was making him queasy.
“You get used to the smell. “ Freddie says softly
“Hopefully.” Roger grouched feeling green.
Freddie grabs a horse and hops onto its back, “Come on. We can be faster on horseback than foot.”
Roger grabs the other horse grazing around and gets on it about as graceful as a baby deer on ice. It was uncomfortable riding a horse bare though Roger will do anything to get his John back.
The men don’t know where they are going. Where the hell do you find the Boogeyman? Under a bed or in a closet typically but now they are in the monster’s territory. How do you fight a monster in its own land?
“So I’ve been missing for about 16 years?” Freddie asks softly as the horses clip clops on the cobblestone path.
“I guess. I’m not good with math.” Roger says softly, “I’ve never been a good school boy.”
“Oh..” Freddie says softly, “I wonder if mama and daddy still miss me.”
Roger raises a brow. Freddie had a childish way of speaking; it was odd. Roger didn’t bring it up for right as he turned to face the cobblestone road again, his horse had clobbered someone to the ground.
Roger squeals and screams as the horse clobbers over them. He got the horse to stop and rushes to the person’s aid. They had long wild curly hair and hazel eyes that were soft and gentle. Plump light pink lips, he was gorgeous.
His books were scattered and he had a giant goose egg on his forehead. Roger gathers his books apologizing. The boy was named Brian and he was a year or two older than Roger. He was a cutie.
Roger helps Brian onto Freddie’s horse. He keeps his books in a sack on his back,
“So you wanna kill the Boogeyman?” Brian asks
“Are you a missing child too?” Freddie asks, “And yes. We’re off to kill the Boogeyman.”
“... I don’t know if I’m missing or not...l can no longer remember..” Brian says softly
“Oh I’m so sorry darling.” Freddie says, squeezing his hand.
Brian keeps his head down, “I can only remember this land.”
Roger tries to rack his Brain was Brian a milk carton boy? No, Roger doesn’t remember but he remembers the magazine article of a baby that was stolen from his cot and the age progression to him at ten. It did look a little like Brian, maybe it was him? By now that baby would be Brian’s age right?
Before Roger can open his mouth and ask. The sky rumbles and the clouds darken. A storm of candy corn and circus peanuts come roaring down like rain. Roger looks disgusted,
“Gross! It’s all gross candy!” Roger squeals, getting a circus peanut to the eye.
The trio pull into a tavern and park their horses in a barn then they walk inside,
“Hello?” Roger calls out.
They walk to the bar. And Freddie rings the bell, “Hey! I want to get pissed!” Freddie shouts.
There was the sound of floorboards creaking and the sounds of running. Before the bell gets slammed on and a man with dyed red hair and weird eyes is there panting,
“Welcome to Wonderland Tavern!”
YOU ARE READING
Boogeyman
FanfictionThings Can Only Get So Strange When The Creature Of Childhood Nightmares Is After You. Who Is To Be Trusted, Is Our Hero Going To Be Able To Save His Fiancé? Hopefully The Pieces Come Together Soon Before Its Too Late...
