Here comes the Boogieman

Molds, Spores and Fungus

The sky was covered by grey clouds over the quiet suburbs of Cleveland Ohio. Across from a line of houses on the other side of the road, there was a small park with a decent number of trees and other plant life.

A young boy was walking through the miniature forest with a large book in his hands with the words 'your friend the fungus' written in bold on the front. The boy had a pair of black framed glasses to help him see with his coffee coloured eyes. His hair was a dark shade of brunette He was wearing a yellow rain coat over his skinny and lanky frame with a decent sized satchel hanging by his side, a grey shirt underneath, a pair of beige knee length shorts and black gumboots.

The boy stopped and looked down at the base of a tree he was passing. He raised a brow as he spotted an orange coloured substance growing against the bark. The boy opened his book and started going through the pages; looking for anything that was described as being orange. The closest thing he could find was orange jelly fungus. The boy made a rather intrigued sound as he looked at the substance. He opened his satchel; putting the book away and grabbing a pair of tongs and a small mason jar. He got down on his knees and proceeded to gently remove the fungus from the bark. He was in full focus as he did his hobby.

"Meow"

Until he heard a noise from behind him. The boy quickly turned around and saw a dark grey cat. It was at least two meters away from him, but it was staring right him as its tail slowly waved behind it.

"Do you want something or are you just going to watch?" The boy questioned.

The cat just responded by blinking and letting out a light purring sound. The boy just rolled his eyes.

"As if you could even reply." He whispered as he went back to what he was doing with the fungus.

The boy kept his focus as he carefully removed the fungus with a final and gentle pull; placing it in the jar and sealing it was the lid. He observed the specimen with a satisfied look on his face.

"Very interesting." He thought as he continued to observe the contents of the jar.

But just as he was about to put the jar in his satchel, a small round object flew right above his head; hitting the tree but bouncing right onto his forehead and knocking his glasses off. The boy let out a pained yelp as he fell onto his back. He lightly groaned as he felt a throbbing sensation where the object hit him.

"Uh oh."

The boy heard a voice coming from where the object came from. He opened his eyes, but all he could see without his glasses where blurry shapes. He rolled over and looked for his glasses; finding them just in front of him. He put them on to see what hit him. It was a baseball.

"Sorry about that."

He heard a voice above him that spoke in a nervous and embarrassed tone. He looked up to see another boy standing there with an expression of worry and embarrassment. He looked around the same age as the boy collecting fungus, but he looked a bit shorter in height. He was wearing a red baseball covering a short but messy haircut, a light blue t-shirt with dark blue denim shorts and white sneakers with noticeable dirt stains. The fungus collecting boy noticed the catcher's mitt on the other boys' hand. But he said nothing and picked up his jar.

"I didn't hurt you or anything did I?" The other boy asked rather nervously.

The fungus collecting boy just looked up at the other child for a second before standing up and wiping the dirt off his knees.

"I'm fine." He finally said.

The other boy let out an exhale with a relived smile and took off his hat to wipe his forehead of any sweat; showing his messy light brown hair.