Here comes the Boogieman

The Second of Three

Egon once again walked through the same door; hopefully leading to the next challenge and the next soul. The boy slowly stepped through the doorway and once again found himself in a familiar place lined with bookshelves.

Mr Black's bookshop.

Egon took Mr Polanski's' ring out of his pocket and brought it up to his eye; turning the room into a drawing like the first one. Egon looked around for anything that looked like a soul. But nothing was showing up.

"It has to be here." The boy thought out loud.

Before he could do anything else, the lights on the ceiling went out; leaving him in pitch black darkness. With a worried gasp, Egon quickly felt inside his bag for the torch he packed; finding it in a few seconds. Egon let out a relived sigh as he felt the metal light giving device. But it quickly turned into a gasp of horror when he turned it on. The bookshop was changed from a small library into a dark room full of cobwebs large and small. And where there were webs, there would be spiders.

Egon felt his stomach twisting as he spotted one of the eight legged arachnids climbing a web just beside him. He wanted to crawl up in a corner and cry out for help. But he knew he was alone here. Telling himself he had to keep going he shined his torch light in a few spots of the room; looking for a way around the webs. He spotted a hole large enough to walk through that would get him to the other side. Egon began his trek through the hole; holding his flashlight in front of him in case any spiders were going to jump out at him. The boy kept his breathing steady as he slowly walked through the opening; keeping a look out for anything crawling or creeping. Egon was halfway through when he noticed a narrow hole in the wall of cobwebs as he went passed. He did not want to dwell on it, so he just kept going.

Egon pointed his flashlight forward as he saw the end of the tunnel; squeezing and pulling himself out of it and glad to be out of the tight space. The boy took the moment to look around for the next soul and brought the ring back to his eye. Egon let out a mild groan of frustration when he could only see a small portion of sketch where his flashlight pointed. But he blinked and quickly turned around when he heard a creaking door sound. Egon looked towards some light peeking out from a newly opened door in the wall; thankfully clean of any webs or spiders. Egon thought that maybe the soul was in there. He took a few steps forward and opened the door very slightly. His eyes widened in fear when he saw what was inside the room.

A giant ball of webbing was in the centre of the room; hanging just above the floor by a few webs on the ceiling. Swallowing a mouthful of nervous spit, Egon brought the ring back to his eye to look for anything conspicuous. To his disgust, a small glowing blue dot was shining in the cocoon; looking like it was being held by something with claws. Egon went pale as he realised that he would have to get it out. With a deep breathing, Egon took out the knife Danny gave him and stepped forward.

Egon just made a grimace of disgust as he cut through the webbing; thinking it was like stale bread. After a minute, Egon made a tear large to see and reach into. He shined his flashlight inside to see what he was looking for. A book was what the blue dot was indicating. But a malformed hand with sharp claws was holding it. Egon took out the knife and quickly gave the hand a poke; quickly taking it back in case it moved. Egon watched closely. But nothing happened. It just stood still. Thinking he was in the clear, Egon reached in and grabbed the book; taking it out of the grasp of whatever was holding it. Egon looked at the object in his hand and slowly gained a smile out of triumph.

"Thief."

But the smile quickly turned into a look of shock as he heard a voice. Before he could react, a clawed hand burst out from the cocoon and grabbed his arm. Egon screamed in shock and terror as the owner of the hand showed itself as it ripped out from the webbing. A monster looked down at Egon with a stare of pure malice with black soulless eyes. The upper body of the monster looked like Mr Black with his hair and face, but his hands were replaced with claws. The rest of him was a giant spider body and legs. Egon began to hyperventilate as the monster growled at him with a mouth full of needle pointed teeth.

"You're stealing my book! You're a thief!" The spider monster spoke in a deep voice.

Egon frantically shook his head and protested with a shaky quiver in his voice.

"No I wasn't! I-"

The monster ignored him with a throaty growl.

"GIVE IT BACK OR I WILL BITE OFF YOUR HEAD!!"

Egon could respond by shining his flashlight into the monsters eyes. The monster let a grunt of discomfort as he let go of Egon to cover his strained eyes. Egon took the opportunity to run out of the room with the book in his hands. But the monster quickly regained its sight as Egon ran back through the hole in the webbing. With a deep growl, the spider creature tore down the walls of the room it was trapped in; making plaster fall as it sniffed for Egons scent. Egon was halfway through the tunnel when he felt something tugging on the bottom of his shirt. He glanced and gasped when he saw the creature reaching for him and grabbing his nightshirt with its claws while shouting.

"THIEF! THIEF! GIVE IT BACK!"

Egon pulled against the creatures grip and fell backwards; ripping the bottom of his shirt and tearing off a bit of fabric. Egon quickly resumed running as the creature backed up a bit before it began to tear through the webbed wall as it continued to shout.

"GIVE IT BAAACCCCKK!"

Egon squeezed out of the hole and ran towards the door he came from; thinking he would be safe if he reached it. But to his horror, it would not open. He struggled as he pushed and pulled, but the door was locked tight. Egons' panic rose as the creature continued to rip through the thick webbing until he could see its face peeking out from the webs.

"No, not here; please!" Egon begged as fearful tears built up.

The creature just ignored the boy's plea with a growl and repeated what it said before.

"Give it BACK!" It shouted as it reached for Egon with its claws.

Egon covered his face and cowered as he braced for the creature to grab and do the worst to him. But Egon waited and waited. But he felt nothing.

"GGAAAHHHHH!"

Egon opened his eyes and looked up when he heard the creature make sounds of pain. The boy gasped and backed fair as he could as he saw the spider monster being attacked by three dozens of spiders the size of a human fist.

"STOP! STOP!"

The creature shouted for the smaller creatures to stop. But it was too late for it. It destroyed the spiders nest when it chased after Egon and they wanted revenge. Egon flinched as the spiders began to bite and claw at the creature furiously; making it roar in pain as it uselessly struggled to get free. Egon could not take any more; covering his ears and closing his eyes as much as he could. Egon stayed like this for the next few seconds. But just as he thought it would not end. Everything went silent.

Egon did not want to open his eyes; afraid that the spiders would still be there to eat him. But a sudden flash of light on his eyelids made him do otherwise. Egon gasped lightly when he saw the spider monster and the smaller spiders. But they were not moving. They were turned to stone. The webs were gone along with the book shelves; as if they were never there.

"You need to hurry!"

Egon looked down as the other twins' voice came from the now glowing book in his hand.

"You need to win the final challenge and save the girl! Time is running out!" The other twin boy spoke with panicked urgency.

The glowing stopped as the twin went silent. Egon just took a deep breath and exhale as he leaned back on the locked door. Or he thought it was looked until he fell onto his back. Egon quickly got up to see the door the next and final challenge opened. The boy stared at the void in front of him; wondering if he was close to winning and beating the boogieman. Egon thought of his parents and if they were okay. The boy sighed with worry and exhaustion. The sooner he found the third soul and his parents, the sooner he could get of this place and never come back. Lifting himself off the floor and standing up properly, Egon took the next step and walked through the door to the third and final challenge.