(HSSC2) Bump: A bedtime story to keep children awake

In an average room in an average house in an average neighborhood, one like even you or I might live, there was a little boy named Billy. Billy had the usual kind of friends and all the popular toys and even wore the typical style of clothing for someone his age. Perhaps Billy even shops where you and I shop.

However, late one night little Billy had a very disturbing problem. It seems as though a Bogeyman was squatting in his closet and refused to leave no matter how much Billy begged and pleaded. In fact, his anxiety and fear appeared to provide sustenance for this vile creature. It was almost as if Billy could hear the beast�s mass expanding within the closet. The drowning sound of space gasping for air accompanied by the sickening slaps of moist flesh against the closet walls. This was not a good sign, but as you know the violent fluctuation of semi-rotting meat is never an omen of candy and sunshine.

Billy cried out time and time again for his father to evict the monster from the closet, but every time his father opened the closet door there was nothing to be shown. This was certainly one tricky Bogeyman. One must give him that praise if nothing else.

�Billy there is nothing in there! Is this one of your imaginary friends again? Perhaps that Eric fellow you are always blaming things on?� The father asked.

�No! No! I swear he was in there just a moment ago and I think he wants to do bad things to me. He has three steaming eyes and they all hate me!� Billy responded.

Billy�s father tucked him in once more and told him to go to sleep completely unaware and seemingly uncaring of the menace lurking within the closet.

As soon as Billy�s father left the room, the Bogeyman reappeared from the shadows and began to consume little Billy�s toys. First his toy cars that met their end with a crunch and next his action figures that were destroyed with even less resistance. Their little guns and ninja accessories could not save them, but at least Billy could live with the reassurance that they put up a valiant fight. Not like his sister�s dolls because dolls are stupid and come with dresses where as Action Figures are cool and come with tanks and missiles.

Upon filling his stomach with shards of metal wheels and plastic arms, the Bogeyman perched upon the end of the bed and gurgled hungrily at Billy with those three hate-filled eyes. Its chicken-like talons dug into the footboard of the bed, which could never support the Bogeyman�s weight on its own. That is not to say that it had an obesity problem because as we all know it is not wise to tease a monster about his girth, but rather that it was actually supporting itself with a large striped kangaroo-like tail. To complete the Bogeyman�s ensemble, his torso was cloaked in thick shaggy hair, which gave way to stubby lobster claws that protruded more from his chest then his shoulders. Now when I refer to the Bogeyman as a Him, I really should specify that not all Bogeymen are male. It is just that Bogeymen are very PC and one really has to watch what one says about things like gender or obesity or, god forbid, the shortness of one�s striped kangaroo-like tail.

It was at this moment that the wretched creature finally spoke for the first time.

�I am going to gnaw on your tender toes for an appetizer, suck out your meaty innards with my twisty straw as a main course and lick up your brains like pudding! Maybe I will even save your chickeny fingers as a leftover to make a nice sandwich out of for lunch tomorrow.�

Just as Billy was about to scream in the hope that his father would finally come to save him, a thick, black fog seeped into the room from the windowpane and floated under his bed. Within seconds a lumpy, grayish object violently flung itself from under that same bed and crashed against the adjacent wall. Both Billy and the Bogeyman stared in puzzlement at the fleshy mass that now writhed in the coroner of the room.

Suddenly the dark figure took form and lunged at the Bogeyman. With one gaping expanse of this jaw, the strange creature bit off the Bogeyman�s head and swallowed it whole. The headless body of the night terror slumped to the floor in an oozing mass. Billy kept to the safety of his bed as the second monster stood before him drenched in the blood of his adversary; a truly frightening sight for the likes of you or I. It flexed its massive mouth to expose a multitude of barbwire like teeth stained by chunks of flesh and bone. In fact, this demon�s head was more mouth then cranium. A gruesome sight that peered through a pair of black raisin-like eyes which seemed to sink inward.

In an uncontrollable urge little Billy cried out�..

�Eric! Where were you? That monster nearly got me!�

�Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a bus to this part of town after dark�, Eric the demon questioned with a scowl to his massive lips. �Calm down! Calm down! I�ll read you a story to help you get to sleep. Just do me a favor and tell your mom that mess on the floor is from the dog.�

So Eric put on his thick reading glasses, sat in the nearby chair and began to read Billy a book called The Ghost Who Thought I Was A Ghost. It is an old story that I think most of us have heard before perhaps even on a night like tonight. A night where the average monsters go about their average business. A night that you and even I may have had many times before.

Jonna,

This is really a cute Halloween story. I liked it very much! It brings back memories of when I was little and had watched a scary movie or heard a scary story, and every little sound was the creatures from the stories out to get me!

Good luck in the contest!

Thanks much. I really wanted to do a Tim Burton-ish story with cute illustrations, but I just did not have the time to draw the pictures. I decided to enter the contest very late in the game because of time restictions with work and the fact that I just have not been on-line much lately. I actually have another off-ball story that I will post before the day is through. My gf is editing it right now and I hope that people will have some fun with it. It is one of those 'choose your own adventure' stories that were popular in the 80'.