Do you believe in ghosts, ghouls and witches? Do you believe that there is a monster under the bed waiting to grab your foot while you sleep? Does your mind play tricks on you or is there really something there in the dark? Maybe there's really a skeleton in the closet.
Why do you feel safe under the blanket when it can be a trap? Comfort might be an enemy. Do you feel feel her kisses? Can you hear her voice?
As adults, we are supposed to believe that monsters don't exist. They are just fairy tales made to scare kids at night. They are just dumb ideas but ideas can be powerful, can't they?
As a kid, my dad used to tell my sister and me stories right before bedtime and his favorite genre was horror. He liked to scare the crap out of us.
Now back in the 50s we didn't have none of them iPhones or internet things so we had to make our own fun. All kids would say this but my dad was really cool and fun. He would either tell us stories as actual stories or sing them as songs with his big ol' guitar. The stories were nice but the songs brought the horror to life. Something about them were thrilling yet frightening. I can't explain it. I would get scared and excited too. Of all the songs there was one that really got to me. Part of it went something like this.
A name of old, his face unknown
A man and not, his legend told
A heart of stone, your soul is cold
A night at home, a while alone
Terror, horror
His pleasure screams sorrow
Before the sunrise tomorrow
By his will you will follow
Wash yourself little child, wash away the stench of fear
Do not leave your bed tonight because the Bogeyman will hear
The Bogeyman! I'm sure you've heard of him. Yes, a bad idea meant to scare children. A plan to make children conform. They say he gets bad kids at night and punishes them. A man? A demon? No one knows for sure. Kids back then were terrified of the Bogeyman. Fear spread so much that the started to tell us it was all fake. A farce. A monster of the child's mind.
Or was it?
You see, I wasn’t that much of a good boy back in the day. I did really bad at school and I’d cause trouble all over the neighborhood. I wasn’t no rebel. Nah. I was just a little kid doing little kid stuff and despite what they said about the bogeyman, I always knew he was real and he was gonna come for me soon.
Bedtime back then was 8:30 pm on a school night but sometimes I liked to stay up late. I remember clearly one night the moon was bright and full. It was cold and windy out. My sister was fast asleep on the top bunk. It was already past 11 and I should have been asleep too but I was under the blanket wearing one of those old headlamps and playing with my G.I. Joe action figures. Mum and dad had work the next day so I guess they were already in bed.
It wasn’t the first night I was up late so it was nothing new. The G.I. JOE action figures were really hot then and, as a 7 or 8 year old kid, I couldn’t get enough of them. I wasn’t causing any trouble but I sure was doing something at a time my parents wouldn’t approve of it. Just at the peak of my bliss, I heard something move outside.
It startled me but I thought “it could be a stray cat or raccoon” but then I heard it again. I stopped to listen carefully. At that point, I heard something by the window as if someone tried to open it. How? My room was on the higher floor of the duplex. Good thing dad made us lock all the windows and doors at night. He always said desperate people always find a way to break into a house.
Again and again, the sound continued. Someone was trying to get in!
I sneaked up to the window and pulled the blinds quickly. The moonlight shined very brightly and what I saw next haunts me till this day. A face, white as snow with hollow eyes and a sad look. He looked at me and I looked at him. I knew the Bogeyman had finally come for me. I screamed and shut the blinds. My screams woke my sister up. She came down her top bunk and checked the window but no one was there so she went back to bed. I knew what I saw so I couldn’t sleep.
I recouped under my blanket and listened for more noise. I didn’t hear the sounds anymore so I thought it was over. I thought about joining my sister at the top bunk but she would just make fun of me later. Who would believe I had just seen the Bogeyman for real? Who would I even tell?
I started to wonder if I was going crazy. I was too scared to go to sleep alone so I thought of going to my parents’ bedroom. I sneaked out the room so my sister wouldn’t notice and walked into the dark hallway. I could hear my shaky breath as I walked to my parents’ room. It was like I was in one of those horror movies. Getting near the stairs to get to the other side of the hallway, I saw the figure of a man behind the living room window trying to get it open. At least he looked like a man. He tried for a while and finally got the window open. I watched him get through the window and into the living room.
I was so scared I couldn’t move. It was like I was living outside my body. I saw my body run back to the room, wake my sister up and convinced her to come with it to my parents’ room. I saw myself running and dragging my sister along as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.
When we got to the staircase, I saw the same figure I had seen outside the window and my sister could see him too. He was standing at the end of the staircase. This time around, his face wasn’t sad, rather it was smiling. Maybe he was happy he had caught up to his prey.
We ran to our parents’ room screaming.
”Dad, Mum! The Bogeyman’s here! The Bogeyman’s here!”
We burst into their room and jumped into their bed. Mum and Dad tried really hard to calm us down and assure us that there was no Bogeyman but we were really shaken.
"It was just a bad dream", They said.
It took some effort to calm us but we all finally went to sleep. I lay down between my sister and my mum and my sister lay down between me and my dad. I could really sleep because I knew I wasn’t alone anymore.
We got up early the next day. Me and my sister had to go school and my parents had work. My mum was the first to go downstairs. We were still in their room when she called for my dad. We all ran downstairs and saw the living room window open. My mum pointed at the spot where the little tv used to be and it was empty. The tv was gone. My sister and I looked at each other with fear and concern.
There were reports of break-ins all over the neighborhood that morning and witnesses reported seeing two men with Halloween masks.
People say they were just robbers but I always thought there was more to the whole thing. Maybe I had actually seen the Bogeyman. Maybe there is more than one Bogeyman. What do you kids think?
”Grandpa, we’re scared”
Oops! Sorry babies. Maybe I shouldn't have told you this story before bedtime. Silly me.
