FicWad

“There is no such thing as the bogeyman,” the woman told her daughters, yanking open the closet door and showing them the empty closet. “See there’s nothing there.”
The little girls nodded, but they knew as soon as their mother left, the bogeyman would come back.
Smiling, she tucked them into their beds, kissing them on the forehead. “Goodnight Anne and Rachel,” she said before turning off the light and closing the door.
The little girls looked at each other in fear, as soon as the light clicked off they could hear a scratching coming from the closet door. Suddenly the door burst open and a large shape, loomed over their beds. Anne screamed in terror and jumped out of the bed, running for the door. Rachel sat there frozen in horror, as the bogeyman grabbed her sister by the waist. The sounds of her sister screaming her name, yanked Rachel out of her stupor and she jumped out of bed. The bogeyman laughed, a horrible sound, and ran toward the closet, with the Anne in his arms. He leapt through the closet and its door slammed shut just as Rachel reached it. She screamed Anne’s name frantically, sobbing and pounding on the door. Finally she yanked on the door knob and it opened easily, but the closet was empty, Anne and the bogeyman had disappeared.

Rachel opened her eyes, the tears that threatened to fall glistening from them.
“That’s the night my sister disappeared,” she told Dr. Foggarty. “Everyone told me that I imagined it that Anne must have run away. But I know that’s not true, Anne didn’t run away, she was taken by the bogeyman.”
She laughed harshly and looked at him, “now it’s your turn.” She said, “tell me, Rachel there is no such thing as the bogeyman. It was just the only way your childlike mind could explain your sister’s sudden disappearance.”
Dr. Foggarty looked at her with a solemn expression on his face, “did anything else ever happen in the room after that?” He asked.
Rachel shook her head, “I refused to sleep in the bedroom after that night. Finally my parents sold the house and we moved to another state. Lately though it seems like I’ve been having nightmares about that night. That’s why I came to you, I was hoping you could tell me how I could get rid of them.”
“I think you need to go back to your old house and face your fears,” he said. “I did some research when I saw the report on your history and I found out that the house is empty. What you need to do is go to the house alone and spend the night in your old room.”
Rachel looked at him in anger, “you don’t believe me either,” she accused.
He held out his hand, “I believe that there is something that scared you and the only way to stop these nightmares is to face it. I’m not saying it’s the bogeyman, I’m not even sure if there is such a thing. But if you believe that it was the bogeyman who took your sister, then you need to go back and face it.”
Rachel nodded, then breathed deeply. “You’re right. It can’t hurt me now.”
She grabbed her purse and got up, walking out the door.

Later she drove up into the driveway of her old house, she had driven by the relators and after explaining who she was, they had let her borrow a key. Now she sat staring at the house, afraid to get out of the safety of her car and go inside. She closed her eyes for a second and saw Anne the way she looked at the birthday party she had gone to the day before she disappeared. Rachel wiped a tear that streaked down her face, then got out of the car, she leaned into the backseat and grabbed a sleeping bag. Then she walked up the pathway to the front door, with shaking hands, she fumbled with the key and unlocked the door. She stepped inside the house, and closed the door behind her, pressing her back against it for a moment. The house looked exactly the same as it had when she was a little girl, whoever had owned it after them hadn’t changed the decor much. She slowly walked down the hallway toward her and Anne’s old bedroom and pushed open the door. Flipping on the light, she realized the it was no longer a bedroom, but a study. Obviously no one else had slept in this room after she had.
She unrolled her sleeping bag onto the floor, then looked toward the closet, slowly she walked toward it and reached a shaking hand out to turn the knob. She yanked open the door, and found an empty closet.” Blowing out a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding, she closed the door and left the room, walking back down into the living room. She ran back out into her car and grabbed the bag of groceries she had brought. She walked back into the house and into the kitchen, where she prepared herself something to eat.
She had just sat down on the floor to eat when she heard the creak of a footstep down the dark hallway that led to the bedrooms. She set down the plate she was holding and got to her feet, slowly walking toward the living room.
She heard the footstep again, and called out “hello?”
Suddenly she heard a voice call “Raaaaaaaaacccccccchhhhhhhheeeeeeeeelllll,” in a long keening tone.
Gasping, Rachel took a step back, then turned to run. A large figure with long green hair and a clown mask was standing behind her, “Raaacccccchhhhhhheeeeeeelll,” it said in a crooning voice. “I’ve been waiting for you Rachel.”
“No!” Rachel screamed, “you aren’t real.”
The bogeyman laughed, “but I am real Rachel, as real as the night I took your sister.” It said, as it advanced on her. “Now it’s your turn. Anne has been so lonely for you.”
“I don’t believe in you. There is no such thing as the bogeyman.” Rachel cried, but her voice held an almost desperate tone that belied her words.
Again the bogeyman laughed, “is that what your therapist told you?” He asked mockingly, “the one who told you to face you fears?” Then the bogeyman reached up and took off his mask, revealing the face of Dr. Foggarty. “I can assume any form Rachel,” he said in a gloating tone. “Now it’s time for you to join your sister.”
He grabbed Rachel and began to drag her down the hall toward her old room, she screamed and struggled, but he was too strong for her. He dragged her into the room, Rachel looked in horror at the open closet door. It was like a giant black hole, she could see the anguished faces of all the people he had taken over the years and hear their tortured calls.
“No!” she screamed again as she felt herself be sucked toward the closet, she tried to hold onto the side of the door, but was quickly pulled in, the door shutting by itself behind her. Then all was quiet in the house once more.

“I have to tell you this, but it really has nothing to do with the house itself,” the realtor told the couple, six months later. “Two people have disappeared in this house, sisters. One about ten years ago and the other about six months ago. Personally I think they both ran away.” She said to them in a quiet tone.
The woman looked at her young daughter who had just wandered into the kitchen from down the hall.
“What do you think honey?” she asked her softly
The little girl’s lip poked out and quivered, “I don’t like this house. There’s something in the closet.”
The adults looked at each other and laughed.
“Now honey,” the mother said softly, “you know there isn’t such a thing as the bogeyman.”