Boogeyman

My vision became hazier by the second and the only thing that I could make out of it was the scary lady with a gun in her hand that stopped short in front of me. I listened to the weary sirens in the distance and the cries for help sounding somewhere far from here. I felt like I was losing myself, like I was dying. I could only faintly remember what happened before I blacked out. I remember a girl. A young one. She was about 11 years old with blue-gray eyes and long black hair. I remember her saying only one thing to me. It was a name. A name that started with a B. B-B-B….It was impossible. I couldn’t remember the name. “Julien Dolores you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Harper Lennox, first degree murder, and first degree assault. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you while you are being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you before any questioning if you wish. You can decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements. Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you?” I gave the scary woman - who I now know is a police officer - a weak nod yes. “Please respond with a yes or a no or another form to get your consent.” I turned to give the woman a dreary eyed look and I sputtered out the word yes. “Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?” My mind rolled into loud bangs of thunder as I caught on to a couple of brief memories of what happened last night. I was being arrested. And I wasn’t the one who did it. It was him. It was the Boogeyman. 

The police officer that had arrested me was standing right in front of me when I opened my eyes. I took in the scent of the polished room. The smell was putrid. It smelled of wet cement and dead fish. There were a couple of brochures with all of the titles including ‘possible parole’ in them, and an end table holding a coffee maker and an old fashioned telephone. My senses kicked in when I eyed the telephone and my memories slowly seemed to be flooding back into my brain. “I see that you’ve finally woken up.” The police officer stared at me with cold eyes. I stared right back.  “So, you wanna tell me exactly what happened, or do you need a little bit of motivation?” The scary lady had on a name tag. Her name was Darcy. “Officer Darcy, please, you have to believe me. I didn’t murder Harper Lennox. If it’s still the same day, I was coming home late from work last night calling in on a few clients of mine. It was around ten o’ clock when I left the office. I hopped into my car and started driving. As you could probably imagine, I was really tired and I was just trying to get home faster so that I could get home to my kid. So, instead of taking the usual route that I take to get home, I took a detour.”

“And where exactly did this detour lead to?” Officer Darcy wasn’t buying into it. “The detour wormed through a sketchy neighborhood. There weren’t many people around, just a couple of dogs and drunk adults.”

“I’m going to have to interrogate the people who live around there. See if there are any witnesses. If you’re lying it’ll only be worse.” I was really working her up and I barely started speaking. I wonder what she’ll say when I bring up the Boogeyman. I’m dead. No doubt. “Please, just listen. I kept getting the feeling that something wasn’t right, like something bad was going to happen. And then it did. I heard someone screaming. They were blood curdling screams that made my skin crawl. I couldn’t just leave them there, not while they were helpless. I rolled down my window just a bit to be able to follow the screams. I was led to an alleyway that was surrounded by a bunch of dumpsters and a pile of cigarette stubs. I honestly even started to reconsider my decisions when I got off of my car. I stayed put for a minute or two just to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating. The screams had stopped, but then the strangest thing happened. I don’t know what it was but whatever it was, was what murdered Harper.”

“So you’re telling me that something, not someone, murdered an innocent 11 year old girl?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I swear that it wasn’t me. This thing crawled out of somebody's apartment window and it was holding her. I followed my instincts and I ran after it. The thing that had Harper ran faster than any normal human would be able to, it may even have been flying. It stopped in front of a building that had a bunch of graffiti on it. The one where you found Harper dead. Harper was crying and she was so scared. She begged me for my help and of course I did my best to help her out, but she kept saying a name. A name that started with a B. She called it the Boogeyman. And I don’t know what it was that I saw but by the time that I tried to figure it out, Harper’s vocal chords were ripped out of her throat. They were splattered all over the ground. Her blood was everywhere and Harper stood up. She was still alive, but all the while she was still screaming in undeniable pain. She dipped a finger into her pool of blood and wrote something on the wall behind her with it.” I seemed to be getting to Officer Darcy, although she still didn’t seem entirely convinced. She had a look of fear but also a look of doubt. Then she said something. She almost whispered it. “What did she write?”

“It’s on the camera roll of my cell phone.” The officer pulled out my phone from a plastic bag and opened up my camera roll. Her face turned completely white when she read it. Do you want to know what the note said? 

I won’t yell at mommy ever again. 

Officer Darcy left the room to speak to a lawyer for me. She said that she didn’t know what to believe. She said that my story didn’t make sense. I’m anticipating the moment when I have to attend my trials. There is a 99.9 percent chance that the jury will read the verdict and it will declare me guilty. The other 0.1 is the one chance I have that somebody will believe me and get me out of this nightmare. Officer Darcy explained to me her side of the story. She said that my DNA was all over Harper’s body. They even found a dagger on the scene with my fingerprints on it and have security camera footage of me slitting Harper’s throat open with the dagger. I was drowning in my thoughts until I heard a knock at the door. It was my daughter. My heart melted and my eyes stung with tears. She forced herself to come into the room and took the seat across from me. “Dad...what happened?” I couldn’t even look Paulina in the eye; she probably considered me a scumbag just like everyone else. “I didn’t kill that poor innocent girl. Paulina, please, you have to believe me. This place-these people are driving me insane. They’re pulling hard evidence out of their back pockets and every single piece of it all gets pinned back on me. I just don’t understand what’s going on. I’m being framed. I know I am.” Paulina didn’t look upset or even worried. In fact, she seemed calm and put together. She softly inhaled and said, “I do believe you. I know that you would never do something like that and I promise it on my life that I’m going to get you out of here. But I can’t do it if you’re not willing to do whatever it takes.” I gave Paulina an affirmative nod. I took a quick glance at the bored officer that was lazily standing in the back and I drew an x across my chest. Paulina smiled at me and said her goodbyes. She gave me one last look before she shut the door and then I was all alone again. 

This prison was really depressing. Peeling walls, stained floors, dim lights, and then to top it all off, the vexed inmates. At least Officer Darcy was kind enough to escort me to my luxurious prison cell. Officer Darcy sorted out the details with me about my lawyer and scheduled a meeting time with her tomorrow morning at eight o’ clock. She informed me on some of the prison rules and then left me in the cell. I was given my own cell with no roommate since the officers were kind enough to classify me as a category A prisoner. “Alright, delinquents! Lights out!” This whole thing was totally botched. I didn’t deserve to be here. I dragged myself to the rectangular piece of metal that was supposed to be my bed and I draped my eyelids shut. 

I woke up drenched in sweat. I searched for a clock between the bars of the cell. It was 2:57 in the morning. I couldn’t slow my breathing down and my fingers were all trembling under the soupy weight of my body. I  had a terrible nightmare; it was about him. The Boogeyman. I remember that he was seeping in under the cracks of Harper’s door back in her apartment and she was sound asleep. I tried screaming her name, furiously shaking her, but she wouldn’t wake up. The boogeyman ominously towered over her frail body and whispered something so quietly that I almost missed it. “You’ve been a very bad girl. I’m sure that mommy isn’t very happy.” Harper woke up when she heard the demonic voice. She whimpered and said that she was sorry. That she would never do it again. “You hurt mommy’s feelings when you yelled at her and said those awful things…” Harper couldn’t speak; she just sat there, paralyzed with fear. The Boogeyman swept her off her feet and told her that he would teach her a lesson in his hissed, horrendous voice. But it was like he could sense that I was there. He stared directly at me with those lifeless eyes and his sharp, jagged teeth. When he charged toward me, I woke up. I shook off my fears and I got back into bed. I shut my eyes as hard as I could and threw the blanket over my head. The trial was in two days, not even my wise, intelligent daughter could get me out of here. I was slowly being lulled to sleep by the mechanic whirs of an air vent nearby but then a noise interrupted me. It wasn’t just any noise, it was a scream, and it was coming from the end of the hall. I reluctantly inched toward the bars and peeked through them. The color from my face drained and my whole body went numb when I saw it. It was him. He just murdered someone else. 

It was the man that I passed by when I was being escorted to my cell yesterday. He was in his mid twenties, dreadlocks, and covered in tattoos. He was in pieces. There was a pool of blood around him and he was sitting outside of his cell. I gagged to myself, but then it got worse. There were words. And they were written in his blood. “I’M SORRY FOR CHOPPING MY GIRLFRIEND INTO PIECES.”  I was terrified. I backed into the darkest corner of the cell praying that he wouldn’t get to me too. One after another, the screams got worse and worse. Where were the guards? I cried silent tears and listened closely for another scream or another cry. But there was nothing but the eerie silence and the whisper of air tickling my ears. I couldn’t move. I waited for another five minutes until I decided that I had to do something, anything. I stood up and I reached for the lock on the cell. I reached for the bobby pin in my pocket that I found earlier hidden in here between a crack in the wall. I picked the lock until I heard a reassuring *click*. I searched frantically for a guard or someone to help me but everyone in this unit was dead. I sprinted in the direction of Officer Darcy’s office. But I stopped short when I saw who was in there with her. Paulina was in there, but why was she here? And why was she here at three o’ clock in the morning? I was just about to place my hand on the door handle when I heard shallow breathing. It was cold. It was so cold. I shivered and waited for whoever it was to show themselves. “Who’s there?” No answer. Two minutes. Three. No answer. I proceeded to open the door. “Don’t go in there.” Someone cackled. “Do you want to know why Paulina is here?” The voice continued to hiss but never came out of the shadows. “Who are you? And how do you know my daughter’s name?” 

“I think that should be the least of your problems.” The voice seemed to be mocking me. It sounded like I was bringing amusement to it. “She’s here to help the officer put you behind bars….for good. Don’t believe me?” I was too late to run when I realized that it was the Boogeyman. He sped towards me and grabbed a hold of me. I looked him into the eyes and I saw everything. Paulina spoke to Officer Darcy before she came to see me. It was horrible. I didn’t want to believe it. She told her that I was dangerous. A scumbag. That I didn’t deserve to live. She was helping her put an end to me and she was planning to from the very beginning. I didn’t even need to ask Paulina if it was true. I knew that it was. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to cut off her lying tongue and bash her skull into a pile of rocks. I wanted to squeeze her neck and watch her get on her knees and plead for her life. I was angry. So angry. I didn’t even care about the Boogeyman anymore. For once, I wish I was the Boogeyman. “Go teach her a lesson...she deserves it.” I engulfed him and I fed on his every evil intention. I kicked down the door to the office and grabbed both Officer Darcy and Paulina by their throats. “Kill them all.” I hissed at the Boogeyman. His lips curled upwards. “With pleasure.” I dragged the two wretched snakes by their hair and forced them up with me to the roof of the building. The cold air felt replenishing to my skin and I threw the two helpless peasants onto the ground. As I anticipated, they both begged for me to let them live. You’re not you blah blah blah you don’t want to do this blah blah blah you’re not a killer blah blah blah. Oh, but I do want to, and I am a killer. “First, let’s begin with you, Officer Darcy. Paulina shall’ be my dessert.” I drowned out the sounds of Officer Darcy’s pleas. I gave her a parting smile and stabbed her right where her charcoal rock of a heart was placed. Her blood splattered all over my face. This was quite enlightening. I threw her over the roof and watched her splat on the ground like a blob of jelly. Paulina was crying miserably. As she should. I walked over to her and kicked her in the face. “Daddy, please. Don’t do this! I promise that it’s not what you think! Whatever that thing told you was a lie! I promise!” I hated that I still had love for this rat. I choked her until she barely had life to hang on to. She cried and pleaded but I didn’t care. I stabbed every part of her body and I laughed every time she screamed. I let her bleed out, and once I knew she was dead I gripped one of her fingers and dipped it in her blood. I wrote one sentence. “I WILL NEVER BETRAY DADDY EVER AGAIN.” I spit in her face and I left her there. She was dead to me. Mentally and physically. The Boogeyman appeared and cackled at the sight of Paulina. ¨"She’ll do nicely in my collection.” 

“Collection?” The Boogeyman let out another cackle and stared  at me. “You’re quite gullible, aren’t you?” He walked towards me and just stared with at me with those eyes. My brain burst into a thousand pieces and my blood was everywhere. I wasn't sure what was happening but it seemed as though I couldn’t control my body. I dipped a finger into my blood and wrote down a note. I collapsed to the floor when I finished and the Boogeyman disappeared with a horrid sneer. Do you want to know what the note said? 

 Don’t ever trust the Boogeyman.