“Mommy, tell me a story.”
I pull the covers firmly over Mandy. She’s buried in a mound of stuffed animals, her face illuminated in the slightly pinkish glow from her Piglet nightlight.
“Okay, honey. Let’s see … Do you want a princess story? Or a Pooh story? Or” – I pause for effect – “a scary story?”
Her face lights up instantly. At the young age of almost-eight, she’s very interested in scary things, although I never expose her to them as she always wakes up screaming with nightmares.
“A scary story, Mommy!”
“Promise you won’t get scared?”
"Promise!" she replies excitedly.
I clear my throat and begin. “Our story tonight is about a boy called Danny.”
She clutches the edges of her sheets, eyes wide in anticipation.
“Danny was a nice boy, but his mommy and daddy weren’t so nice. He –”
“How can a mommy and daddy not be nice?” she interrupts, brow wrinkling.
“They did bad things, like hit him and starve him when he was naughty. Now are you gonna listen, or should I just read you a Mickey Mouse book?” She looks a bit shocked at my bluntness, but she shakes her head vehemently, miming zipping her mouth shut. I continue.
“Like I was saying, he didn’t have any friends at school, because he didn’t have all the nice toys and clothes that all the other kids had. They were really mean to him; they took all his lunch money, and didn’t let him play with them at recess, and never invited him to birthdays.”
I pause, and she takes the opportunity to ask, “Did Danny never have any friends his whole entire life?” As a sweet little girl she was quite popular at school, and the concept of Danny being friendless seems to upset her; she’s frowning and gnawing her blanket.
“Well, he did. Once. When he was all grown up and left school, he made one friend. She was his best friend, just like Lilo and Stitch. She was such a good friend that he couldn’t live without her. So she – she moved into his house and lived with him. She got a little mad at him at first cuz he wouldn’t let her leave the house - so she wouldn’t find a new friend and leave Danny, you see. But she got over it.”
She tried to interrupt me, but I pressed on. “Sadly, Danny’s friend didn’t last long. You see, he forgot to give her food, just like his mommy and daddy did to him.”
There’s silence for a moment. “She died?” Mandy whispers.
“Yes, she did. And when the police found out they weren’t happy about it. And they did something awful to Danny. Can you guess?”
She’s really scared now. “No,” she whimpers.
“They killed him, like what they did to Bambi’s mommy. But he isn’t gone. He’s still here. A ghost, like the ones you see on Scooby Doo, but he’s real. Sometimes he gets into people’s houses and he haunts them.”
“H-how do you get him to leave?” she asks, her voice barely audible.
“You –”, my voice breaks, and I try again. “You give him a friend.”
I kiss her goodnight and leave the room. As I’m standing in the doorway, one hand on the knob, she pipes up: “Is that the end?”
“Yes. That’s the end,” I say. As the closet creaks open slowly, I shut the door so I don’t hear her screams.
—
Credits to: mariams99
Comments