Boy, did he ever.
Written for random giggles and weird looks back in '06 during a RGB kick!
The Wrong Closet to Enter!
"Good night, Diana."
"Good night, Daddy!" the golden-haired child responded happily as her father pulled the covers over her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He then made his way back out of the bedroom, flicking off the light switch and closing the door behind him.
Several quiet hours later, the clock hit midnight.
A strange glow suddenly began to emanate from the child's nearby closet. The door knob began to jostle and finally turn.
Diana was awakened by the lights and sound of the door opening. She blinked and rubbed her eyes gently as she sat up in bed. Upon opening them, she took notice of a large form coming out of the closet. It began moving toward her bed, the hooves on its goat-like legs clacking on her hard wood floor as it stepped. The creature's red lips were pulled back in a hideous smile, exposing its rows of large yellow fangs, and its hands extended revealing fingers tipped with very sharp looking black claws.
Closer and closer, it drew, until it was right at the foot of Diana's bed. Diana's mouth was hanging open slightly, her eyes wide. She'd never seen anything quite so strange before until this evening.
"Who are you?" Diana asked in awe as the creature stared her down menacingly with its yellow eyes.
"Why, I'm the Boogieman, my child!" the creature said in a raspy voice and then cackled evilly.
"Boogieman?" Diana repeated with curiosity.
"Yes! And I love fear. Especially the fear of sweet little children, like you! Mwahaha!"
The Boogieman wrung his clawed hands momentarily before raising them back into the air and snarling wickedly at Diana in attempt to scare her senseless. He was awaiting screams of terror but instead, quite unexpectedly, the little girl jumped out of her bed and walked up beside him.
"Huh?"
The Boogieman turned his head to look at her.
Diana was staring up at him with a rather large smile on her face.
"Wow! I've never seen a 'Boogieman' before!" Diana mused excitedly.
She reached out and touched the fabric of the Boogieman's black tuxedo coat. He stepped back, blinking.
"What?"
"Boy, you're tall! Way taller than my Daddy. I think you're taller than my Uncle Mort and he's the tallest one in our whole family!" Diana chirped and walked around to the Boogieman's other side and poked at him again. Again he stepped away apprehensively and narrowed his eyes.
"Argh!" he snarled. "What's this? You're...not afraid of me?"
Diana shook her head.
"Why would I be afraid of you, with those big ears? Kinda like big rabbit's ears!" she giggled.
The Boogieman blinked with confusion and raised his clawed hands to his ears. "Ggh! My ears are not like a rabbit's!"
"And you're fuzzy!"
Diana sunk her small fingers into the coarse white fur of the Boogieman's leg.
"Nyaaah!"
The Boogieman recoiled back on one hoof briefly and snarled at her again.
"Grah! What are you doing? You dare to mock me? I'll-"
The little girl was quite insistent on touching the Boogieman's fur and didn't give him much chance of finishing his threat before putting her hands onto his exposed belly this time. With another innocent giggle, she started petting him like one would a dog.
"AAH!"
"It's real soft, too! Like the neighbor's doggy!" Diana exclaimed happily while continuing to rub her small hands over the Boogieman's fur briskly.
"St-stop! No! Aaaah!" the Boogieman rasped as he flailed his arms. His cries of protest were followed by growls and involuntary laughter. "N-Nooo! Hahaha! Stop!"
The Boogieman's goat-like legs buckled beneath him and he sank to the floor with a mix of snarls of protest and laughter, waving his claws. "No! Hahahahaha. Stop! D-don't!" His right leg kicked the air as he wriggled.
"Hahaha! You're ticklish, too!" Diana giggled again.
Finally Diana removed her hands giving the Boogieman a brief chance to regain himself. He shook off his daze and got back to his hooves.
"Agh!" the Boogieman growled and clutched his head in frustration. His yellow eyes locked back on the little girl who was supposed to be his victim as she stood, smiling up at him. "How can this be? Brought down so easily by a mere child?" he exclaimed, feeling mortified.
"Do you want me to scratch behind your ears, Mr. Boogieman?" Diana asked eagerly.
"Noooo! Stay...stay back!" The Boogieman withdrew with a wince, his eyes wide. He then quickly turned and dashed back into the closet. That was definitely the only and the last time he'd ever venture through that child's closet ever again.
Diana watched the door slam shut.
"Aww. Guess he had to go to bed!" she said with a bit of disappointment.
Suddenly the door to her bedroom opened and her father peered in.
"Diana? What was all that noise, young lady? You're supposed to be in bed."
"Sorry Daddy! I was just playing with Mr. Boogieman!" Diana said casually.
"Mr. Boogieman, huh?"
Her father came in and coaxed her back into bed.
"Yeah! He came to visit me! But he had to leave again just now."
"Ah. I see. Well, no more playing tonight. You've got to go to sleep, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy," Diana said with a smile.