Demons of the Past
by Cyberchao X
Disclaimer: I do not own Goosebumps, though some of these characters are original.
A/N: So I'm breaking my rule, because a bunch of plot bunnies invaded my dreams and this one stood out. Oh, what a mess I'm in…I should be dedicating any spare fanfic-writing time I have to continuing my run of at least one new chapter of Lonely No More per calendar month.
Don't worry about the married name; it's not important. You all know damn well what her maiden name was.
Chapter 1: A Mother's Fear
12-year-old Megan Daniels rolled her eyes. "A ventriloquist show? Seriously, Mom?"
"What?" her mother asked innocently.
"Ventriloquists are as lame as you can get."
"Well, then, I guess your mother is 'lame', because I was really into ventriloquism when I was your age. Of course, there was that incident that changed all of that…"
"Oh, I've known you were lame for quite some time. What happened? All the kids at school make fun of you for being into ventriloquism?"
"Hardly." Amy Daniels shuddered, remembering what happened twenty-three years ago. "A demonic dummy wrecked my life and tried to make me his slave."
"Please. I've read Day of the Living Dummy. It wasn't even scary."
"It's a lot scarier when you're living through it. Those books are all based on true stories, you know. Day of the Living Dummy II's 'Angela Kaman'? That's me."
"Never read the second one. That series was pretty lame."
"It's only 'lame' if you're going in expecting the types of scares found only in true fiction. Knowing that those events actually happened, though…"
Megan rolled her eyes again. "Well, fine. I'll go with you to this ventriloquist show. I'll even be there to hold your hand if you get scared."
Amy smiled. "Thanks, Megan. I'm sure I won't need that, though. After all, it's not like Slappy himself will be there." She paused and reflected on the other stories she'd read about girls who'd dealt with Slappy. "But if, for some reason, something does happen, stay close to me. I just realized that there's something far scarier about his behavior than his malicious pranks."
"Oh? And what's that?"
"You read the first book in the series, so you saw how the dummies tend to want to make 'slaves' out of their victims. And all of the victims, myself included, were 12-year-old girls. Looking back on it now as a parent, that doll is truly scary for a completely different reason."
"Oh, I get it. The doll is a metaphor for child molesters."
"The doll is a child molester."
Megan rolled her eyes again. "I may have to get a 'Skippy' doll just to torment you with."
"I'd know the difference. Anyway, it doesn't matter that you don't believe me, because as far as I know, Slappy's gone for good now." She prayed that this was true.
A/N: Hopefully getting a start like this will be enough to quell the plot bunnies for now. I'm no good at writing this type of story, anyway, but I'll give it my best shot. I think having an in-universe equivalent to the Goosebumps series, with parallel titles and names, might have been my best touch. Until next time, CCX, signing off.