"You're the Boogeyman."
The girl whispered the words quietly in the dark, voice steady and undisturbed. I'd only appeared in her room moments before, destroying the nightlight guarding her with one shadow tendril. I'd expected her to cry out or to whimper, simply show some sign of fear
But none came, as she was not alone in the dark now.
"I knew you were real." She continued, "You've haunted my dreams for years. Dream catchers can't keep you away, can they? They can only confuse your nightmares, make dreams into insane realities."
"You are right, child." I responded, deeming it safe to reveal myself. I stood beside her bed, just out of the reach of moonlight streaking through her window. The Man in the Moon must've known of my presence, must've been trying to protect this girl from me even though I'd not come to harm her.
"Why are you here?" She asked, looking up at me from her bed. She had blankets pulled all the way up to her neck, though one hand poked out to rest again the pillow beneath her head.
"Merely doing my nightly rounds, child."
"Oh." I could hear disappointment in her voice. "You must need to move on then."
"Yes, I do."
A sigh escaped her lips, and she shifted under the blankets until her back was facing me. I frowned at this, but remained where I stood. Confusion was beginning to cloud my thoughts.
Against my better judgment, I let a question of my own slip between my lips, "Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't want to be alone."
I could hear a shake in her voice that time, and something pulled inside of me. Shaking my head at myself, I allowed my body to sit on the edge of the girl's bed, and a hand reached out to rest against one of her legs covered by the thick fabrics.
"No one does." I said slowly, my hand moving gently up and down in a way that felt all too familiar. "But it is a part of life, and everyone has to be alone at some point."
Her response was muffled as the girl turned her face into her pillow, "I don't like it."
"Of course you don't," A soft laugh came from me, "Being alone is not something anyone truly enjoys. Everyone looks for ways to avoid it, to overcome it, and usually, everyone can."
"Usually?" The girl asked, pulling her head away from her pillow enough to look at me. I could see tears in her eyes, and there was that pull inside me that made something ache...
I took a moment to respond, staring silently at her before looking to the window where the moon's light was dimming as clouds drifted across the sky. "Yes," I started, "Usually. Many people find others they can count on, to always be there for them eventually. But others, well...they are not so lucky."
"Are you one of them?"
I tensed, swallowing down a growl that threatened to bubble up in my throat. My hand clenched where I had her leg in my grip, sending my nails through the fabric and into her skin, but she did not flinch.
"I am, child."
"Do you wish you weren't?"
It took a moment for me to figure out what the true answer to that was. For a brief moment, my mind flashed back to the white barren land of Antarctica, then farther into darkness surrounded by warmth and vines, and finally the blackness of space filled my vision. My hand dropped from her leg.
"I wasn't always one of them. And I do wish I could go back to those times."
She sat up. "What if I could do that?"
I turned to stare at her with wide eyes, and a pulse of moonlight struck through the clouds. "I beg your pardon?"
"What if I could make it so you're not alone anymore?" She repeated herself, face blank of any emotion that I could read. It almost disturbed me, and I looked closely at her, searching for any sign of foolery or tricks. Was the child serious?
Her eyes seemed lifeless as a nod bounced the short, crudely cut hair atop her head. "I am serious," she said, bringing me to realize I had spoken out loud. "I'm tired of being alone. I'm tired of being pushed from person to person when one gets bored of me. I'm always in the dark now, so why not become a part of it?"
I stood, not taking my eyes off of the girl as she swung her legs over the side of her bed. I'd watched and visited her for years, her life had unfolded before my eyes every night, but it was only now I became aware of the scars covering her soul; the cuts along her skin, the poisonous words forever etched into her young brain. This girl felt as if she were suffering for a long time, but now she seemed weightless. She stood as if she had nothing to her body at all.
She was numb to life, to light.
"End it for me. Let me join the darkness. Please," She whispered, dropping to her knees before me. "Kill my last light. I've heard the stories, I know you can turn mortals into your fearlings with a simple touch. They're lost forever, their souls trapped in darkness, and that's what I want."
She stood, holding out a hand to me.
"I can't do it anymore, life is too hard. Pleaseā¦"
Her voice trailed off, a single tear rolling down her cheek, and I closed my eyes before reaching to take her hand in my own. A gasp parted her lips, and a sad smile tugged at my own as shadow tendrils began to reach out from my being to wrap around her arm. The darkness trailed up her arm, consuming every bit of skin inch by inch, and she collapsed to her knees once more, but this time I caught her in my arms.
"Let your suffering end, child." I whispered as I rocked her back in forth in a way I did not know I still could, looking out the window to where the moon finally peeked back through the clouds.
"There shall be no more light."
sorry for being gone for so long.
