(16)-Monster In The Basement.

Back at the Doyle house, Logan opened the basement door, holding a lit flashlight, and he began descending the stairs in the dark underground room, with Tommy holding a lit flashlight as well. Timmy, meanwhile, went home after they had left the Myers house, rather than head back to the Doyle residence with Tommy and Logan to investigate the basement for any sign or trace of the Boogyman. He said it was because he wanted to get his costume on before it was time to go Trick-or-Treating, but Tommy knew the truth. He chickened out because he was too creeped out by the origin story of the Boogyman. And to be honest...Tommy didn't blame him.

Logan then looked back and noticed that Tommy was standing in the basement doorway. "It's fine. Don't be chicken."

"I'm not a chicken. That guy just...freaked me out a little." Tommy said.

"Yeah. He's just old. Besides...i'm with you." Logan said. The 8-year old resumed descending the stairs and Tommy followed after him from behind. They soon reached the bottom of the stairs, entering the basement, and Tommy went over to where the room's only light was and reached for the switch to turn it on.

"Stop!" Logan shouted, making Tommy stop reaching for the switch. "I've seen this in movies. It's just gonna explode." He warned. "Come on."

Tommy and Logan began exploring the dark basement, looking at all the stacked boxes that contained old stuff.

"Man...your Dad's got a lot a junk down here." Logan said. He and Tommy walked over to one of the stacks of boxes and Logan got an old toy hand-sword out of the top open box. "What is this?"

"It's one of my Dad's old toys from when he was a kid. Be careful." Tommy said.

Logan put the toy hand-sword back in the open box, followed by getting an old baseball out next. "So this is where the big B-Man lives." He said, referring to the Boogyman.

"Yeah. He lives down here...in the basement." Tommy said.

Logan tossed the ball into the air and caught it. "I wanna meet him." The boys then resumed exploring the dark basement. "Your parents come down here sometimes, according to you. Why haven't they seen the Boogyman?"

"Cause he's invisible to grown-ups. Only kids can see him." Tommy said.

"This Frank N. dude is probably, like, a hundred years old by now." Logan said.

Tommy then stopped in his tracks, making Logan stop in his. "Logan...look." He said as he looked down at something he was shining his flashlight on.

Logan looked down at what Tommy was shining his flashlight on, revealing it to be two trails of dirty shoe-prints leading to and from somewhere. They looked too big to belong to any of Tommy's Dad's shoes. "No, that's impossible."

The boys then saw that the trails of dirty shoe-prints led to and from the basement closet-door.

Logan slowly followed the shoe-prints over to the closet while Tommy stayed behind and watched. He thought it was strange how someone could be living down here in the basement of Tommy's house without his parents knowing about it. Logan then knocked on the closet-door with the baseball he was holding. "Anyone home?" He called. But there was no answer.

Tommy just kept staring at his friend and the closet-door.

Logan then opened the closet-door, revealing it to be a walk-in closet, and he shined his flashlight in it to see if there was anything or anyone inside. But there wasn't. It was completely empty. Except for the dirty shoe-prints that led in and out of the closet.

"Logan, let's get out of here." Tommy said, now officially creeped out.

Logan looked back at Tommy.

"Please." Tommy begged.

Logan turned back to the closet and went inside, following the two trails of shoe-prints.

"Don't do it." Tommy said.

Inside the closet, Logan followed the two trails of shoe-prints and saw that they ended at a square on the floor at the end of the closet. He bent down and opened the square on the floor, revealing it to be a...a trap-door.

"What is it? What did you find?" Tommy asked.

"...A trap-door." Logan answered, stunned.

"A trap-door?" Tommy asked before rushing inside the walk-in closet to Logan's side. He shined his flashlight on what Logan was shining his on, revealing it to be non-other than a trap-door.

Logan then tossed the ball into the trap-door, allowing it to fall. However...neither one of them heard it land.

Tommy just stared in shock while Logan's blue eyes went wide with fear and his stomach dropped like an elevator. If Tommy had any more doubts about the Boogyman's existence, they were long gone now. He now had proof. He hadn't imagined it. Any of it. He had been right this whole entire time. The figure he had seen in the front door window of the Myers house was the Boogyman...and had been real. Seeing the Boogyman at school had been real...the monster briefly following him on his way home had been real...and seeing the creature standing out his bedroom window on the front lawn had been real.

And even though he knew Laurie would be here babysitting him while his parents went out...no level of protection felt safe anymore. He doubted it ever would again as long as he lived in this house. Because if there was no sign of forced entry in the home, then that meant this intruder had been secretly living down here for a while. He then thought about all the times when he use to think that the Boogyman was hiding in his closet or under his bed. But his parents would always assure him that there was no such thing as monsters or the Boogyman and that made him feel safe. But this time was different. This time...the fear was real. This time...the threat of this monster was clearer than ever.

This time...there really was a Boogyman.

And he'd been living in Tommy's basement.
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