(20)-The Babysitter 2.

Tommy was now sitting on the sofa with Laurie as she read a book to him called 'KING ARTHUR'. A story that was set in the medieval ages, as well as a time when monsters walked the Earth. A time when grown-ups knew and acknowledged the fact that monsters were real. But the 8-year old wasn't really interested in the story like he had been the previous times the 17-year old babysitter had read it to him. The kid had also put his walkie-talkie back in his room so that he and Laurie could have the whole sofa to themselves. He had also turned off the TV so he could listen to her read to him.

"How now", cried Arthur. "Let no one pass this way without a fight". "That so", said the knight in a bold and haughty manner." Laurie said, reading the book.

"I don't like that story." Tommy said.

"I thought King Arthur was your favorite." Laurie said as she closed the book, with her right thumb still in it.

"Not anymore." Tommy said before he got up from the sofa and bent down on one knee as Laurie placed the book on the coffee-table. The 8-year old reached under the sofa cushion he had been sitting on and got out a stack of comic-books, followed by getting up and placing them on the sofa by Laurie.

"Why do you keep them under there?" Laurie asked as Tommy sat back down on the sofa while she picked up the comic-books.

"Mom doesn't like for me to have 'em." Tommy answered.

"Lazar-Man"..." Laurie said, reading the title of the first comic before placing it on the sofa. "Neutron-Man"..." Laurie said, reading the title of the second comic. "I can understand why." She placed the second comic on the sofa on top of the first one. "Tarantula-Man"..." She said before placing the comic on the sofa on top of the other two.

All this talk about types of supermen made Tommy want to ask the babysitter an important question. Something he had to know. "Laurie...what's the Boogyman?" He asked.

Before Laurie could answer Tommy's question, however, the phone rang and she put the rest of the comic down on the sofa on top of the other three and got up and went over to the phone and answered it. "Doyle residence"..."Hi, Annie, what are you doing ?"..."Haha"..."So what is this big, big news?"..."I'd probably say "You have the wrong number"..."Oh, Annie."

While Laurie was talking to Annie on the phone, Tommy got up from the sofa and went into the dining-room where he went over to one of the blind windows, opened the blind with his hands, and looked out and saw that the white-masked man he had seen around town earlier today was standing on the front lawn of Lindsey Wallace's house across the street, staring at him while a few costumed kids walked by, laughing and talking while carrying their Trick-or-Treat pillow-cases.

Tommy let go of the blinds and stepped back in shock, with the color draining from his face as he thought about what Richie had said during class today.

"He's coming for you tonight, Tommy. The Boogyman."

The 8-year old then thought about what Lonnie, Richie and Keith had said to him after school.

"He's gonna get you". "He's gonna get you, he's gonna get you, he's gonna get you, he's gonna get you, he's gonna get you". "The Boogyman is coming."

Tommy then rushed back into the living-room and ran up to Laurie, who was still on the phone with her friend. "Laurie-"

"Oh, i'm so embarrassed. I couldn't even-"

"The Boogyman's outside." Tommy said, cutting Laurie off as he pointed at one of the windows. "Laurie, he's out there." He said, pointing at the same window.

"Hold on." Laurie said to Annie on the phone before looking at Tommy.

"Laurie, the Boogyman's outside, look." Said Tommy as he led Laurie over to the blind-windows.

Laurie looked out one of the windows and saw that there was no one outside. "Tommy, there's nobody outside." She said. "Go watch TV." Said the 17-year old girl as she briefly ruffled the boy's hair before moving away from the window and resuming talking to Annie on the phone.

Tommy looked out the window and sure enough, Laurie was right. There was no one outside. At least not anymore. He then thought about how he had addressed the masked-man. His mind went back to what Lonnie, Richie and Keith said to him earlier at school today about how the Boogyman was gonna get him and how Lonnie said he was coming.

And they were right.

There was no doubt in Tommy's mind who this masked-person was now. He was the Boogyman. The monster that had been haunting him in his nightmares since he was 4 years old. He didn't come right out and say it because he couldn't bring himself to admit that his parents had been wrong all these years or that the school therapist had been wrong about the Boogyman and monsters not being real. He wanted to believe that they were right. That the whole thing was in his head and wasn't real. But no. They were wrong. The Boogyman did exist. Tommy had even called the masked-creep the Boogyman. He had always thought this mysterious masked-guy was the Boogyman in the back of his head since the first time he saw him parked outside his school in that brown station wagon, but to actually hear himself voice that fear into existence just now no longer made it a mere thought...but a reality.

The Boogyman had come to Haddonfield...and he was after Tommy.

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