Author's Note: Hello, everyone! This is my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it. =)

Fear Into Fun

Thunder crashed outside of the Overland home, shaking the wooden house. Mary Overland shot awake. Her eyes darted around the room in fear. It had been raining all day, meaning that she and her brother had to stay inside. By eventide, thunder and lightning had begun. It had been difficult to go to sleep with all of the noise going on outside. Mary eventually fell asleep but the loud thundercrash had woken her up two hours later.

Mary found it peculiar that one could sleep through such a storm. Jack was snoring lightly on the other side of the room. When another thunderclap sounded, he did not stir.

Mary, on the other hand, had wrapped her blanket around herself and begun to rock back and forth. It wasn't just the thunderstorm that had woken her up.

Mary had had a nightmare. Mary had heard the kids talking about how nightmares came from the Boogeyman. Like other kids around her age, she did fear him, so being in a dark room with looming shadows on the wall and a ferocious storm raging outside did not help quell her fear.

A loud crash of thunder made her yelp in fear. Mary looked under her bed to hide under, but…

What if the Boogeyman is under there? she thought. Mary recoiled immediately as another thunderclap and flash of lightning came from outside. Her eyes widened in fear as a large, clawed shadow made its way up the wall. Mary wanted to scream, shout, do something to express her fear, but she did not want to wake her parents.

Instead, she climbed out of her bed and walked across the room where her Jack was sleeping. She shook him lightly.

"Jack? Jack, wake up," said Mary.

Jack rolled over and mumbled something incoherent. Mary pursed her lips and shook him again more firmly than the last. Another crash of thunder came from outside, making Mary yelp in fear. That woke Jack.

Jack rubbed his eyes and groaned softly. His eyes landed on his sister, who was looking at him with fearful eyes.

"Mary?" said Jack groggily. "What are you doing up?"

Mary opened her mouth to speak but a thunderclap interrupted her. She clung to her brother and wrapped her arms around him.

Jack made a silent "oh" and pulled her away from him.

"Is it the storm?" he asked.

Mary nodded, but then shook her head.

"What's wrong?" asked Jack.

Mary took in a shaky breath. "I had a nightmare."

Nightmares among the children were not uncommon. Some woke up screaming in the middle of the night or would refuse to sleep. Children adamantly stated that the Boogeyman was behind them, and parents—including Jack and Mary's, Victor and Irina—would dismiss him as just a bad dream. It would work for one night, but when another nightmare occurred, the children would be sleeping in their parents beds for weeks.

Jack did find the sudden increase of nightmares among the children peculiar. When he was young, he had nightmares, but they were not as frequent as they were now. Jack felt that there was something going on beneath the surface, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

Jack wrapped a comforting arm around his sister. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Mary didn't respond right away, but then she told him. "We were playing in the forest, and then it got really dark all of a sudden. You disappeared and there was this black arm reaching out to grab me and I couldn't move. I was so scared. Then the storm outside woke me up before the arm grabbed me."

Jack nodded. "At least the storm woke you up in time."

Mary was still shaking with fear. "I think the Boogeyman might be in our room."

Jack's heart went out to his sister. She was so scared and it pained him to see her like this. So, he did the thing that he did best: turn the fear into fun.

"Here? In our room?!" exclaimed Jack. He looked around with feigned fear. "That's not good."

Mary nodden feverishly. "He's under my bed! I saw his shadow!"

Jack tsked. "I'll deal with him. Mary, you stay here. It could be dangerous."

"But what if he gets you?" asked Mary worriedly.

Jack gave her his signature smile. "Don't worry, Mary. I'll be fine."

Mary nodded and wrapped herself with Jack's blanket and watched.

Jack rolled up his sleeves and put on his best serious face. It looked ridiculous, but it made Mary laugh. He crawled under her bed and pretended to have a talk with the Boogeyman.

"Now listen here mister Boogeyman," said Jack in a serious voice. "You've been scaring my sister, and she doesn't like it. So, if you could kindly leave the space under this bed and leave her alone, that would be very nice."

"Is he gone?" asked Mary.

"Yeah, he's leav-HEY! LET GO!"

Mary's eyes widened. "Jack?!"

"He's got my arm!" Jack exclaimed.

"Do something! Hit him! Punch him! Kick him in the knees!" Mary suggested frantically.

Jack pretended to punch a figure. He stopped moving and crawled back from under the bed.

"Is..Is he gone now?" Mary asked.

"Yep," said Jack. "He won't be coming back any time soon. Not on my watch."

Mary smiled, but a thunderclap made her jump. Jack sat down next to her.

"I'm glad that the Boogeyman is gone," said Mary. "But I'm still scared. What if he comes back? What if I have another nightmare?"

"I'll just chase them all away for you," said Jack.

Mary turned around in surprise. "You will?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure. You're my sister, I'm supposed to protect you. What kind of an older brother would I be if I didn't?"

Mary giggled. "A bad one."

"Exactly," said Jack. He tickled his sister, making her laugh again. "Now, we should probably get some sleep. It's late."

Mary slid off of Jack's bed and walked toward her's. She was about to climb in, but then she turned around. She was surprised to find that Jack was under the covers already.

"Jack?"

"Mhm?"

"May I sleep with you tonight? Please?" asked Mary.

Jack rolled over and patted the space beside him. "Climb in."

Mary smiled and climbed into her brother's bed. She snuggled into him and Jack wrapped a protective arm around her.

"Thanks, Jack," said Mary.

Jack kissed her forehead. "No problem."

The two Overland siblings fell asleep in each other's embrace. And once they did, the storm outside stopped, leaving the Moon shining down on them both.