Something flickered in the pitch blackness of the cupboard, and Harry cowered further into the sheets.
When Dudley had first raised the possibility that the Boogie Man was lurking in Harry's cupboard, Harry had believed it was nothing more than another one of Dudley's lies. Dudley always lied, and his favourite lies were ones that upset Harry. It had seemed most likely that this was just another one of those.
Yet when Harry found himself in complete darkness, it was much harder for him to remember how often Dudley lied. Shadows danced across the wall, and they certainly didn't feel like Harry's imagination. They felt very real, and even if they weren't, Harry's heart raced at the thought of finding out for sure when they attacked him.
The rest of the house was sleeping soundly, so Harry did his best to pull through. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to sleep, but he'd open them less than a minute later, needing to see if anything had finally appeared from the shadows. It never had, but that didn't make closing his eyes easier.
His fear steadily increased over the twenty minutes he had laid in the cupboard until he couldn't take it anymore. He threw off his blanket and scrambled out of the cupboard. The downstairs hallway was a little brighter than the cupboard had been, but that only allowed the shadows to flourish more freely.
Harry hurried up the stairs, convinced that the monsters might be chasing him.
On his way up, his thoughts were only on a need to escape, but when he came to a stop in front of his aunt and uncle's door, his heart pounded for a different reason. He knew what he was about to do could potentially anger them, which could be just as frightening as the monsters were.
Several months ago, he had wet the bed, and when he'd told them, he'd been punished for waking them up. When he'd wet the bed several weeks later, he'd known better, stripping off his sheets by himself, changing his clothes, and going back to sleep without creating a fuss. He hadn't even mentioned it to his aunt or uncle when he had put the soiled sheets in the washing machine the next day.
If he woke them up with tales of a monster, he could already picture their anger. His uncle didn't like things like that. Even when Harry only pretended that things were real, Uncle Vernon got angry. If he told his uncle that he really believed there was a monster, he would be punished, just like he had been when he'd admitted to seeing some strange creatures in the back garden whom Uncle Vernon insisted didn't exist.
Even though he'd insisted on their imaginariness, Uncle Vernon had searched the garden thoroughly after Harry's confession. Harry had seen him through the window when he was supposed to be dusting the sitting room. Maybe a punishment was worth it if Uncle Vernon would at least check his cupboard from top to bottom.
Harry took a step away from the door.
Even if there was something in his cupboard, Uncle Vernon wouldn't be the person to find it. Uncle Vernon was oblivious to most of the things Harry noticed. The monster would be no different.
Shivering, Harry kept his head down as he walked back to his cupboard. He tried to ignore the shadows, telling himself that nothing was really there. It was only more of Dudley's lies. If there were any monsters, surely they'd go for Dudley first. That felt more fitting.
Burrowing back under his blanket, Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of the wonderful dreams he'd had. Ones of flying motorbikes and wonderful things that couldn't be explained by his aunt and uncle. Finally, he fell asleep.
Prompts:
Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments
Writing Club - Disney Challenge: Oogie Boogie - write about a child afraid of the boogie man
Word count: 637