Chapter 6

Tyrone found himself in the forest clearing with the boy in his arms. When he arrived, the Mothman applauded. He was waiting for them on the other side.

"Good work Tyrone! You saved him!" he cried.

Tyrone looked up at the Mothman with relief. "Am I really here? Did I save the boy?" asked Tyrone.

The Mothman placed his hands on Tyrone's shoulders and exhaled deeply.

"First of all, I'm sorry about overwhelming you with a lot of information. Please don't worry about what I told you. Now, you must take care of the boy. I'll come and put him in a safe home, but until then, you must take care of him." said the Mothman.

"Take care of him? But I can't. I have a tight schedule. I got school, and work! It's not like I can hire a babysitter, and I'm sure you're busy dealing with creeps like the Bogey Man. Plus, I'm not sure how I can take care of the kid. Plus, I don't know if you know this, judging with the fact that you see things in visions. I have epilepsy. I can have a seizure at any moment if I don't take my meds on time." said Tyrone.

"Which is precisely why you must take care of him." said the Mothman as he walked with Tyrone to the house. Tyrone allowed the big bug man to carry Matt to a warm bed in an old room that used to be the guest room.

"If he's to stay, how long will that be?" asked Tyrone, realizing there was no way out of this predicament.

"First and foremost, I must consult with my allies first and let them know about this situation. You see, the Bogey Man has been doing things of late that have caught our interest and we must deal with that. On top of it all, the safety of you and the boy are our first priority. I'm going to see who will be willing to watch over Mateo. In the meantime, you will watch him. I'm sure you and he can come up with a plan to handle things here." said the Mothman.

Tyrone shook his head no. "You make it sound all too easy." he said.

"It's not. It won't be easy, but please Tyrone, at least for the time being, take care of him for just a little bit. I promise I'll explain everything, but for now, just do what I ask of you." said the Mothman.

"I know there's a reason why you put him with me. There is so much you know. But I'm sure you'll tell me the truth right?" asked Tyrone.

"My dear boy, all will be clear when things have been settled. Please, allow me some time to deal with this situation, then I'll come to you to explain many things." said the Mothman.

"I trust you." said Tyrone, offering his hand to the Mothman. The beast nodded and shook Tyrone's hand, making a promise.

About two hours passed and Mateo woke up. The first thing he noticed was the room. He was no longer in the hospital room as before. He was in a warm looking room with old furniture and an object once known as a phone by the nightstand. The wallpapers had an antique looking floral wallpaper. The smell of the room was different too. It did not smell like medicine like back at the hospital. Mateo did remember where he was last time, but only a little since he was in a powerful sleeping spell of sorts.

And sitting on a small stand was Tyrone, looking at his phone. When he heard Mateo woke up, he raised his face to see him.

Both boys looked into each other's eyes and they awkwardly stood there, staring at each other. For a moment, Tyrone smiled sheepishly while Matt returned one. They smiled for a little while, until Tyrone felt it was time to break the ice. What followed was a very cringey attempt at speaking Spanish.

"Ola. Comou estais. Mei llamou Tyrone. Comou tei llamais tu?" Tyrone said very slowly.

Mateo on the other hand laughed. "Dude, I can speak English." he said.

"You do!? Oh, well that was awkward." said Tyrone.

"Yeah. Very awkward or whatever lol. I'm Mateo. But you can call me Matt." said the boy.

"Okay. Matt it is. I'm Tyrone."

"So… where am I?" asked Matt.

"What do you remember?" asked Tyrone.

"Well… you're going to think I'm crazy. I was at the max station, and then I fell asleep. But the way I fell asleep was very weird. I felt like I was flying into space or something like that." said Matt.

Tyrone nodded. "I think I know what happened." he said softly.

Matt's eyes widened in surprise. "You do?" he asked.

"You were kidnapped by a man calling himself the Bogey Man. That guy has been stalking me for a while, and I don't know why." asked Tyrone.

Matt's eyes widened and he wasn't sure how to process this new info.

"What's going on?" asked Matt nervously.

"I don't know. There is so much I don't know. But there is something I can tell you." said Tyrone.

He then briefly told the boy what happened at the hospital and how he arrived at his house.

"A Mothman! A giant bug?!" cried Matt with his jaw wide open.

"Y-yes. A giant bug. I don't know what's going on either, but the Mothman is going to tell us one of these days. For now, we'll just have to stay put." said Tyrone.

Matt placed his arms around himself and tried not to cry. "I miss my brother. He'd know what to do." said Matt.

"How old are you?" asked Tyrone.

"I'm only ten." said Matt, his voice breaking.

Tyrone clenched his teeth. Matt started to weep softly, but Tyrone didn't scold him or anything. The kid has been through so much.

"Listen, I don't know what's going on, but you're here now. In the meantime, make yourself at home okay. I got lots of food in the kitchen. Or better yet, I can order a pizza. How does that sound?" said Tyrone.

With the mere mention of pizza, Matt's face quickly lit up and he nodded quickly. Tyrone couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay. One pizza coming up." he said as he pulled his phone out.

After that was done, Tyrone showed Matt around the house. "This is the bathroom and the door up ahead in the hallway is the master bedroom. No one sleeps there, but if you want to use it, you can." said Tyrone.

"I'm okay with the room I'm in." said Matt.

"Okay. Well… why don't you take a shower." said Tyrone.

Matt looked at the bathroom door and grinned at Tyrone. "You want me to take a bath? Let me guess. Is it because I'm Mexican?" he asked with his arms folded. Matt's voice was still broken, yet he was able to make a very awkward joke.

Tyrone didn't know what to say to that, but he shook his head. "Oh no! I don't mean that!" cried Tyrone.

Matt chuckled. "Relax! I was only kidding." said Matt.

"Oh. Okay." said Tyrone, feeling relief.

Matt opened the door to the bathroom and looked at Tyrone nervously. "Uh…. What should I wear? I don't have any clean clothes." said Matt.

"Well… I notice you're wearing an orange hoodie. I still got some hoodies I wore as a kid. They have the Beavers on it. You don't mind?" asked Tyrone.

"I thought you were a Ducks fan. You're wearing green and yellow." said Matt.

"I am a Ducks fan. But my Dad was a Beavers Fan, so he got me Beaver stuff mostly." said Tyrone.

"Oh. Okay." said Matt.

"I'll leave you to it then." said Tyrone as he left to give Matt his privacy.

After a while, the pizza arrived and Matt devoured the pizza slices as fast as he could while Tyrone only ate one. "Wow! Someone sure was hungry." said Tyrone.