When the clouds wander peacefully in the sky, when the lazy sun bathes the earth with its rays, and when families share the wonder of a spring weekend, it feels like evil has ended in the world.
One of these families found themselves doing this very thing. Freddy, an experienced singing instructor, was at home, practicing while preparing cookie dough.
I've been reading books of old
The legends and the myths
Achilles and his gold
Hercules and his gifts
Spider-Man's control
And Batman with his fists
And clearly I don't see myself upon that list
But she said, where'd you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
Concentrating on his words with a sweet baritone voice, he did not notice that a small devilish shadow was approaching him from behind. He mixed the ingredients in a bowl, flour, eggs, sugar, hazelnuts. And when he least expected it, he heard the scream behind him:
- WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!
The male jumped in surprise and dropped the eggshells into the dough. He turned around trying to figure out who the culprit was, but when he saw him, he couldn't get mad. It was his son! Gregory; who continued shouting:
- WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU! Ha ha!
- Gregory! Oh my God... You scared me...
- Dad, you should have seen your face! Ha ha!
- He's right, dear. That face deserved to be framed, ha ha! -Said Vanessa, his wife, who came up behind her son, trying to contain her laughter.- Hey, the book did it say "leave the eggshells"?
- Well yes... -Said her husband, looking at them with a sweet expression of anger, his smile gave him away- Followed by the part of receiving a scare so that the dough has more flavor...
- Can I see, dad?
- Sure, superstar. Come here.
Gregory approached Freddy so that he could lift him in his arms to get to the breakfast bar.
- Oh, this out. -Next Freddy removed the eggshells and threw them in the trash-
- Better! And better this way, look.
Gregory dipped his index finger into the unmixed flour and then touched his father's nose to stain it. Vanessa began to laugh out loud seeing the defeated expression of her husband, defeated by a nine-year-old boy.
- Gregory, no... Ha ha!
- That's better, dad!
- Ha ha ha! Oh my God...
- And... that's better, dear. -Freddy imitated what his son had done, but this time against the blonde woman, who had not stopped laughing-
- Hey!
- That's much better! Ha ha ha!
A little flour war started between the three of them and if they kept it up they probably wouldn't have any cookies to snack on. So a truce was proposed.
- Dad, mom. Can I go play outside?
- Okay, we will finish here. When you come back they should be ready.
- Sweet!
- But only because of that scare you're going to have to wait 10 more minutes...
- Dad, that's not fair!
- Ha ha! I'm just kidding, superstar.
- Go ahead, Gregory. But stay where we can see you. Alright?
- Alright!
The boy took his ball and went out to the front yard. Meanwhile, the couple stood admiring the small mess that had formed, there was flour on the floor, on the breakfast bar, on them, everywhere except in the bowl.
- Wow... Ha ha! Who knew baking cookies could be so disastrous?
- But believe me, they are going to taste amazing.
- I don't deny that.
- Wait, you have something here. -Vanessa pointed to her own cheek-
- Where? -Freddy asked, innocently-
- Here. -Next the woman approached and kissed her husband's cheek, full of freckles-
- Ha ha!
Freddy in response hugged her and returned the gesture sweetly, while they both looked out the kitchen window as the fruit of their love played happily with imaginations that only a child was capable of creating.
.
.
.
Time passed like the clouds, lazily. The street where they lived was not very crowed, so it was normal for it to be quiet. Gregory had a lot of fun with his imagination being his greatest ally, he could be fighting aliens, in a car race, in a huge guitar concert, or in a game of golf. A puddle of rainwater could become an ocean full of pirates and sharks, the tree in their yard was his base of operations, he kept things between its branches and then spent hours and hours there, playing and imagining. It was one of the reasons why his knees and hands were always scraped, cut into the bark.
The cookies were already in the oven and indeed a delicious smell of hazelnuts and chocolate spread throughout the neighborhood. Gregory couldn't wait to eat them, he claimed that his father's cookies were the best in the world, not for nothing were they his favorites, but he thought it would be a good idea to help his belly, so he started playing with his ball for a while longer.
Between spectacular plays and far-fetched strategies, a small miscalculation caused the ball to be thrown to the other side of the street. He was grateful that it hadn't hit his neighbor's window; the space under his bed had already stopped being a good hiding place.
Looking a little closer at the scene, he discovered that there was a gray minivan parked next to his neighbors' house, blocking the entrance to the garage. He hadn't noticed its presence until that moment. He was surprised not to have heard it, but he didn't give it much importance; since there weren't many cars passing by, he assumed it must be a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Higgins.
Without further ado, he looked at both sides of the street and crossed to retrieve his ball, which had entered the yard of the other house. Once he had it in his hands, his task was to return and continue playing, but something silently got in his way. A man had gotten out of the gray van and was starting to approach the Higgins house. Gregory jumped a little, but thought he was going to knock on the door, so he continued. However, he heard behind him:
- Hey kid.
He looked over his shoulder and confirmed that the strangely dressed man was speaking to him, face to face. He didn't answer him and wanted to hurry back, but the guy got in the way of him and the exit.
- How are you, little one?
The subject's voice was hissing and raspy, as if one might imagine a snake speaking. Gregory glared at him.
- Do you see that I'm stupid?
The man was surprised by the response.
- Have your parents not taught you respect?
- Yes. And don't talk to stupid people.
Believing he had distracted him, Gregory ran as fast as he could towards his house, he didn't count on the man going after him. He reached out and caught him in the act, holding his face in a rough grip, wanting him not to scream.
- That's it! That's it... Now you're in big trouble, kid... And we're going to fix you.
Gregory saw how that person made a smile that he had never seen before, a smile that from that day on would be in his nightmares, it was enormous, disproportionate and almost not human. He could only be terrified, but he couldn't scream... He was trapped.
.
.
.
Arriving at snack time, Freddy and Vanessa decided that it was time to call Gregory, so that he would have time to clean himself, and they both agreed that they hadn't heard him in a while.
- Gregory? -Vanessa exclaimed, walking out into the front yard- Gregory, where are you? Come on little one, the cookies are ready.
Hearing no response, Freddy went out to the main entrance and exclaimed too.
- Gregory? Superstar, come now. -They didn't get a response again- Isn't it in the tree, dear? Maybe he fell asleep again.
- Could be.
Vanessa approached the tree and looked at its branches.
- No... There are only some of his toys.
- E-erm... The backyard...?
- Don't get upset, dear. -Vanessa looked at him lovingly, calming him with her emerald gaze.- He must be around here.
Freddy kept a shy, nervous look; he took a deep breath and began to calm down. He shouldn't worry about something that maybe wasn't a big deal. There had to be some explanation.
- Maybe he threw the ball too far and went for it.
- It's not... that one?
The singer pointed to his neighbors' porch, where his son's ball lay in the wet dirt. That was a turning point; they both crossed the street and went towards the place. They began to search for it, calling the boy by his name. Freddy picked up the ball.
- Gregory? Gregory! Please come!
- H-hey... Look at these footprints...
Vanessa noticed an unusual pattern in the mud, one of the patterns resembled her son's shoes, she recognized it by the sole, while the other... was much larger, unknown.
- Was he with someone...?
- Patrick is not at home, is he?
- No, I saw them leave in the morning... -Vanessa was silent for a moment, starting to get nervous-
- Gregory!!
- Gregory!!!
Freddy went to his neighbor's backyard, while Vanessa went down the street, searching the surroundings; their screams quickly alerted their neighbors, who came out to assist them.
Meanwhile at home, the oven alarm was ringing, indicating that the cookies were ready and, therefore, his son would have to return now... But... he wasn't.
