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It was still dark when Yugi woke up. He was trying to figure out what roused him when his marshmallon pillow fell onto the floor. The small night light dimly illuminated his room and he could see the pink blob looking up and pleading to be put back on the bed. He rubbed his eyes and bent down to reach for it, but abruptly stopped. He could have sworn Marshmallon moved on its own. Doing a double take, he spotted thin, gray fingers pressing into the pink pillow and, ever so slowly, they slid his toy underneath the bed. Yugi snatched his hand back and began to breathe heavily. There was a thump behind him and the closet creaked open. He snapped his head around and tried to focus on the shapes moving in the dark.
A long hand wrapped itself around the door and an ashen face angled sideways, peering out at the bed. It stooped down, as if the thing was too tall for the closet, but remedied that seconds later. With the grace of a spider, it ambled its way through the opening and stalked closer to the bed. It had a crooked gait and wavered in and out of existence. Yugi realized its feet were pointing in the wrong direction and it was walking backwards. Taking a better look at the creature, Yugi saw a large, uneven spiral running through its torso with large gashes haphazardly slashed through it. It looked as if someone had taken a play-dough doll by the shoulders and legs, wrenched it 180 degrees, then proceeded to bend the arms at odd angles for good measure. As Yugi steeled himself to look up at its head he heard a pop , like someone cracking their knuckles, then watched the lanky humanoid’s head swivel upside-down, wisps of light-colored hair hanging down like a beard. The neck snapped and twisted itself as badly as the torso had been.
Yugi dove under the covers. No one should be able to touch him here, that’s what the older kids at school said. He overheard a group of fourth graders taking turns telling ghost stories at recess one day and one of the girls had said, “My big sister told me that at night, you need to stay completely under the blanket. Even if you just have a toe sticking out, the boogeyman can grab it and pull you under the bed. If that happens he’ll eat you, bones and all!”
Once he was completely hidden, he let go of the quilt to look for the other cuddle toy he slept with. His arm brushed past Kuriboh and he pounced on it, holding tightly to the squishy ball of fur. It’ll be safe. I’m ok, they can’t get me here. Repeating the affirmations in his head like a prayer, he felt the hand under his bed run up and down his mattress, feeling for the small boy. He moved more towards the center of the bed and curled up tighter but, to his horror, the blanket was slowly pulled off his head.
Yugi turned over to see the crooked man at the foot of his bed. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. Worse still, when he tried to call out for help, it seemed like his breath was ripped right from his throat. The figure no longer flickered in and out of existence, staying firmly as a mass of crooked shadows and twisted limbs. It stared intensely at the shaking child in the middle of the bed, wanting to rip him to pieces. Its hollow eye sockets showed him its intentions, like two miniature TVs broadcasting his violent end. Yugi broke eye contact, unable to watch anymore, and noticed drool falling in two thick, disgusting rivulets down the sides of its face. Yugi followed them upstream to stare at a wicked grin framing sharpened teeth. With a few more popping sounds, its broken limbs began to twitch and twist around. The monster was eager to play with its new victim and was trying to place its elbows back into their sockets as it moved closer.
Believing his chances of surviving were slim to none, Yugi started to cry and managed a strangled shout. He stood and jumped off the opposite side of the bed, immediately booking it to the exit to avoid both creatures. He wasted precious seconds pushing on the door over and over again before remembering that his dad had latched it shut when he left for the night. The sounds of scuttling were right behind him as he fumbled with the doorknob. He felt a hand graze his hair as the handle finally released the latch and he was free from his room. Yugi slammed the door shut and leaned against it, his mental fortitude dwindling.
As he recovered, a sudden loud crack filled the air. It sounded as if dozens of people were screaming all at once. It was a horrible mixture of terror and anger, but he also heard harsh laughter in the cacophony. He felt the door push against his back and he leaned more heavily against it to keep it closed.
Looking around, he saw the hallway was pitch black. There wasn’t a night light out here to help him. Clutching Kuriboh, Yugi waited for his eyes to adjust but became worried when shadowy lumps remained on every visible surface and began undulating in the dark. The nodes would fade out as an undistinguishable mass and then manifest themselves as a hand with broken fingers or as a face that had a nose or an eye taken from it. Always with its mouth agape in agony. Always coming closer to him.
It was too much for the terrified kid. His crying and trembling legs made it hard to dance around the stray hands that reached for him, and the loud gasps he couldn't stop made it impossible to hide quietly underneath a table. A finger curled around his sock, the exposed bone pressing down on his foot. Luckily, the hand only had one finger so Yugi was able to move out from under it with a whimper. He wanted this to end. There was only one place left he could hide and he was glad it was close by.
Wiping his eyes, Yugi gathered his dwindling courage and hunched over his stuffed toy before he began to weave around the limbs once more. Unfortunately, he was going too quickly and didn’t notice he’d passed the door until he was a few feet away. His bravery was on its last leg when he turned around and had to face the things that were steadily pursuing him. The faces and arms that didn’t belong to one another had huddled around him and wanted to drag him down to where they were. His heart sank when his bedroom door opened and the twisted man began to move into the hall, its arms still popping and twitching. Not wanting to step on the semi-circle surrounding him, he leaped over it and prayed that he was fast enough to escape.
He didn’t have any trouble with the door this time and he barged into the room before firmly shutting the creatures out. Yugi heard a grumble from the bed as the sleeping man flipped over and started snoring again. More importantly, however, there wasn’t anything else in the room. He was safe. With that realization, his crying ratcheted up. His shoulders shook and his tears almost blinded him as he stumbled forward.
When he reached the bed, he had to stop himself from climbing in. His dad needed to be awake or else he couldn’t protect them both from the monsters. He grabbed the man’s arm and shook it as hard as he could, too scared and impatient to be as gentle as he normally would have been. “Daddy! Daddy, wake up!” Yugi whispered sharply. He didn’t want to attract attention from the things outside by being too loud. They might try to invade the only haven in the house.
Yami immediately opened his eyes and sat up when he saw Yugi in hysterics. “What’s going on? What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Yami asked as Yugi clambered up his bed. When Yugi reached the top, he immediately seized the duvet and tried to pull it up over both of them, but it was too heavy for him. He could cover himself, but only made it to Yami’s chest. Fearing for his dad’s life, he grabbed Yami’s nightshirt and pulled, trying to signal that Yami should hide too. The groggy man either ignored the signal or didn’t understand it as he peeled the feathery blanket off Yugi. He leaned over to turn on the lamp but stopped when Yugi cried out, yanked at his nightshirt, and hid under it instead.
“Don’t be silly, sweetie. Get out from under there and tell me what’s going on. Did you have a nightmare?” Yami tried to pull the quaking child out of his hiding place, but there was that loud sound again, it rattled the window. This time, all Yugi heard were screams of rage. The creatures outside the room were seething, their newest plaything had escaped. He wailed again and pressed as hard as he could into Yami’s stomach, wanting to disappear.
He felt his dad sigh and put his arms around Yugi. “It’s alright, it’s just the storm outside. It was only thunder. If you come out, I can show you. I promise nothing will hurt you.” Yami said as he did his best to reassure his son and rub his back. It took a while, but Yugi eventually calmed down enough to string together coherent thoughts.
“No, it's scary! I heard them, they’re in the hall and they’re mad . Get under the blanket, safe there.” He babbled as he moved away and searched for the duvet again. He was pulling it back over his head when Yami stopped him. He placed Yugi in his lap, handed him the kuriboh doll, and covered them up to Yugi’s shoulders.
“Who’s outside?”
“The twisty boogeyman and a lot of faces and hands! They want to hurt us and some of them touched me!” Yugi said, trying to get his dad to believe him. “I heard them too, even when I wasn’t looking at them. I’m not pretending!”
Neither of them said anything for a while, listening to the sounds coming from the room. “I don’t hear anything in the hallway, bud. All I hear is the rain outside.” Yami told him.
Not understanding why his dad couldn’t hear the loud shuffling, Yugi listened more intently this time. He could still hear sounds, but he had to admit it sounded less like movement in the hall and more like tapping outside the walls. He curled up closer and buried his face in Kuriboh’s fur. Did the monsters inside give up and let the ones outside take a turn to capture them? He didn’t want to find out. Don’t get up, they might hurt you for looking at them. He thought. Safe with Daddy in bed, stay here. Yugi did his best to imagine himself as heavy as one of those anvils he saw in his cartoons, anchoring them both in the bed. He shook his head. “No, they’re outside now. Don’t get up!” He pleaded.
Yami took a large breath and heaved another sigh. Yugi felt him tap once, twice, thrice against his shoulder as he held Yugi tightly. He released his grip with one hand a moment later and turned on his lamp light.
“There’s no such thing as monsters or the boogeyman. I’ll prove it to you.” Yami said as he set Yugi down and got up from bed. Yugi began to cry again and held Yami’s wrist tightly.
“Please, no. Don’t! They’re going to break you too!” Yugi panicked and begged for his dad to get back in bed. Yami didn’t budge. He petted Yugi’s hair and waited for the tiny boy to calm down.
“Look, I’m still okay. Nothing hurt me and nothing will hurt you either. Let’s go look outside together.” Yami spread his arms out, demonstrating the lack of limbs trying to pull him under the bed.
It appeared safe enough, but he was still hesitant. He knew what he experienced was real and he could remember the pressure on his foot from the disembodied hand and remembered what it felt like when his hair was caught in long, broken fingernails. Still, it seemed that the things shied away from the light. Even if they didn’t, his dad would make sure they wouldn’t take him. Maybe it was okay to try again. He just needed to stay close to the older man. He raised his arms to be picked up and Yami obliged, lifting him off the bed and onto the ground. That’s not what Yugi meant. Standing on his tip-toes, he whined and tried again.
Yami shook his head, “I can’t carry you everywhere anymore, you’re a big boy now. How about I hold your hand instead?”
Yugi teared up again, but knew arguing would be bad for him. For months, he had tried to convince his dad that he was big enough to do more things on his own. If he fought back now, he might be treated like a baby forever. Instead, he gripped his dad’s hand tightly and stayed close as they walked out of the room. Yugi’s breath hitched and he pressed himself into his dad’s leg when the door opened and Yami tried to find a light switch. He shivered and only came out of hiding when the lights turned on and the hall was empty. Nothing looked out of place, except for his door pointedly left open.
“Look, my door is open! I shut it when I left. The twisty boogeyman was chasing me and I shut it so he couldn’t get out. He opened the door and escaped!”
“This place is very old and sometimes the doors don’t close all the way. I have to lift up on the handle to make sure yours stays latched.” Yami explained.
“But that shouldn’t mean the door should be open by itself!”
“You’re right, usually it doesn’t. But there’s a lot of wind tonight and there’s a lot of cracks in this old place. The air pressure coming in is strong enough to open and shut the doors. I’m sorry the wind scared you, honey. We can ask Tristan if there’s a way to fix it tomorrow.” Yami cajoled him and led them to the living room. Yawing, he flipped the light switch and moved his chair to the window before picking Yugi up and placing him in his lap again. After watching the rain and lazily stroking his kid’s head for a while, he asked, “I don’t see anything outside, do you?”
Yugi had been watching the window too and had scrutinized every square inch he could see outside. He couldn’t examine the building’s outside walls, but he should’ve been able to see the shadows if they were out there, right? The only things he saw were the trees, the rain pelting the window pane, and the cars occasionally driving by. Everything was as it should be. He shook his head, “I don’t see anything, but they were here!” He persisted.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Yami asked as he shifted Yugi to face him.
“I was sleeping but something took Marshmallon, I watched a hand take them under the bed! Then the closet door opened and a tall man came out, he was all bent and twisty and came right over to my bed. I ran away and shut the door, like I told you. When I was in the hall, lots and lots of hands and faces came through the walls. They were hurting and it was scary. I didn’t like it. But I took a deep breath and ran to you as fast as I could! They almost got me, but I jumped and was too fast to catch!” He detailed all the things that had scared him and made sure to include his heroics as well, hoping his dad would be proud of him.
Yami frowned and nodded. “That does sound scary. You did very well by yourself and made the right choice by coming to me, I’ll always keep you safe.” he punctuated this with a kiss on top of his son’s head. Yugi’s heart started to swell, maybe his dad was beginning to believe him. They could work together to get rid of whatever was in the house. He saw a flash of light in the window and heard the rumble of thunder outside again.
“But all the monsters you saw weren’t real. The dark has a mean way of working together with your imagination. It’s easier for your brain to make things up in the dark because you can’t see clearly. They like to show you things that you didn’t like or were scared of. All of the hands and faces in the hall remind me of that movie we watched with everyone last Saturday. It had zombies in it, remember? Even that twisty boogeyman sounds like some of the toys you told me your classmates were playing with. What you heard was the rain and thunder. Your imagination just made your ears think it was something else.”
Yugi deflated. He was disappointed his dad didn’t believe him but was even more upset that everything the man told him made sense. The quilt that was pulled from him could have been caught at the wrong angle and could’ve been pushed down by itself as he wiggled underneath. He even saw a light coming through the crack under his door before he heard the screaming noise for the first time. Replaying the night’s events in his mind, it became less believable that he dodged everything chasing him. If they were real, the hand under the bed at the very beginning would have tripped him and he would have been a goner.
“I’m so sorry you were scared tonight, little one. Sometimes that happens when you have a good imagination. I swear there’s nothing here that will hurt you here, though. Anytime you have a bad dream or think there’s a monster, I’ll stay with you until you realize there isn’t anything to be afraid of.” Yami patted him on the back and waited for everything to sink in. “Now, why don’t we get you some warm milk, and then we can go back to bed, hm? You have school in the morning and I need to work.”
Yugi nodded, climbed off his dad’s lap, and followed him to the kitchen. He took the plastic cup of milk after it came out of the microwave and drank it before they made their way back to his room. When Yami flipped the lights on, Yugi found Marshmallon lying near the bed, exactly where it had fallen. He went over and placed it on the bed while his dad firmly shut the closet door.
“Okay, hop on up. Let’s get you back to sleep.” Yami said as he turned around and started to walk towards the bed.
“Wait! I don’t want to be alone tonight. Can I sleep with you, please? I promise to be good and go to sleep! You won’t even know I’m there. Please?” Yugi stretched out the last syllable and heard the desperation in his voice. He wanted to believe his dad, but there were still doubts in his mind. What if he was wrong and the creatures were upset over losing the first round of their game? He didn’t want to play with them ever again, even if they were only in his head.
Folding his arms across his chest, Yami looked between his boy and the bed and considered it. In the end, he relented, “You need to be able to sleep in your own bed without me, but it sounds like you’re still scared. It’s been a rough night, and the storm didn’t help. Well make an exception, but just for tonight, alright?” He watched Yugi nod and trot over to him. “Come on, then.” Yami pivoted again and walked out the doorway with Yugi at his heels.
When they made it back to Yami’s bed, Yugi climbed in and retrieved his kuriboh plush that he’d left behind. He snuggled it close as Yami disappeared to turn out the lights he’d left on. When almost all of the lights were turned off, Yugi felt the bed dip down and then the lamp light went off. It was dark once again and he didn’t want to give anything the chance to make an unwelcome reappearance. Closing his eyes, he quickly tucked his head into Yami’s shoulder and curled up at his dad’s side. He felt an arm wrap itself around him and heard his dad say “You’re okay, go to sleep” before he started to snore again.
Instead of obeying, however, Yugi stayed awake for a few more minutes. He was straining to hear anything out of the ordinary. There was rustling coming from the far side of the room and when he peeked over his dad’s head, he could see it was the twisty boogeyman. Its head was sideways again and its eager smile was gone, replaced with a sneer. It looked as terrifying as ever, but Yugi could see that it also resembled some of the sad, old, abused toys from school. His teacher usually threw them out as soon as they were too broken to be played with, but some of the students hid the creepier-looking ones to scare the others. The crooked man’s face looked exactly like the baby doll he saw yesterday. Someone had carved the eyes out of it and the worst bully in his class hid it until recess; he shoved it in Yugi’s face and laughed when Yugi fell off the playground while staggering back in fear. Yugi ducked back down and thought, You aren’t real. You’re just my brain playing tricks. You’re not there! After a few minutes, he dared to glance back up and saw the boogeyman gone. Looking around, it seemed like the thing left for good and he was pleased that he was able to get rid of the creature by himself. Exhausted from his nighttime misadventure, Yugi tucked his head back down into Yami’s neck and peacefully slept for the rest of the night.