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Scary things weren't real, the adults said. They were something his friends made up and had a good laugh about while he gripped his stuffed toy a little tighter and said nothing so they wouldn't make fun of him for being scared.
It was an old thing his grandmother gave him when he was born. It was always there. A tiny little thing fit for a tiny little child who was too afraid of everything. Whenever he had nightmares, his grandmother told him that his stuffed toy would protect him from all the scary things.
He would lie in bed and tell all his fears to the little stuffed toy and the little stuffed toy would listen and nod and understand that scary things were very real and the next time his friends laughed about stories he would hold the little stuffed toy close to him and say nothing.
His parents started to worry when he climbed a tall rock and fell and said nothing.
His friends were impressed, at least. That he hadn't been scared of climbing the tall rock.
He wasn't scared of much anymore.
The little stuFfed toy listened to all his fears and when it did they disappeared and the next day he couldn't remember he was ever afraid in the first place.
The little stuffed toy made him forget how to be afraid.
It was a good thing he wasn't afraid of the scary things that came into his room at night, the things that stood and watched but never came too close because the stuFfed toY was there to protect him and they would never mess with the sTuFfed toY that was always there always watching always watching him and protecting him because that was why the sTuFfed ToY was here even if no one remembered where it came from and maybe it had always been there and told his grandmother to give it to him because it was tired of being hidden away in the basement and wanted to get out GeT OuT get out and be with a scared little child that needed a sTuFfeD ToY to protect them from the bad things that came for little children at night.
His friend did not have a sTuFfeD ToY to protect him when the Thing from the staff came for him.
That was okay. He was not scared of the Thing that took his friend and made his head all messed up and all of the other kids were scared because they did not have STuFfeD ToYs to eat their fears and no one played with his friend anymore and he stopped being there and only came out when all the other Things did.
A girl disappeared and he knew the Thing from the water caves got her but he didn't tell anyone because adults didn't believe Scary Things were real and of course he knew better because the STuFfeD ToY believed him and it had always been there and knew everything because it was not just a Thing from the basement it was so much more than that and it atE all tHe fEars AnD aLl ThE THINGS aNd AlL tHe ALL ThE
The little boy stopped being afraid.
The little boy stopped being anything.