Beware of the bogey man!
Were you ever warned as a child that if you did something you weren’t supposed to do, that some scary being would get you? Especially if you went some place you were forbidden to go? When I was a kid I was warned quite often, more by my grandmother than my mom and dad, of such a menace. The phrase “bogey man” was never used, but rather that I should be very careful where I go, and be in before dark, lest “someone” would “knock me in the head and drag me away”. I got the more practical advice from my mom, who warned me to not accept candy, gifts or offers of a ride from strangers. But my grandmother’s nebulous warning of an unnamed bogey man seemed like something rather far fetched, like something you’d see in a 1970’s slasher movie. And what happened to me in the next few moments (which felt like an eternity) was very much like something out of one of those horror movies. Movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and others of that kind always had scenes where some hapless victim was ambushed by the killer. And then no matter what the victim does to try and hide or escape, they are always hunted down and killed. I’d watch movies like that on late night TV as a teen, along with other horror and sci-fi movies. But I never thought I’d ever find myself in a situation that bore an uncanny resemblance to various attack scenes in those movies.
It was an evening in early July, on an unusually cool day for that time of year. After supper I told my mom I was going for a short ride and I got my bike out of the shed. I headed for the main road and then crossed over to a side road with less traffic. I may have ridden a few miles, if that, until I got bored and tired and the sun began to set. The hot pink blaze of the dying sunlight silhouetted the newly built house not far beyond the shed. There was still plenty of light to see, and I knew my mom wouldn’t get worried until it got really dark out. So I had time to take a quick walk back into the woods and look around. But this time I had a weird feeling, as though something was warning me not to proceed. I shrugged it off, although I did something I did not normally do this time. I grabbed up a wooden stake that had been laying against the side of the shed. As I entered the woods, I held the stake in my hand, brandishing the pointed end like a spear. The air was still and chilly, and the western sky had turned crimson. There were no vehicles anywhere in sight, so the workers had gone home. However, something did not feel right. I should have turned back around, but I didn’t.
As I began to mount the steps to the front porch suddenly this dark shadow materialized seemingly out of nowhere in front of the door. The bogey man had been waiting for me….