Believe in the Boogeyman

## Believe in the Boogeyman by Scared Senseless TV

(Michael Myers was created by John Carpenter.)

It's always depressing for me this time of year. Being born and raised in a town like Haddonfield has definitely taken its toll on me. Being forced to listen to the whispers of what happened all those years ago: a 6-year-old kid butchered his sister in cold blood and then, a decade or so later, escaped a mental hospital and returned to kill three teenagers on October 31st, 1978. From what I can remember hearing, the killer's shrink shot him six times, but the guy survived and to this day hasn't been apprehended. I personally have always thought that it was pure luck he survived that night, but if you ask any other person who lives in Haddonfield, they'll most likely tell you that he's some sort of supernatural force.

Not only did I have to put up with the town's seemingly overrated tale, but I was also forced to put up with one of the surviving victims from 1978 that lived right next door to me. His name was Tommy Doyle. Tommy was a quiet enough guy and was very polite when we would run into each other but throughout the month of October, Tommy would turn into a complete nut case. He would hand out flyers to people that retold the events of the '78 murders and drive around the neighborhood in his 1994 Mustang hoping to somehow find Michael Myers and bring him to justice. Because I was constantly being suffocated with all this Michael Myers nonsense, Halloween has never been a fun time for me. My wife Sally on the other hand, used to love Halloween.

Sally died in a car accident three years ago on Halloween night, which as you could imagine, added to the dislike I already had for the occasion. So, on October 31st, 2018, for obvious reasons, I wasn't all that keen on carving pumpkins or handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Instead, my plan was to get really drunk, watch Sally's favorite horror movie (the Exorcist) and then go to bed. Halfway through the movie, I began crying uncontrollably. I remembered the first time me and Sally watched this movie together. It was on our second date, I was too cheap to take her out to dinner, so I recommended we stay in and watch a horror movie. She *loved* horror movies. Since her death, I've struggled to cope. I had it all mapped out in my head, you know? I planned to spend the rest of my life with this woman, but she was cruelly taken away from me.

I sometimes drink to cope with the pain, I know I shouldn't, but it all gets too much sometimes. If that weren't enough, come Halloween I have to listen to everyone ramble on about the 1978 Myers massacre. I mean, that's enough to make anyone want to drink. As I sat in the dark with a bottle of vodka, I heard a loud scream come from outside. I quickly stood up and looked out the window. I couldn't barely see a thing. The entire street was layered with a thick, almost bluish fog. All I could see was the lamppost across the street flickering on and off, which added to the already creepy atmosphere. I went to my front door and slowly opened it, then I very carefully walked to the end of my driveway and asked if there was anybody there.

I waited a few seconds for a response, but I got nothing. I then cautiously walked out to the middle of the street and asked the question again. I thought maybe it was kids messing around you know with it being Halloween and all. As I was about to turn around and head back inside, I saw something. All I could make out was a shape of some sort standing in the fog. Then from out of nowhere, a hand grabbed my arm. I turned to see that it was just Tommy. "You scared the shit out of me!" I said. Tommy didn't respond. In fact, he just stared right through me. He looked as though he'd just seen a ghost.

I asked him what was wrong, and he fearfully looked at me and said to get back inside and lock my doors. I asked him why, but he just ignored me and ran back into his house, slamming the door behind him. Without hesitation I did as he said and went back into my house. As I closed the front door behind me and walked into my living room, I noticed that the vodka bottle I put on the coffee table was smashed to pieces all over the carpet. Then I slowly entered my kitchen and saw that my cabinet where I kept all my knives had been ripped off its hinges. I was starting to freak out now. I needed to know what the fuck was going on, so I walked out the front door of my house, locked it and slowly started making my way over to Tommy's house.

The first thing I noticed as I walked up Tommy's driveway was that his front door was half opened, which was strange, as I had seen him close it. As I got closer, my eyes widened at the sight of a bloodied handprint on the door. My heart started to race, and my legs began to tremble with fear. I gingerly opened the door fully, with the last creek making me jump. All the lights were off and I couldn't see a thing, so I took on my iPhone and shined the light of the screen all across the house. As I edged closer to the living room, I could hear something. It sounded similar to the creaking sound the door made when I came in. I shined my light in the living room and discovered a rocking chair, racing back and forth in a very creepy manner.

I'm not gonna lie, I was close to crapping my pants at this point. When I moved in closer, I could see that someone was sat in the chair. When it slowly rocked forward, I saw Tommy's face emerge from the darkness. I asked him if he was alright but got no response. I got a little closer to Tommy and shined my cell screen at him. What I saw was truly horrifying. In the rocking chair laid Tommy, with his throat slit wide open. I fell to the floor in disbelief. As I stood back up and picked up my cell, almost gagging with disgust, I heard it: heavy breathing coming from the dark corner of the room. My worst fear as a kid was the dark corner of my bedroom, so you can imagine how I felt hearing breathing coming from the darkest corner of Tommy's house.

I somehow built up the courage to finally shine the light into the dark corner, and standing there was a man in a creepy white mask, holding a large kitchen knife soaked in blood. I slowly backed away in fear, which caused the masked man to take a step forward. I then ran for my life to the front door. I ran up the path to my house and reached into my pocket for the house key, but it wasn't there. I panickily shined my cell's phone down the path to see if I had dropped it, and sure enough, there it was on the edge of the path's curb. I quickly dashed to my key and grabbed it. For some reason, I decided to look down the rest of the path and what I saw was the masked man standing in the thick fog, tilting his head left to right with an almost childlike curiosity.

I wasted no more time and ran back up to my house and managed to get in and lock the front door...or so I thought. I grabbed my cell and dialed 911. The operator told me that it would be at least 10-20 minutes before the cops arrived, which meant I had no choice but to wait. I went into the kitchen and picked up one of the many knives that were scattered all over the tile floor. I ran back into the living room and crouched behind the couch, hoping the cops would arrive at any minute. Ten minutes went by, and they still hadn't arrived. My nerves were completely shot at this point. *Why would someone do something like this?* I thought to myself. And that's when it hit me: the white mask, those black sinister eyes. It all made sense now.

*He's real.*

As I came to this frightening realization, suddenly I was mortified by hearing that heavy breathing once more. I stupidly rose up from behind the couch to see him just standing there, staring at me with those black eyes. Then, without warning, he plunged his knife into my shoulder. The pain I felt was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. The adrenaline that pumped through my body allowed me to get up and somehow make it upstairs. Once at the top I started to feel light-headed, the adrenaline in my veins was now fading. I couldn't move anymore; I was losing so much blood. I honestly thought that I was done for. I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He had me exactly where he wanted me. As I laid at the top of those stairs, almost at death's door, my mind was flooded with thoughts of my wife Sally.

She always had faith in me, even when I had no faith in myself. She wouldn't want me to give up, she'd want me to fight with every last ounce of energy I had left. So, with that in mind, I lifted my head up to see Michael almost at the top of the stairs. He wasn't messing around; he was going to kill me. So, I stood up and ran right into him, which sent us both crashing down the stairs. After seemingly being unconscious for a few minutes, I woke up to see Michael lying right at the bottom of those stairs. Luckily, I was lying near the front door, so I reached up and grabbed the doorknob to open it and get the hell out of there. Just to be sure, I looked back at the bottom of the stairs to see if Michael was still unconscious, but he wasn't. In fact, Michael was standing right over me with the knife high above my head.

I quickly turned the doorknob and opened the front door without hesitation. I weakly crawled out onto my driveway screaming and begging for help, but it was no use. I looked up to see Michael standing outside my front door, once again tilting his head left to right. Just as I was about to accept my fate, I heard police sirens. The feeling of relief swept over my whole body. I was finally safe! An officer ran over to me and asked me if I was alright. I told him that Michael fucking Myers was standing over there by my front door.

He looked over and then he looked back at me with a puzzled look on his face. "There's nobody there.", said the officer. I looked over at my front door to see nothing but a menacing looking jack-o-lantern on my front step, with a bloody knife stabbed into it. I honestly couldn't believe it. Chills ran down my spine as I looked at the blood from the knife dripping down onto the face of the jack-o-lantern. It's been a few months now and I am still living in complete fear. The police failed to track down Michael and didn't even come close to finding them. He could be anywhere, lurking in the shadows, lying in wait for his next target. I doubted his legend and for that, I almost paid the ultimate price. Is he supernatural? I honestly don't know.

But was he the boogeyman? Yes, I believe he was.