The possibilities are endless for what children are afraid of: snakes, sharks, heights, even being late to school. My biggest fear? That the Boogie Man that lived in the depths of my basement would grab me from under the stairs. I believed the Boogie Man lived in the back of my basement where no light could ever be found, and every time I went down to my basement, that the Boogie Man would emerge from the darkness, jump over the filing cabinets, pull me through the gaps between the stairs, and drag me back into his cave of darkness to keep me forever.
One time, I can’t remember what age I was, maybe 7 or 8, I was actually attacked by the Boogie Man. He finally got me one day, but I managed to barely escape, and here I am to tell the story. I was home after school on a dry, sunny fall day. The freshly-fallen leaves coated the not-so-freshly mowed lawn. The chill in the air prompted the older gentleman who walked down my road every day to throw on his red and white striped flannel jacket. I always thought he looked like a lumberjack with gray hair when he wore that coat. I was exhausted from all the addition and subtraction practice I sat through at school that day. I wanted something to brighten my sour mood imposed by school. Food. Who wouldn’t want food after a tiringly boring day at school? I wandered over to the pantry closet in the kitchen, stretching on my tippy toes to reach the doorknob. I flung the door open and to my dismay, there was no food in the house! Only granola bars, rice cakes, and even raisins (who even has raisins in the house? Yuck)! Desperate to find something to fill the void in my life that school left me with, I searched for my mom to ask her to make me some food. Much to my surprise, she was outside, on her hands and knees, spreading out the freshly dyed brown mulch she had dragged me along to purchase with her that past weekend. She has always said she wanted the planter to look nice for people when they drive by our house. Nobody is looking at our house, mom! Since my mom was busy, I did not bother to ask her to get me food. I knew what had to be done so I would not die of starvation: I had to venture into the basement.
I started my treacherous trek down to the basement of doom in search of the only good food I knew we had in the house - Scooby-Doo fruit snacks. I took a whirl around the pantry door, slammed it shut in frustration and fear, and took 3 cautious steps to reach the basement door. The door appeared bigger than before. I had always had trouble reaching the doorknob, but for whatever reason, it seemed as if I had shrunken and the door was staring down at me, laughing at me. I got up on my tippy toes again to force the door to stay quiet and stop making fun of me and my fear of death. I pried open the door with a squeak. With one big inhale, I flicked on the light switch to my right. It’s now or never.
As slowly as humanly possible, I took one stair at a time into my basement. The wide wooden stairs of the unfinished basement creaked as my whole body weight laid upon them. As more stairs were added during my trip down to the final step, I let out a sigh of relief, making sure it was quiet as to not wake the Boogie Man. I turned the corner to look out across the piles of unpainted wood, furniture with white fitted sheets laying aimlessly across them, and other random items scattered around the floor and walls of the basement. My dad kept saying that he’d finish the basement up, but my mom and I never believed it was going to happen. I sprinted with fear towards the closest light. I pulled on the string with the tips of my fingers, illuminating the basement more. I jump over the scattered milk crates and empty Poland Springs water bottles to make it to the next light before I would be attacked. He can only get me in the dark. If I turn on all the lights, he can’t get me! As I pulled the string to turn each light on, I felt my fears fly out of me like a butterflying fluttering away from a flower. In the depths of my basement is where the food was...which was also where the Boogie Man resided. It’s now or never. I ventured into the darkness.
I pushed the heels of my feet up off the ground to reach the last string that sheltered my awaiting doom. With the final pull, I saw what I had hoped to see...nothing. Just dried white paint cans and Tupperware I did not even know we had. No Boogie Man to be found shifted my focus to what I desired - the Scooby-Doo fruit snacks. Of course, the only ones I truly wanted were the blue raspberry-flavored Scooby-shaped ones, but the other ones were fine, too. I looked among all the other “food” (again, more raisins!) and then I found them. The halo above presented the glorious treat that I deserved and ventured out to find was there. FRUIT SNACKS!!! I grabbed the box forcefully, partially opening the box with my grab, and pulled it to my chest for a hug like people hug each other after not seeing one another for a long time. Now that my joy in life, the reason life is worth living, had been found, it was time to face my fear again, going into the darkness, into the heart of the Boogie Man’s home, to escape the inevitable torture he would lay upon me if he were to grab me.
I turned back around and sucked in my breath harder than ever before. I pulled the string and dashed. I ran harder than I had ever run before out of the back corner of the basement. Just when I had thought I had emerged from the darkness unnoticed, he growled. A growl louder than a lion’s roar made me just so high I almost hit my head on the pipes running along with the ceiling. It got extremely warm, all of a sudden, and the combination of fear and heat made my stomach uneasy. I realized I needed to get out of there, and fast.
Alexandra Delaney