the Woods
"Don't be a baby, Matty.”
“I’m not a baby. I’m almost six.”
From the dirt path along the edge of the woods, Matty eyed his brother Josh. Twisted branches and thick leaves blocked out most of the sun in front of Matty, but the heat baked him from behind.
Josh, high up in a tree, dangled his legs over a branch. The soles of his new shoes waved in Matty’s face. Josh was ten and tough. He knew how to do everything, except listen to other people. At least that’s what their mom used to say. Matty couldn’t do anything right. No one said it, but it was still true.
“Climb the tree,” Josh said.
“I can’t.”
“Grab the branch and pull yourself up. How do you think I got up here?”
Matty couldn’t grab the branch, though. The tree looked like a mean old man, which spooked him as bad as the closet monster in his room. Before his mom died, she would chase away the nasty monster so Matty could sleep. Now he was afraid every night. Matty wished his mom were here to save him from Josh’s creepy tree. Maybe it had its own monster living in its branches. Maybe that was why it looked so mean. If Josh stayed up there, the monster might eat him.
Panicked, Matty said, “Get down, Josh. It’s too high.”
“No, it’s not. You’re just chicken.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“I’m going home.” Matty pivoted, prepared to stomp off.
Josh was never nice to him, especially when Matty was scared. If a monster ate Josh, it was his own problem. Matty wasn’t going to get eaten.
“Wait,” Josh said.
Matty turned back, crossed his arms, and sulked. He wanted to go home. He’d never be able to climb the tree. Why couldn’t Josh leave him alone? Why wouldn’t he listen?
“Just try it once, Matty.”
“Dad’s gonna be mad if we’re late again.”
“You’re such a chicken.”
Matty’s bottom lip poked out and quivered when he tried to force it back. Tears stung his eyes. Then the leaves rustled, and he forgot his hurt feelings. Matty dropped his arms and scanned the tree line, backing into the open field.
“What was that?”
“The boogeyman,” Josh said. “I told you he lives in the woods. You better get up here, or he’ll get you.”
“He’s in the tree with you, Josh.” Matty’s voice squeaked. “Come down.”
“No, he’s not. He can’t climb trees. He’ll get you if you stay down there all by yourself, though.”
Pulse pounding, Matty looked deep into the woods. What if Josh were right? The thought terrified Matty, so he ran, hopped, and reached. The branch grazed his fingertips. His feet slapped the ground, and a dust cloud smoked around his ankles.
“Jump again, Matty. You can do it.”
“I can’t, Josh. Dad’s gonna be mad. I’m going home.”
“Just try one more time.” Josh swung one leg over and straddled the branch. “I’ll grab you and help you up.”
When Josh reached down, Matty braced his back, bent his knees, and leapt. Josh’s hand snagged his wrist.
“Grab the branch,” Josh said.
Matty stretched his other arm up but not far enough. He scraped his knuckles on the underside of the branch. Then he fell. When he landed on his heels in the dirt, pain vibrated up his legs. Josh’s grip around his wrist held and tugged at his arm. When Matty looked up, Josh was tumbling out of the tree.
“Matty, help!” Josh squealed, eyes wide, and fell like a wounded bird, fluttering his arms.
Matty scrambled back just before Josh’s left side smacked the ground. His brother flinched then lay as still as a puddle of water on a windless day.
“Josh.” Matty walked closer, stopped halfway. “Josh. It’s not funny. Get up.”
He took another step. Then he saw the weird angles of Josh’s arm, like he had two elbows. Josh’s eyes were closed. Matty’s chest tightened. What if he were dead?
He stepped back, one step, two. Then he turned and raced into the woods. The beat of his heart pulsed in his ears. If he could get through the woods, he could get home. The path through the woods didn’t take as long as going through the neighborhood, but Matty wasn’t supposed to go through the woods alone. His dad would yell, but Josh needed help. What if Josh were dead like their mom? Matty had to get home as fast as he could. He had to get through the woods.
The farther he ran, the thinner the beams of sunlight became. Leaves crunched under his battered sneakers. Branches, fallen dead on the ground, snapped and almost tripped him. The tree trunks bunched along the path, hunting him, and his stomach knotted. He clawed his way through the overgrown bushes. The darkness faded some. Then he burst through the cluster of green and brown and into the clearing. His breath raked over his throat, and he skidded to a stop.
The old trailer, with its grimy windows and red, flaky sides, cut across his path. Matty was sure the boogeyman lived there. Josh had said so. And if the boogeyman knew he was here, Matty would be dead. He wouldn’t be able to help Josh.
“Never go into the woods by yourself, Matty.” That was what Josh had said the first time he had shown Matty the shortcut. “The boogeyman lives there, and he likes to eat little kids. As long as we walk together, we’ll be okay. I’ll protect you. But if you go in alone, he’ll get you.”
Every time they took the path through the woods, Josh would give him the same warning. Josh always walked in front, and Matty would trudge along behind, grasping his brother’s shirt in his fists. Matty’s legs and belly and hands and shoulders would shake like leaves being attacked by the wind. He never let go of Josh, though. He was too afraid.
“Josh, he’ll get us.”
“No he won’t, Matty. He doesn’t like it when there are two of us. He only comes out when he sees a little kid all alone.”
They had always made it through the woods. Josh had made sure.
Now, Josh was hurt, and Matty had to make it through alone. Josh needed him. He had to do this one thing right. Josh would be able to. Matty had to do it, too.
He tiptoed along the edge of trees lining the clearing. If he could just make it around the trailer. The rough bark snared the back of his shirt and scratched the backs of his knees. Matty spread his arms wide for balance. He wouldn’t trip and let the boogeyman get him. Not when Josh needed him. Matty crept along, eyes locked on the trailer’s dented door. Only a nasty, old boogeyman would live in a place like that.
The wind howled. The leaves above him stirred. They hissed like snakes. Matty sucked in a breath, looked up and around. Something hard banged, rattling the air. His nerves jumped. His eyes searched. The trailer door swung on its hinges. Matty’s breath stuck in his throat. Overcome with fear, he turned and dashed back into the woods behind him.
He fought his way through the bushes and branches, his hands tearing at the leaves slapping his face. Then he came out the other side and was blinded by the sunlight bouncing off of the swing set. Matty blocked the light with an arm across his eyes. He fell to the ground, hanging his head, and braced his hands on his knobby knees. The grass was like knives cutting into his shins, and it stunk, too. The smell choked him like that stuff his mom used to use to mop the kitchen floor. He wanted her to be here so bad. She would be able to help Josh. She would chase away the boogeyman just like she used to chase away the closet monster. Tears slid down his cheeks. Matty rubbed them away with his sleeve. When he glanced up, his belly started to ache. Nearly back where he started. The deserted playground was right in front of him. That meant the field and Josh weren’t too far away. That meant he didn’t make it through the woods and never would.
“Matty?”
Matty’s head whipped around. He searched for the voice and saw Josh sitting up, cradling his screwed-up arm against his chest.
“Josh.” Matty scrambled up and bolted to him. “Are you okay? I was afraid you might be dead. I tried to run for help, but I couldn’t get through the woods.”
“My arm really hurts. My head, too. Dad’s gonna kill us.”
“I told you we should’ve gone home. The boogeyman almost got me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The boogeyman. I went through the woods but couldn’t get by his trailer.”
“Matty. There’s no boogeyman.”
Then Josh groaned. He pressed his arm against his belly and leaned forward. “I don’t feel too good.” Josh’s cheeks puffed out. Then he puked on the ground right between his spread legs.
“Gross.” Matty gagged at the sight of Josh’s vomit, sticking his tongue out like a dog so he could breathe. “You’re almost sitting in it.”
“I can’t help it,” Josh said.
“We gotta go. You’re sick, and the boogeyman might get us.”
“I told you there’s no boogeyman. Now shut up about it.”
“You shut up,” Matty told him, chin defiant. “There is so a boogeyman. He started to come outside to get me, but I ran away.”
“Matty, if you don’t shut up…” Josh glared. Then he looked past Matty. “Never mind. There’s Dad.”
Matty whirled around and watched his dad cross over the playground’s blacktop. His dad was so tall he could reach up and touch the basketball net if he wanted to. Sometimes he would lift Matty up so he could touch the net, too. But right now those two lines that meant his dad was gonna yell were cutting into the skin between his eyes. Matty’s stomach always tossed when his dad had that look on his face.
“Matty! Josh! What are you doing?”
“Josh hurt his arm. He puked, too,” Matty said.
His dad jogged the rest of the way, crouched down beside them, and sighed. “You’ve been climbing that tree again, haven’t you?”
“I fell,” Josh said.
“Dammit, Josh. Haven’t I told you not to climb trees?” His dad shook his head, sighed even louder than before. “All right. Let’s get you home.” He scooped Josh into his arms and stood up. “Let’s go, Matty.”
Matty walked beside them, looking over his shoulder toward the woods. Josh was such a liar sometimes. If his mom were here, she would tell him the truth about the boogeyman. His dad would know the truth, too, better than stupid Josh.
“Do you think the boogeyman will follow us home, dad? He’ll know where we live.”
“What? Matty, for Christ’s sake. There’s no boogeyman. I don’t have time to listen to that kind of crap. Your brother’s hurt. He might need to go to the emergency room.”
“But Josh told me he lives in the woods. And then Josh said that he didn’t. But I saw his trailer where he lives. I think he came outside while I was there, but I didn’t see him. You think he’s invisible like the monster in my closet? He could follow us, and we wouldn’t know it.”
His dad stopped and gave him a look that made Matty’s stomach upset.
“Matty. He doesn’t exist. I don’t want to hear about this anymore. Josh was just trying to scare you.”
“Yeah, Matty. I was just trying to scare you.”
Matty glanced over his shoulder again. The leaves swayed in the breeze. Shadows danced along the dirt path at the edge of the woods.
“Forget about the boogeyman, and don’t go in the woods again,” his dad said. “Now, let’s go.”
But Matty stared into the woods watching the shadows. The boogeyman was there. He knew it.
The end.
Copyright 2020 Beth Pontorno
“I’m not a baby. I’m almost six.”
From the dirt path along the edge of the woods, Matty eyed his brother Josh. Twisted branches and thick leaves blocked out most of the sun in front of Matty, but the heat baked him from behind.
Josh, high up in a tree, dangled his legs over a branch. The soles of his new shoes waved in Matty’s face. Josh was ten and tough. He knew how to do everything, except listen to other people. At least that’s what their mom used to say. Matty couldn’t do anything right. No one said it, but it was still true.
“Climb the tree,” Josh said.
“I can’t.”
“Grab the branch and pull yourself up. How do you think I got up here?”
Matty couldn’t grab the branch, though. The tree looked like a mean old man, which spooked him as bad as the closet monster in his room. Before his mom died, she would chase away the nasty monster so Matty could sleep. Now he was afraid every night. Matty wished his mom were here to save him from Josh’s creepy tree. Maybe it had its own monster living in its branches. Maybe that was why it looked so mean. If Josh stayed up there, the monster might eat him.
Panicked, Matty said, “Get down, Josh. It’s too high.”
“No, it’s not. You’re just chicken.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“I’m going home.” Matty pivoted, prepared to stomp off.
Josh was never nice to him, especially when Matty was scared. If a monster ate Josh, it was his own problem. Matty wasn’t going to get eaten.
“Wait,” Josh said.
Matty turned back, crossed his arms, and sulked. He wanted to go home. He’d never be able to climb the tree. Why couldn’t Josh leave him alone? Why wouldn’t he listen?
“Just try it once, Matty.”
“Dad’s gonna be mad if we’re late again.”
“You’re such a chicken.”
Matty’s bottom lip poked out and quivered when he tried to force it back. Tears stung his eyes. Then the leaves rustled, and he forgot his hurt feelings. Matty dropped his arms and scanned the tree line, backing into the open field.
“What was that?”
“The boogeyman,” Josh said. “I told you he lives in the woods. You better get up here, or he’ll get you.”
“He’s in the tree with you, Josh.” Matty’s voice squeaked. “Come down.”
“No, he’s not. He can’t climb trees. He’ll get you if you stay down there all by yourself, though.”
Pulse pounding, Matty looked deep into the woods. What if Josh were right? The thought terrified Matty, so he ran, hopped, and reached. The branch grazed his fingertips. His feet slapped the ground, and a dust cloud smoked around his ankles.
“Jump again, Matty. You can do it.”
“I can’t, Josh. Dad’s gonna be mad. I’m going home.”
“Just try one more time.” Josh swung one leg over and straddled the branch. “I’ll grab you and help you up.”
When Josh reached down, Matty braced his back, bent his knees, and leapt. Josh’s hand snagged his wrist.
“Grab the branch,” Josh said.
Matty stretched his other arm up but not far enough. He scraped his knuckles on the underside of the branch. Then he fell. When he landed on his heels in the dirt, pain vibrated up his legs. Josh’s grip around his wrist held and tugged at his arm. When Matty looked up, Josh was tumbling out of the tree.
“Matty, help!” Josh squealed, eyes wide, and fell like a wounded bird, fluttering his arms.
Matty scrambled back just before Josh’s left side smacked the ground. His brother flinched then lay as still as a puddle of water on a windless day.
“Josh.” Matty walked closer, stopped halfway. “Josh. It’s not funny. Get up.”
He took another step. Then he saw the weird angles of Josh’s arm, like he had two elbows. Josh’s eyes were closed. Matty’s chest tightened. What if he were dead?
He stepped back, one step, two. Then he turned and raced into the woods. The beat of his heart pulsed in his ears. If he could get through the woods, he could get home. The path through the woods didn’t take as long as going through the neighborhood, but Matty wasn’t supposed to go through the woods alone. His dad would yell, but Josh needed help. What if Josh were dead like their mom? Matty had to get home as fast as he could. He had to get through the woods.
The farther he ran, the thinner the beams of sunlight became. Leaves crunched under his battered sneakers. Branches, fallen dead on the ground, snapped and almost tripped him. The tree trunks bunched along the path, hunting him, and his stomach knotted. He clawed his way through the overgrown bushes. The darkness faded some. Then he burst through the cluster of green and brown and into the clearing. His breath raked over his throat, and he skidded to a stop.
The old trailer, with its grimy windows and red, flaky sides, cut across his path. Matty was sure the boogeyman lived there. Josh had said so. And if the boogeyman knew he was here, Matty would be dead. He wouldn’t be able to help Josh.
“Never go into the woods by yourself, Matty.” That was what Josh had said the first time he had shown Matty the shortcut. “The boogeyman lives there, and he likes to eat little kids. As long as we walk together, we’ll be okay. I’ll protect you. But if you go in alone, he’ll get you.”
Every time they took the path through the woods, Josh would give him the same warning. Josh always walked in front, and Matty would trudge along behind, grasping his brother’s shirt in his fists. Matty’s legs and belly and hands and shoulders would shake like leaves being attacked by the wind. He never let go of Josh, though. He was too afraid.
“Josh, he’ll get us.”
“No he won’t, Matty. He doesn’t like it when there are two of us. He only comes out when he sees a little kid all alone.”
They had always made it through the woods. Josh had made sure.
Now, Josh was hurt, and Matty had to make it through alone. Josh needed him. He had to do this one thing right. Josh would be able to. Matty had to do it, too.
He tiptoed along the edge of trees lining the clearing. If he could just make it around the trailer. The rough bark snared the back of his shirt and scratched the backs of his knees. Matty spread his arms wide for balance. He wouldn’t trip and let the boogeyman get him. Not when Josh needed him. Matty crept along, eyes locked on the trailer’s dented door. Only a nasty, old boogeyman would live in a place like that.
The wind howled. The leaves above him stirred. They hissed like snakes. Matty sucked in a breath, looked up and around. Something hard banged, rattling the air. His nerves jumped. His eyes searched. The trailer door swung on its hinges. Matty’s breath stuck in his throat. Overcome with fear, he turned and dashed back into the woods behind him.
He fought his way through the bushes and branches, his hands tearing at the leaves slapping his face. Then he came out the other side and was blinded by the sunlight bouncing off of the swing set. Matty blocked the light with an arm across his eyes. He fell to the ground, hanging his head, and braced his hands on his knobby knees. The grass was like knives cutting into his shins, and it stunk, too. The smell choked him like that stuff his mom used to use to mop the kitchen floor. He wanted her to be here so bad. She would be able to help Josh. She would chase away the boogeyman just like she used to chase away the closet monster. Tears slid down his cheeks. Matty rubbed them away with his sleeve. When he glanced up, his belly started to ache. Nearly back where he started. The deserted playground was right in front of him. That meant the field and Josh weren’t too far away. That meant he didn’t make it through the woods and never would.
“Matty?”
Matty’s head whipped around. He searched for the voice and saw Josh sitting up, cradling his screwed-up arm against his chest.
“Josh.” Matty scrambled up and bolted to him. “Are you okay? I was afraid you might be dead. I tried to run for help, but I couldn’t get through the woods.”
“My arm really hurts. My head, too. Dad’s gonna kill us.”
“I told you we should’ve gone home. The boogeyman almost got me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The boogeyman. I went through the woods but couldn’t get by his trailer.”
“Matty. There’s no boogeyman.”
Then Josh groaned. He pressed his arm against his belly and leaned forward. “I don’t feel too good.” Josh’s cheeks puffed out. Then he puked on the ground right between his spread legs.
“Gross.” Matty gagged at the sight of Josh’s vomit, sticking his tongue out like a dog so he could breathe. “You’re almost sitting in it.”
“I can’t help it,” Josh said.
“We gotta go. You’re sick, and the boogeyman might get us.”
“I told you there’s no boogeyman. Now shut up about it.”
“You shut up,” Matty told him, chin defiant. “There is so a boogeyman. He started to come outside to get me, but I ran away.”
“Matty, if you don’t shut up…” Josh glared. Then he looked past Matty. “Never mind. There’s Dad.”
Matty whirled around and watched his dad cross over the playground’s blacktop. His dad was so tall he could reach up and touch the basketball net if he wanted to. Sometimes he would lift Matty up so he could touch the net, too. But right now those two lines that meant his dad was gonna yell were cutting into the skin between his eyes. Matty’s stomach always tossed when his dad had that look on his face.
“Matty! Josh! What are you doing?”
“Josh hurt his arm. He puked, too,” Matty said.
His dad jogged the rest of the way, crouched down beside them, and sighed. “You’ve been climbing that tree again, haven’t you?”
“I fell,” Josh said.
“Dammit, Josh. Haven’t I told you not to climb trees?” His dad shook his head, sighed even louder than before. “All right. Let’s get you home.” He scooped Josh into his arms and stood up. “Let’s go, Matty.”
Matty walked beside them, looking over his shoulder toward the woods. Josh was such a liar sometimes. If his mom were here, she would tell him the truth about the boogeyman. His dad would know the truth, too, better than stupid Josh.
“Do you think the boogeyman will follow us home, dad? He’ll know where we live.”
“What? Matty, for Christ’s sake. There’s no boogeyman. I don’t have time to listen to that kind of crap. Your brother’s hurt. He might need to go to the emergency room.”
“But Josh told me he lives in the woods. And then Josh said that he didn’t. But I saw his trailer where he lives. I think he came outside while I was there, but I didn’t see him. You think he’s invisible like the monster in my closet? He could follow us, and we wouldn’t know it.”
His dad stopped and gave him a look that made Matty’s stomach upset.
“Matty. He doesn’t exist. I don’t want to hear about this anymore. Josh was just trying to scare you.”
“Yeah, Matty. I was just trying to scare you.”
Matty glanced over his shoulder again. The leaves swayed in the breeze. Shadows danced along the dirt path at the edge of the woods.
“Forget about the boogeyman, and don’t go in the woods again,” his dad said. “Now, let’s go.”
But Matty stared into the woods watching the shadows. The boogeyman was there. He knew it.
The end.
Copyright 2020 Beth Pontorno
