Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [63]
Lizzy shifted from foot to foot, played nervously with her coat hanger hook.
Cmon, you can do it, Tock said. Captain Hooks not afraid of anything.
Who said I was scared? Lizzy asked.
But that was the trouble. Lizzywas scared. And thats why they were all there: to cure her.
For weeks shed been afraid, and it was getting worse. She wasnt sleeping at night, and the dark circles under her eyes made her look like a much more sinister Captain Hook. When she did go to bed, she left the lights in her room blazing. She claimed the bogeyman was out to get her. She stuffed coats and clothing under her bed so he couldnt hide there. Then she started to be afraid in the daytime, too. It was like the bogeyman could be anywhere: in the old garage, the trunk of a car, the hole under the stage.
Get down there and look! Peter ordered.
Maybe this isnt such a great idea, Rhonda suggested.
Go on, Lizzy, youll be fine, promised Tock.
You dont have to if you dont want to, Rhonda said, placing her hand on Lizzys shoulder. But Lizzy shook it off and very gingerly got down on her hands and knees. When she peered under the bed, she let out a scream that made the hairs all over Rhondas body stand up, giving her skin a prickly feel.
Pull him out, Peter said.
No! Lizzy wailed.
Help her, Peter ordered the other two girls.
Rhonda and Tock got down on their hands and knees to help Lizzy drag the body from under the bed.
Rhonda nearly let out a scream herself when she saw the large black eyes looking back at her. She was afraid, at first, to reach out her hand to grab it. Lizzy was crying quietly beside her.
Peter had made a stuffed man out of his fathers old clothes filled with rags. His head was a nylon stocking filled with stuffing from an old pillow. Peter had glued huge felt eyes on the front of his face, like an owl. The bogeymans face was all eyes, big black felt ovals, no nose or mouth.
Hes scary as hell, Tock admitted once theyd got him out into the light.
Peter handed Lizzy a kitchen knife, and she looked at the knife, then at the bogeyman, then at Peter.
Peter said, Kill him, Lizzy. Kill the bogeyman.
At first, she hesitated, then she fell on him. She stabbed and stabbed, plunging the knife in, stuffing coming out of his head. The knife went through his body into the floor.
She stabbed until she was exhausted and out of tears. She collapsed on the floor. Tock went to her and stroked her knotted, greasy hair.
You did it, Captain, Tock whispered.
The jobs not done yet, Peter explained. Now we have to bury him.
They dragged the body out to the woodsthey had to keep stopping to collect bits of himand had a long funeral. Peter dug a deep hole next to the stage and they dumped the body in.
Get rocks, Peter said. And they all collected stones, large and small, and threw them into the hole, on top of the bogeyman.
This is so he cant rise again, Peter explained.
They were all sweaty and smeared with dirt. Rhondas hands hurt from hauling rocks. Lizzy had taken off her hat, hook, and boots and looked a little more like her old self and less like a pirate.
Peter gave each of them a piece of paper and pencil.
Write down the things youre most afraid of, he instructed. Rhondas mind went blank. Then she scribbled:That Peters my brother. That hell stay with Tock. That Dad loves Aggie more than Mom. That Lizzys going truly crazy.
She looked over, trying to see what Lizzy had written on her paper, but Lizzy covered it up with her hand. And what, Rhonda wondered, had Peter written? And Tock? Surely, she wasnt afraid of anything.
They each folded up their papers and dropped them into the hole,