“One…Two…Three…Four…One…Two…Three Four,” the consecutive numbers echoed throughout the old wooden halls of the once much loved family home. All cheer and joy had been flushed out, now only conceded in memory.


The nervous tapping steps of a middle aged man got fainter and fainter as he stepped closer to the source of the noise. As the tapping died out to his own ears he knew he had reached it, a little girl sitting in the dark light of the living room.

“Stop that Eve, say goodbye to the house it’s time to leave,” the Middle aged man said his voice rung of both concern and fear.

His words fell flat, no movement or subtle hint to indicate that Eve had even acknowledged his existence. All Eve wanted and did was too repeat “One..Two…Three…Four” over and over as she smashed her left hand on to the floor to the rhythm of the numbers, the constant bashing inflicting blood to run across the varnished floor.

The motion of the hand only coming to an end as the man held it up high,

“I said it’s time to go!” he said, rallying his courage he sounded more commanding and sincere.

Successfully obtaining Eve’s attention, Eve’s eyes turned to face him, as she gave a look that can only be described by the reaction of the Middle aged man.


The hand that held Eve’s bloody one high slipped away as he took two steps back.

“I’m not leaving my friends…you can’t make me Dad! You won’t make me…”

The beating of the hand continued.

“Things will be better, everything will be easier…please Eve,”

“I go when my friends can go,”

“They can’t, they have to stay here with the house”

“One…Two…Three…Four…One…Two…Three Four,”

The father looked eerily around as cold air breezed past him, a sudden scream of a child shook the floors of the house, the noise not coming from Eve but originating from the other end of the building ceasing at the loud slamming noise of a door shutting.


“You never did believe me” Eve spoke gently.

“I believe you now Eve and I’m sorry but it’s time to leave.”

“Don’t be scared of my friends Dad they won’t hurt you, and I won’t be leaving.”
From the shivering of his arms he knew he had dwelt for too long with little intention of staying any longer. Turning towards the door, he grabbed Eve’s arm again dragging her across the floor.

The entrance door the father purposely left open now stood firmly shut, no desperate twisting of the handle would open it.

“I said I won’t be leaving,”

Eve’s body flopped to the ground, her Father yet again letting her ago again in fear. No longer focussed on his daughter, his attention diverted to the other beings that dwelt in the living room.

In all four corners stood a faded image of a child. To his left a small boy no older than 9, his right a girl younger than the boy. At the other end of the room both boy and girl this time of equal age, in their young teenage years. Each dressed in a fashion out of the age, not of the modern world but a Victorian England.

Though childlike in appearance the expressions in the face was anything but. No smile or laugh of a child in play time nor the tearful slumber of a child who did not get their way. Just a dead face glaring forward into the nothingness.
“You look scared father, I said they would never hurt you,”

Fear turned to desperation, desperation to the bashing of the door and the evermore vigorous rattling of the door handle.
“Let me out! Let me fucking out!”

“I said THEY, would never hurt you,” she repeated emphasising the single word ‘they’ heavily.


Father slowly changed his focus back to Eve, noticing the kitchen knife in her left hand. The arm slowly raising up to the Fathers chest. In the same motion of the arm the heads of the 4 Victorian children twisted, their eyes glazing at him.

“I won’t be leaving my friend’s father,”

“Good morning Mr Watts, another eventful night I see,” spoke a small robot, hovering above the ground through the spinning rotors it had for legs. It’s metal exterior shell forged into the shape of a waiter.

The generated turbulent air blew onto its creator as he laid on his king-sized bed. Rubbing his blood shot eyes, he tried to gather his bearings, giving of an almighty yawn.

“What do you mean Service-Bot? I wasn’t villaning last night” spoke Watts.
“Yes sir, Mr Evil did indeed not leave the base last night but I have it on good authority the Fantastic DooGooder made great strides on his case,”

It was on the word ‘DooGooder’ that Watts clicked on too the clothes he was wearing, in replace of his skull faced pyjamas was the outfit of a superhero. The blue cape dangling royally from his body, the famous thumbs up sign associated with Mr DooGooder proudly sitting on the chest of Mr Watts.
For most men to wear such a symbol of heroism was a mark of honour, for Watts it meant only horror.

“Not again…ohh not again. Why do I do this to myself….please Service bot not again, don’t say ive done something stupid again,”

“Fear not Mr Watts, you really should be quite proud of your self-”
Watts looked at Service Bot with dread.

“No..I didn’t…No I did… I saved a innocent child..how coul-“

“On the contrary Mr Watts, the Fantastic DooGooder really hit his stride last evening. Rumour has it he found and destroyed the Winter’s orb, bringing summer back to the city”

“The winter’s orb…the winters orb! I spent my weekend building that thing!”
In his frustration Watts ripped the blue cape from his back, slowly making his way from the bedroom to his room of operations. Dragging himself across the thin corridors of his base, his eyes diverted from the walls branded with a wide variety of phrases from “Thumbs up not a punch up” too “I’ll never be like you Mr Evil”.

As the thick metallic doors of his headquarters slid open Watts could only exhibit emotions of panic, all of the menacing devices and secret plans Watt’s had worked so hard on were gone, replaced by brochures advertising various charities all offering to help turn people’s lives around from crime. Each of course had the thumbs up sticker of approval of Mr DooGooder across the front page.

“I will burn every last one of these charities to the ground” screamed Watts, “Never again will I hear the words of Mr DooGooder and wear this hideous outfit” Watts claimed as he struggled to rip off the tightly fitted boots from his feet.

“Service Bot I wish to start immediately on my next plan of evil, open up th…”
“With all respect sir…would it not be more productive to build up counter measures against Mr DooGooder, after all this event has been categorised as a common occurrence.

“Do you not hear the words I speak servant! Mr DooGooder is no more!”
“Yes sir, I understand sir…It’s just that…well.. you did say that exact same thing last time sir,”

“No, I didn’t..”

The service bot’s yellow glowing eyes turned blue as he entered into play back mode;
“Message recorded from 8th of July 2018: Mark my words Service Bot, Mr DooGooder is no more,”
Service Bot’s eyes glow yellow once again.

“This time is different….garghhh I don’t know… bring me the news I want to know the full damage”.

A TV spanning the width of the wall rolled out from the roof of the room, the channel already flicked on to the news.

The voice of a TV presenter interviewing a woman left the large stereos in all four corners of the room.

“For what must have felt like an eternity you have been a hostage of Mr Evil, tell us what went through your head as you saw freedom come in the form of a thumbs up?” questioned the interviewer.

Service Bot’s eyes glowed a little brighter as he recognised the woman being interviewed, a quirky young person her clothes bearing all the colours of the rainbow as her blond hair stickied out in eight very different directions.
“Ah look sir, that’s the woman you like taking prisoner…is that five times now sir?”

“What!…Nonsense….I have taken her prisoner two… maybe three times…all coincidences” defended Watts before the woman replied to the interviewers question.

“Oh..I sensed him before my eyes set on him, that vile villain’s aura clouded the room with a dark sticky humid feeling and I was drenched in it. The cool…minty aura of justice swept the room clean and I felt a pure form of joy as I knew Mr DooGooder must surely be near,” expressed the Woman, her arms awkwardly waving from left to right as she attempted to demonstrate the events through her imaginative eyes.

“Sticky humid feeling?…Minty aura!…..Never have I head such stupidity…I demand to not see her again, close this infernal TV!,” Watt’s eyes were firmly shut so not to catch a glimpse of her with a hand on his chest as he felt a strange feeling resonating from between his lungs.

As the stiff movement of gears rolled the tv back into the roof of the room, heartfelt words left the four speakers once again as the interviewer asked a question of great interest to Watts,

“Rumour has it that in the heat of the moment emotions were expressed in a form of kiss?”

Watt’s left eye had found itself firmly wide open again, glaring heavily at the bottom of the television as it rolled out of view.

“Service-Bot it is imperative that I show this woman true power…find her!”

“Number 6 sir…”.

“SSShhh now and don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Mum said as the lights clicked off and the door slid shut.
 
Bugs as every child knows are the smallest of worries as the moon comes up to say hello.
 
Alice’s eyes peeked outside the safety of her blankets staring at the shadows dancing in her room.
 
The door handle rattled….the window blew open and the wardrobe giggled.
Alice dared to shut her eyes for two quick seconds, opening them again to see something tall lurking over her bed.
 
In the darkness of the room all she could see was the faint outline of the…..thing and it’s pointy sharp teeth opening up…
 
“Are you ready to be spooked?” it whispered…
 
Gasping up air Alice reached for her bedside light, the thing was revealed in full view to the widening eyes of Alice.
 
The Thing eeked and creeked using its long thin fingers to hide it’s hideous face from the heat of the light.
 
It screaked and cried “turn it off…turn that horrible thing off!”.
 
“Are you ready to be friended, you keep forgetting!” Alice told it off..
 
“Yes, yes! Turn it off, Turn it off!”
 
Click, the room went dark.
 
“Who will we friend first?” asked Alice.
 
“You will see…come under the bed with me and you will see”
 
Like a snake the thing slithered underneath the bed with Alice soon behind, then with just a teaspoon of magic they were underneath a bed of a small boy’s room.
 
The thing stared at Alice and spoke gently,
 
“He lost a tooth, I hear children like to have their lost teeth stolen” it smiled in a menacingly yet friendly way.
 
“No! Th..”
 
“Sshhhh shhh you will awake him before the fun!”
 
Alice tried again lowering her tone,
 
“Children like shiny new money as a swap for their old teeth”
 
“Well that doesn’t seem fair to me… and where is the fun in that?” asked the Thing
 
Alice gave a disproving look.
 
With a huff of air from underneath its breath it moaned “ok…ok”.
Rising from the floor the Thing stared at the blue pajamaed boy, focusing hard on Alice’s advice.
 
The Thing’s natural instincts disagreed greatly as it struggled to remember Alice’s exact instructions.
 
In a small panic the Thing’s mind went blank and its instincts kicked in… and that is a very bad thing as the small boy’s eyes woke up.
 
“I will steal your shiny new teeth and give you my old ones!” the Thing said revealing its own teeth to the boy.
 
In two clicks of a hanging superhero clock the parents stampeded in following the screams of their son.
 
“That was awfully close,” the thing spoke from underneath a bed staring at Alice. Alice was not the least impressed,
 
“You almost got us caught,”
 
“Yes…Sorry, don’t worry this time nothing can go wrong”
 
“…..well,” Alice said eager to know the next child they were to friend.
 
“Oh…yes.. this child likes to play with her toys and dolls, I will play with toys and dolls…child will have fun,” the Thing spoke.
 
Off course all children like to play with their toys but most children do not expect those very same toys to play with them back.
 
The scattered dolls in the mess of the child room started to dance in a robotic function, the joints of the toys only allowing the slow swinging movements of the arms going backwards and forwards.
 
The small chair in the far corner of the room started to rock with the doll sitting on top’s head twisting round as it lips came alive to give a smile.
The little girl awoke at the tune of the dancing ballerina in it’s music box broken free from it’s single spinning movement.
 
Wiping the sleep from her eyes all became clear as she stood up in her bed starring down at her teddy bear as it inched ever closer to her from across the bed saying the words;
 
“Hug me…hug me”
 
At the screams of the girl Alice and the thing were gone.

“It’s ok I’m sure the next person will like you” Alice spoke as she worried for the Thing, it seemed both frustrated and upset that it’s attempts to make friends had ended in screams.
 
Nodging it on the shoulder, Alice tried to reassure the Thing “Those kids were 4 years old, they are sacredly cats… get a 6 six-year-old like me and they will love you!”
 
The thing’s head perked up at Alice giving a second’s smile.
“I understand now…no more games, I will simply say hello and tell them that I am their friend!”
 
Alice was horrified by the idea but too late, the Thing was already resting it sharp skinny fingers on the boy.
 
“Wake up boy, wake up….ssshhh shhhh don’t scream,” as the index finger of the Thing rested on the boy’s mouth.
 
“I may have the teeth of a shark, but I would much rather smile at you than eat you….my skin as pale as a vampire but as sensitive as the feelings I hide inside…my songs might screech in your ear but the words are quite beautiful if only your mortal ears could hear them…my very presence may darken every light and make your bones rattle in fright but I’m really quite friendly…so please little child don’t cry”.
 
The boy sat emotionless and quiet, the Thing eager to know the words about to come out the boys mouth.
 
“Well?” the Thing said evermore hopeful, had it finally found how to make friends? Centuries of spooking them never worked, playing games with them had never worked maybe all it ever had to do was say hello?
 
The lips of the boys mouth opened up, the Thing could sense it… the dawn of a new age. Finally, a noise had left the boy… the loudest scream of them all, in all his years of spooking never was there louder.
 
The Thing’s smile dropped, its heart would be broken if only it had one. There it just stood detached as the parents marched in, Alice begging for the Thing to hurry under the bed.
 
The mother was startled in disbelief “What is it…it’s horrendous….foul….evil,” she cried.
 
Hatred could only be seen in the eyes of the father as he gripped his baseball bat spitting out the words “It’s a mon…”
 
“Monster,” the Thing screeched finishing the father’s words.
 
“Yes I am, I am it…the one you dare not remember. The one you wish dead….the shadows that moved in your room…I am everyone of your childhood fears and I did it all without a eye being cast upon me….well see me now….see how right you were to fear me!” the Thing screamed as tears dropped down it’s face.
 
Great bat shaped wings made of shadow burst open from the Things back growing ever larger until they plunged the entire room in darkness. In one quick movement the Thing smashed it wings together unleashing a noise never meant for this world. Such was the horror of it that anyone in the room who wasn’t a…monster fell on the floor unconscious.
 
Alice woke up in the comfort of her own bed, the room dark all she could see was a shadow crying in the corner of her room. Slowly approaching it the shadow spoke to her;
 
“No more friending”
 
“It’s ok, I understand we will try again tomorrow,”
 
“No…no more…no more friending and no more spooking. I am done, I tried and I failed. I was never meant to bring joy to children I am a monster and that is all I ever will be. I do not wish to come to earth again I do not wish to scare little children again,”
 
“I am your friend… how can you fail when I am your friend. You have brought me more joy than anyone and monsters can’t bring joy…you are not a monster. You cannot never come back.. you are my friend and I need you… never seeing you again scares me more than the thought of any monster hiding underneath my bed. Only a monster would leave me alone so you cannot leave me because you are not a monster…you are my friend and you could never scare me”.
 
The Thing wiped the tears from it eyes and smiled,
 
“How right you are, I was too busy trying to make friends that not with my five eyes could I see that I already succeeded. No matter how many children I may scare I know that I am not a monster because I have you and I could never scare you…it is late go to bed Alice and I will see you tomorrow… I promise,”
Alice was both so happy and relieved as she gave the Thing a mighty hug
“Read me a bed time story before you go,”
 
“I will read my favourite…a story of ghosties and ghoulies.