Brave Boy

I was thrilled to find out that I just came joint second in a Halloween competition run by the Write Club Society today. The Write Club Society is a creative writers group consisting of authors who have come through the Open University. They are all very accomplished writers many of whom are either published or have won various external writing competitions. To come second in this is no mean feat. Obviously I would have loved to have won, but I know very well that the winning entry will have been a brilliant piece in its own right.

Anyway, I thought I would just give everyone a chance to read it, so here it is. Enjoy!

Brave Boy

Mum said that I needn't be afraid. She said I must be strong and be brave. She said that as long as I'm a brave boy, I'll always wake up and that she'll always be here when I do.

*

There is a space in my room, just beside my wardrobe where my Spiderman dressing gown hangs. It's only just big enough for me to squeeze into. In the day it's just a blank bit of wall where I keep my slippers. But, at night, when the lights go out, it becomes a shadow. Well, not just a shadow. A shadow that is really a door. Not like a door with a handle. No, this is the kind of door that you just squeeze into. If you stare at it for long enough, after a while, it turns black. Really black. Much, much blacker than any shadow I've ever seen before. It turns into a shadow-door that seems to fall away as I stare at it. Once I can see it, sometimes, not every time, sometimes I'll wait until Mum has gone to bed and I'll creep over to the shadow-door and slide in. I can only go in when I'm scared though. If I'm being really brave, it won't let me in at all.

It's really hard for me to say what it's like the other side. It's sort of black-and-white and red all at the same time. And everything moves a little bit slower than here. Well slower, but sometimes much, much faster. And the thing that you really hate as soon as you get there, is the awful noise. Or noises. It's a horrible screeching, but really loud, and there's voices too, and there's always a low rumbling sound that you can feel in your belly. There's all these rooms and sometimes they're huge spaces like deserts and beaches and tennis courts, but really big ones, and there's all kinds of things that are happening there. People doing vicious, awful, scary things that Mum would scream and cry at. And not just people either, no, there's all kinds of disgusting, ugly things that aren't people at all. They're not even like any animals really; they're scary, evil things, and it's all happening all the time. People who end up in these rooms are always being hurt and killed, and much, much worse things, and that's where I've ended up, and I'm ever so scared, but like Mum said, she was always there when I woke up. I know she would be so proud of how brave and strong I am, except she wasn't, because I couldn't tell her about it, she would've made us move house if I did, and Mum liked it here very much, and she never said that about the other places we lived. So I just have to be brave, just like she said.

*

One night, Mum was all upset because of arguing with Andy. Andy doesn't really matter to this story. Andy isn't around anymore. Anyway, this night Mum had taken me up to bed, but she'd fallen asleep with me. She smelt of that drink they have. I hate it when they drink it. They always argue after. So, anyway, Mum stayed and fell asleep. I fell asleep too and then sometime in the night, I woke up. I guess Mum must have been scared too because when I opened my eyes, I saw her falling into the shadow door!

Luckily I was so scared for Mum that the door opened straight away for me. I put on my dressing gown and pushed straight through the door and into the other place. It was really loud that night. Lots of screaming and screeching, but not so much rumbling as normal. I didn't care about the noise, but I knew Mum would. She always gets headaches and hates it loud. The whole place was all twitchy and fast today. There was blood and stuff everywhere, but there always was. I tried to find her so hard. I went in all the rooms I could find. And there were horrible things that happened in there. The Smashing Man was the worst one that night. He was going mad at a load of people who were all locked up to the floor. It was really, really bad. And I saw all the other monsters too. All the crawling, bitey ones, and the spiky runners as well. I don't know how many rooms and places I went, but it was the worst thing ever. And the thing was, I couldn't find Mum. I couldn't find her no matter how hard I looked. I knew I couldn't find her. I just knew it. And finally, when I had run out of rooms and places, I had to leave. I had to leave Mum behind.

There were lots of questions from Andy in the morning when I woke up. He was so angry, but he didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell him about the shadow-door; he wouldn't believe me. He kept shouting and asking about Mum all day long. And he kept saying nasty things about her and poor Mum was stuck somewhere I couldn't find her, that's if she was still alive at all. Poor Mum. Andy kept getting worse, screaming and shouting about Mum. And after the whole day worrying about her, I just waited while Andy shouted until it was bedtime again. I made him take me to bed. I told him how scared I was without Mum with me. After a while he said he'd stay until I was asleep. But I'm big now, and I know how to pretend to be asleep, and so I waited, pretending, until it was actually Andy who fell asleep. He was sat, sleeping on the floor against my wardrobe. I tried to be strong and brave for Mum. After all the horrible things he had said about her, he definitely deserved it. So I got myself really strong and I gave him two big, giant pushes until he fell into the shadow-door! I still can't believe I was that strong! The door let him through because he didn't know what was happening. He must have woken up full of fright because in he went, easy as pie.

I don't know what happened to Andy after that, but I never saw him again. I left him for a long time before I went in myself that night. I went in, not to look for him, but for Mum.

After that night, I went in all the time. I didn't want to, and I had to sneak around all the rooms to keep from being found. After a while, I started to know my way around in there. And I started to know where all the bad, scary things were and what they liked to do. I also figured out how to hide really well from them.

That was when the worst thing of all happened! I don't know how many times I'd gone in to look for Mum, but I think it was a few days later. I'd gone to my room ready to look for her again. This time I'd packed a bag with a torch and a big knife from the kitchen and also the bottle of bleach from the bathroom that Mum said I'm never allowed to touch because it's dangerous. I was definitely going to save her no matter what! I put my bag on my back, and I even got dressed and everything, but no matter how long I sat there staring at the shadow, it wouldn't open! I tried to think of all the scariest things I could; all the horrible bitey things, all the spiky, stabby monsters, I even thought about Andy shouting at Mum, but no matter what I did, and what I thought of, the shadow-door never, ever opened again.

I'm so sorry Mum, wherever you are. I think I just got too brave...

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