Chapter 8- Shivers In The Night

With the house being new to them, the kids found it hard to go to sleep after being tucked in by their parents. Scotty had a couple action figures and flashlight under the bed sheet with him while Penny was talking away to her stuffed bunny she named Snowy. Diane and Jack were downstairs on the couch watching TV while snuggling together under a blanket.

"You'll never rule the world while I'm around Joker!" said Scotty quietly still playing under the sheet. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs, so he quickly shut his flashlight off and laid down on his pillow pretending to sleep. The footsteps neared his bedroom door, and the doorknob squeaked as it slowly turned. He laid there still quiet and waited patiently. The door opened and he heard the footsteps coming closer, soft and slow towards his bed and then they stopped. He felt a hand brush through his hair, and he opened his eyes to see his mother standing over him. "What are you doing still awake sweetie? It's after 1:00 am." she said softly while continuing to brush his hair back with her fingers. "I'm just excited mommy. My new bedroom, our new house and everything; I just can't sleep." "You know, the faster you go to sleep the faster tomorrow will be here then you can play." "Okay mommy, I love you." "I love you too sweetheart. I'll see you in the morning." she said as she gave her son a hug and tucked him in. Diane went back downstairs to find her husband asleep on the couch with the TV still on. She sat next to him and watched some more TV since she wasn't ready for bed just yet. Scotty was just starting to doze off when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs again. He heard the doorknob jiggle and creep open. The footsteps neared his bed and stopped. He laid there too far dozed to roll over to see which parent was in his room this time. He then heard the steps move to the foot of his bed, pause and then heard his closet door open. He raised his head just in time to see his closet door shut. Scotty laid there frozen in his bed staring horrified at what he'd just seen. He then threw his blankets off of himself, ran out the door and down the stairs to his parents hysterically crying. "Scotty what's the matter?" she asked concerned, "You're trembling all over, what happened?!" "The man's in my room! It's true, the man Billy Thurman told me about is in my closet! I don't want to go back in there, please don't make me!" Scotty said with tears pouring down his face as he clenched tightly onto his mother. Jack woke up and rubbed his eyes, "What's wrong with him?" he asked confused. "He says he saw a man in his room." she answered calmly while rocking her son in her lap to try and calm him down. "A man? What man?" "You know the one he said a kid from school told him about that we talked about a few days ago?" "Oh yeah, that man." said Jack relieved. "Okay," he said while getting up from the couch, "dad will go take a look for you son. Give me your hand and we'll go together." Scotty slid off his mother's lap and grabbed tightly onto his father's hand. They walked up the stairs together with Diane following behind. Once they made it to the top, he watched his dad open the door and start to walk in. "No I don't want to go in!" Scotty cried out as he jerked his hand away. "Honey did you actually see a man in your room?" asked his mother softly. "No, but I did see the closet door shut by itself." Jack was still in the doorway and said, "If you want you can wait out here with mom while I go and check." "Okay daddy." He left the door open behind him so his son could see everything was okay. Scotty watched his dad check under the bed, the closet and everywhere else a "monster" could be lurking. "Oh, I see what happened! The draft from the window more than likely closed that door." said Jack as he was closing the window. "See honey, it was only the wind. Nothing to be scared of." she said assuringly. "Oh okay mommy, I feel better now thank you daddy." Scotty said as he hugged his dad. "I'm going to go check on Penny." said Diane and she walked down the hall to her daughter's room. Jack took his son in and kissed him on the four head. "Good night squirt, I love you." "Good night dad, I love you too."

As he watched his dad leave the room he began thinking about what had happened. Was he seeing things? Did it really happen? He thought and thought until he fell asleep. Jack and Diane were in their bedroom on the second floor getting ready for bed. "Poor Scotty, first night in our new home and he's already freaking out." she said. "Honey, let's be honest with ourselves, it's an old creepy house, of course it's going to freak out the kids sometime sooner or later." Jack sarcastically laughed. "He'll be fine, he just has to get used to the new surroundings." "Well, Penny seems to be doing well so far." Diane smiled. "Yep she is. The kids will be fine sweetie, now let's get some sleep." "Okay, I love you sweetheart, good night." "Good night, I love you too." said Jack as he held onto Diane.