The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Can't Help Believin'

Teddy walked slowly away from the window. His sheer curtains had fallen in the way and cut off his view but he knew exactly what he'd seen. Out there on the street there had been a boy, two boys, watching his window.

The small boy pressed his hand firmly to his heart willing his chest to stop rising so quickly. There's a lock on the door, he reminded himself. Nobody would try to break into a church.

No wonder he'd woken up so uncomfortable. Teddy couldn't remember what he'd dreamt of anymore, but he'd woken up in a cold sweat with a start. For some reason no matter what Teddy couldn't will his body to calm down. He was called, drawn deeply towards the window. Something told him to look out, something told him he needed to see whatever was on the street.

Out the window Teddy had seen the moon big and bright in the night sky. It wasn't full yet, but it was a strong and definite present. It was waxing, Teddy knew, and he frowned. Fr. Charles would often say the gravitational pulls of the earth increased on those days and people were inclined to act strange. But that was just an old wives tale.

Still, in the distance Teddy found his eyes transfixed on the moon. He thought it must be of some importance, though he couldn't figure out why. Teddy hadn't ever had a fixation on the moon before, but that night it reaching so clearly for him.

Teddy was compelled to open the window for a better view of whatever he was meant to be seeing. He looked right down the street and couldn't see anything. It was too dark, too far away. Across the street the town hall had a single lantern above the main door and for some reason Teddy was glad to see it was still lit.

Then Teddy turned his attention towards the woods, searching... for something he didn't know. Teddy's eyes drifted down to the street and he frowned. In the distance he could just make out the shapes of two black lumps, but something told him they weren't meant to be there.

As his eyes adjusted Teddy realized the lumps were two men... two men staring right at him.

It was too ridiculous to be real. Teddy longed to run and grab Fr. Charles, but didn't want to disturb him. He'd never felt so unsafe in his own room all his life. The boy wiped his sweaty palms down the sides of his pajama pants and attempted to take another deep breath.

His mind was truly playing tricks on him. Sr. Matilda was going to have to take him into Salem to visit the nearest hospital if he saw something else.

Maybe you've got a brain tumor. Teddy thought to himself. Maybe it's finally making you go insane.

When he had gathered enough composure, Teddy toed closer to the window and gingerly moved the curtain. When his courage had returned even more, he looked in the direction where he'd seen the men: nothing. There was nothing there.

Teddy wasn't sure if he ought to feel relieved. Them being there meant one of two things: they had never been there to begin with and Teddy was having the second hallucination, or they had been there and had left that spot to break into the house and would be coming up the stairs any moment to kill him.

He wasn't sure which to hope for.

Teddy remained frozen in fear like a prisoner waiting for his executioners, but when after nearly ten minutes nobody came and there was no sign of any struggle, he sighed and moved slowly back towards his bed. It had been the former, Teddy was crazy.

He let his head fall back onto his pillow and looked over at his clock--- It was 2 AM. He had to work at eight the next morning, which really put a wrench into his plans.

Teddy laid there for the rest of the night, staring at the wall, lost in thought.

....

Teddy's alarm clock brutally shook him awake and he jumped at the sound. The boy hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep again after his hallucination the night before, but it still wasn't enough. Teddy groaned and sat up. The little bronze clock on his nightstand read that it was 7 AM and Teddy wished he didn't need to get up. It was a Saturday, and Saturdays were meant to be for sleep.