Girls & Ghosts Pt. 2

Aerya’s eyes looked around the room as she thought. She clicked her front teeth with a finger nail that had lost half of its polish. Fiona waited, watching Aerya.

“Alright, I’m ready.”

“Okay!” Fiona crossed her legs, and scooted a little to face Aerya.

“Everyone has a bed. I mean, that's why we call it a bedroom, right? We usually think that we are safe in the bedroom, and especially safe in the bed. However, there is something we all do. What is it?”

“Brush our teeth?”

“No. Well, yes. What I mean, though, is we all jump into the bed, making sure our toes are never under. Right?”

“Yes.” said Fiona, thinking of the many times she jumped into her bed to keep her toes safe.

“In the day time, we can look under the bed. What do we see?”

“Shoes?”

“Nothing.”

“Sometimes I see shoes,” persisted Fiona.

“Well, when you look past the shoes, what do you see?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s right, because what we fear, it is invisible. It cannot be seen, and we will not say the name!”

“Why?”

“To say the name is too dangerous! That is why we must never speak the word - Globkin!”

“Globkin?” asked Fiona, uncertain that something which sounded like a treat from a donut shop was a name to be avoided.

“Globkin is the name we never speak, because if we do, we will be more afraid. That thing we do not name, it lives under our bed. It is invisible, yet it is there, like - what was the stuff we had for dessert at lunch on Wednesday?”

“Jello?”

“Yes, it is invisible, like Jello. You can look right through it, and think it is not there. Except it is there, wiggling, thick, and cold under the bed. It is almost as big as the bed, and when the moon is red, if you look, you will see the eyes!”

“Eew!” squealed Fiona in a way that Aerya liked.

“It fills the space, with two eyes like boiled eggs, which never blink.”

“Why?”

“Because the eyes are inside the thing we will never name. It can see through itself, because it is invisible.”

“Except when the moon is red.”

“Yes, then you can see it reflect the light, and see the eyes. Under your bed - under my bed - under Mr. Dad’s bed - it waits, hungry and cold and wiggly, it waits. Hoping that some night, someone will forget, and step close to the edge of the bed. If that happens, whap!”

Aerya reached out with her hand so fast, her arm was a blur. She grabbed Fiona’s ankle, and pulled hard. Fiona screamed and covered her mouth, giggling.

“It will grab you, and pull you under the bed, and absorb you! That is why you always have to jump into the bed, and never say the name -”

“Globkin,” chimed in Fiona.

“ - or it will grab you, and pull you under the bed, and you will never be seen again!”

Aerya stopped there, smiling widely, her eyes bright with glee. Fiona raised her eyebrows, and nodded, hoping to encourage more story from her.

“What?” asked Aerya at last. Her eyes were not so bright. In fact, she seemed a little sleepy.

“Is that it?”

Aeyra yawned and stretched her arms. She took the scrunchie out of her hair, and shot it like a rubber band onto the top of the dresser.

“I’m sleepy.”

“Wait, Aerya. That was the prelogue. Is there more to your story?”

“No. That’s all.”

Aerya laid down and snuggled her head against the pillow. Fiona took the scarf off the lamp, turned the light off, and laid down on her side of the bed.

“That wasn’t very scary,” said Fiona softly.

“I made you scream.”

“Only because you grabbed me.” Fiona sighed, wishing that Aerya had told a better story.

“Cry baby,” whispered Aerya.

“Sleepy head.”

“Peanut breath.”

“Dog kisser.”

“Koala pants.”

“Dummy head.”

They swapped a couple more insults, and then both girls fell asleep.

It was deep in the night when Fiona woke up, needing to go to the bathroom. She shuffled down the hallway to the bathroom and sat down, yawning. She got some toilet paper, and something about it struck her as unusual. It looked pink. Fiona blinked, yawned, and noted that the white walls of the bathroom looked pink, too. She pulled back the curtain and looked outside. The moon filled the sky, a rich red, beaming out and turning the white walls pink.

Hmm, thought Fiona, still in the bathroom. Except when the moon is red. That’s what Aerya said, you can’t see the Globkin except when the moon is red. She shook her head, thinking, ‘that was the worst scary story I ever heard. Globkin. No such thing. Alligators, yes, that I can believe are under the bed. Big Jello thing that eats you - that’s just stupid -’

This was going through Fiona’s mind when she stopped at the door to the bedroom, and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Maybe it was just a book cover that seemed to shine under the bed. She crouched down, and saw a pair of unblinking eyes looking out at her.

The Globkin! It was real!

“Aerya!” said Fiona nervously. “Wake up!”

‘Alright,’ thought Fiona, ‘the Globkin waits and it grabs you when you try to get into bed. You can jump over it, and be safe. Nothing to worry about.’

As if it could read her mind, the Globkin slurped and started sliding out from under the bed. It began piling up, like a soft ice cream, rising higher and higher.

“Aerya!” said Fiona again, more urgently. “Wake up!”

The Globkin was almost as tall as Fiona now, and it began to slush across the floor to her. Those egg sized eyes looked at her, cold, unblinking.

Fiona turned and ran out the door, her long hair streaming behind her. The Globkin made wet sounds like a soaked towel dragged across the floor. She could imagine Blubbanol calling out -

“Run, Fiona, run!”

- and squeaking encouragement. Fiona wished that Blub was big enough for her to ride, though she wasn’t sure that the stuffed mouse would be fast enough to outrun the Globkin. She practically flew down the hall, skidding on the smooth floor of the living room as she slowed to turn into the dining area. The Globkin was rolling down the hall, faintly red, the eyes in the jiggling mass rocking as it moved.

Fiona ran through the dining area, and then through the kitchen. Was the Jello in the cabinet cheering on the Globkin? Was the Globkin some kind of giant cousin of Jello, coming to get even for all the yellow, blue, and orange Jello Fiona had eaten?

“Go, cuz, get that Jello eater! We’re rootin’ for you - now git her!”

Imagining the Jello cheering the Globkin, Fiona wished she never tasted Jello. Maybe then the Globkin would go to Cindy’s house to chase her. Cindy was faster than Fiona, and besides, Fiona didn’t really like her that much. Maybe, thought Fiona as she skid across the kitchen floor and banged into the refrigerator, she was hunted because she didn’t just eat Jello. Fiona would clamp her teeth down, and suck the Jello off her spoon, and squish it around in her mouth, making it almost liquid before swallowing it. Was that mean to Jello?

“Go faster, cuz! She’s headin’ for the bathroom - cut her off by going back down the hall!” This would be from the strawberry banana flavored Jello, which Fiona really enjoyed eating.

Just as the Jello had shouted, Fiona was now headed for the bathroom. The large bathroom joined the hallway that lead to the bedroom. She could get back to the room and close the door with the Globkin on the other side. Behind her in the kitchen, the Globkin moved along, rattling the pans in the cabinet. ‘That thing is huge’, thought Fiona, zipping through the bathroom and into the hallway. Too late, she thought about closing the bathroom doors. ‘Dang!’

Then she ran down the hallway, closed the bedroom door, and stood panting like an exhausted puppy, trying to catch her breath.

“Aer - Aer - Aerya!” she gasped, the room light with pale red moonlight.

Aerya was softly snoring.

“Aery - Aeyra! Wake up!”

The little girl snored again, making a sound like tearing metal.

“Aerya - oh, no!” There was a thump on the door behind her. “Aeyra, wake up, NOW!”

Whether it was the fear in Fiona’s voice, or the Globkin thumping on the door, Aerya suddenly woke up and sat straight up in the bed.

“Fiona? What’s the matter?”

“The Globkin is trying to get me!”

“What?” Aerya leaned over the bed and looked under.

“News flash, sparky - they don’t stay under the bed!”

“Really?” Aerya seemed truly puzzled.

“It chased me through the whole house!”

“You shouldn’t have run - it can’t really hurt you.”

It was as if the Globkin was listening. A small finger squished under the door, and suddenly lashed Fiona’s foot like a whip. She jumped away from the door as the cold tendril tried to grab her ankle.

“Ow!” cried Fiona, hopping on one foot, holding the other. “Aerya, what is this thing?”

“It’s the Globkin.”

“Grrrrrr - I KNOW it’s the Globkin. What I mean is, what is it doing here?”

“It’s always here; you just can’t usually see them.”

“AERYA! Tell me, is the Globkin real?’

“Yes, at least in the fairy world.”

“You mean, when we were telling scary stories, you told me about something real?”

“Yes.”

“That was stupid!” The Globkin squeezed another tendril under the door. Both of them lashed and tossed, trying to catch Fiona. The door creaked as the Globkin pressed against it.

-- End of Part 2 --