In the middle of a game in the back lane, Carrie said to Harry, ‘Don’t step on the lines.’ And the world changed.
‘Don’t step on the lines,’ said Carrie, ‘Or the bogey man will get you.’
‘Who’s the bogey man?’ asked Harry.
‘The bogey man,’ said Carrie, ‘is as thin as a knife. He waits all his life in the cracks between things. He has eyes like fried eggs and hair like string. He waits and he bides his time until the day that you tread on a line. Then – SNIPSNAP! – just like that, up he jumps and gets you.’
‘OK,’ said Harry. ‘That’s fine. I’ll take care not to step on a line.’
Afterwards, when he walked down the street, he took great care where he put his feet. He hip-hopped to the shops. He tiptoed at the swimming pool. And on the days when he went to school he always took a flying leap – and landed safely in his seat.
But at night, when he lay in bed, dreadful thoughts ran through Harry’s head. He thought of the bogey man lying in wait, waiting for him to make a mistake. Every line was a trap, every crack was a threat, and when Harry slept… in his dreams… he watched… his step.
And little by little Harry’s fright oozed out of the night and into the day, seeping up through the cracks when he was trying to play. It got in his way, filling the world with shadows and shudders.
Harry wanted his mother. He wanted to run and jump and hold on tight and hug her. But he couldn’t do that because of the cracks. The bogey man had filled the whole wide world with traps!
When he told Carrie, she laughed and said he was daft. She said the bogey man was only a game. And Harry felt embarrassed. He felt ashamed. So he mustered up all his huff and puff, and pretended to be really tough.
‘I’m brave,’ Harry blustered. ‘I’m not afraid of fried eggs. ‘I’m not afraid of string. In fact, I’m not afraid of ANYTHING!’
‘So BOO to YOU, Bogey man!’
SNIPSNAP! Just like that, Harry fell into the bogey man’s trap. He landed on his feet – on a crack – and all his fear came rushing back.
Harry ran. He didn’t wait for the bogey man. He didn’t watch his feet, he didn’t watch his step. He flew down the street. He trod on cracks. He trod on gaps. SNIPSNAP! He trod on every single line. He didn’t have time – the bogey man was chasing behind!
Harry ran like the wind and hurled himself into the safest place in the world. He curled up small and waited. He covered his eyes… but nothing happened. The clock tick-tocked, his mother sighed and Harry realised he was still alive.
His fear seeped away through the cracks and into the floor. And the world changed back to how it was before.
In the middle of a game in the back lane, Carrie said to Harry, ‘Don’t walk under ladders, or-’
‘Stop!’ yelled Harry. ‘I don’t want to hear any more.’