Tom wasn't afraid of the dark, nor was he ever. At his old school, they sometimes held a contest to summarize who you are. He was the only one who was afraid of getting beaten up by someone rather then being stuck in the dark for hours on end. This was mainly due to his mother's policy (Giggle at the ghosties became, in his mind, stay silent until it goes away) and The Dark Descent's tips on survival.
1. Never ever leave the cupboard/underneath the bed/closet until you know the thing hunting you is gone.
2. If in doubt, wait.
3. Never ever try to attack the hunting creature.
4. If you are in open space and in the dark, IT WILL SEE YOU BEFORE YOU SEE IT AND WILL SEE YOU QUICKER IF YOU ARE IN THE LIGHT
5. Blow out any candles or torches in vicinity before it eats you.
However, Brennenburg had a particular kind of darkness. A rather insulting and demeaning sort of darkness. A darkness that made you feel like you were 4 years old and afraid. Tom didn't fear the dark, per say. He feared what it could hide.
Tom shifted in his bed. The sheets, the pillows and the mattress were highly comfortable, almost royal, surfaces. The lights were off, and it was time to go to sleep. Except he didn't. He felt a particular crushing feeling in his stomach. This was the part where something slithers out of the closet, and he almost sees it, and then it eats him or something.
The closet at the end of the room creaked open one bit, with a bright yellow eye staring at him. Tom drew in breath. That was that, then. Just like that Stephen King story, he'll be found dead in the morning.
The closet door opened fully. The dark yellow-eyed shape put one leg forward...
And tripped. It sprawled onto the carpet.
"Bloody hell..." A girlish voice uttered with pain contributing to annoyance, coming from the dark shape. "Agh, that was completely ruined, Hazel!" With a grunt of anger, she--she, or it?-- clambered back into the closet and closed the closet door. "Okay, okay...." Something muttered. The door creaked open, and the dark shape looked towards Tom. It managed to correctly get out of the closet and not completely fail, and walked across the room towards Tom. And then tripped on the carpet. It landed onto the bed, just a few centimeters from Tom's feet.
The dark shape got a bit more dimensions then Tom guessed. It appeared to be wearing a pitch-black schoolgirl's uniform, looked about 12 or so and had pitch-black pig-tails combined with medium length pitch-black hair. She stood up and looked at Tom with sad bright yellow eyes.
"That was terrible, wasn't it? For a starting out Boogeyperson." The Boogeygirl said, her voice slathered in self deprecation. "I'm Hazel."
"Tom. And that was pretty bad if you were looking to scare someone. Or somepony, depending on which standard you use. Should I turn the light on?" Tom asked, reaching for the lamp.
"No, please don't!" Hazel raced across to lamp's resting place, and stopped Tom's hand for reaching to it. It felt oddly like getting touched by Slender Man, or pins and needles. Tom hadn't felt the former, but had heard about it. "If you do, then I have to go back to England, meaning my whole following Daniel thing would be for naught, and I'm kinda used to it. What year is this, anyway?"
"2011, November..." Tom paused. "Number."
"Wow, it has been a long time. Numbering dates has gotten a lot more vague, it seems." Hazel sighed, rolling her yellow eyes and letting go of Tom's wrist.
"Yeah, it has." Tom felt an awkward pause in the conversation was coming up. "Hey, who are you? I thought Boogeymen-- Persons, didn't have normal names. Hazel isn't really a Boogey sort of name. You'd get something like terror or horror or something like that."
"Nah. Turns out finding pure-breed boogeypersons is very hard. So they hire ghosts. I wasn't particularly enjoying hanging around my brother's head, so I chose the Boogeyperson package. I've been doing this a while." Hazel explained.
"Wait, Hazel? Hazel-Hazel? As in, you are Daniel's brother?" Tom raised an eyebrow. Everyone liked Hazel. Everyone. Favorite character in The Dark Descent. Even though she didn't really do much in the plot.
"Huh, how did you know Daniel? Did he get this castle somehow?" Hazel raised an eyebrow. "I can't really see that, Daniel was afraid of the dark and the times I found him here he was really scared. Almost to madness." Hazel recalled, then seemed to frown. "I really hope he's okay and got that nasty Alexander character."
"Good news. Daniel escaped and got a book deal. Alexander melted like snow in July." Tom decided to get out of bed. "So, uh, why did you want to scare me?"
"Cos I get points in scares. If I scare enough people, I get more points to get more abilities, allowing me to scare people better. Pretty good system." Hazel clicked her tongue, which was probably pitch-black.
"Oh. That is a good system." Tom nodded while looking through the pile of books that had accumulated on the nightstand.
Hazel looked back at the closet. "Look, I better be going, it's probably going to be daylight and I planned this really badly." She was just about to leave when a book was shoved into her hands. The Dark Descent by Daniel Obscured By Brownish Stain
"It's Daniel's book. He mentions you a few times." Tom said. "Tis an okay read."
Hazel smiled, or at least seemed to. "You seem like a nice person, Tom." She opened the closet. "Goodbye."
Hazel disappeared into the darkness of the closet. Tom sighed, closed the door and returned to his bed.
Oh well, at least Hazel was looking out for him in the darkness of Brennenberg. Tom fell asleep.
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Topic: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic (Read 227391 times)