Crybaby

"Oh This is going to be PERFECT!" Charlie smiled as Alex pushed her chair up toward the house; marvelling at the tall old ash trees collared by pink and white peony bushes.  The old wood fence bent and misshapen snaked along the drive.  


Alex toed the cinders. "Stupid house.  Don't see why we had to move here. " he'd had to leave his best friends Dylan and Stephen as well as all their cool summer plans behind. He was unmoved by the scenery.


"Alex" she tried to soothe. "It's closer for me to the hospital."


"And it's all about you." regret filled his nine year old mouth instantly; tasting salty and bitter but he did not apologize.


"Alex, we've been living in your mom's house for a long time  We are family now; you and me.  I can't get up those stairs.  My legs don't work yet." Charlie's voice was patient and tired.  This was not the first discussion they'd had like this. He could be so selfish sometimes; careless.


"When they do, can we go back? In case Mom is looking for us?"


Charlie sighed feeling the good humor being sucked out of her body.  "No Alex. " She knew where this was heading.  


The young boy had been left in her care when his mother had "disappeared".  His mom, Lisa, had been struggling with depression and a bad break up in addition to raising what Charlie considered to be a spoiled little boy all alone. Lisa had spent many a night crying over spilt milk and wishing for better days.  The two women had struck up a fast friendship at the hospital where Lisa worked and Charlie went for therapy. 
Lisa took Charlie home to meet her son and the three became thick as thieves.   Charlie and Alex got along well spending bedtimes not with nursery rhymes but urban legends and ghost stories.  It was cause for many a nights with the soft glow of a dim bulb to soothe fears and ward off the monsters which added another difficulty to Lisa's limping life.  She knew her friend meant well, but it was one more thing for Lisa to have to deal with.  She tried to keep herself in the definitive mother roll not permitting Charlie to intercede or assist.  It hurt Charlie's feeling often, since she, herself, would never have children.  But at this time with these circumstances, Charlie was glad she'd been around. Most said Lisa had run off to start again.  Charlie wasn't baited into discussion.  She was too busy being a new single mom.


"This place is wrong. " Alex almost whispered startling her from her thoughts.  "Bogeymen live here I bet." his eyes trailed the dense wood slowly searching for signs of one.


"You'll only find out if you are bad" Charlie warned.


Alex heaved a large sad sigh and slumped toward the house where he didn't want to live.


The summer unfolded softly, quietly around Alex who spent time walking up and down in the cinders or exploring the woods.  He was never gone very long; claiming the eery feeling of being watched or hearing his name mumbled in the rustling leaves.  Charlie dismissed his childish fears and moved about her days; at the hospital.  He would wait for the sound of her tires pulling out and only then, missing his mom, would he cry.  Charlie didn't like weak momma's boys, threatening once again this would be cause for a bogeyman's visit.


"If you don't get ahold of those tears, the Cryer will come while you sleep."  This legendary beast was called by the sound of tears whether it was from sadness, fear or its personal favorite; a spoiled tantrum.  Its desire was to drink the tears and give itself strength, but it rarely could stop a feast once started so those "bad children" who cried were often never seen again. 


Alex laid in bed night after night hearing heavy dragging first outside and then up and down the hall of the house. He swallowed the fear and the tears but could hear the sniffing as the monster searched for the "bad child".   He complained to Charlie of the wet wool and earth smell that seemed to plague their new abode.  He begged Charlie to leave.  So frightened by the sounds and things he didn't clearly see or hear: a shadow, a voice; that at last, he tried to run away.  The poor boy only got a short distance from the house before whatever it was that watched him crept closer; so close he could feel its eyes and breath.  He knew it didn't want to be friends.  The smell was cloying and thick; like hunger and greed.  He felt the first tears fall down his cheeks and began to run.  He gasped and blinked, forcing them back.  There came a low menacing chuckle as the brush behind him began to rattle and bend.  He'd called the Cryer.  Terror burned in his throat as he bolted up the drive and leapt on the porch.  Yanking at the door, he slammed it shut and dashed to his room, crouching in the farthest corner.  The sobbing little boy rubbed his eyes angrily, denying the spillage; hiding the invitation to such a horrible monster.  He plugged his fingers in his ears, cradling himself against the slow, determined dragging noise that approached.  With a  heavy "whump", it hoisted itself up onto the porch and began slithering down the hall.


"CHARLIE" the boy cried, kicking his feet, desperately trying to squish himself smaller, wishing he would just disappear.  The door opened and the little boy felt his soul freeze.  There was a gravelly sigh and the gurgle of his name. The monster loped toward him.  "NO! Please. I..." he stammered and sniffed.


In the dark, it wobbled its head side to side slowly almost grinning: "Too late. Too many tears." it croaked and the thing clutched the boy's wrists, pulling him in like a hug.  "I warned you Alex." the Charlie-like thing sneered and she began to drink.  The boy screamed and struggled against her but she held firm.  Once the tears were gone, she hugged him close and snapped him enabling her to continue her feast.  "Like mother like son" she burped at the end of her meal.  Slowly she limped to bed tenderly enjoying her first steps on her new  legs.  She wiped her mouth and decided he had been worth the wait.


"When can you move in?" Charlie asked hopefully tapping her cane on the floor.


"Whenever- I just broke up with my boyfriend and need a place to go." the young woman in the hospital wiped her eyes.  "I can't thank you enough."


Charlie clapped her hands and grinned.  "You're doing me the favor."