Boogeywoman (True End, CYOA)

It was late at night. Christopher and his older sister, Serena, remained silent in their room, waiting for sunrise. Christopher tugged on Serena's sleeve. "Sis," Christopher spoke in a hushed tone, "I don't like the dark."

"I don't either, but we need to sleep." Serena replied, patting Christopher on the head. "If you stay up too late, the monsters will drag you away."

"M-monsters?!"

"Yes, with gnarled teeth, and long nails. You don't want one of them to get you, right?"

"N-no..."

"Then hurry up and fall asleep!"

"Sis!" Christopher yanked desperately on his sister's sleeve.

"What do you want now?" She yelled. There was an eerie silence. She could no longer feel the tug of her frightened brother on her sleeve, but she could feel a nameless darkness creeping into the room. A raspy voice rang from behind.

"Would you like to join me, too?"

Serena could feel a shriveled hand tugging at her feet. She tried to scream, but the hand threw her under the bed before she could make a sound.

When Serena opened her eyes, she saw a fireplace, where the silhouette of a young girl was knitting feverishly in a rocking chair.

"Who are you?" Serena asked.

The silhouette gave no response.

"Umm, you, in the chair. Who are you?"

The silhouette pointed at itself with a lengthy finger. "Me?"

"Yes, you. Who or what are you?"

The fireplace cackled. The silhouette dropped her tools, and stood up. "I'm the host, dear. You wanted to play, right? That's why you couldn't go to sleep, isn't it?"

"Actually, I didn't."

"Ah, but your brother does. He begged me to bring you along. Would you like to see him?"

"Yes, please."

"Very well."

Without a trace, the shadow vanished, taking the fireplace and chair with it. Something grabbed Serena's hand.

"Serena, let's play!"

"You're not Chris."

"W-what do you mean?! Do you not want to play with me, sis?"

"If you really were my brother, you'd be pissing yourself. Ma'am, I know you're still in here! Where's my brother?"

There was a long silence. The boy eventually spoke. "Do you really want to see him?"

"Yes."

The boy walked away from Serena. The darkness around her slowly faded away. Before her was a cage, inside of it was little Christopher, crying. Serena walked up to the cage, and called out to him.

His eyes opened to reveal two ebony spheres, still moist from his tears. "S-sis? Where are you? It's dark..."

"I'm right here, dearie." A sweet voice chimed in response. Christopher crawled toward the voice.

"Chris, you idiot! I'm over here!" Serena exclaimed. Christopher paid no attention to her.

When Chris reached the end of his cage, and grabbed the metal bars, the sweet voice congratulated him. "Good job, dearie! Would you like me to reward you?"

Serena followed the voice, curious about what happened to her dear brother.

When she reached the other side of Christopher's cage, she saw a paler, more disfigured version of herself, sticking her fingers inside of Christopher's mouth. "How does it taste, dearie?"

"It'sh dewishus, shish."

"Good. Don't forget to chew your food before you swallow." the phonie Serena grinned.

"Yesh, shishtah." Christopher bit down on the phonie's digits, and tore them off.

The phonie looked at her damaged hand, and giggled. "You must have been hungry. Did I forget to feed you today?" The phonie glanced at Serena. "How silly of me."

"What the hell did you do to my brother?"

"Your brother?" She snapped menacingly. "Christopher, who is this girl?"

Christopher swallowed his meal. "What girl? You're the only one here, Sis."

"He doesn't seem to recognize you. Are you sure you're his sister?"

"Of course I'm sure! We live in the same room! Look!" Serena cried out, presenting the sleeve of her shirt to the phonie. "If he didn't know me, why would his scent be on my clothes?"

"Because those are my clothes. Give them back." The phonie growled.

"No can do."

"GIVE THEM TO ME!" The phonie pounces on top of Serena, and grabs Serena's shirt with the only hand she has available.

Serena easily shakes off the one-handed, deranged phonie, and gives her a few kicks while she's on the ground for good measure. The phonie raises a hand toward Christopher.

"Dearie... look at what this lady did to me. Isn't she the worst?"

"I can't see, sis. What did she do?"

"She hurt me, dearie. I won't be able to give you any more treats if this keeps up."

Immediately, Christopher slams himself against the bars of his prison, and sobs. "Please leave my sister alone!"

With the snap of her fingers, the phonie dissolves the cage back into the darkness. "Don't just stand there, dearie! Help your sister!"

In a rage, Serena stomps on the phonie's head. It pops like a balloon, and a thick, black smoke erupts from its neck. The phonie's body shrinks into oblivion. Serena catches a glimpse of Christopher falling on the floor next to her. "Did I get her, Sis?"

"Don't worry, dearie. I'll take care of her myself."

Serena's eyes widened. The smoke from the phonie's body flew into Serena's nostrils, and through her lungs, it diffused into her blood. Serena could feel her fingers twitching, her eyelids flickering, her toes curling. She could hear the saccharine hum of the phonie's voice in her thoughts. "You have a very nice little brother, don't you? You don't want to let him go, right? He is your brother after all. Your brother, and mine."

"Leave my brother alone!" Serena screamed.

"I already did." Serena's right hand seized her chin, and turned her head toward her vomiting brother, whose innocent ivory eyes had finally resurfaced. "I wonder if you can do the same?" Serena made long strides toward her brother, dragging her bare feet behind her. Her mouth opened, and words shook their way out of her throat. "Hey brother, let's play!"

"S-sis, your eyes... What happened to you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm perfectly fine." She smiled, kneeling before Christopher. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, would you like to play a game?"

The remainder of Serena's conscience struggled to fight against the phonie's influence.  "Don't you dare lay a finger on him!"

"Look at him! He's scared out of his mind. Why don't you want to help your little brother? Do you like seeing him in pain?" Serena wraps her fingers around Christopher's neck, and squeezes tightly. Christopher squirms, looking at his sister with a terrified, teary-eyed expression. "Does this please you, girl? This is what you wanted, isn't it?" The hum cackles.

"Stop it!"

"What do you mean, stop? You're the sister, after all! It's all your fault that this is happening! You really do hate your brother, don't you?"

---------------------------

"Yes... I hate him! I hate him so much!" Serena tightened her grip. "This is all your fault, you little shit! Just die already!"

"W-what are you doing to him?!"

"I'm finishing what you started, see? You didn't use enough force. Look at him, he's already dead!"

"Why?"

"I'm a good sister, aren't I? Look, if I stick my thumb in deep enough, I can take out his eye!"

"Stop!"

"What do you mean, 'stop'? Weren't you the one who started this? Don't you want to see what comes next?"

"Dearie!"

Serena let loose a howling cackle. "Aren't you just precious! You wanted to be his sister, didn't you? Would you like to join him in death? That's too bad! From now on, we'll be the best of friends! Doesn't that sound fun?"

Ever since that day, Serena would travel from shadow to shadow, separating sleepless brothers from their sisters, and killing them, only to hear the distressed wails of the phonie inside of her head. To Serena, the phonie's pain brought her a pleasure beyond comparison. She would kill them slowly and painfully, to further her satisfaction. Eventually, she stopped killing them all together. Instead, she kidnapped large quantities of boys, and tortured them daily, feeding them nothing more than the scum beneath her fingernails.

However, over time, the phonie's screams slowly began to die out. When Serena could no longer hear her closest friend, she fell into despair. One day, she kidnapped a young girl, and fed the girl small scraps of her flesh. The girl gradually became a monster, just as Serena had planned. On the day Serena had decided to harvest the young girl for her own satisfaction, she asked her, "What do you want to become when you grow up?"

In response, the girl said, "I don't want to grow up. I want to be a sister forever." as she sunk into the shadows.

Serena did not chase her. Instead, she fell on her back, and cried. To see her first child leave so soon, it hurt her.

The pain of parting was unusual to her. After that, Serena would steal away many more daughters, make them her own, and send them off, just to experience that familiar feeling of loss. In every one of their eyes, she saw the phonie.