Meet Freddy Fairweather. Freddy gets scared a lot. He gets scared in the daytime, when he can’t find his Power of the Planet action figure doll. He gets scared in the nighttime, when the monsters who live in his room come out to play. When Freddy gets scared, his eyes grow wide and he stares and stares.  He stares out the window or at his shoes. But, when it’s dark outside, he gets scared the most; it’s too scary to look out the window and he isn’t wearing any shoes.  And now it’s Halloween time, so the nighttime is worse than ever for Freddy. It’s so bad he has even started thinking of monsters in the daytime.

Whether it’s Halloween time or not, Freddy always keeps a flashlight in the nightstand right next to his bed. Every night Freddy puts the flashlight under his covers to scare away monsters. But most of the time he ends up more frightened by the scary shadows the flashlight makes on the wall.Then Freddy calls for his dad. “HELP, HELP!”

“What’s the matter? Did you have a bad dream?” his dad always asks him.

“No, I haven’t been to sleep yet. The monsters are keeping me awake.” Freddy always tells his dad.

“What monsters?”  his dad always asks, switching on the light. Then his dad takes the flashlight and they search the room together, with Freddy so close behind his dad, they keep bumping into each other. But they never find any monsters because as soon as they see Freddy’s dad, they hide.Then as soon as Freddy's dad leaves, they come right back out again.

“I have to find a way to scare these monsters,” Freddy says to himself.

Then one morning, Freddy tells his dad, “I don’t want to go out trick-or-treating this year.”

 “That’s okay; you can stay home and help me give out candy, like you did last year," says Freddy’s dad.  So, Freddy goes upstairs to get dressed, sighing with relief. Then he goes to his friend Alex’s house. Alex isn’t like Freddy at all; he never has monster trouble. Freddy sits down to play a game with Alex, but suddenly he starts to cry. “I forgot my Power of the Planet action figure doll!” He stares out the window, then at his shoes.

“What’s the matter with you Freddy?  Come on and play; it’s your turn!” yells Alex. Freddy doesn’t answer. Alex looks at Freddy’s wide eyes. 

“What a fraidy cat! Fraidy Cat Freddy, that’s what I’ll call you!” Alex says it over and over until Freddy runs home.

The next night is Halloween. All the kids in Freddy’s neighborhood are excited about trick-or-treating, but not Freddy. ‘Ding dong’ goes the doorbell.

Freddy’s dad goes to the door. Freddy stands behind his dad and peeks around him and sees the scary mask the boy is wearing and runs into his bedroom. “What a fraidy cat!” the boy yells and walks away with his candy.

That night the monsters who live in Freddy’s room, scare him more than ever.  He clutches his Power of the Planet action figure doll; but it doesn’t help very much. Poor Freddy is awake all night.

By morning Freddy is very tired. He lies in his bed, thinking about the scary mask. Then Freddy gets an idea. “I’d like a mask to scare my monsters away; but I’m too scared to wear it. Maybe if I just hold it up and close my eyes and run around my room with it; it will be scary enough to scare them.

“I want those monsters to be gone for good!”

So, Freddy’s dad takes him to the Halloween store that very day.  Freddy squeezes his dad’s hand tightly as they walk in. “That’s the one daddy!” he yells and points to the very mask the trick-or-treater was wearing. “This mask sure is scary; it looks even scarier than the monsters under my bed, in the closet and even the ones that float around the air in my room. With this mask, I can scare those monsters. I know I can.”

That night Freddy takes a deep breath and takes out the mask.  He looks in the mirror, holding it in front of his face. Then he runs quickly around his room, yelling.

“AAAHHHHHHHHH!!” One by one Freddy scares away every monster!

In the morning Freddy gets up early, smiling all the while getting dressed. He goes downstairs for breakfast, sliding across the floor in his socks.  He is still thinking about how amazing it was to feel so powerful last night and he suddenly wants to put the mask back on. And when he does, he feels even more powerful than his Power of the Planet action figure doll.

Freddy runs around the kitchen, pretending to scare every monster from the planet. Then, just as he’s about to take the mask off to eat his waffle, Alex walks in. He sees Freddy’s scary mask. "AAAAHHHHHH!!!” screams Alex, as he runs out of the house. Freddy pulls off the mask and goes to find Alex.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you,” says Freddy.

“I-I w-wasn’t s-cared,” says Alex. “Hey, I think that mask is cool; can I play with it?”

“Sure,” says Freddy. Alex and Freddy play with the mask all morning. “Then Alex says, “Hey Freddy….you’re cool.”

 “Ever since I got this mask; I’m not Fraidy Cat Freddy anymore!”  says Freddy.

“And now the monsters in my room run so fast I’m calling them million-mile monsters!  Hey all you monsters; just wait until next Halloween!” yells Freddy, as he runs around his room. And Freddy Fairweather never has monster troubles again.

Linzy is a certified Bible Counsellor, with countless republications on her viewers blogs, Bible Studies, Ezines and the like. Her portfolio includes, non-fiction articles, short stories for all ages, and Christian poetry.