Once upon a time there was a little girl. She wasn't beautiful nor did she have a lot of friends, but she did have a kind heart. Those few who took the time to know her, quickly became close to her. Once you were her friend, she did everything she could to make you happy. One night, when she was laying in bed, there was a noise in her room. It didn't frighten the girl; she was used to such things. After all, she could see ghosts and knew that they were nothing to fear. As she looked to see who her latest visitor was, she was surprised to find, not a spirit as she expected, but a funny little man. He was doing his best to look scary, but the little girl could see he really didn't want to.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The little man jumped and let out a squeak. Quickly, he drew himself up to his full height (Which wasn't very tall) and said in a voice that would have made brave men tremble, "I am the Bogeyman. Bringer of nightmares. Quake with fear mortal and know that your night will filled with terror."

The little girl laughed. "You're funny."

The bogeyman stared. Never had he been laughed at. "Just for that I will..."

"Would you like to play with me?" the girl asked. "You like you could use a friend."

The bogeyman edged towards her. "You are not afraid of me?"

"I can be if you like. But I think you look like a nice man."

Never in all his hundreds of years, had he ever had anyone call him nice or offer to be his friend. He suddenly started to cry. "Oh you don't know how lonely I am. I miss my family."

"Would you like to go see them again?"

"But who would give the nightmares away?"

The little girl thought for a moment. "I can do it for you. Then you could see your family again."

The bogeyman couldn't believe his ears. Here was a child offering to take his burden away. For you see, he really didn't want to give people bad dreams, but he was under a curse. It was all he was allowed to do until a kind heart offered to take his burden. It had been so long, he had given up on finding such a one. "You're sure you want to do this? It's lonely and will make you sad."

"You are my friend. I want to help you. Show me how to make a nightmare."

So the little man showed her how to use his magic dust to give scary dreams to anyone she sprinkled it on. He also told her the magic words. "Magic dust in your dream. Magic dust to make you scream." once he was sure she knew how to do it, he turned to leave.

"Goodbye, It was nice to meet you." The little girl said.

"It was nice to meet you too. I hope you like being the bogeyman." He said as he faded away.

And from that day to this the little girl used her power to give people nightmares. But being the kind girl still, she only gave them to people that she felt deserved it. Of course she's still learning the job, and sometimes she slips. So if you have a bad dream, please forgive her. She probably didn't mean it.

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