The Man In the Black Hat

The children of Fernwood all carry a secret. A mysterious eerie frail man shows up to watch them wherever they gather, and the adults can't see him at all. Just don't look at him.

    All was well in the small town of Fernwood. It was only ten years after the long string of child abductions, but those incidents were almost forgotten. A total of eleven small children seemingly vanished from playgrounds, or on their way home from school without a shred of evidence to assist authorities of finding them. The police had relied on the media for help to track down the perpetrators, but not a single soul could offer any clues. The cases had gone colder than a winter's night, but their was a fleet of people who knew whom was responsible. Eleven children had disappeared in only a few months time, but the new generation of children were wiser.

 

    If you were to ask any child in Fernwood who did it, they'd say the man in the black hat without hesitation. They saw him on the edge of playgrounds, standing across the street from the elementary school; anywhere children gathered. No adults noticed the man in the black hat and laughed his name off as modern folklore. To them, the man in the black hat was a superstitious myth conjured up by the kids of Fernwood, but the children knew better. They knew the man's rules and they had no sympathy for those who didn't follow them. By word of mouth alone, the kids of Fernwood learned to coexist with the man in the black hat, but sadly, not every child knew.

 

    Summer was nearly over and Michael Drake's mother wished nothing more than to have her son gain some friends before the school year started. She had just accepted a good job opportunity near the quaint little town, so they moved there, but uprooting their lives proved difficult for Michael. His mom hoped the transition would go smoother if he had a few friends before his first day in a strange new school, so she decided to take him to Fernwood Park for the day.

 

     The park was a vast field housing three baseball diamonds, a soccer field, a basketball court, and various small playgrounds for the enjoyment of the neighborhood kids.

 

     Michael's exhausted mother sat in the bleachers aside a baseball diamond and sighed, "Okay Michael, go play."

 

    "I don't wanna!" Michael immaturely protested.

 

    "Go!" She aggressively insisted as she pulled out a folded Vanity Fair magazine from her purse, "It's not normal for little boys to be around their mothers all day."

 

    "Fine," He moaned as he left to find his way through the large park.

 

    He tried to play tetherball, swing on the swings, and use the seesaw, but the activities proved less than exciting all alone. The groups of kids were not willing to include a new different face, so Michael ended up sitting by himself at the top of the big slide. He just sat there a while leaning his chin on his hands feeling sad and left out.

 

    Suddenly, Michael heard a voice coming from the ground, "Hey you!"

 

    Michael looked down and saw another boy standing there with a big red ball, "Who me?" Michael asked the boy.

 

    "Yeah! I wanna start a dodge ball game. Wanna play?"

 

    Michael's face brightened. "Sure," He then slid down the slide to join his new companion.

 

    "Okay, let's go." The other boy said as they began scouting the park for other players.

 

    "I'm Michael." He politely introduced.

 

    "Greg," He said as he eyed down the other kids.

 

    "Do people here usually play dodge ball?"

 

    "No,"

 

    As they searched for additional players, Michael saw him. A scrawny hunched over old man in a black hat with a long face. It was a dark dirty pork pie hat and he wore a disheveled suit like any common tramp, but the eerie thing about the man was his face. His eyes and mouth were black gaping holes leading to a place where a spirit was supposed to be. He just stood there by the edge of the park, by the woods, just staring at the kids.

 

    "Who is that?" Michael questioned.

 

    Greg quickly dropped his ball and forcibly shifted Michael's body so that his back was facing the man in the black hat. He frantically urged. "Never look at him! Never ever!"

 

    "What? Why?"

 

    "If you don't look at him he can't get you," Greg explained.

 

    "What do you mean?"

 

    "It happened last year, have you heard of Audrey Dalton?"

 

    "No,"

 

    Greg continued, "I know because it was Mrs. Dalton's daughter; I had her in third grade. She said she was sick of him and was going to tell him to go away and leave us all alone. We told her not to, but she said she wasn't scared. When she did, he took her. It was all over the TV and they put her picture up everywhere. Mrs. Dalton left school and I hear she's really really sad. Just don't look at him. It's better that way."

 

    "Yeah," Michael agreed, a little flabbergasted and shook from what he just heard.

 

    "Look, I'm gonna go to the jungle gym until he goes away. You can come if you want."

 

    "Okay," Michael said before Greg hastily picked up his ball and ran to the jungle gym.

 

    Michael began to follow Greg, but he could feel the man in the black hat's cold horrid gaze coating his back. His neck slowly turned until he could see the man in the corner of his eye. Michael noted he was making distance on the man. How could he 'get him' if the man didn't move from that spot? Curiosity was getting the better of him and Michael decided to take one last good look. He turned around still walking backwards to create more of a gap between himself and the creepy man in the hat. His deduction was correct, the man wasn't moving at all. A slight relief came over his body as he got his eye full without incident, and he contently turned back around.

 

    His body bumped into the Man in the Black Hat, who was now directly in front of him. The Man in the Black Hat placed his withered crinkled fingers on Michael's shoulders and the boy froze in his tracks. The Man in the Black Hat leaned down until he was face to face with Michael. The boy peered deep into the endless dark voids in his face and a terrifying sound rang out. It was like a reverse shriek that Michael was certain only he could hear. He stood there among the other children of Fernwood, but he knew he was trapped. Michael felt himself be sucked in.

 

    Mrs. Drake finished her magazine and looked up at the playing children. She scanned the scene for a few minutes trying to locate her son, but he was nowhere to be seen. She was a tad alarmed, so she calmly combed through the park for Michael. As she realized that she had covered most of the park her worries really began to form.

 

    "Michael!" She shouted out at groups of children. "Michael! Michael!" She called out to every corner of the playground. Becoming very frantic, she dashed to a little boy holding a red ball who was trying to start a dodge ball game. "Excuse me! Little boy."

 

    "Yes?" Greg said.

 

    "Have you seen a boy named Michael? This tall. Brown hair."

 

    "Oh," Greg uttered as his face became a cold shroud. "I told him not to look at the man, but he did. I'm sorry. He's gone."

 

    Mrs. Drake backed away from the boy slowly, chilled to the marrow by how the boy replied. As she gained her composure she headed back to the park calling Michael! Michael!

 

    Mrs. Drake hysterically searched for her son at Fernwood Park all that day, and all the while, he was still there. The Man in the Black Hat just stood there, at the edge of the park, by the woods, staring out at the kids.   

 

Author's Note

This story is featured in the horror anthology The Grimm Keepers. Tell me what you like, don't like, whatever.

Reviews

[Cyd]

I liked the idea and the setting, funny how playgrounds are always scary and never fun in books/movies. Bad things always happens there :p

The only thing that got to me was the 14 buts. I was once told to limit them and after that they always stand out to me.

[Dynafox]

Thank you Cyd for your review.in I wrote this story on the theory that seeing a bear is scary, but seeing a bear front of a new born baby, it goes from scary to horrifying. The juxtaposition element.

[Woody]

deliciously creepy. good story, Dynafox. you have a knack for telling intriguing stories.
there were minor errors that did not spoil the story. a good reread would fix them.

[Dynafox]

Thank you. This piece of work is actually a published one of mine in a horror anthology called The Grimm Keepers. Thanks for your visit

[Woody]

you're welcome. I'm not surprised it was judged publishable.

[Dynafox]

oooooo I don't even know how that rating works yet