Bobby

Bobby is a scary story for Halloween about a woman who tries to bring her drowned son back from the dead using black magic. It is based on a segment of an old 1970s horror anthology movie called Dead of Night that was written by Richard Matheson.

There was woman named Suzanne who lived in an old house on a cliff overlooking the sea. She was divorced from her husband. Suzanne had been deeply depressed ever since her son Bobby drowned. She was devastated by the loss and felt like she couldn’t go on.

As time went by, Suzanne began reading books about black magic and satanism. The more she read, the more she became immersed in the world of the occult. It was like an addiction. She came across a spell that was supposed to be able to resurrect the dead.

One dark night, she drew a pentagram on the floor of her living room. Lighting some black candles, she stood in the middle of the pentagram and at the stroke of midnight, she read aloud from an ancient satanic book.

“Come fulfill my desire and do my bidding in accordance with my will. I conjure thee in the name of satan to whom all evil is obedient, by which name, the earth is overthrown, the seas turn black, the ground shudders, fire is quenched and all host of things in heaven and hell do tremble. Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, return my son who drowned by accident. Return him to me now, I command thee!”

Afterwards, Suzanne blew out the candles. She collapsed to her knees and began to weep.

All of a sudden, she heard a faint scratching on her front door. Cautiously, she walked over to the door and listened. The scratching grew louder.

“Who’s there?” she cried.

There was a long silence and then she heard a voice whisper, “Mommy?”

Suzanne, opened the door and was shocked to see a small boy crouched on the doorstep. He was soaking wet and shivering with the cold.

“Bobby!” she cried. “It’s you! It’s really you!”

She hurriedly brought him inside and put a towel around him, trying to warm him up. His teeth were chattering and his hands were shaking.

“I was so lonely and desolate without you, Bobby,” she said. “Where were you? What happened?”

“I remember water,” he said, “… cold water… and I couldn’t breathe. I woke up and couldn’t remember who I was…. I walked and walked in the rain… These people found me and they took me in… I didn’t know if I was alive or dead…”

“You’re alive Bobby,” she cried. “You’re really alive!”

“Was I a good boy, Mommy?” Bobby asked.

“Of course you were a good boy,” she replied.

“Did you love me, Mommy?” Bobby asked.

“I do love you,” she replied. “From the bottom of my heart”.

“Were you nice to me, Mommy?” Bobby asked.

“Of course I was,” she said.

Bobby stared at her. It was a mean, angry stare and there was a spiteful sneer on his face. It frightened Suzanne.

“I want to play a game with you, Mommy!” he cried. “Hide and seek!”

All of a sudden, he raced up the stairs. All of the lights in the house went out.

“Bobby, what are you doing?” she cried. “Where are you?”

There was no answer.

“Bobby, stop this!” she cried. “I want you to come right back here. Bobby, please don’t do this to Mommy. Bobby, for the last time, what are you doing?”

Just then, she heard the boy’s voice coming from the darkness.

“Aren’t you glad the lights are out, Mommy?” he said. “It makes the game more fun!”

“You’re going to hurt yourself in the dark,” Suzanne replied.

Suzanne cautiously walked up the stairs, feeling her way in the darkness. When she got to the top, she looked around, straining her eyes to see.

“Bobby, stop this now!” she shouted. “You’re making Mommy very angry!”

All of a sudden, the door burst open and Bobby was standing there, cackling like a maniac. In his hand, he held a long, sharp kitchen knife.

“Let’s play hide and seek now, Mommy!” he shrieked.

Suzanne recoiled in horror. Backing away, she tripped and went tumbling down the stairs. When she landed at the bottom, she looked up and saw her son coming down the stairs with the knife raised above his head.

“You lied, Mommy!” he said. “Bobby didn’t really drown by accident. You knew that! Bobby drowned himself! He couldn’t stand the way you treated him and he killed himself just to get away from you! Don’t you see? Bobby didn’t want to come back, Mommy. No… Bobby hates you, Mommy. He didn’t want to come back, so he sent ME instead…”

Just then, there was a flash of lightning and it lit up the house. For one terrible moment, Suzanne saw the face of the thing that had come back instead of Bobby…