Sometimes evil looks like a fuzzy teddy bear.

The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave

© 2015 J. H. Moncrieff

Still grieving the untimely death of his dad, ten-year-old Josh Leary is reluctant to accept a well-worn stuffed teddy bear from his new stepfather. He soon learns he was right to be wary. Edgar is no ordinary toy...and he doesn’t like being rejected. When Josh banishes him to the closet, terrible things begin to happen.

Desperate to be rid of the bear, Josh engages the help of a friend. As the boys’ efforts rebound on them with horrifying results, Josh is forced to accept the truth—Edgar will always get even.

Enjoy the following excerpt for The Bear Who Wouldn’t Leave:

It was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen.

“I don’t want it,” I said, pushing it back at my mother.

“Now, Josh—be nice. This was your father’s when he was a child, and he really wants you to have it.”

I folded my arms across my chest as she continued to shove the toy at me. “He’s not my father.”

My father had died two years ago, when I was only eight. Mom said his heart stopped, which sounded terrifying. How did a person’s heart just … stop? Dad’s heart stopped while he was sleeping, so for a year I didn’t want to go to bed. I was afraid the same thing would happen to me.

The only thing I liked less than the ugly toy was Michael, my new stepfather. Oh, he seemed nice enough, I guess, but there was something about him that gave me the creeps. Maybe it was the way his smile never reached his eyes. Or the times I’d caught him staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. I couldn’t understand how Mom could love someone like that. My real dad had been so nice. His eyes had crinkled at the corners when he laughed, and he laughed a lot. Michael hardly ever laughed, and when he did, it made me shiver.

Mom sighed. She tried to hide it, but I noticed her lower lip was trembling. Again. She cried at anything these days, even those sappy commercials about starving kids in the Sudan, wherever that was. “He’s trying, Josh. Can’t you be a little nicer to him? It would mean a lot to me.”

I didn’t want to see her cry again, so I said sure, I would be nicer. She looked relieved as she pressed the toy into my arms and thanked me. Then she asked me what I would like for dinner, which was a treat. Lately we’d only had Michael’s requests, and Michael wanted weird things like steamed spinach and broccoli soup. What kind of person actually likes broccoli?

She seemed a bit troubled when I requested macaroni and cheese—she was probably worried Michael wouldn’t like it. She hurried to the kitchen, leaving me alone with the bear.

A teddy bear. Who gives a ten-year-old boy a teddy bear? I was into The Incredible Hulk and riding my bike. A teddy bear was a little kid’s toy.

I turned the bear over in my hands. Even its fur felt nasty, matted and a bit greasy. I guess it was supposed to be a panda, even though it wasn’t like any panda I’d ever seen. Its body was mostly black, and it had black patches over both eyes. Around its neck was a tattered yellow ribbon.

Its eyes were beady, the kind of eyes you see in scary cartoon paintings—the type that seem to follow you around. But the worst was its mouth. It was curled into a vicious snarl so you could see its teeth, and it had huge fangs. What kind of teddy bear has fangs? Nothing about it was soft or cuddly. It was so stiff it was like a piece of wood in my arms.

The longer I held the bear, the spookier it was. I could swear it was staring back at me, but that was crazy—it was only a toy. It was my imagination playing tricks on me, just like how I was always sure someone was chasing me whenever I ran upstairs from the basement.

All I knew was that I wanted to put as much space between it and me as possible. I threw it in my closet, under a pile of dirty clothes that smelled so bad even Mom wouldn’t go near them. She might be able to make me take the bear, but she couldn’t force me to play with it.

I went outside to join my friends and forgot all about the bear—until it was time for bed.

The second I stepped into my room, I could tell something wasn’t right. It felt like someone was already inside, waiting for me, but I had no brothers or sisters and my friends had gone home.

Suddenly, for some reason I couldn’t understand, I was scared. I’d been about to turn on the light, but I had this feeling I shouldn’t.

“Hello?” I said, feeling silly. I had no idea who I was saying hello to, but I really hoped no one would answer me. No one did.

Before I could stop myself, I flicked on the light switch. What I saw made me jump.