Billy Sherman lay in his bed trembling with fear as the thunderstorm raged outside. At a loud crack of thunder, he closed his eyes tight. His mother had warned him about the coming storm. She’d suggested he might want to stay in her room now that his father lived somewhere else.
“Mom, I’m seven,” he’d told her. It was bad enough that he still slept with a night-light. “I’ll be fine.” But just in case, he’d pulled out his lucky pajamas even though they were getting too small.
Now he wished he could run down the hall to her room and crawl into her bed. But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He had to face his fears. That’s what his dad said.
Lightning lit up the room for an instant. His eyes flew open to find complete blackness. His night-light had gone out. So had the little red light on his alarm clock. The storm must have knocked out the electricity.
He jumped out of bed to stand at his window. Even the streetlamps were out. He could barely see the house across the street through the pouring rain. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Maybe he should run down the hall and tell his mother about the power going off. He knew she would make him stay in her room if he did.
Billy hated being afraid. He dreamed of being strong and invincible. He dreamed of being a spy who traveled the world, solved mysteries and caught bad guys.
His battery-operated two-way radio squawked, making him jump. Todd, his best friend. “Are you asleep?” Todd’s voice sounded funny. Billy had never confided even to his best friend about his fear of the dark and storms and whatever might be hiding in his closet. But maybe Todd was scared sometimes too.
He picked up the headset and stepped to the window to look out at the street. “I’m awake.” A bolt of lightning blinded him for a moment and he almost shrieked as it illuminated a dark figure, walking head down on the edge of the road in the rain. Who was that and...? He felt his heart leap to his throat. What was it the person was carrying?
Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He wasn’t hiding in his room being scared. He would be strong and invincible. He had a mystery to solve. “I have to go,” he said into the headset. “I saw someone. I’m going to follow whoever it is.”
“No, it’s storming. Don’t go out. Billy, don’t. Billy?”
He grabbed his extra coat his mother kept on the hook by his door and pulled on his snow-boots. At the window, he almost lost his nerve. He could barely see the figure. If he didn’t go now he would never know. He would lose his nerve. He would always be afraid.
He picked up the headset again. “The person is headed down your street. Watch for me. I’ll see you in a minute.” Opening his window, he was driven back for a moment by the rain and darkness. Then he was through the window, dropping into the shrubbery outside as he’d done so many other times when he and Todd were playing their game. Only the other times, it hadn’t been storming or dark.
He told himself that spies didn’t worry about a thunderstorm. Spies were brave. But he couldn’t wait until he reached Todd’s house. Putting his head down he ran through the rain, slowing only when he spotted the figure just ahead.
He’d been breathing hard, his boots slapping the pavement, splashing through the puddles. But because of the storm the person hadn’t heard him, wouldn’t know anyone was following. That’s what always made the game so much fun, spying on people and they didn’t even know it.
Billy realized that he wasn’t scared. His father had been right, though he didn’t understand why his mother had gotten so angry with his dad for telling him to face his fears and quit being such a baby. Billy was facing down the storm, facing down the darkness, facing down all of his fears tonight. He couldn’t wait to tell Todd.
He was smiling to himself, proud, when the figure ahead of him suddenly stopped and looked back. In a flash of lightning Billy saw the face under the hooded jacket—and what the person was carrying and screamed.