Fun Friday -- The Beast

“Shhh… did you hear that?”

"What?" my son's eyes grew as round as the full moon outside.

"I thought I heard a scratching noise, did you?"

"Maybe..." He seemed a little hesitant. "You don't think it's the Beast, do you, Dad?"

"I don't know. Do you think he could have tracked us down all the way back home? I thought we'd left him back in the woods."

My son fidgeted, his breathing quickening.

"I imagine he's got a pretty good nose on him, though. I bet he could track anything for a hundred mile or so. And he did seem pretty mad."

"Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll grab ourselves some baseball bats out of your room. Then we'll just have to show the old guy who's boss, won't we?"

He glanced down the long, dark hall that lead to his room.

"All right, Dad, but you'll come with me, won't you?"

"Of course. Let's go."

Armed with two aluminum heavy hitters, and wishing we had some old fashioned wooden bats, we tip-toed together towards the back door.

"Do you want to go first?" I asked.

"Nah, you do it." He pushed me ahead of him.

I yanked the door open quickly, hoping the element of surprise would be on our side. We rushed outside, my son screaming a banshee yell. The raccoons scavenging through our trash cans startled and made a dash for the woods behind the house.

"Hah! I knew he was too scared to come after us!" my son said. He carried the bat over his shoulder as he swaggered back to the house.

"Good thing, too," I said. "We would have finished him off, once and for all."

Prompt from Write Anything [Fiction] Friday.