Jonathan got to his feet The situation was worse than he thought He stood up tall and looked down at his legs They were skinny He had always been a bit gangly The kids in his high school had mocked him for his appearance Even one of his college professors had made fun of him for his resemblance to a common scarecrow Jonathan narrowed his eyes The bats were almost upon him But he wasn’t a helpless little boy any longer He was a full-grown man He would fight the creatures off He wouldn’t let them win There was a broom resting at his feet Had this been what had tripped him No he thought That was a rock He had tripped on a rock Hadn’t he Everything seemed so confusing now Jonathan saw that the broom was there so he decided to pick it up and use it The first of the bats swooped down toward him Jonathan Crane raised the broom and swung with all his might WOOOOOOOOSH The bat dodged his attack while another nipped at his ear from behind Jonathan felt the fear rising in his chest again Two more bats swooped down at him He swatted at them with his hands But they were too quick Suddenly there were dozens of bats swarming all over him FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP He tried to fight them off There were just too many The broom fell out of his hands to the ground below And then the rumbling started RUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBLE It was a deep primal sound coming from the darkness in front of him He didn’t want to look but Jonathan couldn’t help it He had to see this beast that was approaching him The sound grew louder A hot gust of wind rushed out from the darkness Jonathan knew it was the creature’s breath It had a foul smell to it A smell like death
The creature moved closer Slowly the beast stepped out from the shadows Jonathan’s heart pounded louder Standing in front of him was a giant bat It was like nothing he had ever seen before Jonathan looked down at his clothing Suddenly he was wearing his Scarecrow costume But why wasn’t it working When Jonathan was dressed like that he was supposed to cause fear He wasn’t supposed to feel it himself The monster towered over the Scarecrow The beast looked down and lowered its head toward him The Scarecrow felt the air around him shift as the monster took in his scent ROOOOOAAAAARRR The creature let out a terrifying bellow The Scarecrow cowered in front of it He lowered himself to the ground and curled up into a little ball It was what he had done when the crows had first attacked him all those years ago Perhaps the position would save him now A full minute passed Then Jonathan Crane opened his eyes Maybe the horrible monster had gone away
