對不起，爸爸

Sorry， Dad

I was a single father at the time. My wife had been a narcissistic mad woman who wasn’t capable of taking care of herself， so our divorce was more or less a blessing to me. When we had separated①， I was granted custody of our young son， who was my entire life. During our marriage， my wife had complained② that I spent too much time doting on him rather than her， who apparently thought she deserved acknowledgment. Having that witch out of the house and away from my boy had many advantages about it， but it also had some drawbacks. I was working all the time， so often I would hire a babysitter or call my parents and see if they could watch my son. I usually tried to get my parents to do it， but every now and again I had to settle with Marcy， the only babysitter who was ever available on short notice. I never particularly liked Marcy， as she was always a bit on the irresponsible side. Marcy would often spend most of the time babysitting on the phone rather than paying attention to my child， and every time she saw my car pull into the driveway she grabbed her things and left through the back door... She was a pain. But she was all that was available.

One night， I stepped into my home and I called her name， but there was no answer. I assumed she must have left through the back door again， so I paid no attention to her lack of answer. I walked into the living room and saw that at the top of my stairs was my son， still in his pajamas.

\"Hey， sport，\" I called to him， before noticing the look on his face.\"Something wrong， son？\"

\"I had a nightmare， Daddy，\" he told me， before running down the stairs to hug me. \"It was so scary...\"

\"What happened in it？\" I asked. He hugged me tighter.

\"I was walking down the hall when I heard the sound of Marcy humming downstairs. I hid in the dark of the tops of the stairs where she couldn’t see me， and I spied on her doing her homework in the kitchen. After a few minutes， the pantry door behind her opened silently. Out of the pantry there was this naked monster man with tiny little black eyes...\" he shivered③.

\"Go on， son，\" I cajoled.

\"Well， the monster④ man watched her for a long time， and then he waved his hand at the closet in the living room. It opened， and another monster man came out of that door. She was focused on her homework and her music and it was dark so she didn’t see him either. The two monster men watched her for a while before the second monster man waved at the window. The curtain was pushed away， and there was another monster man behind it. Marcy didn’t see him either？ so then， the third and second monster men waved at the basement door， and two monster men came out. I was so scared， Daddy... but I tried to be quiet and none of them saw me.

\"They all watched Marcy for a few minutes before the one right behind her started growling. She didn’t hear it. It growled louder. She made a face and blinked. I was praying that she wouldn’t turn around， Daddy. But she did. She screamed and screamed and cried and screamed， and all the naked monster men ran up and started attacking her. They ripped her into pieces and ate them all...

\" I... I... went to leave and get the neighbors to help. I thought that if I ran fast enough to the door， they wouldn’t catch me. I ran as fast as I could... but they all jumped out at me， Daddy. They were so scary. They grabbed me and were about to eat me when... when...\"

\"What happened， son？\"

He stuttered⑤ as he attempted to weep out the rest of the tale.

\"Y ou can tell me anything， son... what happened？\" I stroked his hair as he began to compose himself.

\"I... I... I told them that if they let me go... I would stall you when you came home， so they could get you too， Daddy... and spare me.\"

All was silent for a moment. And in that moment， I could hear a series of doors opening all around the house. My son buried his face in my chest.

\"I’m sorry， Daddy.\"

我是一個單身爸爸。

說起我的前妻，老天，她就是個不折不扣的瘋子，不僅自戀，而且生活無法自理。所以能夠擺脫她我真是謝天謝地。

辦理離婚手續(xù)時，我獲得了我寶貝兒子的撫養(yǎng)權(quán)。當(dāng)我們還在一起時，那女人就因為我太關(guān)心我們的兒子而非常不滿，說我花在他身上的時間實在太多，以至忽略了她的感受。就好像這種賤人真的值得我看上一眼似的。

把這個巫婆掃地出門的感覺實在是棒極了，可隨之而來的也有不少麻煩。我的工作很忙，因此常常要靠臨時保姆或是找來爸媽照看兒子。一般我都會盡量托我的父母，但是，瑪茜是我唯一能在短時間里找到的保姆。

我從來就不太喜歡瑪茜，因為她挺不負責(zé)任的。每次，她在我家“照看”最多的不是孩子，而是那臺電話機。而當(dāng)看到我的車開進車道的時候，她就匆匆抓起自己的東西從后門溜走了……沒錯，她很討人厭，但我也沒辦法。

一天晚上，我踏入家門，叫她的名字，但回答我的是一片寂靜。我估摸著她又從后門溜走了，所以也沒在意。我走進客廳，然后看見我的兒子正站在樓梯頂端，穿著一件睡衣。

“嘿，小搗蛋，”我朝他喊，接著注意到了他臉上的表情，“有什么問題嗎，兒子？”

“我做了個噩夢，爸爸，”他說，隨后跑下了樓梯抱緊了我，“好嚇人……”

“夢里發(fā)生什么了？”我問道。他抱得更緊了。

“我走過門廊的時候聽到瑪茜正在樓下哼歌。我藏在樓上的陰影里，所以她沒有看見我，也不知道我在樓上偷偷看她在廚房里做作業(yè)。然后過了幾分鐘，她身后儲藏室的門突然開了，沒發(fā)出一點點聲音。接著，接著一只光著身體的怪物從門口冒了出來，它長著黑漆漆的小眼睛……”他顫抖著說。

“繼續(xù)，兒子。”我輕輕哄他。

“呃，那個畸形人盯著她，看了好一會兒，然后它朝客廳的壁櫥揮了揮手，門開了，另一只怪物從門口走了出來。那時候很黑，她在做功課、聽音樂，所以根本沒有注意到……那兩只怪物觀察了瑪茜一段時間，然后朝窗口揮手，結(jié)果又一只怪物推開窗簾出來了。瑪茜這次還是沒有注意到……然后第三只怪物朝地下室的門揮了揮手，這回新出現(xiàn)了兩只怪獸。我嚇壞了，爸爸……但我盡量保持安靜，所以它們沒有看到我。”

“他們聚在一起看著瑪茜的一舉一動，就這樣過了幾分鐘，然后在她背后的那只突然開始大吼。她沒聽見。它就吼得更響。她皺起了臉，眨了眨眼睛。我多希望她當(dāng)時沒有轉(zhuǎn)過來，爸爸，但她還是轉(zhuǎn)過來了。她終于看到了它們，尖叫起來，大聲地哭，大聲地號，然后所有的怪物都撲了上去，咬她，把她撕開，扯成小碎片，然后吃掉了，吃得一干二凈……

“……我……我跑了出去，想到鄰居家讓他們幫我。我以為自己能跑得足夠快，它們不會抓到我。我跑啊跑，都快喘不上氣了……但它們還是一下子跳了出來，圍在我身邊，爸爸，它們都好可怕。它們抓住我，張開嘴，正準(zhǔn)備咬下去，然后我……我……”

“怎么了，兒子？”

他早已泣不成聲，結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地試圖說出話來。

“別怕，兒子，任何事都能告訴我……究竟發(fā)生什么了？”我撫摸著他的頭發(fā)，聽他接下去的話。

“我……我……我說如果它們放我走……我就會在你回家的時候拖住你，這樣它們就能抓住你了，爸爸……它們會放了我。”

四周一下子安靜下來。在那一刻，我聽見身邊一陣開門的聲響。我的兒子把頭埋進了我的胸膛。

“對不起，爸爸。”