To all the children who are afraid of the dark.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

Corey is in Year 2 at school. He loves his teacher Mrs Bachelor. He is well liked in school, has a tonne of friends and likes to play hand ball during lunch.

One morning Corey woke up for school. He was running late. This was regular.

"Come on Corey. It's school time" Mum yelled.

Corey dragged himself out of bed and reluctantly got dressed into his freshly ironed uniform. After getting dressed, Corey walked across the pale coloured tiled floor and into the kitchen. Breakfast was waiting for him on the polished glass top dining table. Corey sat down and began eating furiously. He hated being late to school.

After breakfast, Corey hugged his mum and left.

Corey was walking on the pathway to school when he saw something in the gutter shining. He couldn't help but stop and look at what the shiny thing that caught his eye was.

He picked up a pile of leaves, brushed them aside and underneath was a shiny gold coin.

"Wow" said Corey. "I wonder what type of coin this is".

Corey put the coin in his pocket and continued to walk to school.

Corey arrived at school a short time later. The other students were looking at him as he entered the classroom.

"Corey, you're late I see" said Mrs Bachelor.

Corey nodded and took his seat next to his friend Tim.

"What have you been doing?" whispered Tim.

"Walking to school". Corey whispered back.

Who did their homework?

My mum helped me with mine

Later...

The school bell rang for lunch.

Corey and his friend Tim rushed out of class to get their usual seats for lunch.

"What do have for lunch today?" Tim asked excitedly.

"Oh boring stuff" said Corey with a dull tone.

"Your mum always packs you enough food for an army hey?" asked Tim.

"Yep .I may as well carry the school canteen in my bag". Corey said looking at Tim. Tim laughed at Corey's remark.

Corey and Tim sat and ate their lunch, They talked about what they did on the week end, laughed and they played hand ball after they finished lunch.

The bell was going to sound shortly for class and Corey was eager to get the day over with to check out his new coin without being disrupted.

"How are you going in Sonic?" Tim asked Corey as they took a break from hand ball.

"Not bad hey".Corey responded.

"Huh" Tim sounded. "It's a boring game".

A short time later the bell sounded and class resumed. The rest of the day went by slowly for Corey. The afternoon seemed to drag on and on. Tim was being a nuisance in class, which drove Corey crazy at times.

I'll see you tomorrow class. Have a good afternoon.

The class walked out to gather their bags, students met their parents outside.

Corey and Tim walked side by side. Tim's father hadn't arrived to collect him.

"I'll wait with you a few minutes while your dad gets here" Corey offered. Tim nodded and walked through the crowd of noisy children to the front of the school to the car park situated next to the school.

"What are you doing this arvo?" Tim ssked.

"I dunno hey" Corey responded shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you walking home?" Tim asked.

"Yeh" Corey answered.

The boys waited for another 5 minutes, Tim's father picked Tim up from the car park and left. Corey dragged himself through the crowd of children, parents and cars piling up to get to the path leading the way home.

On the way home Corey decided to stop and check out his new find. As he reached into his pocket of his pants, he noticed the coin felt smooth edged. Coins he had known, was rough edged. He knew this coin was something very different from what he had seen.

He took a seat on the ground as he investigated further. The coin had a almost face imprinted on one side, something interesting caught his attention. It wasn't the usual faces on the coin that was in circulation.

"I wish I knew more about you" Corey muttered.

After a while, Corey glanced at his watch and realised the time was later than what he thought. He rushed the rest of the way home, taking a short cut through a dirt track he swore never to take near dark.

Corey arrived home after walking for what seemed like a marathon for his legs. He entered the kitchen and took a drink to go upstairs to his room and start his homework. But, Corey's mum was home waiting on the stairs when he arrived.

"Corey. Where have you been? she asked sternly.

"Walking home" he answered quietly.

"Walking home. It never takes you this long to walk home"

She was right. It didn't. Corey had to figure out a way to get out f this one. But what could he tell her.

The only thing was to tell the truth. He decided truth was always better.

"I found a coin today and stopped on the way home to have a good look at it" he explained.

"Show me" she said. Corey pulled out the coin and showed his mum.

"This is very unusual. I haven't seen a coin like this before" she commented rubbing the coin and inspecting it closely.

"I know. Neither have I. Now you know why I stopped on the way home to see it properly" Corey grabbed his coin and walked away. He entered his room and began his homework.

Hours passed. Corey finished his homework and packed it in his school bag. Dinner was ready. He was having his favourite, chicken schnitzel with pasta. After dinner and a bath Corey was ready for bed.

He was tired after playing all that handball today at lunch.

9pm .

Corey lay in bed awake. Every night since he was little he slept with a lamp on. He was afraid of the dark.

Tonight, he wanted to keep the lamp off. After finding such a rare coin today, he was feeling good. Tonight was the night he became a big boy. It didn't quite turn out that way though....

LATER THAT NIGHT..

Corey fell asleep by 9:15pm During the night he woke up to the sound of rattling. He got out of bed to check the window. The window was locked. He went back to bed. A few moments later, the rattle started again. Corey was feeling scared and couldn't get back to sleep.

He rolled on his side and saw something shimmering from the moonlight coming through his window. It was the gold coin he found that morning. He picked it up and held it in his hand.

"Don't let me be afraid anymore" he whispered to the coin.

"I wish I wasn't afraid of the dark" Corey kept saying to the coin. Moments later the coin began to jiggle in his hand. Corey thought his nerves got the better of him at first.

"Well aren't you going to allow me to grant you that wish?" a little voice asked suddenly.

Corey stumbled across his words.

"W...what. Who is this?" He asked.

"Nevermind who I am. Who are you?" the little voice asked.

"Well.. I don't know. I guess I'm Corey" he said.

"Right. You're Corey. WRONG. You're a scared little boy". said the voice. Corey felt a little poke in his face.