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Monster Under the Bed

The Odd Child

By Kalista BrownPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Picture by OdessaSawyer on deviantART; found on Pinterest

I am a monster. High in the ranks. The one that assigns the monsters to hide under the beds of kids. There’s a system to how this works: a kid is assigned a young, new monster when they first come home. As they grow up, a new monster is assigned to them. That way, they get a new scare after every stage of life, and the previous monsters can gain new experience by scaring new kids. However, there’s been a changeup in plans and assignments. There’s this one girl who I’ve sent out all of my monsters to, and they keep coming back, crying. I’m the only monster left to try and scare this child.

Case number 725948: Charlotte Gold. Six years old. Every monster assigned to her has come back terrified. I am the only one left, so I am going in to check and see what is going on. Hopefully, everything goes according to plan.

And now I lay here, under her bed. Her mother has just tucked her in, and has left the room to deal with their eldest. One of my monsters is hiding under her sister’s bed; he hasn’t come back crying yet, but he’s also had this look on his face whenever I see him. It’s as if he wants to tell me something, but he doesn’t know what to say. Maybe, perchance, I’ll find out tonight.

I reach my hand up and over the bed to find Charlotte’s wrist. She flinches back in fear. She might say that she’s not scared, but I can tell by the warble in her voice that she is. If she is scared by the monsters under her bed, then why do they come back in such a state? It’s not as if a six-year-old girl would be able to scare off any monsters, and they seem to be able to frighten her, from what I’ve seen tonight. The question is: What is happening to Charlotte Gold that she sends them back crying, making them not want to hide under her bed?

The door opens. I retreat my hand quickly. The light from the hall pours in only for a moment as her sister’s figure shows before the door is quickly, but silently, shut. Even with the light not here, I can still see her face. What I see has me almost horrified. The monster from her room shows up under Charlotte’s bed with me, and I get him to confess to me what’s going on, whispering so that the children can’t hear us. He tells me what’s going on in their family, more specifically between Charlotte’s sister and their parents. I am terrified when I hear the eldest suggest that they run away. Charlotte doesn’t understand why. She’s almost screaming when her sister tries to take her and get her dressed, when the door opens again.

Their mother and father both come into the room, tearing the two girls away from each other. The father starts hitting the eldest, while Charlotte is attacked by their mother. The eldest girl has learned after a few years of being beaten that it is best not to cry, but I believe this is the first time that Charlotte has ever been hit. She is wailing with every hit from their mother, and then is switched to much harder hits from her father. She can’t help but ask why they are doing this to them, for she doesn’t understand. After all, she is only six. I, myself, could never understand why or how parents could beat their kids or do much worse damage to them. It is one of those questions that can never be really answered with sense.

I’ve finally had enough of it. I crawl out from under the bed, against the other monster’s wishes. I come to stand at my full 13' height, staring at the parents with red glowing eyes. I pry their hands off of the children before urging the kids behind me. I can feel them clutching to my black and dark grey robes as I bend at the waist to look their parents menacingly in the eyes, my sharp, pointed teeth showing through as I speak to them in the deepest, darkest voice I can muster:

“Don’t. Touch. My children. For every bruise, or cut, or broken bone I find on them, for every split lip that I see them with, and for everything you do to them from now on, I will do a thousand times much worse to you two for the rest of eternity.”

There was a pungent smell as the parents run away in fear. I turn around to find the children still clutching to me. I notice as I start bending down to them that the parents have run out of the house, screaming about a monster in the house. I care not. I pick Charlotte up and tuck her back into bed, kissing her forehead before I leave. I put her sister back to bed, telling the other monster that I can take care of them both without any help. I head down the steps, waiting for the true monsters to come back, and staying with the girls to protect them. To care for them. This is not something that a monster of my ranking should do.

I look back up the stairs, the lights now off. “Goodnight, my sweets. I will be here from now on.”

I will be in so much trouble with my superiors, but it’ll be worth it. If only I can keep two kids from disappearing. It keeps the superiors from wondering what happened to them, when they themselves sat back and did nothing.

I shroud the entrance with darkness, only my eyes being seen, as I wait, patiently, for the parents, and possibly the authorities, to come.

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