(I originally wasn't going to write a story but I decided to at the last minute. I wrote this in a half-hour while I watched the Price is Right. I know Price is Right is an hour but it was interesting so I watched more than I wrote.)

You know how your parents tell you that there’s no such things as monsters? They lie. Why else would they make you say your prayers before bed? “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take’. It’s because they know. They know about the monsters.

Mom just kissed me goodnight. I can still see her shadow move in the light that spills into my room. I try to breathe slower; maybe I can fall asleep before mom and dad do. Nothing will happen to me when they’re awake awake. Then I hear the click and everything goes dark. For a few seconds, there’s only the sound of their bed squeezing as they get comfortable. There is silence for a while. Then, the house creaks. Dad once told me that those are normal sounds for a house. Normal, normal sounds. The stairs creak. Normal sounds. I take a deep breath and listen, straining my ears to pick up any…un-normal…sounds. The stairs creak again. I’m not imagining it. Something is coming up the stairs. No! Dad said that those were normal sounds. That I just make up things with my…“overactive imagination”. Normal sounds. I let my breath out slowly.

The stairs creak once more and everything is quiet again. It has to be in the hallway by now. I grab my covers in clenched fists and slowly peek towards the door. It’s out there…between my parents’ room and mine. If only I could get to them. I see a shadow outside of the doorway. Immediately, I snap the covers over my head, tucking the loose sides under my body. A single opening would get me spotted and I’m no amateur. Something scrapes in my room. Normal sounds. Normal sounds. Normal sounds. There’s no such thing as monsters. There’s no such things as monsters…with big teeth, used to eat little children. Normal sounds. Big eyes and long claws…I want my parents. I want my parents…!

“Mom!” my voice squeaks. “Mommy!” tears roll down my cheeks. Did it hear me? Did she?

I let the tears stream for a while. I’m safe but it’s getting hot under my covers. I will need air soon. I try to open the covers just…a…crack. I can feel cool air outside. I quickly tuck in the covers again. I will take no chances. It’s getting really hot under here. What if I would die of heat? Better than getting eaten. But it’s so hot my hair is matting to my head…I need air. Maybe I can wait. No, it’s too hot and I need air! I hold my breath again and listen. Nothing. Maybe it left. I lift up the covers a little and peek out. So far, no monsters. I lift the covers up a little higher…then a little higher…until they are completely off. There’s nothing in my room. No monsters. I look around just to make sure. Nothing. I breathe in the cool fresh air- sweet, cool air- and let my heartbeat slow.

The creaks are coming up the stairs again. I can waste no time. I jump up out of bed and feel sharp pains shoot through my foot. I cry out loudly. It must have been waiting under the bed! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s a classic monster move! I try to move forward but feel my leg twist back. I feel it’s grasp tighten as I squirm.

“Let go! Let go!” I kick hard but it doesn’t let go. “Mom!!!!!!! It’s got me! It’s got me!!!!” I am screaming and kicking and punching. It will not release me! I’m going to die! I’m going to die!

My light flicks on. Mom is standing there in her pink nightgown, looking down at me. It still has ahold of me! Can’t she see it? Why isn’t she helping me?! Kill it! Kill it!

“Oh Andy, what have you gotten into this time?” she steps around me. I flip onto my back and look at my foot. My leg is tangled up in my blanket. My GI Joes line the ground around my bed. Could I have stepped on them?

“You have got to stop this,” mom bends down and picks me up, setting me back on the bed. “Say it with me- there are-”

“…No such thing as monsters,” I finish for her.

“Right.” She smiles, lays me down and wraps my covers around me again. “Want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?”

I nod profusely. She turns off the light and lays down beside me, petting my hair softly. Nothing can harm me when mom is around. She’s my protector. I smile at her, even though she can’t see me in the dark. Maybe she isn’t lying to me about the monsters. Not mom. It must just be dad. Normal sounds my ass.