Charlie’s eyes burst open, his little heart racing. The tiny plastic stars glued to his bedroom ceiling stared down at him, glowing faintly. He wanted to tilt his head left and look at the alarm clock next to his bed, but his heart was thudding in his chest and the last thing he wanted to do now was make a noise. It had been that bad dream again – the one where the monster came up and out from under the bed and
grrllrrrghr
There it was again. Charlie realized how tightly he’d been clutching the bedsheet. He wanted to shut his eyes, but he had little hope that dreaming would be any less terrifying than the noise he had just heard. His breaths were quick but quiet. He didn’t want to speak, or move, or be anything at all.
Grgllgrrh…
Don’t make a sound. Don’t move. Don’t move a muscle.
Charlie could feel the blanket tightening off to one side. Something was tugging it off the bed. Charlie’s first impulse was to grab it and hold on for dear life, but he was too paralyzed to move. The blanket moved slowly, but finally collapsed softly to the ground.
Grf.
Charlie moved his head as quietly as he could just in time to see the blanket disappear under the bed. The cool air of the room was now settling on him, chilling the single bead of sweat that had materialized on his forehead. Charlie shivered. This was it. He was going to die.
Charlie’s dad had always said that people weren’t made to be afraid of things, and Charlie tried to muster up a sense of courageousness within himself. It didn’t work, but Charlie found himself slowly maneuvering to a sitting position. His spaceship print pyjamas didn’t provide nearly as much comfort as he thought they would. If this was the end, he wanted to be ready. There was a prayer he remembered – they always said say your prayers if you were about to die.
“Now I lay me down to sleep,” Charlie began in a voice lower than a whisper. “I pray dear Lord my soul you’ll –“
grfGRFblrrll…
That sounded like a snore, Charlie thought. Although fear still kept him hesitant, Charlie’s curiosity was beginning to get the better of him. He got on his knees so that he could tilt forward and look upside-down at what was making that noise. His hair drooped in front of him as he tilted, until finally he was staring directly underneath the bed.
A hot gust of wind blew Charlie’s hair back, and he shut his eyes and leapt back into a fetal position almost instantly. But then, slowly, he crept back to the edge of the bed and looked down again. The gust of wind came again, like a breath. It was a breath, but Charlie couldn’t see anything. He peered over at his alarm clock and snagged the flashlight next to it. Flicking it on, he pointed it back under the bed.
Fur. Brown fur, and short, stubby horns. Sharp, yellowy teeth. And his blanket.
The monster had wrapped itself up in Charlie’s blanket. And it was snoring.
grfBRFlbrf…
Charlie couldn’t believe his eyes. He righted himself on the bed, rubbed his eyes, and then looked down again. The monster was still there. This time, Charlie shined the flashlight right in the monster’s eyes. It winced.
Brf
It opened one eye, squinting.
“What?” it asked, a gravelly growl in its voice. Now Charlie couldn’t believe his ears either.
“That’s my blanket,” Charlie replied, whispering.
“Yeah, well, it’s freezing down here,” the monster said, pulling the blanket tighter to itself. “You wouldn’t walk on this floor without slippers and yet here I am practically naked.”
“You’ve got fur,” Charlie pointed out.
“You’ve got pyjamas,” the monster retorted. “Go away.”
“It’s my blanket,” Charlie persisted, surprised at his own confidence. The monster just didn’t seem quite as scary anymore.
The monster growled, and then gripped the top of the blanket with two fuzzy clawed hands and gave it a tug. In one deft movement, he had torn the blanket in two.
“There,” the monster said, tossing one half to Charlie. “Compromise. Now we’re both happy.”
“But-“
“Go away or I’ll eat you,” the monster said. Charlie grabbed the blanket and whizzed back into bed, pulling it close to his body. A moment later he heard the monster beginning to snore once more.
The monster had ripped his blanket in half.
“Mom’s gonna kill me,” Charlie whispered to himself.
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