Monsters in the Dark

Her heart is beating wildly.  She inhales sharply, opening her eyes.  The horror of the dream still clings to her.  They almost had her that time.

 

The dream is now over but waking does not ease her fear.  Instead her dread only intensifies. She scans the room for the monsters from her dream, as she pushes herself back on her bed, stifling a whimper.   She feels the need to have her back against the wall intensely.  

 

She pauses, ‘Is something under my bed,’ she wonders.  She can almost see a shadowy figure reaching a hand between the mattress and the wall.  Her back finds the wall. It is a cool, reassuring, stable presence in her currently unstable world.  

 

Her eyes fall on a shadow.  The form of half a man. Or was it a man at all.  ‘Maybe it was one of the monsters from my dream,’ she thinks wildly.  Suddenly her eyes are glued to it.  

 

The half man says something she cannot quite make out.  She is afraid to look away. If she does it might move towards her, the way an unpredictable spider will sometimes scurry towards you when you are on the toilet.

 

It turns towards her anyway.  It separates itself from the wall.  

 

She can’t scream.  She knows better. The scream will wake the others in the house and then she will be in trouble for disturbing them.  Instead she shrinks back closer to the wall covering her head with her blanket, like it is an armor that will stop him.

 

She can still see the half man and now the shadow under her bed as well.  They are reaching for her. Stuffing her hand in her mouth she presses harder against the wall.  ‘They are not real,’ she thinks loudly. ‘You are not real!’ she shouts in her mind at them.

 

She sees them take pause.  ‘You are not really here,’ she yells at them again.  She sees them step back. As the wicked witch in that one movie, they dissolve into the darkness.  Her terror begins to dissipate with them.

 

Slowly she pulls the blanket from her head.  The half man is gone. She looks at the shadowy wall where he had been and notices it looks nothing like a man at all.  She takes a deep breath. ‘How dumb,’ she thinks with growing confidence.  

 

She scoots away from the wall, laying down on her back, she looks to the ceiling.  A movement at the corner of her eye catches her attention. She quickly closes her eyes.  ‘No,’ her mind pleads.

 

The bed moves, her heart sinks.  She tries to keep her breathing even.  ‘Maybe he will think I’m asleep and leave me alone,’ she hopes.  Like so much dust in the wind, her hope is blown away, as she feels him grab her arm. 

 

She is dragged to the edge of her bed.  Her’s is the top bunk bed. Still she feens sleep, which becomes harder as she feels like she is falling when he drags her over the edge of her own bed.  Onto his.  

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

He is finishes with her.  “Get off my bed,” he whispers, like she is intruding on his territory.  Stubbornly she is still pretending to be asleep. He hits her. “I know you aren’t asleep.”

 

She flees.  Quick as she can she flying onto her own bed, like a bird freed from its cage, knowing all too well more blows are to come if she stays.  She throws the covers over her legs and chest. Once again her back is to the wall.  

 

She begins to cry quietly.  She has to be quiet or he will hear and be mad at her.  He likes to hit her when he is mad. He is bigger, stronger.

 

Looking back to where the half man stood earlier, she sees him again.  This time he doesn’t look scary at all. Only sad. Like he knew what was about to happen, and had moved only to warn her.  

 

She closes her eyes, pulling the blanket once again over her head. ‘Why me,’ her mind screams.  He won’t come again tonight. She knows this from experience.  

 

She quietly cries herself to sleep.