The Monster Under the Bed

Honorable Mention Submitted on 05/27...299 Words

The nightlight in the boy’s bedroom flickered and died. Now, only the full moon outside lit the room. Jimmy, in the lower bunk bed, jumped up and climbed the ladder to wake his brother.

“Marty,” he whispered frantically. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

Marty opened his eyes and focused them on his little brother. “What? What are you talking about?”

“There’s a monster under my bed.”

Marty fell back onto his pillow. “Do you know what time it is? You know dad said that if we wake him up again because of a monster under your bed, he was going to whip us good.”
“But it’s going to eat us.”

Marty sighed loudly. If he let Jimmy run and tell Dad, they would be in big trouble, but if they stayed in the room, Jimmy would keep him awake all night. Finally, he decided on a plan.

“Look, Jimmy, trade beds with me. Everyone knows monsters can only eat kids who sleep in their own beds.”

Jimmy thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded his head enthusiastically. The two boys changed beds and were both asleep again in no time. Just after midnight, a two headed monster rose up and leaned in over the bottom bed.

“That’s not Jimmy,” one of the heads said.

“Really, brain? You think my eyes don’t work?”

“Well, we can’t eat him.”

“I know the rules. We can only eat people in their own beds.”

“So what are we gonna do?”

“I guess we wait till tomorrow night and hope these two are back where they belong.”

The creature shrunk down and disappeared. Marty sat up and looked around the room. Deciding the noise that had disturbed him was just a dream, he rolled over and went back to sleep.