Short Nightmares

I dropped my phone under my bed last week and haven’t been able to convince the monster to give it back. He loves sugar, so tonight is the night. Halloween. It brings me some comfort being able to relate to its sugar addiction; Makes it feel a bit more human. Typically I would just give it something from the cupboard but mom’s been on this new health kick recently... needless to say, the monster has been unhappy ever since.

I slip into my homemade costume, grab my empty pillow case, and head downstairs. I try to slip out before mom can stop me. Almost there. Just a few more steps to the door...

“Stop.” So close to freedom. “Let me see how you look.” I turn around slowly. She snaps a quick picture with her camera phone.

“Come on, mom. I’m already late.”

“You’ve got your phone on you?”

“No, mom. I still haven’t gotten it from the monster.” She raises an eyebrow at me.

“The monster?” I nod my head. “You’re still talking about the monster underneath your bed?” I roll my eyes and cross my arms, looking away from my mother's judgemental gaze. “You’re fourteen, Jacob. If you broke it or lost it or something, you can tell me. I won’t be mad.” That was for sure a parent trap. There is an awkward silence. “Is this about me and your father?”

“What? No! Of course not, Mom.” Even though I was telling the truth she wasn’t going to believe me. I knew she wouldn't. Nobody believed that there was an actual monster under my bed and that I had been responsible for keeping it happy since we moved into this stupid house, just so it didn't eat me or my mom in our sleep! Breath, Jacob. Breath. She pulls me in for a hug.

“You know you can tell me anything.” She gives me a light kiss on the head.

“Mooooom-” She releases me from her death grip and hands me her phone. “Call the house phone if you need me. I’ll be listening for it until you get home.” I notice tears in her eyes before she quickly turns and walks away.

“I love you, mom.” Is what I should have said. Instead, I just turned and left the house. I couldn’t help but feel guilty as I walked down the street. I knew mom was going through alot. So am I. I didn’t mean to take it out on her. I notice my friends ahead.

“Finally.” April says, giving me a little smack on my arm and a big hug. I still feel a little guilty but I don't want to be a buzzkill.

“Nice costume.” Tucker jabs.

“Thanks. I made it myself.”

“Even more impressive.” He jabs again.

“It was either this or nothing.”

“Yeah, and you know he has to feed the monster under his bed tonight.” April snickers. “Gotta get all of the candy you can, right?” I roll my eyes.

“Make fun of me all you want. I don’t care.”

“Look dude, I know you’re going through some tough stuff right now.” Tucker puts his hand on my shoulder. “But that’s no excuse for ignoring our texts and posts and stuff. You missed like, the most epic opportunity to be in our like, most epic Tik-Tok yet.” I let out an exasperated sigh. Nobody was ever going to believe me. Not even my best friends. If I kept talking about it I would just sound like some delusional kid passing his problems off as monsters under the bed. Maybe I was. Maybe this was some sort of psychological illusion brought on by the unhealed trauma surrounding my father. Was everyone right this whole time? Ugh, forget it. I just want to be fourteen for a night and not have to worry about it.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, guys.” April smiles at me.

“No biggie. You can make it up to us by helping us get as much candy as we can tonight. I heard there are a bunch of bowls just waiting to be dumped.” April begins to make her way towards the large house at the end of the block.

"This is why they put an age limit on trick-or-treating.” Tucker mumbles to me.

“You bums coming or what? Don’t think I won’t take all the candy for myself.” We race to catch up.

After an hour or two of scouring the neighborhood, we end up back at my tree-house. April dumps the last of her treats into the mountain of candy in the center of the room.

“I call this success.”

“I feel a little bad.” I mumbled.

“I don’t.” April snickers, as she shoves a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

“Yeah.” Tucker exclaims, grabbing a handful of snacks. “Did you see the size of those houses? I’m sure they had loads of candy stashed away. Or atleast the money to buy more.”

“Yeah. It’s not like we bullied some kids for it or anything.” Her mouth is so full I can barely understand what she is saying. I sit down and grab a bag of “Ghosties.” April tosses me and Tucker a soda. She holds hers in the air.

“Happy Halloween, Friends. To our sugar-comas.” We cheers. Click; Hisssss; the starting gun to the first sugar rush of the evening.

A few hours later, I stumble into my room, a heavy pillowcase full of candy in one hand and the biggest glass bowl we have in the other. I am sitting on the edge of my bed trying not to vomit. I plop the large bowl onto my night stand and fill it with as much candy as possible. I flop onto my bed and lay still for a moment, trying to let my stomach settle. I hear my phone buzz a couple of times. I can’t ignore it anymore so I drag myself out of bed. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Come on. There's nothing there. You've got this. I rip back the covers and look… there is nothing except my phone and a couple of dust bunnies. I reach out and snatch it, quickly retreating to the safety of my bed.

I wait for something to happen. Nothing does. I was pretending wasn’t I? I was refusing to face the feelings about my father. Everyone had been right the whole time. But what about all the snacks I had left out before? Maybe mom cleaned them up? Or maybe it was rats? That would make sense, wouldn't it? Old house and all. The noises under my bed… the missing food… wow… I had been afraid of rats this whole time? I chuckle. A teenager scared of a monster under his bed that turned out to be rats. What an embarrassing story.

I scroll through a week's worth of messages as I begin to fade in and out of sleep. The candy wrappers in the bowl begin to rustle. My eyes snap open. Stupid Rats. I move to scare them away but freeze immediately. I watch as a long, hairy arm with clawed fingers grabs the bowl of candy and then disappears back underneath the bed. After a few seconds of loud, obnoxious chewing... a burp.

“Thank you.” It growls, returning the bowl back to the nightstand.

“Anytime.” I reply nervously, laying back down as delicately as possible. It took some time for the terror to subside, but once it had, I realized something. I don't care if nobody believes me. There is a monster living under my bed. I knew I wasn’t crazy and that was enough. “Happy Halloween.”