Under The Bed

When I was a child, I had this odd friend. He wasn't some cuddly creature or a person like other imaginary friends were. No. My imaginary friend was this odd leathery creature with narrow black eyes and a huge, jagged tooth grin. That looked to be too big for his narrow face. Claws that wereabout three inches long and a sickly shade of yellow too. Long, disturbingly thin limbs that were a distinctly unnatural shade of white.

When I first met him, I was terrified of him. Who wouldn't be afraid of someone like that? And the light from my nightlight didn't help him in the slightest. I nearly screamed when I saw his face. But he covered my mouth as he leaned in. In a low voice, he stated,"No...shhh...shh...I'm not here to hurt you...I just came to keep you safe. I promise."

He carefully pulled his hand off my mouth as I stared at him. Trying to make himself seem harmless to me as he did so. My heart still was pounding in my chest. Holding my teddy bear to my chest, I asked in a squeaky voice,"Why? How come you're here to protect me?"

"I protect children from bad things in their lives. It's my life's goal to keep you safe from everything and anything.",he answered. Carefully petting my hair with his claws. And doing his best to avoid yanking my hair. As he did this he knelt down near the bed. He introduced himself,"My name is Crell. And I'm going to be here for as long as you're going to need me."

Instead of getting more scared, I started to relax in his arms. Falling asleep despite how terrifying Crell was. Feeling the strange leathery skin of his chest against my cheek. Not cold or rough like I had somehow expected it to be. It was very dry as well as warm and soft. His breathing was so soft and soothing as well.

When I woke up that morning, there was no evidence that he had been there. For the rest of that day I thought I made him up. That maybe mom was right about drinking soda before bed was a bad idea. And that I would never see Crell ever again. An hour or so after I got into bed in my pajamas, he crawled out from under my bed. Sitting down next to it and listening to me as I told him about my day. Never seeming bored by what I had said. Even giving me advice about what to do about bullies. When it was time for me to sleep, he sang a soft lullaby. His voice was so soothing. Crell would also play with my hair until I fell asleep. After a while, I was used to the strange creature singing to me. Telling me stories of people it had previously been with and about how he'd protected them. How he kept the bad people, things and unnatural events away. It started to become a part of my normal routine. I never thought that anything bad would ever happen to me with him here.

That was until the night of my thirteenth birthday. Things started off normally. We did the normal things we did together. Only one thing was different, I couldn't fall asleep. It was hard as in the morning mom would make me pancakes. We were going to spend time together after that. And I was so excited. Too excited to be able to fall asleep. Which didn't really make my friend all that happy. In fact, Crell really seemed frantic for some reason. At the time I wasn't sure why he was. It was like he was desperate to make me fall asleep. Like I NEEDED to be asleep for some reason.

When I finally fall asleep, it wasn't for very long. Though I wasn't entirely sure how long I was asleep for. All I know is that I woke up to the weird sound of something dripping. Almost like the kitchen faucet was broken and water was dripping into the sink. Or something like that. I tried to get up but-but Crell softly warned me,"Don't get out of bed, Sweetheart. That noise isn't what you think it is. Stay in bed."

Curiosity made me want to climb out of bed to check the noise and see what it was. And maybe to fix it if I could. But the fact my scary friend under my bed was frantic that I do not move. Well, it made me stay perfectly still in my bed. All I could hear was my heart pounding hard in my chest. It wasn't long before I heard it. Footsteps. Sort of quiet but still audible to my ears. As if the person was trying to remain unnoticed. If Crell hadn't warned me, I would have thought it was my mom. I prayed as I laid there and hoped they wouldn't come to my room. My eyelids shut very tight, and I stayed very still under the sheets as I heard my bedroom door slowly open. Formerly careful footsteps getting louder and closer. I heard a man panting softly and letting out odd bits of laughs as they neared me. But before I could try to hurt the man or the man tried to hurt me. A loud growl came out from under my bed. Whomever it was cursed in fear as he tried to figure out what was going on. A second later I heard a loud scream come from whoever it was that broke into my home. But I never looked. I never opened my eyes to see what was happening near me.

What they were both doing.

When all the screams finally stopped there was silence. One that felt suffocating in its entirety. It was only broken a few times by Crell's heavy breathing. As well as a soft dripping noise that I didn't understand. After a few minutes, I felt the bed dip in the usual spot. Crell's breath on my face as he leaned over me. Softly, he told me,"You can open your eyes now. He's quite dead. He won't cause you harm, ever."

I just did as I was told, and I still couldn't see Crell. But I could tell the things dripping onto my face and nightclothes wasn't sweat. It was...no it couldn't be. He wrapped me up carefully in my blankets as he picked me up and turned on the light. For some reason...he-he looked healthier. Fatter and much less pale than before. His skin was still soft and leathery like it always had been. Crell told me in a low voice,"I couldn't, I couldn't help myself. He smelled like blood...y-your parent's blood and I-I got so hungry..."

At this confession, I knew what the man did and what my friend did to the man. What was dripping onto my body from him. Blood. He killed the man. That man he killed had destroyed my family. I pressed my face into Crell's shoulder as I cried. And he sat in the middle of my bed as he comforted me. My friend started rocking me gently as he held me carefully to himself. Being as careful as he could to not harm me. Crell informed me,"I'm not going to leave you here. I'm taking you with me, sweetheart. To a safer place. A much safer place then here."

"Where?"

"Down to where I came from. My original home away from the human realm.",he answered. Gently petting my face as he stared into my eyes. A small smile on his face. One that was sad. Like he was sure that I wasn't going to accept his idea. The idea of being in another world. Away from everyone and everything I knew. I stammered,"I..what about-about the rest of my family?"

"They'll never protect you like I can. They'll never keep men with knives from you like I can. And they'll never understand or love you like I can.",he said quietly. It wasn't like he was wrong. My extended family wasn't ever nice to me at any point in my life. They never hurt me or screamed at me. My dad's side of the family just hated me and mom. Mom said she was an orphan so, she has no one to take me in. But Crell could. He could teach me so many things about protecting myself. We'd be safe in that place that he came from. And I would have a family again that no one could take from me. When I told him yes, he grinned down at me as tears ran down his cheeks. Slowly he got up from my bed then turned to it. Shifting me to his right arm, he lifted the bed up with his left. I could see a giant hole that hadn't been there before. One that would have made me scared if it weren't for him. Crell took a step in, and we dropped into the dark below.