The Child was Clearly Upset

The dark was clearly not the best place to leave a child – even with the distractions of a movie, a warm bottle and the princess nightlight. The promise of one more story kept her eyes open, but at the story reached The End her eyes began droop, believing that her new sister will stay and keep the monsters under the bed at bay. Ever so quietly the reader moved off the bed, avoiding the creaky springs. One slight noise will wake the sleeping child like a firecracker.  As the movie filled with prince and princesses played on, the reader crept out of the room, leaving the book on the night table and closing the door with a satisfactory soft click. Finally some peace in the house. She crept down the stairs avoiding the last one with the creaky board.  Outside the family dog strained at his leash, his nightly routine over with.  The cold was setting in, his short fur wasn’t used to it yet. The sitter rescued the dog from his cold torment and brought him inside.  The thud of the door made both the girl and the dog wince; they were both new to the sounds of the old house.  Hearing nothing from the sleeping occupant in the upstairs besides the murmuring TV, she opened her long forgotten book and began to read.  The child up stairs awoke to the sound of the front entrance closing and sat up in bed.  Her new sister was no longer there; her book lay on the table closed, its shiny library cover mocking her.  The movie was no longer playing; it was just grey snowy screen with no purpose. She clutched her over stuffed panda and snuffed into its ear, watching the flickering static from the TV dance across the wall, creating monsters that with eyes that glowed in night.  She dove in to the bed and whimpered.  Monsters only came when she left. She sobbed again and curled into a tighter ball, her bear seeming to be miles away; something went bump and landed on her rumpled cover.  She let out a scream of alarm and hugged her knees even closer.  Footsteps were coming up the stairs, was it another monster? She let out another scream, this one to keep the monster at bay. The door opened and the hall light illuminated everything in the room. “Liv?” asked the monster. “Where are you?” The bedroom clicked on, reflecting off the open window.  The clicking of the beagle’s paws were heard through the blankets but to her it was another monster. The sitter could hear the muffled sobs coming form the mound at the end of the bed. Carefully she peeled the many layers of stuffed animals pillows and blankets off the petrified child.  Big wet tears shed down her face, her eyes were closed tight in fear as the sitter scooped the child into her arms and into the rocking chair.  What monster used rocking chairs and sang lullabies? Cautiously she opened an eye and looked at her monster – it was her sister! Sighing she curled up again in her big sisters arms, the monsters disappearing as fast as the tears on her face.