There's Monsters (First Part)

A Story by James Esmond

“And don’t get out of bed. Do you know why?”

“Why?” the two children asked clutching the sheets under their chins.

“Because there’s monsters on the floor.” Margaret said as she made spooky gestures with her fingers. “Good night, little ones.” She shut the door, and the children heard her footsteps retreat.

“I don’t believe her.” Jimmy said to his brother. “She wouldn’t leave us here with monsters.”

The two children were silent for a moment contemplating the personality of their new babysitter and if she was in fact the kind of person to abandon two innocent children in a room with monsters on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Michael said finally. “She didn’t sing us a song like Mom does.”

Jimmy had not considered this. “But she did tell us a story.”

“A scary story.” Michael was not to be persuaded; he had found Margaret’s description of the dragon and how it loved to eat little children particularly terrifying.

“Oh, you’re just a sissy. Monsters aren’t real. She made it up.”

Michael was still holding the sheets under his chin in an effort to protect his body should something evil try and attack him. “How do you know?” he asked.

“Have you ever SEEN a scary monster before?”

“Maybe they don’t like to be seen. That’s why they come out at night.”

“So they’re scared of the light? Then let’s turn the light on and scare ‘em.”

Michael glanced toward the light switch across the room. “But how are we going to get to it?”

Jimmy hadn’t thought that far ahead.