Monster Under My Bed / Lokius

Monster under my bed

Both windows are open. Warm air bellows softly in the night, providing little comfort to soothe the heat of the room. A young eight year old Mobius huffs out in frustration, tossing and turning in his bed. He knows taking off the cotton blanket could help matters, but he refuses to sleep without it. It's his favorite. It's soft and has the image of the night sky and its constellations.

His mind is just beginning to fog, sleep slowly creeping up on him, when he hears something shift underneath his bed. The old wooden floors creak. Mobius' eyes fly open instantly, every muscle in his body tensing. He slows his breathing, strains his ears to hear any other noise.

Silence.

Mobius waits, certain he's heard something. Maybe it was a rat? Grandma did say they had a rat problem. But the thing sounded too heavy. A few more seconds pass of silence, and he's about to brush it off and try to go right back to sleep when he hears it a second time. The thing shifts, followed by the groaning of the floor.

"Hello?" Mobius says, voice no louder than a quiet whisper. He barely hears the word himself.

"Hello."

Mobius would have screamed and run out of the room if he weren't completely frozen. Fear riddles his nerves, his heart is beginning to jackhammer inside of his chest. It hurts. "W-who are you?" His voice trembles.

"I'm the monster under your bed." The voice sounds amused, low and raspy with an odd tinge to it. Mobius can't fathom what's funny about any of this.

His eyes shut tight in terror. He's heard about such things before, his own grandma told him a monster would take him away at night if he did bad things. But he can't think of anything bad he's done to warrant this.

Wait.

Oh God.

"I- I'm sorry for stealing," his voice cracks, tears pooling in his eyes, "It was Saturday. I don't ha-ve school on the weekends and there wasn't a-any food in the house."

"..What?"

"The store h-had a lot of bread so I think they're f-fine. Please don't take me. My grandma-"

"I am not here for you."

Mobius frowns, reaching up to wipe the tears out of his eyes and cheeks with both hands. "Huh?"

"I'm here for the man in your closet."

That has him tensing right back up. His eyes dart over towards the closet doors, innocently closed shut. Curiosity has him wanting to get up and check for himself, but the monster under his bed might snatch him away.

Mobius curls into himself, making sure to keep his feet underneath the blanket and keeps his voice low. "Are you going to eat me?"

The monster lets out a faint huff of laughter. "No."

"Oh, ok." He whispers, feeling his heart calm down. "Um.. are you going to eat him?"

"..Yes."

Mobius winces. "Why?"

"He's.. a bad person. Don't worry, I won't make a mess."

Mobius squeezes his eyes shut together. The man must have done something really, really bad. "Okay," he says, voice trembling.

"Hide under your covers," the monster orders, "or I'll have to eat you too."

Mobius' eyes water but does as told without hesitation, reaching down to fully bring the blanket up over his head. It's hot and stuffy, but he doesn't want to be eaten.

"Good."

The floorboards begin to groan again, this time even louder, heavy footsteps beginning to slowly walk around his room. Mobius can only whimper in fear, heart jackhammering once more, but before he can truly begin to panic- it all fades away, and he's falling asleep.