Shadows

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Mom and Dad always say. 

Little do they know what lies just beneath him. The terrorizer, the menace, the intruder. 

The monster. 

Every night, Davy is sent to his bedroom, explicitly instructed to climb beneath the covers and drift out of consciousness toward a state of vulnerable incapacitation. Every night, he begs not to be sent away. He pleads for mercy, uncomprehending of his parent's cruel need to lock him inside his cell – rather, the cell of the evil thing which lurks just outside his line of sight. Every night, his parents neglect their obligation to his safety and leave him stranded, trapped inside a cage with the monster.

Sometimes, Mom and Dad give in to his desperate insistences and look inside the evil thing's cavern. They lift the askew edges of the over-draping blanket and gaze into the cave, only to straighten up and tell him that there's nothing under there but a couple of old boxes and some dust bunnies which will, "Definitely need to be cleaned out in the morning."

"But what if it's hiding inside one of the boxes?" Davy asks, fear glistening in his soft blue eyes.

At this, Mom merely chuckles as she stands in the doorway across the room, while Dad gets up from his crouched position next to the cave. He sits on the edge of Davy's bed and tells him, "Pal, there's nothing in those boxes except for some old clothes and some other junk."

Dad ruffles his hair and tells him not to worry. "I'll see you in the morning," he says with a shallow smile.

As he crosses the room, Mom steps forward to kiss Davy's forehead. Her lips are warm and offer an instantaneous feeling of safety and comfort. However, as quickly as that feeling comes, it then evaporates as she whispers, "I love you, Davy," and gets up to leave the room.

"Can't I sleep with you?" he asks, trying hard not to sound too cowardly but knowing better than to kid himself. He's practically begging. If not with his voice, then with his eyes. His words sound plain enough, but his eyes are those of a caged rat, a deer in the path of a speeding semitruck, a rodent suddenly finding itself within the jaws of a snake. Evil is hiding here, and death is surely lingering close by, but nobody can see this except for him.

"Not tonight, sweetie," his mother says kindly. "You're a big boy. You ought to sleep in your own bed."

Davy is certain that those are the last words he'll ever hear his parents say because when they flick off the light switch and creak the door shut, he finds himself trapped. Trapped inside a cage with the evil one. And within these walls, the evil one reigns supreme.

The lamp sitting atop his dresser expels a dim sheet of light from beneath its blue shade. The light isn't powerful enough to illuminate the room and ward off the evil which lurks in the dark. On the contrary, it's just bright enough to fill the room with shadows. Long, sinister tapestries of darkness twisting throughout the room, their tendrils stretching along the carpet and up the walls. The closet is blackened, becoming a portal through which, the creature can spy on the boy. He can practically feel its menacing eyes peering at him, sizing him up the way a stalking lion chooses its time to strike down its prey.

Davy gazes up at the ceiling and stares with wide eyes, determined not to let terrified tears slip out as he wonders why his parents could be so cruel. What kind of people lock their own child inside a cage with a monster? Would they throw him into the tiger's exhibit at the zoo? Would they kick him into a grizzly bear's den during the spring thaw? Quite possibly, he thinks they would.

What is this monster? 

It's a vampire. Just like the one he saw on TV when dad's baseball game went to a commercial break. A black cloak hides its pale, slender frame, its shimmering skin is lined with blue veins like streamers. Long fangs protrude from blood-stained gums, overhanging the bottom lip of its flesh-craving mouth. Its sickly, yellow eyes stare into Davy's, piercing his mind and molesting his thoughts, learning the boy's worst fears. Smiling evilly with pleasure, amused by the child's terror. Long, bony fingers outstretch, touching Davy's cheek gently and bearing its long teeth excitedly as it feels his warm skin. It slinks beneath the covers, pinning Davy down so he can't run. Pressing down on his abdomen so he can't draw a breath to scream. Sinking its long fangs into the boy's skin, drawing blood, electrifying his senses with terror and agony. All the while, the monster pets Davy's hair and offers a single, falsely consoling utterance, "Ssshhhhh."