Single mom Selina Sardi would do anything for her 6-year-old son. Eager to turn their new house into a real home for him, she's devastated when she discovers that the monster under his bed is not a figment of his imagination but the real deal.
Elia...
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Selina had googled bogeyman, boogeyman, and boogieman. Her search led to the most outrageous descriptions of monsters, none of them resembling Elias, and worse, none of the articles mentioned how he could be killed, defeated, or driven out. Bogeymen, it seemed, were to be suffered. The only thing one could do in their defense was stop being afraid, but if she did that, Elias would remain hungry and never leave.
"I'm taking you to stay with Keira and Nathalie for a while," she said to Lowie when she picked him up from school.
Selina had been close friends with Keira and Nathalie ever since she and Keira had shared a room in the maternity ward. They had immediately clicked and their children being the same age made hanging out easy.
While Selina's former friends, all carefree twenty-somethings, were doing exciting, jump-from-bridges kind of stuff, she and Keira had teamed up to figure out how to fold and unfold baby prams. Turns out there's no easy way to do that, but with Keira around, it was just something else to laugh about while consuming the thousandth cup of herbal tea. Once they had emerged from the nursing ages, Keira's wife Nathalie had pried the tea from their hands and insisted they broadened their horizons while she watched the children for a change. A lasting friendship was forged.
"With Olivia and Fred?" The twinkle in Lowie's eyes was endearing. Keira and Nathalie had twins and Lowie loved to play with them.
"Ahum."
"Cool. How long?"
"Well, I'm going to paint the living room. Remember the colors you helped me pick? Olive green and ..."
"Turkey."
"Turquoise. It's going to be so pretty."
"Mom," a gravity sunk into his voice, "there's a monster under my bed."
"I know," she said, trying not to let her insecurity falter her step, "I'm going to make sure he goes away. That's another reason why you have to go to Keira's for a while."
He squinted an eye at her. "You don't believe me."
"You don't think I can take him on?"
"I think you're making fun of me." He rolled his eyes at her.
"I'm not." She stopped and tugged at his hand. He looked up at her and they watched each other in earnest. "I'm not."
"His breath is ash." Lowie shuddered at the memory.
"His eyes are bluer than Elsa's dress," Selina said.
"You have seen him." Lowie squeezed into her hand, the way she did when she wanted to encourage him. "You'll have to be careful, but I think you can take him, mom. If anyone can, it's you."
Her eyes teared up, so she righted her shoulders and quickened her pace. "Yeah ... of course."
