The Sand Man

It was a dark and stormy night, the wind was howling and rain constantly pattered on the window like a leaky tap. The boy and his mother sat calmly in the living room, the boy playing with a spinning top and his mother knitting a jumper. Everything was silent. The only noises heard, were the ticking of the grandfather clock, the clicking of the boy's mother's needles and the storm outside.

BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!

The clock struck eight, the boy's bedtime, his mother took away his spinning top. Time to start the dreadful ordeal... walking up the stairs. There were only fifteen steps, however, whenever the boy stood at the bottom, the stairs seemed to grow.

Slowly, he put one foot in front of the other and climbed the mountain. His body shook with apprehension. SQUEAK! The ancient wooden floor boards made the boy even more intimidated. He looked left, he looked right, but could not find any reason to be scared.

Now in his room, the boy jumped into his bed and pulled the covers until they were over his eyes. He soon realized (again) that there was nothing to be so childish about, (although he was only 7 himself) and removed the covers from his face and searched him room for monsters. Ever since his father died, the boy had always been afraid that no one would be there to keep him safe; so he had to look after himself.

"Whoever you are and whatever you are, please don't hurt me. I'm only seven, that big boy down the road h... he's much bigger and better than me!" The boy continued to search his room for any unwanted visitors.

Soon after, the boy was confident that the only living things in his bedroom were; himself and the crysanthemums his mother gave him that morning. He tucked himself into bed and soon drifted off to sleep.

TING! PFFT! SLURP!

What was that noise? Was someone trying to reach the boy? He tossed and turned in his bed, not really hearing anything. Suddenly, both the door and the window flung open. The boy's eyes shot open.

"Don't worry my son, it's only me. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Now that I know you're fine, I'll go back downstairs. I'll be down there if you need me." She gave the boy a kiss on his forehead and exited the room, her footsteps getting quieter until nothing was heard. Everything was silent.

"Aaaaaaaaaah! My foot!" Out of nowhere, the beast had stepped on the boy's Lego. Again, the boy woke up, but when be did, his sight had vanished... What happened?