The Monster Under Her Bed

Chapter 1

I stared at the open file before me, my next victim's every detail written out. Every monster assigned to Everly Rose Jones had quit after their first night.

Her first monster; a giant spider named Harry had been with her for four years. And then one day, she suddenly wasn't scared of him anymore. After that, it was a cycle of common and uncommon Creepers quiting after only a few days. She was even assigned a two-headed mutt! She treated him like he was nothing more then a boring, old puppy!

I looked over the file one last time, before getting ready to head out. I was hardly ever assigned field work, so to put it simply; I was excited. My first real case in almost a century! So, I waited until Miss Jones had tucked Everly Rose into bed and left her with the babysitter, to slither under her bed like a snake.

Hours passed and the little girl was still nowhere near tired. She'd even turned on the lamp beside her bed and pulled out a coloring book from under her pillow. Downstairs, I could hear her babysitter talking on the phone and rummaging through drawers. It'd been nearly two hours and the babysitter hadn't checked on the girl once.

After what had to have been another hour of hiding under Everly Rose's bed, the girl finally turned off her light and put her book aside. She was still awake, but barely. So, I reached up and ran a warm finger down her arm. No reaction, so I did it again.

"I'm not afraid of no monster!" She whisper-yelled in a small and shaky voice. I could see the small clock on her dresser read 9:22. Somewhere below me, a loud door slammed shut. The little girl's breathing hitched and I heard her bed springs squeak as she pulled at her covers. I could hear a woman say something to the sitter, before the door closed again.

A few minutes go by and I hear heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs, followed by a woman's giggle. The stench of alcohol burned my nostrils as the footsteps passed by Everly Rose's door. The little girl let out s small sigh of relief.

"Maybe he won't come tonight," she wishpered.

I could hear loud moans and groans coming from the other room, a sound no little girl her age should hear. The smell of sex and sweat only recognizable by my heightened sense, hopefully. No respectable human mother should ever do such a thing with her six year old just in the next room.

At least an hour passes, before they're done. At first, it's all quiet, but a few minutes later heavy footsteps marched down the hall.

Everly Rose's breathing picks up as she starts hyperventilating, before she scrambled out of bed and...

She. Crawled. Under. The. Bed. With. Me.

"Move over!" She hissed in a hushed tone, pushing me aside as she did. She didn't even glance at me, she just focused on the closed door as she tried to even her breathing.

"Oh, Everly," A sickly, sweet man's voice called from the other side of the door, before slowly turning the knob. "Ready to have some fun?" The smell of alcohol was lesser on him, too little for him to be intoxicated.

I knew then why Everly Rose wasn't scared of our monsters anymore; she now had her own...

The man creep into her room like a scolded dog. He moved closer to the bed, before stopping just beside it. "Why do you always hide, brat?" He seethed, thrusting his hand under the bed and gripping Everly Rose's little arm.

Before he could pull her out, I gripped his wrist. He hissed and retracted his hand.
"You little bitch!" He yelled, reaching under the bed again.

Before he could grab her, I slithered out and gripped his wrist tight enough to break. I stood at my full ten foot height before the man. Towering over him, I pulled him closer and slowly heated my hand, allowing it to get hotter slowly like an oven.

"How dare you harm a child." I growled, my golden eyes glowing. "If you ever touch, scare, harm, or even look at my child the wrong way ever again, I will find you and I will do the same to you, for all of eternity." I swore, releasing enough heat to burn his hand.

I released him and shoved him to the ground, hard. "Leave this house and never come back." I growled in my demonic voice.

As the suddenly somber man ran away, he soiled himself.

"It's safe now, you can come out, Everly Rose," I softened my voice, kneeling down beside the bed to help her out.

"What- what are you?" She stuttered, easing out from under her bed and looking at me with frightened gray eyes.

"Don't worry, darling," I smiled softly, offering her my hand. "That man will never hurt you again," Everly Rose took my hand and allowed me to pick her up.

"Go to sleep now, little one," I whispered, ticking her back into bed.

"Wait, will you read me a story?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course, darling," I smiled softly, tucking a brown curl behind her ear. "Go pick one out."

She giggled ~a beautiful sound, to my ears~ as she jumped out of bed and rushed over to the bookshelf beside her closet. After examining the shelf for a minute, she grabbed one and ran back to her bed. I tucked her back in as she handed me the book.

"Good Night Little Moon?" I questioned, reading the title. In the thousands of years I'd been alive, I never once imagined I'd be reading a bed time story to my assignment.

"It's my favorite!" She informed me, smiling like it was her birthday. "Mommy used to read it to me all the time," her smile faltered a little. "She doesn't read it to me anymore though,"

"Don't worry, darling," I offered her a small smile, before opening the book. "I'll read it to you every night if you'd like,"

"Yes please," she grinned, causing me to grin back.

"Okay," I started, reading the story to her.

After the story, Everly Rose was nearly asleep. I couldn't fight the smile as I leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back tomorrow, sleep well darling,"

"Goodnight, Miss monster lady," she sighed, clutching a small teddy bear as she rolled over on her side.

I couldn't fathom why anyone would want to harm such a sweet and innocent child like her. The thought of anybody harming her again sent my blood boiling. I would never let anyone hurt her again.

With one last glance at the sleeping six year old, I slipped out the window into the silent night, carefully closing it behind me.