Bedtime - A Short Story Anthology

Esmeralda and Belchalot

Esmeralda and Belchalot

By ShawnRobinson102

Princess Belchalot awoke to a light in her room. She opened her eyes to see what it was and saw, over by her mirror, a lamp shining brightly.

The real problem, though, was not the lamp. Sitting before her mirror was a Monster. It sat there, looking at itself in the mirror with a big smile on its face.

The Monster had hair sticking out in every direction and teeth sharper than knives. It sat there, growling and drooling all over the table.

Princess Belchalot recognized the creature. Her father, the king, had warned her about it. It was a Monster named "Esmeralda."

Normally, Belchalot would have crawled under her covers and hoped the Monster would go away, but not this time. Not only was the Monster wearing one of her dresses, but it was also wearing her crown.+

Belchalot pushed away her fear and jumped out of bed. "Hey! That's my dress and my crown! You give those back right now!"

Esmeralda turned quickly in her seat and looked at Princess Belchalot! Its eyes grew large, and it bared its large and dangerous teeth.

"Aaaaaaaaaah! A real, live Princess! Don't eat me!" Esmeralda, the Monster, screamed, before jumping to her feet and running out the door with poor Belchalot's dress and crown.

The Princess was shocked! She had just been robbed. She wondered if she should call for the guards to come to help her, but then thought, "No! I'm a Princess! I can get my own crown and dress back!"

She was only wearing her nightclothes, and it would not be proper for a Princess to go running out into the castle hallways in only her nightclothes, so she looked around her room quickly. The first clothing she saw was her woolly winter coat. It would cover her nightclothes, so she put it on and ran out into the hallway.

She followed the sound of Esmeralda's growls down the corridor. She knew the castle well and could see the creature was heading for the kitchen. "This is great," Princess Belchalot said to herself, "the cooks in the kitchen won't let the Monster get away!"

She turned a corner and saw Esmeralda enter the kitchen. As it stepped inside, all sound in the kitchen came to a stop.

She smiled and said to herself, "Now I've got you, Monster!"

From up ahead, she heard one of the cooks say, "My dear Princess Belchalot! What are you doing up at this time of the night, all dressed up in a beautiful dress and wearing such a glorious crown. Are you hungry for a snack?"

Princess Belchalot came to a stop just outside the door. "Do they really think that's me standing in there? Can't they recognize a Monster?" she asked herself.

She stepped into the kitchen, expecting everyone to recognize her. She stood next to the scared looking Esmeralda. One of the cooks jumped when she saw the Princess and knocked a tin of flour which spilled all over the Princess.

The little Princess wiped the flour out of her eyes. She opened her mouth to tell everyone that Esmeralda was not the princess, but a Monster wearing a dress and a crown, but when she opened her mouth, a mouthful of flour went in. She coughed and gagged and tried to say, "It's me, I'm the Princess," but instead, all that came out was a cough and a growl.

The cooks heard the growl, saw her woolly coat and pasty white skin from the flour and yelled, "It's a Monster!"

Everyone, including the real monster, Esmeralda, screamed in fear of the woolly, flour-covered, coughing, growling creature standing before them. Esmeralda turned and ran out the door.

Princess Belchalot turned and ran after the monster. She had to get her dress and crown back, but behind her, she heard a cook declare, "That woolly monster is after our dear princess! We have to rescue her!"

Princess Belchalot ran for her life. The cooks were coming to get her! She had never been more terrified in her life. The Monster Esmeralda ran from the princess, and the princess ran from the cooks. As she ran down the hallway, others joined in the chase to try to rescue the one they thought was their princess from one who looked like a woolly, flour-covered monster.

Princess Belchalot rounded a corner and saw the Monster standing still at the end of a dead-end hallway. She couldn't stop. She was chasing the monster, but everyone else was chasing her.

She didn't know what to do so she continued to run. By this time, there had to be fifty people from the castle chasing her.

She ran right into the scared looking Esmeralda, and the two of them tumbled together on the ground. When they came to a stop, the Princess grabbed the crown off the Monster's head and put it on her own head.

The crowd of people stopped and stared at the two sitting on the ground in front of them. The one they thought was their princess, no longer had a crown. The one they thought was their monster, with the woolly coat and flour covered skin, was now wearing the crown.

By this time, the flour had cleared out of Princess Belchalot's throat, and she announced very clearly, "I am Princess Belchalot! Stop chasing me!"

She then looked down at the very scared looking Esmeralda. She felt sorry for it but had an idea. "This monster is my friend. I want to give her a crown of her own. She... um... can keep my dress. It looks... okay on her. She's my friend."

The Monster looked up at Princess Belchalot and smiled. Unfortunately, the smile, with all the teeth, looked dangerous.

When Princess Belchalot, the cooks and everyone else saw the dangerous looking smile, they screamed and ran in fear for their lives. Esmeralda didn't know what was going on, so she growled and ran after her new friends.