Pieces of a Puzzle

Monsters Who Eat Doritos

I had always wondered why I always heard someone breathing heavily from the inner cracks of my closet door. Since I was five, I awoke screaming when a noise coming from my bed. My parents always said, "Monsters aren't real, son. Go back to bed. The monsters don't exist." Oh yeah? Well if monsters aren't living underneath my bed, then who is always eating my leftover Dorito crumbs. Whoever it was is truly the monster here.

Then, one night, I heard by boards creak quickly and a rustle of air. Suddenly, my closet was slammed shut. I think I always knew what happened that night: the monster moved across the street. But that didn't make my situation any better. If anything, I was more terrified than before. Until that point, I had begun to believe that it wasn't real. That it was all a piece of my imagination. However, the closet slamming shut sounded like Death had to come to town and he wanted to look at me from across the street, awaiting the right moment to strike.

I was in constant fear. My worst nightmare was able to see through the shutters of my closet door. I would try to turn over toward my windows, attempting to forget the monster that sat amongst my underwear. I even tried to work my heart at my desk right before bed, wishing for my body to be so exhausted that my brain would forget about the horrors amongst me. However, none of my tactics had ever worked.

Now, at the age of thirteen and still living among what I believe is a monster, I face the only true way to no longer fear this monster. I had to face him and do everything I could to get rid of him. I walked over to the side of my door and grabbed my baseball bat. I stood to face the door to the monster's lair: my old hideout for clothing. I reached out my hand and grabbed the knob of the closet door, gripping my baseball bat as tightly as possible. Turning the knob, I threw open the door and braced for impact.

With the door held ajar, I finally gained sight of the beast who was eating all of my dang Dorito crumbs. The monster looked particularly humanoid. It had blue eyes and aged skin. Its brown covered most of its face and head. It was wearing a ragged red T-shirt and ripped jeans. I looked more closely at the monster, slowly letting go of my fear by the second. I realized what kind of thing this was.

"Are you homeless?" I asked, with curiosity and a bit of anger.

The monster answered, "No. I've lived here for years."

With every bit of strength I had, I held back from punching this monster in the face as hard as I could. I need it to answer one question before I did anything else. "Why did you eat Dorito crumbs?"

The monster cocked its head and said. "I thought those were for me." It squinted its eyes at me. "Did you seriously not know I was in here?"

At this point, there was no holding back.