The Monster Under My Bed

I have a confession to make. I am 19 years old and I still believe in monsters. More specifically, the monster that lives under my bed. I know it sounds ridiculous. That’s why I don’t usually talk about it. But I just can’t seem to shake off the feeling. I have been searching for it my whole life. I never found any trace of it, but I am certain it exists. When I was a kid, my parents tried everything to make me feel safe. They checked under my bed countless times. I even asked my friends to check and they all did. They all said they didn’t see anything. My parents thought that I was just trying to get attention and eventually, I did too. But once I went to bed, all the fear would come back. It’s hard to explain. It’s like I knew it was there. Even though I couldn’t see it, I could feel it. When I turned 18, my parents kicked me out. They said I couldn’t live with them any longer. They didn’t like the fact that I was still afraid of monsters. I wasn’t surprised. They had given me many chances to change. But I just couldn’t. I found a job in a big city miles away from my village. I rented an apartment with two rooms. I lived alone for the first time in my life. My parents didn’t even help me move. They stayed in our village. They said I couldn’t come back. As hard as it is to believe, leaving my parents made me feel better. I started working in a restaurant and that kept me busy. I finally had time for myself to think. I felt like I was doing okay. I didn’t feel scared anymore. I even forgot about the monster. But only for a while. One day, as I was making my bed, I saw something that made my whole body freeze. It was a big brown eye peeking out from under my bed. I recognised it immediately. That was *the* eye. The eye of the monster. I was paralyzed in fear. I couldn’t move. I started to sweat and I couldn’t breathe. But as I looked into it, I didn’t feel fear anymore. I felt something else. It was something I couldn’t describe. It was like... understanding. I slowly sat on the bed next to it. It didn’t move. I looked at it for a few minutes. It just kept looking back at me. I finally felt brave enough to talk to it. “Who are you?”. I asked. “I am the monster under your bed” it replied in a deep voice. It was talking. I couldn’t believe it. “Why didn’t you show yourself before?”. I asked. “I was waiting for you. You weren’t ready”. It replied. “When will I be ready?”. I asked. “You are ready now”. It replied. I stood up and slowly walked around the bed. It stood up. It was huge. I had to look up to see its face. It was humanoid with long arms that seemed to never end. Its whole body was covered in thick brown fur. “Are you going to hurt me?”. I asked. “No. You are not scared of me. You don’t think I am a monster” it replied. I looked it straight in the eye and saw... understanding. “No. I am not scared anymore”. I replied. It smiled. It had big white teeth. They looked sharp. “Because you finally understand what I am”. It said. “I finally understand what you are?”. I asked. “Yes. I am not a monster. I am just a creature. Living its life like any other living being. What you saw in me was mere speculation. It wasn’t real”. It replied. “I am sorry. I feel like I wasted your time. You could have been living your life if it wasn’t for me” I said. “That’s okay. You are my purpose. Humans are wired to fear things they don’t understand. That’s why we are here. To make you understand. But only if you want to”. It replied. “If we want to? What do you mean?”. I asked. “Not everyone wants to understand. They are too afraid. They don’t want to know. But you do. You aren’t afraid. I can see it in your eyes. You are different”. It replied. I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless. It was talking to me like it knew me. But it was the first time we talked. I didn’t know it at all. But somehow, I felt like I knew it. Like it was an old friend. “Do you want to see where I live?”. It asked. “Yes, please. I would like that”. I replied. “Follow me”. It said. It walked towards the bed and I followed. We both lay on the floor and it pushed the bed away. It was strong. I didn’t expect that. Behind the bed, there was a whole different world. I couldn’t believe it. I never thought something like this existed. The ground was covered in grass and there were big trees and a river going through. I saw many creatures. Some I recognised and some I didn’t. “Is this where you live?”. I asked. “Yes. This is where I live”. It replied. It was beautiful. I was speechless. I couldn’t believe I had been living above this place for months and I didn’t know. It showed me around the whole place. I was amazed by everything I saw. Then, I saw another creature. It looked like the monster but it was smaller and had a different colour. It was grey. “Who is that?”. I asked. “My daughter. Her name is Luna”. It replied. I smiled. I felt happy for some reason. I didn’t know why. “Hello Luna”. I said. Luna was shy. She didn’t say anything. She smiled back though. The monster smiled. It seemed happy. But then, it suddenly stopped smiling. “I need to ask you something”. It said. “Okay. What is it?”. I replied. “I have been watching you since you moved in. I know what happened to you. Do you want to go back to your parents?”. It asked. I didn’t expect that. I wasn’t ready to answer. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it. But I could see the sincerity in its eyes. I knew it meant it. But I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I wanted to go back. “I don’t know. I need time to think”. I replied. “Okay. I will give you time. But I need you to know that if you want to go back, you will never come back here. This is your only chance. Once you go back, you can’t come back. Do you understand?”. It asked. “Yes. I understand”. I replied. “Okay. Then you have 30 days to think about it. But don’t take too long. Your parents are waiting for you”. It said. “Okay. Thank you”. I replied. “You are welcome”. It replied. 30 days isn’t a lot of time to make a decision like this. I knew that. But I was trying my best. I was thinking about it all the time but I couldn’t make up my mind. I was very confused. I didn’t know what I wanted. So, I decided to ask for help. The only person I knew that could help me was the monster. “Hey. I need to ask you something”. I said. “What is it?”. It replied. “I don’t know what to do. I want to stay with you but at the same time, I want to go back to my parents. I am so confused”. I said. “Why do you want to go back?”. It asked. “I don’t know. I love them I guess. I feel bad for them. I don’t want them to be sad”. I replied. “They are not sad. They are angry. And you know that. Don’t lie to yourself. The reason you want to go back is because you feel guilty. You don’t want to leave them like this. But you can’t make them happy. You tried. And they didn’t listen. They are stubborn. They don’t want to change. So, you can’t change them. That’s why you have to move on. And that’s okay. You don’t owe anyone anything. You don’t have to feel guilty. They didn’t take care of you. They don’t love you. They are not your parents anymore”. It said. I didn’t expect that. But everything it said was true. I knew it. But I couldn’t accept it. I still felt bad for leaving them. But now, I felt bad for leaving the monster too. “Why are you doing this for me? You don’t even know me”. I asked. “I am doing this for you because you are different. You are not like any other human I met. You are kind and respectful. You don’t think I am a monster like everyone else. You are my friend. And I would do anything for a friend”. It replied. I didn’t know what to say. I felt my eyes welling up with tears. It said I was its friend. I had never felt that way. I had never been treated like that. My parents never treated me like that. No one ever treated me like that. “Thank you. You are my friend too

The Monster Under My Bed

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