My son has autistic meltdowns, but that's not what's terrifying.

My son is severely autistic. I’m not sure what his diagnosis is, as he is still quite young, but we have been told that he is at least non-verbal, and possibly non-communicative. He is 8 years old now, and he cannot speak a word. Sometimes he will say something that sounds like a word, but we have no idea what he is saying. <br><br>He also has frequent meltdowns. He throws temper tantrums, screams, hits himself, and even bites to the point of bleeding. We have had to take him to the hospital on more than one occasion because of his bites. We’ve had to take him multiple times because of breaks in his skin. My wife is generally at her wits end by the end of a long day. She is the one that stays with him, so I can’t really blame her.<br><br>This is relevant because my son has frequent outbursts at night. He’ll wake up yelling and screaming, and we have to go check on him, make sure he is safe, and then stop his outbursts. It’s usually pretty easy to figure out what he is upset about. His night guard isn’t fitted right, or he is too hot, or he needs the bathroom. <br><br>Once he gets to sleep, he doesn’t usually wake up, but lately he has been waking up a lot at night, and throwing fits over nothing. At least, that is what we thought. <br><br>I work second shift, so I am always the one to check on him. I go into his room, make sure that he is safe, check the obvious things, and then usually just make sure he is comfortable. If he is still upset, I will usually just sit in his room with him until he is calm and can go to sleep.<br><br>There’s been this one night recently that I just can’t seem to get out of my head. I keep replaying it every time I close my eyes, and I just can’t seem to get rid of it. <br><br>I woke up to my wife shaking me. “Wake up! He’s scared, and needs his daddy!”<br><br>I groggily stumbled from our room, down the hall, and into his room. The first thing that struck me was how cold it was in his room. The second thing was that he was crying, but he wasn’t upset. He wasn’t scared, or angry, he was just crying. <br><br>I walked over to his bed, and saw that it hadn’t been slept in. He was laying on the floor on the other side of the bed when I saw him. He was sitting on the ground, his back against the bed, and the crying. His eyes were closed, and his hands were clasped in front of him. He looked like he was praying. <br><br>“Hey buddy, what seems to be going on here? You haven’t gone to sleep yet?” He just shook his head. I could see the tears in his eyes. <br><br>I reached into his window and opened the blinds. I turned on a few lights and tried to turn on the TV, but he quickly turned his head towards me. I saw terror in his eyes. “No TV, daddy.” He said. <br><br>“Okay buddy. You don’t have to watch TV. How about we get some sleep?” I said. <br><br>“No sleep, daddy.” He said again, quickly. <br><br>I decided to humor him, and I sat down on the bed. I was just going to sit up all night with him, and keep him company. I don’t know how long we sat there, but at some point, I dozed off. I woke up to the sound of him screaming. I jumped up and ran over to him, and that is when I saw it. <br><br>The window was open, the blinds were closed, and my son was crawling under the bed. I turned and ran for the light switch, and flipped it. The lights flickered for a moment, and then went out. I tried again. They flickered, and then turned on. <br><br>That was when I saw it. Something was sticking out from under the bed, and it looked like a hand. I rushed over to the bed and lifted the edge of it. My son was crawling towards me, a look of terror on his face. I reached down and grabbed him, pulling him under the bed with me.<br><br>“What’s going on here, buddy?” I asked. He pointed towards the side of the bed.<br><br>I looked, and nothing was there. “There’s nothing there, son.” I said again.<br><br>Then I heard it. It sounded like a bunch of sticks breaking all at once. I turned and saw something moving towards me. It looked like a branch, but it was moving. I reached forward and felt something stop in front of my face. It was a finger, and it was pushing right against my lips.<br><br>“Shh.” A voice said. <br><br>I drew my hand back and smacked the finger away. I brought my fist down on the ground, and hit something hard. I felt something squishy, and then I was able to move my fist.<br><br>I turned and crawled towards my son. He was pointing at the side of the bed again. I turned and saw some sticks. They were moving like bugs, but they were most definitely sticks. I realized that they were the fingers of whoever was under my son’s bed. <br><br>I reached forward and grabbed at the fingers, and I was greeted by a hand full of sticks. I brought my fist back and punched the bed as hard as I could. I felt the squishy feeling again, and then I was able to punch all the way through the bed so that my fist was in the room. <br><br>I brought it back, and punched again and again, until a head poked out from underneath the bed. It looked like a branch, but it had a face. It was covered in the same sticks that we had seen. The face was twisted and disfigured, and the mouth was stretched across the width of it’s head. There was a long tongue that lolled out of the mouth, and the eyes were bright green. <br><br>“Why did you bring the light?” It said. <br><br>I was frozen. My son looked like he was frozen too. We were both terrified, and could not move. The head got closer to me, and I saw that the tongue was curling up and down in the mouth. The mouth was stretched so wide that the tongue looked like it was not in the mouth at all. <br><br>“Why did you bring the light?” It asked again. <br><br>I didn’t have an answer, but the creature just shook its head. “I will be back, once the sun has gone.” It said. <br><br>The head retreated, and I heard the sound of sticks breaking again. I waited for a moment, and then I backed out from under the bed, my son in tow. I reached forward and felt the bed, and it was unbroken. I stood up and looked around, and everything looked the same. I saw that the window and blinds were closed. <br><br>“Alright buddy, time for bed.” I said. <br><br>I tucked my son in, and went back to bed with my wife. I slept until the morning, when I got up for work. <br><br>When I got home, my wife was frazzled. “What happened last night?” She asked. <br><br>I thought for a moment before answering. “Nothing important.” I said. <br><br>I went into my son’s room, and closed the blinds. I turned off the lights, and crawled under the bed. <br><br>I reached forward, and felt a squishy patch of the ground. I hit it with my fist, and it was solid. <br><br>I waited there, in the darkness, and I heard the sound of sticks breaking.