Terrorific Tales

Jump!*

I never grew out of turning the lights off, running and jumping into my bed. The dark had ceased to be scary years ago, but I still did it, every night. I would even cover my head with the blankets. However, as an adult, this was silly behavior and I had finally met a person I wanted to live with, possibly even marry. I had to break the habit. It took some thought and ingenuity on my part, but I finally caught the monstrous beast that had lived under my bed since my childhood. I went to a cousin's house that I don't really like and has seven kids, along with a bottle of organic lemon & kale wine, and when they weren't looking, I let him go. He immediately skittered up the stairs and disappeared from view. That night, I turned out the lights and forced myself to not rush my bed like a linebacker trying to sack the quarterback, by repeating the mantra "there is not a monster under my bed" with each step. It took about a week, but it worked! Also, I stopped sleeping with the covers over my head for the first time in more than two decades!

*This was originally written for one of the Gishwhes 2016 scavenger hunt challenges.  I wrote several, but my team voted to use a different one I wrote.  So, I got to share this one early.  :-)