The Book of Monsters.

Haunted.

A door tucked away in the kitchen caught your attention and you walked towards it. Pushing open the faded blue door, a long, low creek filled the decrepit house. You glanced down into the darkened basement and sure enough, Barbie was laying on the cold concrete floor among the dirt and discarded items.

Carefully, you crept down the basement steps.

Each step creaked painfully beneath your feet. You heard more then that though...scuffling and shuffling, the sound of quick movements. Though you were certain that you were hearing WAY too many creepy noises, you steeled yourself, determined to get that Barbie doll. You were almost halfway down the steps when the step beneath you cracked sharply. The stair snapped in half, causing you to fall down the rest of the steps as you tumbled towards the concrete.

You let out a shriek, fearing of whatever injury (or worse) you were about to receive once you hit the floor...you didn't though.

Instead of landing on the hard, cold concrete you landed on something...soft. Something warm...something that was breathing. It took a moment but you finally looked up only to see the famous monster.

He looked nothing like the story.

This creature was pitch black and fuzzy. Though you couldn't see all of him, you got the idea that he was rather tall and skinny. His eyes (he had two very large ones) were green and gleaming and just as wide and scared as your own.

A shrill, bird like screech suddenly filled the air, a sound so sharp that it made your ears ring and head ache painfully.

The monster suddenly bolted, rolling out from beneath you and running off into the darkness and leaving you confused...but grateful. He had saved you from something entirely unpleasant. The fall surely would have hurt or even killed you but he had saved you.

Were you right?

Was the monster not so monstrous? For a moment, you sat in the darkness and wondered if you had been right all along...

"Oh!"

Seeing the Barbie doll, you picked her up and said into the darkness,

"I'm going to go now. Thank you..."

You left, making sure to be much more careful on the steps this time. Before you left completely, you looked back into the darkness one more time...and you were certain that bright green eyes had been looking back at you.

~

You went back after that.

Maybe you shouldn't have but...you couldn't stop thinking about the monster. Had it been real? Had you really seen it? A part of you wondered if you had hit your head and hallucinated the entire thing. But when you remembered those bright, green eyes...you felt certain it had all been real. Unable to get it out of your head, you finally decided to go back to the house one night.

It was dark...and cold.

The entire house was eerily silent, except for the creaking of wood and the soft shuffling. Just like the basement, you realized. Sweeping your flashlight around the darkened house, you searched for something. Some sign of the legendary monster, some clue that you weren't crazy and that it hadn't been a dream.

At first, there was nothing.

Nothing but the darkness and the dust and the ever growing cold. Perhaps, you thought, it really had been nothing at all. Then you heard a low creak behind you and you whirled around, only to see him once more.

The monster.

His fur was blacker then black, so thick and shiny and rather soft looking. He was very tall, having to stoop a little in order to fit in the room, with long limbs and a thin form. With his green eyes glowing, the monster looked down at you curiously and you looked up at him, unable to speak. He, however, did speak. In a soft, raspy voice he whispered,