Shower Thoughts

Bed Monster

Lucy woke and sat straight up in her small bed. She thought she heard something while she was sleeping; and so peered into the darkness, searching for any movement. Then, she saw a tiny figure move near her door.

Lucy gasped and threw the covers over her head. There was a big crash and slowly she peeked out from under her blankets. Over by the door she saw a very small fury creature laying on the floor with her building blocks strewn all around it. The creature had fallen from the tower it had built with the blocks.

Lucy watched cautiously as the fury creature began to cry. Feeling sorry for it, she got out of bed and carefully walked over to it, trying very hard not to scare it. When she was close, Lucy stopped and quietly said, "Excuse me."

Suddenly the fury creature jumped up and speedily ran over to her closet. Slightly startled, Lucy crept over to her closet and pulled open the door just a crack for her to look through.

Inside Lucy saw the creature curled up in a ball, cuddling one of her fluffy slippers in the back corner of the closet. Now that she was closer to it, Lucy could see more of the tiny creatures features. He had big yellow eyes that looked up at her with fear in them, he had paw-like hands and pointy ears, like a cat. But he also had two very tiny horns on his head like a baby goat, his fur was a dark grey colour and he had black claws. He wasn't scary to her anymore, he looked rather cute in fact.

"Hello there." Lucy said, "Why are you hiding?"

Looking confused as to whether he should answer, the little fury creature replied, "Y-you're a human. Please don't eat me!"

Lucy giggled, "Eat you? Why would I want to do that? I want to be your friend."

"My friend? But humans are supposed to be mean and scary."

"I'm not mean and scary. I'm Lucy Tuck, and I'm five years and one third old. What's your name?"

The little creature seemed to relax slightly as he sat up properly and put down Lucy's slipper. "My name is Monko." He said, still a little frightened and unsure of Lucy.

Lucy sat down, opening the closet door a bit more. "Monko? Well, that's a funny name." She laughed.

Monko smiled and said, "Well I think Lucy is a funny name. I don't know anyone named Lucy." His teeth were small and pointy, and they looked very strange to Lucy.

"Well I know two Lucy's." She said, holding up two fingers and smiling with her new big front tooth. This time, Monko laughed as well.

After a few moments Lucy put her hands firmly on her knees and asked, "So, why are you in my room? What are you doing here?"

Monko's face turned sad. "I'm looking for my mother. I don't know where she's gone."

"Oh no!" Lucy cried, "What happened?"

"I don't know, I woke up one morning and she was gone." Monko wiped a tear away and continued. "We normally move from house to house, staying hidden under your beds at night. But today I woke up and she was gone. So I decided to go look for her. She's never left me alone. Something's happened to her, I just know it."

Lucy's head was resting in her hand as she listened to his story. That did sound odd, and her mother would never just leave her alone like that either. But did he say they hide under their beds? "Monko? What do you mean you stay hidden under our beds at night?"

Monko looked at Lucy as if she just asked if the tooth fairy was real or not. "We're the bed monsters. We sleep under beds, children's beds are usually safer. But don't worry, we're really very nice - once you get to know us." Monko smiled with his pointy teeth.

"I told mummy that something was under my bed!" Lucy clapped excitedly. Then she grumbled, "But she never believed me."

Monko smiled again. "Well I should go." He said climbing out of the closet. "I should get back to looking for mother."

"I can help!" Lucy offered, "I'm good at finding lost things. Now your mother's a lost thing, so maybe I could help you find her."

Walking over to the door, Monko said, "Well you could start by helping me open the door. I'm too little and I can't reach the handle."

Letting out a giggle, Lucy said, "Alright, but first I need to go back to bed. I'm very sleepy and mummy will get angry if she finds out I was up all night. But we can start looking first thing tomorrow. It'll be bright so it will be easier to find clues!"Lucy smiled as she walked over to her bed again, hopped up and crawled back under the covers. "You can sleep with me up here if you want to." She offered, pushing one of her teddies off the bed.

Monko waddled over to the bed and said, "No thank you. I much prefer to sleep under the bed, it's much more comfortable than your soft mattress."

Lucy laughed at that. "If you say so."

The two of them wiggled around until they were comfortable; Lucy in her soft, warm bed, and Monko curled up in a ball under the cool bed, they slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Goodnight, Monko." Lucy said.

"Goodnight, new friend, Lucy." replied Monko.

So the two of them slept soundly, dreaming of their new friend, until the morning when they would begin their investigation and find Monko's mother.

The end.

Join Lucy and Monko next time on their mystical journey in search of Monko's missing mother.