The Monster Under The Bed

 

The Monster Under The Bed

Billy hated Aunt Jennifer’s house. It was old, Victorian, dark and damp with a musty smell.

It’s former grandness had diminished, the paint was peeling and ancient wallpaper had faded over the years it was clear the house was in desperate need of a good amount of work. A sarcastic adult might have observed that this description could also have been applied to its ancient, once grand owner!

In the gloom of a November night the tall three storey house was unwelcoming and dark. No lights burned in any windows and without curtains drawn they appeared like black soulless eyes. Jenifer insisted EVERY light not in use was off and heated only the one room she spent time in at the back of the house. It was indeed the picture-perfect vision of a ‘haunted house’ to a child.

 

As Billy and his mum, Alison stood at the door waiting for Jennifer to make her way slowly up the hall he shuddered slightly and gripped his mums hand a little bit tighter. At eight he should be brave, but he did not feel even a tiny glimmer of courage. He breathed out, a slow steady stream of breath that hung in the cold November air.

‘Come on Billy, it is only for one night’ said his mum reassuringly ruffling his short brown hair. ‘I’m sorry it has to be here, but we have no choice. I have to go and see Grandma she needs my help’

Billy opened his mouth to reply but the outside light flicked on and the sound of the door unlocking prompted his mum to put a finger to her lips to hush him.

Jennifer scraped back the door, it always seemed to stick in damp cold weather and after ushering them in she swished down the hallway to her kitchen come living space.

Stepping into the house Billy felt the musty odour envelope him so that he could almost taste it. He propelled himself at top speed towards the square of light at the end of the hall without breathing, bursting noisily into the surprisingly welcome space. Jennifer glared disapprovingly from over her half glasses.

‘Aunt Jennifer, he will be fine’ snapped Alison spotting her cold glare and turning to Billy to smile reassuringly. Billy didn’t feel reassured, he felt like he had a knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. He could only watch as his mother dropped his overnight bag onto the carpet and push it to one side with her foot.

Jennifer softened a little and patted the seat next to her on the little sagging flower-patterned sofa. ‘Come Billy, sit with me for a while, we could play cards before you go to bed’

Billy reluctantly did as he was told, fidgeting and running his one foot over the other as he perched next to her. He surveyed the room from under his dark lashes taking in the blazing wood fire, the pot of ‘something’ bubbling on the cooker in the tiny kitchen and the pile of knitting wool and patterns on the tapestry footstool. But still, the shadows loomed in every corner, the firelight making them jump and twist with every flame flicker. The only source of light apart from the fire was a tall old fashioned standard lamp with a huge shade that stood behind the sofa. The shade was at a jaunty angle giving it an almost comical look.

With dismay Billy realised his mum was leaving and he jumped up to hug her goodbye. He clung to her, breathing in her familiar perfume, desperate to stop her from leaving. ‘Be good Bill’ she said blowing him a final kiss and then with a click of her heels on the tiled hall floor and a squeak of the door she was gone.

The evening passed slowly; Jennifer tried her best. She brought out some huge, musty old books of planes, they played snap and Billy tried and massively disliked the stew she had been simmering on the stove. It was probably a good job he had eaten a McDonalds in the car on the way, a peace offering from his mum for having to come here in the first place.

The clock on the fireplace struck 9pm with its booming chime. ‘Time for bed!’ said Jennifer a little too brightly. ‘You can read for half an hour, then SLEEP’ she commanded a bit like one might speak to a dog.

Billy grabbed his bag with both hands feeling its fabric bump against his legs as he walked. Part of him hanging back reluctant to leave the safety of the fire warmed room and part of him not wanting to get left behind in the shadows of the corridors and stairways of the house as he attempted to keep up with his great aunt.  At each point in the house Jennifer used only the light needed for them to see the way immediately snapping off the light behind them as they continued. Billy felt the dark at his back almost snapping at his heels, his neck prickled and he shivered involuntarily.

Finally, great aunt Jennifer opened the last door revealing a narrow staircase. ‘You are in the attic’ she announced as Billy’s heart sank. They had passed countless rooms, why the attic? He wondered.

At first glance it seemed the attic wasn’t so bad. It was a proper room at least, there were even some old toys in there amongst the trunks and boxes gathering dust. A rocking horse sat in the corner and a train engine seated on an eternal loop of track next to it.  It was very dark and Billy couldn’t see into the shadows, the only light in the room was from a single window set into the roof. It was a clear frosty night and the moon had just swung its way across the rooftop lighting up the attic space.

Billy squinted trying to see his surroundings. ‘I’m sorry, we don’t have any electric light up here’ said Jennifer. ‘But we do have this’ she said almost triumphantly,holding up a large lantern containing a church candle.

Even at 8 years old Billy knew in his head that candles were bad and a fire risk but surely his aunt was an adult and if she said it was safe, he would be fine. He wanted to cry but his mum had said he needed to be brave. He swallowed hard.

Once the candle was lit he was better able to see, almost to the edges of the room. There was a large wooden bed with ornate carving and a chest of drawers. A rug was placed to the side of the bed. It looked ok, but secretly Billy longed for his own cosy room with its planet night light, shelves of books and stuffed animals. Longed for the comfort of knowing his mum was downstairs.

Jennifer placed the candle on the chest of drawers the handle making a ‘clunk’ as it hit the lantern side. For a moment the candle flickered making the shadows dance and the rocking horse look as if it was moving ever so slightly. ‘Now did you bring a book Billy? I did tell your mum to bring one.’

Billy nodded, he reached into his bag and pulled out his favourite book. Billy loved books about monsters. He had several and it had taken him ages to choose which one to bring, settling in the end for the one that had a purple monster on the cover that looked a little bit like an angry tree.

‘You do know that monsters aren’t real don’t you Billy?’ Jennifer said as she perched on the end of his bed with the book in her hands. She looked at him intently over her little gold rimmed glasses.

‘Yes! Yes of course...’ Said Billy but his voice trailed off at the end of his words.

‘Good I should think so!’ Jennifer said in a no-nonsense kind of way ‘Now let me show you where the bathroom is, you can change in there and don’t forget to wash. I’ve put out fresh towels so you can use any of them.’

Ten minutes later, all necessary toiletry requirements completed Billy scooted up the attic stairs two at a time and jumped into the big bed. Aunt Jennifer had been down to the kitchen and filled a hot water bottle. It wasn’t really cold in the attic surprisingly, but Billy was grateful of the comforting warmth from the bottle as the sheets were quite cool. The sheets smelt new as well, they hadn’t had time to develop that musty odour that permeated the rest of the house. He really, really wished he had brought teddy Edward with him, but teddy was at home on his bookshelf because Billy was trying to be grown up. But eight didn’t really feel that grown up at all, not now.

Jennifer read one of his monster tales to him, it was a bit of a monotone affair, no funny monster voices like his mum always put on, but it felt good to hear something familiar in these unfamiliar surroundings.

Aunt Jennifer left giving him strict instructions that he to settle down after he had read two more stories to himself. She would pop back and check on him and extinguish the candle in half an hour.

Billy read the first story, his mouth moving silently as he spelt out the words in his head, then his attention started to wander. His eye fell on the train track, he was tempted to go take a look, but his bed was a safe island in a dark shadowy world of the unknown. It wasn’t far, probably no more than five steps from the rug at the bedside.

Within seconds Billy had swung his legs out of the bed and was across the room. He ran his hand down the rocking horses’ mane and wrinkled his nose at the dust cloud that rose up from it. Dropping to his knees he examined the train engine and then pushed it along with one finger. It squeaked in protest as its wheels ground into life, Billy was fascinated and spent a good ten minutes pushing it round the track until something caught his eye. Something moved under the bed, just a fleeting movement that he only saw from the corner of his vision.

Billy froze and his mouth went dry. The candle flickered as if it had hit a sudden draught and the shadows leapt and retracted. He decided that if he was in the bed, off the floor, whatever it was couldn’t get him so mustering all his courage Billy ran the five steps to the bed and literally launched himself onto it feet first. He scrambled to pull the sheet over him, as long as none of his limbs were over the bed edge he would be ok, those were the rules. IF monsters obeyed rules that is, and Billy wasn’t sure they did.

Billy held the water bottle to his chest letting the warmth radiate through him, he could feel his heart beating so fast. Surely, he’d imagined whatever he had THOUGHT he’d seen?  Then the sheet was slowly but deliberately pulled down the bed and that’s when he screamed.

Aunt Jennifer hammered up the stairs as fast as her nearly eighty-year-old legs would carry her, she looked mad as hell. ‘What on earth are you yelling for?’ she demanded standing with her hands on her hips.

Billy was as white as a sheet. ‘There’s something under the bed’ he stated without even a tremor in his voice. In fact at that moment, he wasn’t even sure he had been the one to speak the words, he felt as if they had just been said by another voice inside him.

Jennifer got down on the rug on all fours with great effort, she lifted the sheet and throw and peered under the bed. She even got up, complaining about her knees and hips, fetched the lantern and looked again. ‘There’s nothing there!’ she snapped ‘It’s just your imagination, and that stupid book you brought with you filling your head with nonsense’

‘We don’t even have mice!’ she continued under her breath. ‘Go to sleep Billy, your mother is fetching you after breakfast, not a moment too soon if you ask me!’

With that she blew out the candle, stomped down the stairs and turned off the light on the landing.

Billy’s eyes adjusted slowly to the gloom, the silvery moonlight had moved further along the rooftops casting a pool of light on the rocking horse. He pulled the sheet tight around him right up to his chin, drew his knees up to his chest and shut his eyes tightly. He prayed his mum would come back RIGHT NOW.

For a good five minutes nothing happened, and Billy was just starting to relax when he felt something. There was a weight, like someone leaning on the bed and a noise, a scraping, scratching noise. Billy screwed his eyes shut tighter still and put his hands over his eyes too for good measure.

Suddenly the weight was gone, but the scraping, dragging noise was moving along the floorboards. He wasn’t sure but it seemed to be moving under the bed towards the bed head. It went quiet, too quiet. Billy opened one eye, peeking between his fingers, nothing.

The smell hit him first, this wasn’t musty Aunt Jens house smell, this was fetid and rotten. The smell reminded Billy of when Pickle the cat had brought home a mouse and it had died behind the freezer, it was a sickening gut-wrenching smell. Seconds later the most terrifying apparition slid swiftly and surprisingly silently, up from behind the headboard.

Billy fleetingly saw the face, white, ghost like with bulging yellow eyes and matted hair. Filthy, stained and rotting clothes clung to its skeletal frame. Billy pressed himself deeper and deeper into the mattress, sobbing silently. Monsters weren’t supposed to be like this, they were zany colours with spots and stripes, sometimes angry, but never evil like this.  He could feel the creatures foul smelling breath as it got closer and when it reached out a bony hand and touched his head, Billy uttered a scream so loud it could be heard several streets away.

Downstairs aunt Jennifer heard the scream. ‘Stupid boy!’ she muttered under her breath as she raised her eyes to the ceiling ‘Elizabeth only wants to play!’

As the scream continued to reverberate around the house, she picked up her knitting and put the radio up to full volume …

 

Sarah Russell Dark Wishes Designs 2021