“We all have our own monsters”

There is a monster inside my bedroom. He is hiding in the closet. I am scared.

But nobody would believe me. Not my mom. Not my dad, no one. And that’s because I am merely a child.

Nobody believes what a little child says.

But I tell you, under the dark tainted room, with closed windows, and a single peephole where the silver moonlight can pass, a looming shadow moves, a creaking sound can be heard.

Trapped inside by a wooden door that separates me from outside, I stay with the monster.

All of us have monsters in our bedroom. It could be under our beds, it could be one with the shadows, and it could be inside the closet. It’s there when we are alone.

As I clutch the ends of my bed cover with my tiny shaking hands, I stare at my old closet just across my bed. Waiting… waiting for the time that it would lure me out of my room or worse, devour me whole of what little I have.

“Help me” I said with my own ragged voice. I was engulfed by fear; I was strained from holding back and I was almost…almost tired of staying behind the wooden door, inside my bedroom.

Just then, a loud bang echoed across my unmoving walls when the wooden door suddenly opened. I jumped, twitched, and even flinched as my eyes darted towards the direction of the sound.

“It’s ing late in the evening. Why are you still awake?!” Was he even just merely speaking? It sounded more like a growl to my ears. It sounded foreign, dangerous, and almost unbearable.

“F-father…I-I…the…monster…” I stuttered as I pointed my closet; my index finger looked pathetically fragile as light from outside shone upon it.

“There are no such things as monsters, boy.” Father responded coldly to me.

For a moment, the monster inside my closet was forgotten. I raised my eyes and looked back at those icily dark orbs of my father. I breathed in a little and smelled the reeking alcohol from him; I tilted my head as I hear the muffled sobs of my mother from the next room. What did father do to him this time? No such things as monsters, he says.

“Really, Then how come I am looking at one right now?”

I never knew those words can and would come out from my very own mouth. But I didn’t feel sorry about it. As father pulled me off of my bed and made me kneel on the floor, I figured it wasn’t even necessary to be sorry. No matter what I do, I would still end up to this point. Father’s belt would still strike my scarred back, my bruised lips would still bleed again as I bite it down to stop myself from screaming and my mother… my dear precious mother would once again run inside my dark bedroom. She would hug me and protect me from any more blows from father. She would beg for father to stop with a tear stained face.

And all along while all of these happen, I see the monster inside my closet, peeking ever so slightly. The monster looks at me… smiles at me with its devious eyes, its crooked mouth chanting the same thing over and over again. “Almost there…almost there…”

A moment ago I would have cried at the sight of the monster but now, with the lovely family routine I am in, my dad striking his belt, shouting his vulgar words, my mom crying and pleading pathetically, I couldn’t care less if the monster is here… so close by.

It’s what the monster wants. It’s almost ready to devour me. Help me.

~(-_-)~

“Go to bed now, my dear child.”

I gripped my mom’s hand, ignoring the annoying ticking sound of the clock and the clicking of our shoes as we walked down our spacious hallway, “Do I have to?” I asked and looked up at her.

My mother responded with a soft laugh as she patted my head with her other hand. “Of course you do. You still want to grow up big and strong, right?”

“Can’t I sleep with you, mother?” I asked. My mother hesitated with a pause of her breath. She tried to hide it, but I can see that one thing that I never want her to possess.

Fear

“I’m sorry my dear child. Your mother will be sleeping late. I still need to sew some clothes; next time, yes?” She said with her bright smile that never reaches her green beautiful eyes.

“But… but there is a monster inside my room!” I whined desperately.

She smiled patiently and lovingly as always and said, “There are no such things as monsters, my dear chi--” Mother and I jumped as soon as we heard the strong voice of my