Title: Bump in the Night
Author: Me
Fandom: MASH
Pairing: None -- Hawkeye
Prompt: #74 Dark
Rating: Sergeant
Word Count: 340
Disclaimer: Nope … still don't own anything.
Summary: None.
Warning: None.
A/N: Okay so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. This fic was originally written for the yahoo mash-slash group prompt of "monster", however, it fit for the varietypack100 prompt of "dark" too. So I'm using it for both. It might be considered cheating … but, I did it anyway. It took me just over 10 minutes.
When I was a kid, I was terrified of the dark. I would wake up in the middle of the night and scream for my dad. And no matter what he did, no matter how many night lights he gave me or how many times he told me that monsters didn't exist, I was still afraid.
There were the noises under the bed. The shadows racing across the walls. The squeaky closet door that always seemed to be cracked open even though I made sure I closed it before climbing into bed and wrapping myself tightly within multiple layers of blankets.
I knew they were there -- waiting to take me away.
Here in Korea, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and I am always covered in sweat, my clothes sticking to my soaked skin -- even in the dead of winter -- my heart pounding so loudly that I could swear someone was beating a bass drum next to my ears. My dad's name is paused on the tip of my tongue, waiting to be screamed out.
And I want to call for him. I want him to tell me that the monsters don't exist. To bring me a new night light. To hold my hand and make me feel safe.
But I am a grown man now. I need to take care of myself. To chase away my own fears. But here, in this place, I find that I'm more afraid than ever.
Because war is the noise under the bed. Blood is the shadow racing across the walls. Bullets and shrapnel and broken bodies are the squeaky closet door that keeps coming open no matter how many times I try to close it.
There is nothing I can do, so I wrap myself tightly within my itchy wool Army blanket and wait for the morning to come when the monsters finally decide to leave me in peace.
