- Carter Age 6-

A chilling sound down the hall came from their young daughter's bedroom one rainy Summer night alerting Fred and Daphne that something was not quite right. This shrill sound was indeed a scream coming from Carter's room and it came directly after a roaring boom of thunder that not even the wooden floorboards of the estate were safe from as you could feel the vibrations under each step you took.

Prior to all of this commotion, both parents were enjoying a quiet night in as they were found cuddled up on their spacious sofa under a throw blanket watching a movie on demand with a large bowl of popcorn resting in-between them. They were about an hour into the film when they bolted upright in reaction to the scream. They both look at each other, their minds racing with thoughts of what lurking danger has made their daughter so frightful and immediately bounded upstairs, not even noticing the entire bowl of popcorn that spilled on the floor as a result.

Feeling the familiar polished woodwork from the stairwell banister, Fred raced upwards with his wife following close behind. They made their way down the long looming hallway both being careful to avoid the various tables and artsy decorations that were scattered along the way. Daphne was not so lucky with her safe travels as she found her feet slipping on the maroon cotton rug and skidding right into a oriental vase that she had received last Christmas from her parents. Upon doing so, she cursed under her breath and attempted to push herself back up. Fortunately, her doting husband noticed her struggle, turned around, and offered his hand to her. She took it, cursing her wretched clumsiness in her head, and continued the trek onward.

Arriving at their daughter's door, both adults took a breather as they leaned upon the door frame and noticed something peculiar about the interior of the room- there was no one occupying the purple twin size bed that rest in the center of the rather large room. Instead there was a lump of blankets on the floor that rocked back and forth almost in sync with the pouring rain that danced across the nearby window.

Fred quickly noticed two long ears that poked out of the blanket fortress and approached it, bending down, and lifting up the various coverings which revealed his daughter tightly embracing her stuffed rabbit ironically named Hammy. Tears were streaming down Carter's face as her father titled her head positioning her vision to her parents rather than to the floor.

Upon noticing the presence of her parents, Carter rushed straight into her father's embrace and hid her head in his comforting, strong arms. Feeling a sense of safety, Carter was brave enough to look up as she wiped away a few stray tears off of her face. Fred then decided to lift her back on top of her soft, welcoming bed. Daphne walked closer joining them as she placed a comforting hand upon her husband's shoulder as he sat with their daughter on the bed.

As soon as Carter calmed down, Fred spoke out pulling his daughter into a small encompassing hug "Now sweetheart what's wrong?" He asked.

She paused for a few seconds composing herself by rubbing her stuffed rabbit's ears and replied "I don't like the thunderstorms outside" as she slightly avoided eye contact with her parents.

Daphne then came into the conversation with a worried look on her face, "Carter, thunderstorms can't hurt you. They are outside and you're safe inside with us. The only scary thing about them is the sound, but that always goes away. I swear mommy and daddy will be here to protect you, there's no need to be frightened dear."

Despite the reassurance from her parents, Carter still seemed to be on edge with the thought of thunderstorms.

"Buu..buut...but", she mumbled nervously, "Penny told me that storms make all the monsters come out."

Penny was a classmate at Carter's elementary school that has been known to share outrageous stories to the other kids and both Fred and Daphne made a mental note to bring this issue up again in a email sometime in the near future.

Now the monster aspect brought up another touchy subject on the table. Upon arriving into parenthood, they knew that they never wanted to bring up their past monster hunting endeavors with Carter, so they decided to hide their past from their daughter at all costs and by doing so they had to keep her out of the limelight as well. Thankfully, Jones was a common last name and Carter did not really resemble her parents that much with her long, brown, curled locks. The first thing on their agenda after she was born was to employ a nanny figure to be present in her life that could escort her places and look after her when both parents were busy at work, which occurred frequently. This is where Wilkinson came in, not only is he the family's butler but he also serves as Carter's co-guardian.

"Honey, Penny may have said that, but trust us it isn't true" claimed Daphne as she reached out to stroke a stray piece of hair behind her daughter's ear. "Plus", she continued, "even if there were monsters, they should be more scared of you then you should be of them."

This new information struck a chord in Carter as she somehow felt more brave and sported a determined look on her face.

"Ya you're right mommy, I'm not scared of monsters. Monsters are scared of me" Carter exclaimed as she stood up on her bed clutching Hammy in her small hands.

Fred smiled softly at his daughter's remark and happened to stumble his view across the pink princess alarm clock on the adjacent nightstand realizing that it was almost 1 in the morning. Alerting his wife of the late time of night, both parents took to a side of Carter's bed and tucked her in for the night. They then planted a kiss on her cheek before saying goodnight and making their way to exit her room.

Allowing one last look at their now sleeping daughter, the concern and worry left both Fred and Daphne's faces as they then realized at this moment in time that their daughter will grow to be fearless young woman and nothing shall stand in her way.