"Alright Wendy, we're going to try again tonight. But if you're still too scared then you can sleep in our room, ok?"
Wendy nodded against her mama's shoulder, her hand wrapped around a strand of thick, silver hair. Her daddy walked next to them and placed his strong hand on her back.
"You take as much time as you need, kiddo. We'll be right here for you."
They walked down the hallway and Wendy gripped her mama tightly. The colors and music from her favorite movie faded from her mind as they approached her bedroom. Her heart pounded and she squeezed her mama tighter when her daddy opened the pretty white door. Mama stepped into the bedroom and Wendy squealed, closing her eyes tightly.
Nothing happened.
Heart thudding, she cracked an eye open, ready to close them again at the first sign of anything scary. Her night light filled the room with a soft glow, making the floor covered in toy-shaped shadows. She saw her doll house sitting nicely next to the wall-portal and her fluffy bed seemed to call out to her. No shadows clung to the corners, no moving shapes creeped across the ceiling. She opened her eyes fully and lifted her head, feeling the crisp, clean air of her room.
"Well, what do you think, Sweetie...want to try sleeping here tonight?"
"But what about the wall-portal?" She buried her face in her mama's shoulder, not even daring to look.
"Oh, you mean this wall-portal? It's all good now...see? Nice, solid locks." Daddy wiggled the window, still proud of himself for finding the best locks in town.
Wendy wiggled her legs to be let down and hopped to her bed, freezing at the edge when she thought she saw a bright sparkle dart under the bed. Shaking her head, she pulled her stuffed kitty into her arms and climbed beneath the covers. Mama and daddy gave her tons of goodnight kisses and promised to keep the door open. With a final wave, they turned and left the room, leaving her completely alone.
Her heart pounded and she trembled under her blankets. She kicked her feet, flinging the covers to the side, and draped her leg over the edge of the bed. A soft, smooth tickle touched the bottom of her food, sending chills up her leg. She jerked it back into the bed and under the covers, away from whatever monster wanted to eat her.
"Mama, I'm scared," she whispered, eyes darting around the room.
A dark grey shadow floated across her wall-portal and clung to the ceiling. It morphed and changed into sharp teeth and crawled on spider's legs to her bed. Wendy pulled her covers to her chin, ready to scream, when a deep, dark shadow zipped from the closet and attacked the scary shadow. It wiggled and writhed on the ceiling and just a second later the grey shadow broke into a thousand pieces.
Wendy watched the dark shadow with wide eyes, seeing how the shapes slowly changed into the body of a legendary dragon. She watched the dragon shadow move throughout the room, checking for any dangers before slithering back into the closet.
With a small smile, Wendy settled back onto her pillow, blanket still against her chin, and peeked over the edge of the bed, careful to keep her legs and arms safely under the covers. A twinkling piece of dust darted across the carpet. It spun in dizzy circles and twirled to a pile of fluff from one of Wendy's old stuffies. With a bounce of light, it grabbed a piece of white fluff and zoomed back under the bed.
Wendy snuggled Carla close and lowered the blankets to her shoulders. Rolling to her side, she sighed into her pillow and drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of strong, black dragons fighting off the monsters of darkness and silly, bouncy sparkles of light, wondering how anyone could be afraid of the monster under the bed.
The End
Thank you so much for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed it! It was super fun researching all sorts of monsters from around the world and I'm quite surprised that I didn't have any nightmares afterwards haha! This story was nice and short and sweet, but hopefully I will have another longer one for you guys in the next month or so. I have two kids who always love to ask me questions right when I sit down to write, so hopefully I will find some time to finish up that story :)
But until then, thank you again for reading and God Bless!