A Monster In The Night

A Monster In The Night

Thomas opened his eyes with a start, something had woken him up.

He first looked at his closet door, but it was how he'd left it, shut up.

He gingerly reached down and felt around, searching for his trusty flashlight,

And he shone it's yellow beam around his room, using it to slice up the night.

He lit up every nook and cranny, he even checked under his bed,

Nothing was lurking anywhere, not in any shadows or where his clothes were spread.

So Tommy turned the light back out, and tried to think about counting sheep,

But then he heard it, the noise that had first woken him up from his sleep.

Thomas' heart did quite the jump when he glanced over at the closed window,

He wanted to scream for his parents help, but his voice got trapped in his throat.

All he could do was stare at the face that peered at him through the glass,

The thing had teeth as big as knives, and they looked as equally as sharp.

It's eyes glinted in the moonlight, and they were tinted gold with a touch of flickering red,

And the hair that blew about in the wind was a silvery-white and barely attached to its head.

Thomas could see the thing staring, into his room, deep into his eyes it seemed,

And he lay there, barely breathing, wishing that he would wake from this terrible dream.

Suddenly the monster disappeared, it was like he'd never even been about,

And Tommy, who'd suddenly got braver, walked to the window, to where he could look out.

He peered out into the darkness, as the moon slipped itself behind some cloud,

And as Tommy could see nothing out there, and he started to turn back around.

That's when he felt it breathing, the tepid breath blowing the hairs on the back of his head.

He knew the monster was behind him, and his life was going to end like this, dead. 

He could see his reflection in the dark glass, but there was nothing else standing there too,

So Tommy very slowly turned around, and screamed when the monster said, “Boo!”

His parents came rushing in to him, but when they got there he was alone,

They put him to bed, told him it was all in his head and went back to watching their shows.

Thomas lay beneath piled blankets, that were now his fortress to what was beyond,

And he listened, and listened, for the breathing, of the monster he knew hadn't gone.

Thomas lay there so still and quiet, for longer than he had ever lain before,

But the only thing that he could hear was his own breathing, coming shallow and coarse.

He pulled down the covers and from their protection peeked out, just a little bit,

And the only thing that was living in his room, was him, and that was it.

He tried to laugh and tell himself that he had just made the monster all up,

But deep inside he knew the truth, that monster wanted to eat him up.

A sound! A tapping at the window. He really didn't want to look, but did anyway.

And he saw something move outside, not anything really, but a shadow and shape.

But that was enough for Tommy, he was back under his covers cowering with fear.

Ashamed at being so scared, with a shaking hand, he angrily brushed away tears.

He lay there shuddering with quiet sobs, wanting to call out to his Mummy and Dad,

But he knew that they would scold him, say they were disappointed and maybe, even, be mad.

Thomas heard something slowly moving, creeping across the carpet of his room,

And he started quietly praying to God that he wasn't going to meet his doom.

The covers were ripped off him, leaving him huddled, gripping his torch on his bed,

And before him stood the big scary monster, it's big mouth almost splitting it's head.

“Boo!” it said again in a voice deep and booming, but this time it didn't seem so bad,

Thomas could see that this monster wasn't that scary, and up close he didn't look that mad.

His teeth were big and shiny, but kind of goofy, they weren't sharpened like blades.

His eyes weren't full of fire, they were more like a puppies, and he looked a little afraid.

The wispy grey hair sat sparse, upon the creatures oversized skull in a sprawl,

And though he was big, he hunched himself over to make himself appear small.

“Boo,” it said again, and then again, “boo.” And Tommy cocked his head.

The creature showed his hand, looked Tommy in the eye, “Boo boo,” it sadly said.

The light from Tommy's flashlight, illuminated the creatures held out paw,

And there was a splinter of extraordinary size, embedded below it's claw.

Thomas had had his fair share of splinters, and he'd watched his Mummy get them out,

And after telling the monster to “Stay there,” he went and got what was needed now.

He came back moments later with a needle and a box with matches in,

And, telling the creature to sit on his bed, he lit one and heated the pin.

He gingerly took the monsters paw in hand, it felt furry beneath his soft skin,

And he carefully used the needle, to dig where the splinter was stuck in.

He heard the monster suck in its breath, and for a moment he dreaded the worst,

But the creature didn't harm him, or say anything other than “Ouch, that hurts!”

Shortly the splinter of wood was removed, and the monster flexed his hand,

He placed a claw on Tommy's head and softly it told him, “Thanks.”

Then it held out it's hand, hairy palm up, offering it to the boy,

And when Tommy put his hand in his and the creature grinned with joy.

All of a sudden, Tommy's room had gone and the two of them were up in the sky,

Over the rooftops around Tommy's town the two of them, they did fly.

Then over vast oceans, flowing rivers and hills topped off with snow,

The two of them flew over countries about which Tommy didn't know.

The two of them flew, hand in hairy hand, until they came to the top of a mountain,

There they landed and the beast picked Tommy up and sat him on it's shoulders then.

They walked a short distance through the deep snow until they came across a cave.

Inside a fire was burning, and some food cooked slowly on a spit above the flame.

The beast put Thomas down upon its bed and swung a pot of water over the fire.

It ate some meat, offering some to the boy, but Tommy wasn't hungry, just tired.

Then he filled two cups with steaming water and added some leaves Tommy had never seen,

And the two of them sat, staring at the flickering flames and sipping on the sweet tasting tea.

Suddenly the beast got up and disappeared down into the dark depths of the cave,

He was gone so long, Tommy got scared, he was far from home and really not that brave.

Just as he could feel his eyes prickling with tears that threatened to break free and deploy,

The monster came shambling back into the light and sat back down next to the boy.

It's hairy hand was tight around something, but Tommy couldn't see what was clasped,

The beast put it's hand in Tommy's and released what it held tight in its grasp.

Thomas looked down at the weighty little rock that he now held in his hands,

And he couldn't believe what he was holding, it held his gaze, completely entranced.

It was a nugget of the purest gold with fabulous jewels studded all through,

And the light of the fire flickered through the reds, the greens and the blues.

It cast a dancing array of colourful figures upon the rocky walls of the cave,

The two sat in wonder, watching the amazing show of  lights, unable to look away.

The colourful figures danced with each other, moving and merging in spectral light.

Tommy watched until he slowly drifted off to sleep, it was after all, very late at night.

Thomas opened his eyes with a start, the sun had woken him up.

He looked around for the cave, but he was in his room, in bed, all tucked up.

He looked for the monster and the mountains, but they were nowhere to be found,

All he saw was his room and it's walls, and his cloths still strewn on the ground.

Tommy was upset he had dreamt it, and none of it had happened after all,

He hadn't helped the monster and they hadn't flown above a world so small.

He hadn't seen lakes and rivers nor the forests full of trees from up high,

He hadn't seen the cities and valleys nor deserts and seas below whizzing by.

He hadn't sat in the monsters cave, with the warm smoky air surrounding his head.

They hadn't drunk tea that was sweet and hot. And he hadn't sat on the monsters bed.

He hadn't been handed the most precious of rocks, and watched completely amazed,

As the lights from the sparkling jewels had made figures that had danced all over the cave.

It was a glum and sad little Thomas, who slowly got himself ready and dressed.

He kept thinking to himself if it had all been a dream, then it surely was his best.

But he just couldn't help wishing, that it had all been as real as it had seemed,

He'd helped a monster, who wasn't a monster at all, and none of it had been dreamed.

And as he tied up a shoelace, he felt familiar tears spring in his eyes,

It had felt so real, that stupid dream. Why were dreams nothing but lies?

Thomas angrily grabbed at his other sneaker, but the thing just wouldn't move,

It took him two hands to pull it toward him, there was something heavy in the shoe.

Thomas couldn't believe what he was seeing, he rubbed his eyes just to make sure,

Sitting in his shoe was the rock filled with the jewels and made of gold so pure.

It took Tommy two hands to heft it's weight and pull the nugget from his shoe,

And there beneath it sat a small scrawled note that simply had written the words, “Thank you.”

By J. Barrett