The bed’s legs bumped against the wooden floor. Oliver stuck his head under the pillow, ignoring it, but the shaking intensified. He groped around with his eyes closed, searching for Jasper, his fuzzy, silver-colored koala bear. Jasper couldn’t stop the shaking, but he did offer comfort.
Jasper wasn’t on either side of him. Oliver scrunched down under the duvet, both to hide and to search for Jasper. Once under the blankets, even though Jasper remained missing, he felt safe enough to open his eyes. It did him no good because the covers blocked out all the soft light cast by his superhero nightlight, reducing his senses to touch and smell. The messages from these remaining senses were alarming enough that he knew he didn’t have long before the situation deteriorated. It always got worse when he hid under the covers.
He caught a whiff of putrid death. Although Oliver had never smelled death, he read enough comic books to recognize the odor. He shuddered. The voice would start soon. No matter how tightly he clutched Jasper, the voice called out to him whenever he hid under the blankets. But at least Jasper’s soft fur against his cheek tricked him into feeling safer. The hissing started. Oliver trembled.
“Oleeever, you can’t hide from me under the covers.”
The voice’s drawn-out pronunciation scraped his nerves like teeth on a metal fork. He debated whether he should satisfy the voice by poking his head above the covers or sink further down, curling himself into an even tighter ball. He didn’t consider opening his eyes; it was out of the question.
“Oleeever, you know I’m not leaving until I see you. Come, say heeeello.”
Oliver shrank further down. In agony, he pondered his next move. He was certain that his room was filled with thick green smoke because of the unbearable stench of purification under the blankets. The hissing grew louder and the shaking became more intense, as though the monster wanted to fling him out of his bed and onto the floor.
“Oleeever, you’ll have to come join me under here if you want Jasper back.”
Oliver stifled a scream. He shook with panic. The thing he long feared happened: the monster captured Jasper. Unable to control himself, Oliver leaped from his bed to his door, eyes closed. He threw open his door, but once outside, remembered to close it softly. The last time he slammed the door during the night, his mother had taken his comic books for a week.
He stood with his back pressed to the wall, watching his bedroom door. Green smoke seeped from under the door gap. Next, the knob would turn, creaking from the slow, deliberate hand of the monster. Oliver refused to wait for that.
He crept down the hall to his older sister’s room. Tasha would be angry if she caught him in there, but he would be quiet enough that she wouldn’t notice his presence. The white noise machine in her room would cover the sound of his entry.
Tasha didn’t stir as Oliver slid into the room. After his eyes adjusted to the dark, he looked for Tasha’s chair, hoping to curl up in it, but a massive pile of new back-to-school clothes made sitting on it impossible. Tasha would make Oliver suffer if he messed with her new stuff. Instead, he inched towards the side of the double bed opposite where she slept. He lifted the corner of the blankets and slid in.
Tasha rolled over. “Out. Now.”
“I can’t. The monster has Jasper.”
Tasha used the substantial strength of her teenaged arms and legs to shove her six-year-old brother towards the edge of the bed.
“Impossible. Out.” She shoved again. Oliver teetered on the edge of the bed, one wrong move away from plunging to the hardwood floor. That would wake his parents up. Waking his parents never ended well for Oliver.
“Please.”
She pressed him once more, emphasizing her point without making him fall. She was too smart to do anything that would implicate her in Oliver’s ridiculous nighttime escapades.
Oliver shimmied off the bed. There was no victory now that Tasha was determined to remove him from her room. He would endure another cold and fearful night on the sofa.
He tiptoed down the long hallway towards the living room, careful to avoid the wood floor’s squeaky spots. As long as he didn’t wake her, his mother tolerated his nighttime forays. Oliver shivered. The large, open room was even chillier than usual. He spotted the family dog, Rocky, curled up in one corner of the couch. Oliver grabbed a blanket from the basket next to the sofa, then covered himself, curling up so that his backside touched Rocky.
Rocky sighed. Then he stood up and jumped off the sofa, padding off down the hallway. Rocky did not reciprocate Oliver’s extensive efforts at friendship. Oliver spent the rest of the night alone.
Oliver’s father woke him up on the sofa the following morning to get him ready for school. Finding Oliver on the sofa did not agitate Eddie. Instead, it gave him a sense of peace as it represented a workable truce between Oliver, powered into frequent nighttime sorties by an overactive imagination, and the ladies of the house, who had long since tired of Oliver waking them with absurd stories.
At first, Oliver dragged his feet on the walk to school, tired from the drama he endured the previous night. But then his pace increased when his father reminded him to walk home from school with Josh, his babysitter, rather than his sister, who had soccer practice that afternoon. Josh was his favorite person in the entire world. The excellent news lifted Oliver’s spirits.
As soon as he heard the last bell, Oliver grabbed his backpack and dashed outside, eager to find Josh. His eyes scanned the lawn until he spotted Josh, who leaned back on a lamppost by the school’s entrance, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his cuffed, dark brown pants, hair covered by a striped beanie. Oliver found it puzzling that Josh wore a beanie on a hot, sunny day. Wearing hats was something Oliver disliked because they made his head itch.
After a quick snack, Josh and Oliver sat on the rug in the living room with a comic book open between them. Oliver did the voices for the good guys, while Josh supplied the villains’ voices. Oliver did his best on his next part, but stumbled over some words he knew. He shook his head in frustration.
Josh asked, “Are you okay, buddy? You seem tired.” Oliver’s irritation was palpable and Josh worried a breakdown was eminent. Josh took this babysitting gig as an easy way to save money for a surfing trip around Portugal he planned to take after high school graduation. Tantrums made the job harder, so it was best to get control of the situation straightaway.
Oliver liked it when Josh called him buddy. Josh knew the entirety of Oliver’s saga with the monster under his bed, but hadn’t yet heard the latest chapter. Oliver filled him in, including a few embellishments regarding his bravery. He admired Josh and didn’t want Josh to think him a wimp, as the kids at school did.
Josh asked, “Did you find Jasper yet?” Oliver shook his head. “Ok, that’s step one. We always ensure that we don’t leave any man behind. Let’s go.” Oliver shook his head again. “Why not? Are you scared?”
Oliver shrugged. He couldn’t face admitting he feared the monster to Josh.
“Monsters only come out at night.” Josh said, extending his hand. Oliver took it, clutching it tighter as they approached his bedroom. He hadn’t been inside since last night. In the morning, his father had retrieved Oliver’s clothes and backpack from it rather than convince Oliver to go inside.
Oliver held his breath, bracing himself as Josh turned the door handle. The door screeched on its hinges. Oliver closed his eyes, pressing the lids together so much it hurt. Despite his terror, he allowed Josh to tug him into the room. Josh let go of his hand and Oliver’s eyes flew open. Josh pushed himself under the bed. Oliver covered his eyes with his hands.
“Look, here he is, dusty, but otherwise fine.” Josh handed Jasper to Oliver after shaking him off, then led Oliver back to the living room. Oliver protested leaving his bedroom door open, afraid the monster would chase him to the sofa, but Josh insisted they needed to show the monster they were in charge.
Oliver appreciated how well Josh understood the monster, unlike his family, who insisted the monster didn’t exist. His sister even had the nerve to suggest his comic books were the source of his fears and that he should stop reading them. Once they were back on the couch, Oliver asked Josh for advice on how to vanquish the monster from his bedroom.
Josh leaned back against the sofa, placing his feet on the coffee table as he thought.
“We’ll place garlic under your bed. Monsters hate garlic so that will scare it away. But we’ll have to keep this our secret.” Josh figured the little kid didn’t know that garlic vanquished vampires, not monsters. He was too young to watch vampire flicks. It had to be a secret because Josh knew Oliver’s mother, Melanie, was against any action she viewed as indulging Oliver’s fears.
Oliver followed Josh to the kitchen, where he retrieved several cloves of garlic from a large basket in the pantry. Then he stood in his bedroom doorway as Josh slid back under the bed. Once Josh hid the garlic, they returned to the living room and settled on the sofa to watch a cartoon.
Oliver’s parents maintained a strict limit on his television time, allowing only a few hours a week. However, Josh disregarded this rule because it made his job harder. He often tricked Oliver into napping by turning on cartoons, freeing himself to indulge in his secret pleasure of watching sci-fi films as Oliver slept. That afternoon, Oliver only awoke when his father returned from work.
Despite having already napped earlier, after dinner, Oliver was tired. He fell asleep faster that night than on any previous night since the monster dreams began. Knowing the garlic was hidden under his bed comforted him.
Several hours later, Oliver awoke to a familiar bumping noise emanating from under his bed. A sickening mix of rotting bodies and old pizza filled his nose. His stomach hurt. Then, the middle of the center of the bed pushed up, forcing him towards his pillow. His fear overtook his nausea, causing him to close his eyes. Unable to slide down because of the slope, he covered his head with the blankets. He heard crunching sounds.
“Nom, nom, nom. This is a very good snack, Oleeever. Tasty.”
Oliver’s chest tightened. Despite struggling to breathe, he buried his head under his pillow, pulling it tight around his ears with his arms in a fruitless attempt to block out both the sounds and smells the monster expelled from under the bed. It didn’t work. The monster’s teeth crunching slowed, only to be replaced by a worse sound – a wet, gargling noise as if it drank slime.
Sheer terror eliminated Oliver’s already limited capability to produce rational thoughts. He sprang from his bedroom, slamming the door behind him as he ran. When he reached the end of the hall, he burst into his parents’ bedroom. He stood at the foot of the bed, panting. His mother covered her head with a pillow. His father rose and led him into the living room.
“What are you doing? How many times must I repeat myself? Stay in bed at night.” His father’s voice was barely audible, yet it conveyed a powerful emotion. Oliver closed his eyes.
“Now that you’ve woken me, you had better open your eyes and look at me.” Oliver peaked out through one eye. “Both, now.” Oliver opened his eyes. The soft yellow glow from the streetlights outside illuminated the room enough for Oliver to observe the throbbing veins on his father’s neck. Eddie Green, normally a calm man, snapped. “Your mother has to get up early.”
Oliver nodded because his father expected it of him. He didn’t know when was early; he didn’t understand the concept of time yet.
“I thought we had a solution for this monster nonsense with you sleeping on the couch, but I guess not. I’m done. Tomorrow, I have a big day at work. Go to your room, close the door, and stay there until morning or no comic books for a month.”
Oliver shivered. His father was in no mood to help him. He wrapped his arms around his body and shuffled back to his room. As he opened his bedroom door, he heard his heart pounding. Behind him, his father pulled the door closed, then his footsteps retreated down the hall.
As usual, the monster had hidden himself to avoid being spotted by Oliver’s family. Oliver knew from experience that he had a few minutes before the monster returned. Under the glow of the nightlight, Oliver grabbed a pillow, blanket, and Jasper, and curled up on the floor of his closet, sliding the door closed behind him. Like many kids, he feared his closet, but less than he feared the monster living under his bed.
Eddie shook his head when he found Oliver curled up on the closet floor, sleeping. He also felt a pang of guilt. As a solution-oriented person, he wanted to untangle his son from tentacles of the monster nightmares but found himself ill-equipped to do it. If it didn’t resolve soon, he feared he would have to agree with Melanie’s proposal to limit Oliver’s access to his two favorite, imagination feeding activities: comic books and cartoons.
Eddie also regretted that he had to cancel his and Oliver’s usual Wednesday afternoon guy-time outing because he thought those outings calmed Oliver. But, because of a tight work deadline, he had no choice. Although Oliver adored Josh, he also cherished his weekly adventure outings with his father.
But the news didn’t disappoint Oliver; instead, he was eager to substitute another afternoon with Josh for time with his father. Oliver yearned to hear Josh’s next suggestion since the garlic did not deter the monster, who instead devoured it. He raced into school without bothering to hug his father goodbye. Goodbyes were for babies.
Today, instead of the beanie, Josh sported a pair of aviator sunglasses which reminded Oliver of one of his favorite cartoon characters, Billy Fantastic. Billy was a brave kid famous for saving his friends from wily monsters. Exactly the kind of hero Oliver needed. Oliver started to tell Josh about the previous night, but Josh stopped him.
“When we get back to your house, buddy. We can’t discuss important matters on the street where anyone might listen.” After high school, Josh had little time before picking up Oliver, so he used the walk to the Green residence to decompress. He was reluctant to give up his tranquility for yet another discussion of the imaginary monster. He also hoped Oliver would run around enough during the walk to tire himself into an afternoon nap.
Oliver nodded. Serious business was best discussed behind the safety of closed doors.
As their teeth crunched on apples at the kitchen table, Oliver told Josh the story of the previous night. He was careful to omit no detail; he wanted Josh to have all the information necessary to solve the problem.
Josh asked, “Are you sure the monster ate the garlic? I’ve never met a monster who liked garlic. Like, did you check under there?” The garlic trick had failed to quell the kid’s imagination. Prior to offering another suggestion, he wanted to confirm that the garlic was no longer under the bed.
“No. I told you, I heard the monster chewing it. I smelled it.” Oliver shuddered. “I couldn’t go under the bed after that. What if the monster was still hungry?”
Josh stifled a laugh. The kid had quite the imagination. His mind flashed back to his own childhood, remembering his enormous sense of frustration when his family ignored his pleas for help with the monster that lived in his closet. Of course, he was nearly an adult and knew monsters didn’t exist, but when he was Oliver’s age, the monster had seemed real, and being told it was only his imagination didn’t help. He longed to assist the kid without causing the same emotions his family had caused him during his own childhood.
Oliver followed Josh towards his room but waited in the doorway, watching as Josh slid his torso under the bed. Sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the space. Only a few scraps of papery skin remained from the garlic. Josh fished those out.
“Are you sure you didn’t remove the garlic? Maybe that’s why it didn’t work?”
“I didn’t. I already told you, the monster ate it.” Oliver whined more than he intended. His fear that Josh would be like his family caused him to forget his cool posture.
One thing was certain: Oliver’s parents hadn’t found the garlic. Otherwise, Melanie or Eddie would have texted Josh. He considered the possibility that Oliver lied to him, but tossed the thought aside. Lying was not among the kid’s many flaws. Somehow, the sister was involved in this. She enjoyed tormenting her younger brother too much for Josh’s liking, as Josh’s own older sister had ten years prior. Josh knew that with some time to think he could find a solution that both solved his young charge’s problem and outsmarted the sister.
“I believe you, but I had to ask. You understand?” Oliver nodded. “Ok, buddy. Let’s go watch a cartoon. We’ll solve your problem, but first, we need to decompress.”
After a few minutes, Josh asked, “What about if Rocky slept in your room for protection?”
“Rocky doesn’t like me.”
Josh thought about how many times he had caught Oliver pulling the dog’s tail. Even when he patted Rocky, it looked more like hitting. The kid was right. It was a poor plan.
Desperate and short on ideas, Josh searched the internet for suggestions. He saw a list of things he knew the Greens had tried with no success: nightlight, security objects, limited screen time. Josh scanned articles crammed with useless psychologist mumbo jumbo, but came away with no new ideas.
Then a brilliant idea flashed through Josh’s mind. He said, “Make friends with the monster.”
“No way. I can’t. Are you nuts? The monster wants to eat me.” Oliver shook his head with the force of a wet dog shaking dry after a swim.
“Of course you can. Think about it. We don’t eat our friends, right? So if you’re friends with the monster, you’ll be safe.”
“I can’t, not by myself. It’s dangerous.”
“It’s the only way. The monster only comes out when you’re alone with it. Anyway, have I ever steered you wrong? Don’t you trust me, buddy?”
Oliver was silent. He did trust Josh, and more importantly, he wanted to impress Josh. But the monster was capital S Scary. He couldn’t do it.
Josh took Oliver’s silence as progress. He needed more of a push. “Monsters, like us, have feelings, too. That monster is living under your bed because it’s lonely and needs a friend.”
“But it hisses at me and smells disgusting.” Oliver pressed his lips together. Josh had been incorrect about the garlic and could be mistaken about this, with fatal results. But Oliver didn’t want to make Josh mad, so he stayed quiet.
Where Oliver saw only certain failure, Josh saw assured progress. He pushed forward. “Buddy, now is the time for bravery. That monster needs you to be its friend, to show it how to make friends. Then it will stop doing all those things you hate. It will become your secret friend to play with during the night.”
Oliver, who had few friends, found the idea of having a secret friend appealing. So did the thought of having something his sister didn’t. She would be so jealous if he had a monster friend!
“Let’s practice.” A flash of inspiration, lightning in a dark sky, struck Josh. “In your room. I’ll slide under the bed and pretend to be the monster so you can practice making friends with it.”
Oliver hesitated, but followed along after Josh took his hand. Although it sounded dangerous, the game also sounded fun. Between the bed shaking, voices, and serious practice, the afternoon passed in an instant. Neither Josh nor Oliver heard Eddie opening the front door, nor did they hear his footsteps as he made his way down the hallway.
Eddie stopped before entering, listening to the game. Oliver squealed with delight. He had to admit, Josh did convincing monster voices and the bed shaking was a creative touch. Then he sighed as he realized he had uncovered the source of the nightmares. He must stop it without Melanie knowing. Otherwise, his wife would want him to find a new babysitter, which would add another item to Eddie’s already long to-do list. He cleared his throat, breaking up the game.
After an eager hug, Eddie instructed Oliver to stay in his room while he walked Josh out. They stepped outside, and then Eddie closed the front door behind them. Josh tilted his head. Eddie never followed him outside. As Eddie spoke, Josh’s confusion cleared. Eddie misunderstood the game he employed to solve Oliver’s problem as the cause of it. But before he could speak, Eddie continued.
“As long as you promise you’ll stop with the monster games, this can stay our secret. I’ll even make it easy. I’ll order some other games you two can play. Just nothing with monsters. Deal?”
“Deal.” It was simpler to agree. The game Josh employed to help Oliver would work tonight or not at all; either way, he wasn’t planning to play it again.
Oliver’s nerves made him cranky throughout dinner. He had promised Josh he would try to make friends with the monster, but reconsidered whether that was a smart idea. What if talking to the monster caused it to come out? The smoke, the bumping, and the arm reaches were more than enough terror. Oliver’s less than stellar behavior earned him an early bedtime. Long after the household had fallen asleep, the hissing started. “Oleeever, I’m hungry. Where’s my snack?” Oliver felt bumping against the underside of his mattress as the monster twisted around under his bed. He curled himself into a tiny ball.
