Under The Bed (© Josh Hilden)
Terri
shivered uncontrollably as she bit down on her lips to stop herself from
screaming. She needed to stay as quiet as possible but her arm really hurt and
she was very tired. She lay as still under her bed as she could, in her left
arm she clutched her Winnie the Pooh. Until today she had thought that maybe
ten was too old to still want her Pooh Bear. Now
she held onto him so hard that she was sure some of his stitching had split. He
had been a gift from her daddy and he had promised to get her all of the
characters. But Pooh was the only one that he had gotten for her before he left
and never came home. Mommy’s
feet passed in front of her eyes again as she stumbled around in Terri’s room.
One slipper was still on mommy’s foot but the other was bare and Terri could
see where the blood had dried as it ran down mommy’s leg from the hole on her
neck. Mommy
had been going outside to put the trash in the can while Terri had been eating
her Fruit Loops. As far as Terri was concerned Fruit Loops were the best cereal
ever made. As she was watching the cereal float around in the bowl Mr. Johnson
from next door had come walking up to mommy. Terri had been watching through
the window and she thought that Mr. Johnson had been walking very funny. When
mommy had said hello to Mr. Johnson he had started to moan and had stumbled
toward her. Mommy had tried to run but had slipped on the ground and lost a
slipper. She had screamed for Terri to hide as Mr. Johnson dropped on her and
started to bite her on the neck and face. Terri had screamed and ran upstairs
to her room and hid. A long
time later Terri had heard noises from downstairs, it had sounded like glass
breaking and shuffling. She had gathered up all of her courage and opened her
door and tip toed to the head of the stairs to see who was down there. She saw
mommy walk by and ran down to her yelling because she was so happy to see her.
But just as she was about to jump into mommy’s arms she saw the blood caked and
dried on the front of her robe and the weird look in her eyes. Terri tried to
run back up the stairs. But
mommy had seen her and grabbed her arm. Terri had fought and thrashed, she did
not want mommy touching her because mommy looked scary like Mr. Johnson had.
And then mommy had bit her right on the arm! It had hurt her so bad and the
sight of her own blood had made her freak out and actually start hitting and
kicking mommy. Terri finally managed to pull free and she had run upstairs and
dove under her bed, forgetting to shut and lock her door. For
almost an hour now mommy had walked back and forth in front of her room and Terri
stayed quiet. But it was getting harder and harder to stay awake … maybe she
would just take a little nap and everything would be all better when she woke
up. Terri
closed her eyes. A little while later she woke up and joined mommy, they headed
outside to find something to eat. Pooh Bear stayed under the bead. Perhaps he
was hiding from Terri.
- THE END - |