The Monster in My Closet

I imagine this one as more of a picture book. I know I'll have to simplify some of the language for it to be a picture book and probably I'll have to shorten it, but hopefully it's enjoyable as it is for now.

- Yelena

I always known it was there, hiding from me. I’ve heard the rustlings at night.

Mom tucks me in. She gives me a kiss and turns off the light. She leaves the room and that’s when I hear it. The strange noises come from the closet, scratching and rumblings.

I know there’s a monster in there. I don’t know what he looks like. Sometimes I imagine he’s covered in slimy green scales and has strange yellow eyes. Or maybe he’s covered in fur and has huge claws, like a bear. Maybe, I think, he’s like an octopus, with lots of legs and poisonous suckers.

I make these pictures in my head and I always fall asleep waiting for him to come out. I’m scared of the night when he’ll finally come out of my closet, but I don’t want him to catch me while I’m sleeping, so I’ve promised myself that tonight I’m going to stay up as long as it takes.

My mother gives me a kiss and tucks me in. She turns off the lights and shuts the door. And the noises start.

I sit in my bed with the blankets pulled up to my chin and I wait. I know that there’s a good chance I’ll be eaten tonight. It’s really too bad, I think, because my stinky little brother will get all of my toys.

I wait and I wait. The night gets darker and darker until it looks like my room is made of shadows. It’s so dark that I can barely see the large shadow that comes out of the closet and creeps into the room. When it gets closer, I can see that none of my ideas even came close.

He’s huge. He has to be at least nine feet tall and has horns on his head like a bull. They look sharp, even in the darkness and I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of those horns. His teeth are sharp and they look like the pictures of Tyrannosaurus Rex teeth from the books at school. He’s covered in green fur and once he gets closer, I can see he glows in the dark. His eyes are a poisonous, burning green and I’m trembling as he comes closer to the bed.

I watch as he gets closer and closer. And I’m scared, because I’m sure getting eaten by a big, green monster is going to hurt.

But he passes my bed and I watch as he goes to the corner of the room. Slowly, he opens my toy box.

“Oooh, Barbies!”

It’s so quiet that I hear the words clearly. His voice is low and gravelly, but I’m sure that’s what he said. It’s enough to make me crawl forward to the foot of my bed.

“Hello?” I say.

He jumps and his fur waves like grass.

“Oh, you’re awake?” he asks, in his deep voice, as he comes closer to the bed with a Barbie doll in each hand.

“Yes, I’m awake,” I tell him. Now I’m starting to get impatient. I’m not sure if I’m going to get eaten, but if I am, I’d rather get it over with. “I knew that there was a monster in my closet. And I wanted to see you for myself.”

“So, you knew I was there the whole time?” he asked.

“Well,” I answer slowly. “You weren’t being very quiet.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and I think for a moment that he actually looks sad, if enormous green monsters are capable of looking sad.

I don’t know what to say now and we’re both quiet for a few moments. He’s looking at me and I’m looking back at him.

“So…” I ask. “Are you going to eat my toes now?”

This instantly gets a reaction. He scoots away from the bed.

“Eeeewww.” His face scrunches up the way my brother’s does when someone offers him liver. “Why would I do that? Do you know how gross feet taste?”

“I know how gross they smell,” I tell him. “They probably taste about the same.”

“Worse,” he says and I believe him.

“So….. would you rather start with an arm?” I ask, holding out my left arm to him.

“Blech,” he says. “Why would I want to do that?”

“Aren’t you going to eat me?” I ask.

“No way,” he tells me, looking disgusted at the suggestion. “I’m a strict vegetarian. But I am a little hungry, if you’ve got any carrots or broccoli sitting around.”

Now it’s my turn to look disgusted. Ewww. Broccoli.

“Don’t you eat people?” I ask. “Isn’t that what you monsters do?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head so that his fur waves like grass again. “A few of us do like chicken, but that’s about it.”

“If you’re not here to eat me, what are you doing in my room?”

Now he looks embarrassed and glances down at the Barbie Dolls he’s holding in his hands. He looks back at me before he speaks again.

“You have the best toys,” he tells me.

“Is that why you came?”

“Yup.”

He nods so hard his horns almost stick into the mattress.

“You just want to play?” I ask.

A big smile breaks across his face. He has a lovely smile, for a big green monster.

I take one of the dolls from his hand.

“I’ll be Skipper,” I tell him. “If you’ll be Barbie.”

When he answers, it’s in a Barbie-doll voice and I know it’s going to be a fun night.

We start out playing Barbies’ and when that gets dull we break out my toy blocks and build a castle. He helps me with the tall parts and I’ve never built a better one.

We play all night, until the sun starts to come up. He has to go back into the closet and I crawl back into bed, yawning.

I’m still tired when my Mom comes to wake me up in the morning, but it’s ok. Because I’ve met the monster in my closet. And he’s my new best friend.