Blog Hop

A new venture for me. A group of writers all sharing a piece of flash fiction and publishing it at the same time. this is my effort.

The monster under the bed  by Nic Steven

I listened to little Tommy in the bed above me. Good, he was still awake. I crawled out from under the bed making enough noise to attract his attention, but not so much as to bring the adults in from the other rooms. As I rose up towering over the small boy in the bed, he looked at me. ‘Teddy bear,’ he whispered. I growled. Or rather I tried to growl but it came out as a gentle purr. ‘Teddy bear,’ he said again and held out his arms towards me. This always happened. The trouble was, I rather liked little Tommy. I didn’t really want to frighten him.

The Guild of Under-The-Bed Monsters had already warned me that this was my last chance. One more failure and I would be thrown out of the guild. Without Guild membership I would be helpless. Doomed to be hunted down by the monster killers or if I escaped them, just fade away to non-existence. My biggest problem according to the guild was that I wasn’t much of a monster.  Now, though I liked Tommy, it didn’t stop me trying to scare him to save my own life. Surely that should be enough to make me a monster.

As expected, the local guild steward arrived later that night and handed me my expulsion papers. I was now at the mercy of the monster hunters.

 The next night I crawled out as usual just to sit and look at Tommy. Big mistake. His mother was still in the room. As usual, he held out his arms and called out, ‘Teddy.’ His mother frowned and looked in my direction but seemed to see nothing. I had been spotted by the mother once before but had quickly dived back under the bed. I am very fast when I need to be. She had shaken her head and looked again then muttered something about Tommy causing her to see things. Normally, the sight of an adult would make me scurry back under the bed but somehow, this time I didn’t care.

‘I have to bring Teddy to breakfast tomorrow,’ said Tommy. ‘He has to eat.’

‘Okay dear,’ said his mother and kissed him before leaving the room.

I sat there all night, watching Tommy. A short while before dawn, a small girl appeared through the wall. A classic tomboy, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, hair in pigtails, with a brace on her teeth, she didn’t look like a monster hunter.

 ‘Hi Teddy,’ she said, handing me an embossed card. ‘I ‘m pleased you made the change. Welcome to The League of Imaginary Friends.’

Here are the others.

Scary Monsters and Other Friends, by Lisa Stapp

Morning Has Broken, by Katharina Gerlach

Good Honest Work, by Chris Wight

Bad For Business, by Gina Fabio

The Last Friday, by Raven O’Fiernan

Lost And Found, by Angela Wooldridge

Bia Trevi’s Worldly Eats, by Barbara Lund

Hunting Bob, Vanessa Wells

Don’t Drink The Water, by Juneta Key

Duty, Elizabeth McCleary

The Footnote, Karen Lynn

The Monster Under The Bed, by Nic Steven

Story Name TBA, by Bill Bush   Last edited: Yesterday at 4:09 PM FOtM

FELLOWSHIP OF THE MUSE(S) Motto: ‘Freeing Muses, one story at a time…’
STORYTIME BLOG HOP ~ Next Hop: Jan. 30th, 2019, WED, Links DUE Jan. 25th!