The Beast

Lynn closed her eyes. Even though she was tired, she could not sleep. She froze in her bed as her father opened the door, pretending to be asleep. She heard his whisper:

“Good night.” Soon after he spoke, the outside light switched off, and she heard her door click shut. Her room was plunged into darkness, and she reopened her eyes. It was so dark that for a second, Lynn wondered if she had actually opened her eyes, or if she was still sleeping. But then her eyes adjusted, and she could see her surroundings a little better. The furniture of her room was outlined slightly darker than the walls. After all, it wasn’t pitch dark. The glow of her alarm clock seemed to illuminate the whole room in the darkness.

The hours ticked by, and before Lynn knew it, it was 3 am. That was around the time a a faint scritch scritch coming from her closet. It scared her, but Lynn had never been afraid of the dark - or what hides in it, and she wasn’t about to start. But every second she tried to ignore it, the scratching got louder. Eventually, Lynn felt like clawing her ears off - she was so sick of the repetitive noises. She dragged herself out of bed and stopped on the outside of the closed closet door. In her head, she counted down from 3. 3… 2… 1…. Then, cursing herself for being so stupid, she flung open the door.

Nothing happened.

“Told you so,” she whispered aloud to the night, but as she said it, she felt something brush past her leg. The scratching had stopped. By instinct, Lynn reached down to her leg. She caught a snatch of something small and furry before the beast darted away. Lynn was terrified. She crawled back into her bed and pulled the covers to her chin. She felt the beastly paws step on her legs, and they were making their way up to her head. A low growling sound formed in its throat as it approached. Unable to tolerate it anymore, Lynn leaped out of her bed and flicked on the light, to the annoyance of the creature, who was flung away. She sighed as the light illuminated the ball of fur.

It was only Waldo, her cat. He must have been trapped in her closet. The growling was him purring, and the scratching was him scratching at the door. She had been overreacting - probably from binging on scary movies the day before. She felt so stupid for her fear, and she slid back into her bed after turning the light back off, pulling a protesting Waldo closer.

“Good night Waldo,” she said, and she finally fell asleep to the hum of Waldo’s purring.