There was a monster that lived in Libby’s house. It didn’t live under her bed, and it didn’t live in her closet. Libby knew that because she could hear the door open when it came in.
Libby had never seen the monster because it only came in Libby’s room at night, and it only came in the dark. After her parents left, she would sneak to the switch and turn the lights on. But there was a dresser in between Libby’s bed and her door, and the monster would turn it off.
Libby asked her parents for a nightlight, because she was afraid of the dark. Her dad told her that there was nothing to be afraid of, that she needed to learn how to sleep through it.
The blinds were too high for Libby to reach, so she stood on a chair to open them. The room was brighter with them open, but the monster just hid its face. The next day her dad had closed the blinds. He said he didn’t want any creeps looking in her window.
She almost got it once, by hiding a flashlight on her nightstand. When she heard the monster creep up beside her bed, she turned it on. But the flashlight was one of her dad’s big heavy ones, and she couldn’t move it very quickly. By the time she’d brought it up, the monster was gone. The next day her dad found it and took it back. He told her not to take his things, that they weren’t toys.
Libby didn’t know what else to try. She lay in her bed, under her covers, and waited for the doorknob to turn.
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