Chapter 4
Tina Poole heard clawing from the corner of her bedroom in the pitch dark.
No light drifted through her undraped window because they lived away from street lights on a hill in Whittier, on the outskirts of Los Angeles County.
The last two weeks, her father, Charlie, told her night after night that monsters do not exist. He made her stop reading her vampire books, despite them being mainly love stories.
Tonight, after they ate microwave dinners consisting of breaded chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies, he raised his voice with her, saying she needed to face her fears. He took the nightlight out of her room and told her this was the only way she was going to overcome fear. It was so unlike him to do that. She guessed he was feeling frustrated and didn’t know what else to do.
He needed to sleep for work, and she didn’t want to steal that from him. Tina cried quietly so as not to wake him.
Trying to see in the blackness, it seemed as though something darker than everything else slowly crept across the floor to her bed. She kept blinking her eyes to try to erase what she saw. When the shade disappeared under her bed, she stopped breathing.
It began making scrapping noises.
Shivers ran down her back.
She felt like flying out her room and down the hall, flipping on all the lights as she ran. But then her father would be awakened and upset. She just turned eleven and was way too old to be scared of things in the dark.
Monsters were not real. There was nothing in her room, just like Dad had explained. She kept telling herself these things until the noise finally stopped.
Her bedroom turned deathly silent.
This was worse. At least before she could tell where it was. Now it could be anywhere.
Wishing her mother were there, she shifted onto her side. Tina’s mother would have understood, held her, and talked with her until the fear drifted away. But her mother had died in a car crash a year ago. It had been terribly hard on Tina and her father.
The funeral was the worse thing she had ever experienced. It just didn’t make sense to put Mom six feet under dirt, locked in a box without fresh air, even if she were dead. Tina’s aunt and grandmother were laughing and smiling. They talked about how Mom went to a better place and they were happy for her. This made absolutely no sense to Tina. In fact it made her angry. She wished they would keep their good times to themselves for when they left the graveyard.
Her back tingled, as though the dark creature now lay beside her. She bolted up in a rigid sitting position, the covers flying onto the floor.
This made her feel more defenseless. The flimsy fabric of her cotton pajamas could easily be torn with a claw. The air was cold. Reaching around, she found no monster. She wanted to scream for her father, but instead put a hand over her mouth.
Hot exhalations shot onto the back of her hand, frightening her. Then she realized it was just her own breath.
The creature wasn’t real. Just like Dad said, it was all in her mind. Nothing was there. Just her imagination running wild. Monsters didn’t exist. They weren’t real. It was only her mind making these things. She was safe.…
Something touched her right leg, and she flew off the bed, shot across the room, and flicked on the light-switch, spinning to see what was there.
A black, clawed hand retracted underneath the bed into shadows.
Tina screamed.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the bed. If she left the room, the thing could move and hide someplace else so she wouldn’t have proof for her father that it was real. Then it would just come out again when she was alone, and Dad would be so mad at waking up twice in one night.
“Tina,” he called from down the hallway, “what’s going on?”
“It’s here. Under the bed!”
“Nothing is there, pumpkin.” His large body filled the doorframe as he entered her bedroom. His drooping arms enfolded around her. This felt wonderful. Safe. She needed that. She never wanted to leave his embrace. Of course this was impossible and she knew that, but she hoped he would stay for just a while.
He released her, and she kept clinging to him, staring at the bed. He said, “I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s in your mind, pumpkin. You’re freaking yourself out.”
“But I saw it. This time it’s there. It’s really there.”
Easily breaking her hold, he moved back to look at her. She risked a glance at him. His doughy face appeared tired. Dark, saggy skin was under his eyes. He said, “No. It’s not.”
“It touched me. It’s under the bed. A hand.”
“It can’t be.”
“Please look!”
“I have to get sleep. I have a big day tomorrow. You know that. And you have school.”
Large tears ran down her face. She knew he had an important meeting early in the morning with doctors to sell them malpractice insurance. Her throat began to choke-up as she sobbed. She wanted to say more but couldn’t talk while she cried. She hated being so weak in front of him. He needed her to be strong. Struggling, she managed to say, “Please … just look.”
He sighed. “Okay. One more time, pumpkin, but this has got to stop. Both of us need sleep.”
He gathered the sheet and blankets from the floor, threw them onto the bed and with one large arm lifted the bottom mattress from the frame to reveal the dusty carpet underneath.
No shadow creature was there.
As he let the mattresses fall back, Tina rushed to the crumpled covers and searched through them, also finding nothing.
She felt stupid. What had she seen? Why wasn’t it there when Dad was in the room? She scanned the area: a giant teddy bear as tall as her, posters of her favorite movies on the walls, a computer desk and chair, a closed closet. She wanted to check the closet, but she already felt too bad for wasting her father’s time. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He sighed, all hope leaving his face. “I’ll set up an appointment for a therapist tomorrow.”
Tina felt scared. This meant he thought she was crazy. More than anything though, she dreaded the disappointment in her father’s voice. He wanted her to be strong, but she was weak and sensitive. She hated that about herself. Her short nails dug into her palms. Why couldn’t she be tougher for him?
“We have to deal with this, pumpkin.”
Reluctantly, she climbed back into bed.
Dad drew the covers over her and kissed her on the forehead. “Now get some rest.”
He paused by the doorway as she watched him. He was all she had, and she kept letting him down. He didn’t look back to make sure she was still okay. He must be tired of her. This worried her. She wondered whether he would run out of love if she kept testing his patience.
The light went out, and she was alone. So alone.