Something Under My Bed

by rey
(San Diego CA,USA)

Derek was never one for baby stuff; he didn't believe in monsters or the boogey man anymore after all he was turning twelve and that was
almost a teenager. You were suppose to stop believing in that stuff,right?

Even though he didn't believe in the thought of monsters and the boogey man was absurd he still jumped into his bed from a safe distance whenever
he turned off the light in his room and never let his feet hang out from under the covers. So when his little brother started complaining that there was something under his bed, Derek took it upon himself to make fun of his little brother's situation.

Every night for the next week Derek would go into his little brothers room an tell him to watch out for the thing that lives underneath your bed! Then he would turn off the lights to his room and close the door he would laugh as he heard his little brother scream in terror.

Until one morning he awoke to the sound of someone else screaming in terror: his mother. He
jumped out of bed and ran down the hall. The screaming was coming from his brother's room.
As he ran into the room the first thing he noticed was that his brother was not there. The second thing he noticed was the blood. There was blood everywhere, but no sign of his brother.

The police were called. They asked Derek all kinds of weird questions like 'did your brother ever talk to strangers?' or 'do you know if he was having trouble with anybody or anything?' and that's when Derek remembered his little brothers face all tear soaked as he sobbed THERE'S SOMETHING UNDER MY BED!

But no, that kind of stuff ain't real, is it? There was a big commotion around his house for the next couple weeks as they searched for his brother. They said they were trying to find him, but even he knew at twelve that you can't lose that much blood and still be alive. So when they told his mother that they were looking
for her son and to keep up hope he knew they really meant that they were looking for his body and that they were really sorry for her loss.

He was in shock for a couple of days. He couldn't believe his brother was gone. The day they had the funeral was probably the hardest> He had never seen his mom so distraught, not even after dad died. He wanted to go to her and tell her "mom its going to be okay" but he knew it wouldn't be okay. He knew it was never going to be the same again. If he felt this bad at losing his brother he couldn't imagine how his mother
felt losing her child. Mom got pretty distant after Roger was gone. Now it was just me and her in this big house.

That was the only comfort he found in having a big house - there were lots of places to avoid his zombie of a mother who he would hear crying every night and sometimes wouldn't come out of her room. Sometimes he would tell her "goodnight, I love you mom and she would reply with "I love you too Roger". The first three times it bothered him but he got use to it. After that, everyone acts different towards you when you lose someone close - specially someone so young.

Even the bullies left him alone for the first month. Your life becomes a non stop carousel of "I'm so sorry for your loss" and pity looks from people he didn't know. He didn't know why but this above everything else bothered him the most. It was probably due to the fact that these people didn't give a damn about him or his family before, but now they seemed to want to care.

Life around his house wasn't any easier either. His mom had taken to sleeping in Roger's room. She now totally ignored him like he was dead too, and after all this, after all this grief and suffering that he was going through, on top of it all he was having nightmares of his dead brother.

It always started off the same. He was asleep in his bed and was awakened by his brother, but he didn't look the same. He had pale grey eyes and even paler skin. He kept saying "come on Derek I wanna show you were I live at now". As he got out of bed that's when he would feel a hand clasp around his ankle and slowly start pulling him under the bed. And that's when he would wake up
sweating and out of breath, as if he was really fighting for his life.

The dreams continued for about a week and then as abruptly as they started they stopped just the same. His teachers would ask him if everything was alright, tell him that he looked tired as if he wasn't sleeping well.

"I'm okay, really" he would tell his teacher and even though she looked as if she didn't believe him.

She always said, "Well alright, but you be sure to get to bed early tonight. You're not looking well Derek" and he would always reply with "I will", but he never did.

That day when he came home his mother was in the kitchen cooking. She hadn't done that or anything else for that matter since Roger disappeared.

"Mom, are you alright?"

And she looked at him with a smile and said "Of course dear why wouldn't I be?"

He wanted to yell "because you have been acting like I haven't been here for the past three months and you kept calling me my dead brother's
name, that's why!", but he didn't. He was just glad that she wasn't crying anymore and that she even looked like she recognized who the hell he was.

That evening they sat down and ate like they used to. The only weird thing she did was set a plate for Roger, but other than that it was borderline normal, until he said he was going to bed.

That's when she looked at him and said "Be sure to check on your brother, he doesn't look himself and he really misses you", but he was
so tired that all he said was "sure mom" and went to his room, turned off the lights and just fell into bed.

He didn't know how long he was asleep until he heard a noise that woke him out of it, but it was dark outside now and it took a little while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Just then he heard the noise again. It sounded as if it was
coming from the hallway. He hesitated for a second. "What if someone broke into the house?" He was only twelve! What could he do? Fight off a grown man? But then he heard his mother's voice and he started to calm down.

That's when he heard another voice. It was muffled so he couldn't make out what they were saying. Without thinking he started to get
out of bed. That's when he felt the hand clasp his ankle it pulled his legs out from under him. He hit the floor banging his chin on the ground.

As he landed it dazed him and he tasted blood in his mouth "I must of bitten my tounge when I fell..." he thought, but then he realized he was being pulled backwards, underneath the bed.

Terror took over all his senses.

He didn't want to, but he looked back to see what had a hold of him and that's when his sanity broke. He felt something warm and he knew he just wet himself at what he was looking at. It couldn't be no "I'm dreaming".

He tried to tell himself this is just a nightmare, this is not real. "COME ON DEREK I WANNA SHOW YOU WHERE I LIVE NOW", his dead brother's pale eyes locked on his as he smiled and pulled with the force of a grown man. For a second his wits came about him again and he began to scream for his mom. His bedroom door opened and there was his mom. "Mom, help me!" but all she did was smile and say "now you boys have fun and don't stay up to late."

And as she was closing the door the last thing he heard his brother scream; "I TOLD YOU THERE WAS SOMETHING UNDER MY BED!!!!"