Under The Bed

• Jesse Noonan, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2015

“Sweetie, for the last time there’s nothing under your bed!” My daughter sat on her bed and glared at me. “Yes there is mum!” she sniffed “There’s a monster under my bed, I’ve seen his shadow on my wall.” I sighed, most children are scared of monsters under the bed, but this is beyond ridiculousness!
A few weeks ago, when Skye had complained about noises coming from under her bed, I naturally removed everything from beneath it. While I was cleaning up I had noticed a strange crack in the wall. When I ran my fingers over it, I suspected the book case might be putting too much pressure on it.
Suddenly I realised Skye was dragging the spare mattress into the hall. “Skye! You are sleeping in your own bed tonight and that’s final!” She unhappily abandoned getting the mattress out of the door and shuffled to her bed, muttering about how she was probably going to get eaten in the night. As she settled under her covers, I turned off the lights, closed the door and headed down stairs for a coffee.

I woke up to a large bang. Closely followed by a piercing scream. I Leapt out of bed and dashed to Skye’s room, throwing open the door. I couldn’t believe it. Crouching in the corner of the room was a real life dragon complete with glowing green eyes, burnished blue scales and silver teeth. I shuffled over to Skye’s bed and dragged her to the door.
Suddenly the dragon’s head snapped up and it looked straight at us. “Who are you?” it hissed uncurling its great body and standing up. “You can talk?” I stammered. It growled, “Of course I can talk, ignorant human, you still haven’t answered my question.” I introduced us timidly and stammered “Why are you here?” The dragon sighed. “Back in my world, a bigger dragon challenged me for my territory. The fight went on for 3 days until he threw me against a cliff face. The cliff cracked and I fell through and landed here. I think the crack closed behind me.”
I stared for a moment before ducking under the bed, and sure enough the crack was gone. “Well how can you get back?” I questioned. The dragon huffed “I’m not even sure I WANT to get back, does your world have any spare territory?” I nodded silently, and got a map. The dragon and I discussed the best way to get to the forest, and then it leapt up on the window sill and turned to face us. “I would like to thank you. You have helped me find a better life.” And without another word it launched its self out into the night.

I finished tucking Skye into bed and went to the door. “Good night sweetie.” I turned off the lights and went to close the door when. “Mum?” muttered Skye “I think there’s something under my bed.”
THE END