text: First time posting here! I was awakened by a sharp jab to my side, one that went through the mattress I was sleeping on. My body fell and bounced upward once more, further adding to my confusion. I groaned softly before a wave of fear came over me. I was paralyzed when the next sharp stab came. Was my brother doing this? It had to be. My mind rejected any other possibility. I rolled over, constantly reassuring myself that this was some half-thought prank my sibling had conjured in his head. A minute passed without the mattress lifting my body upward. I was relieved that it was finally over, and I braced myself to see my brother’s face, complete with a mischievous look. He would quickly confess that he was the one to pull the stunt and promptly exit the room, leaving me alone once more. I opened my eyes, not aware that I had shut them in the first place. A face awaited my gaze. Not my brother’s, I had known that no more than a split second after I had laid my eyes on it. What was looking at me was black, darker than the darkest moonless night. Instantly, my heart skipped a beat. It spoke as my mouth opened to empty my lungs in a bloodcurdling shriek. It held a slender finger up to its crooked lips. “Don’t,” it whispered. “He’ll hear you.” My lips were involuntarily sealed. The entity glanced upward. “We’re in the clear for now,” it exhaled. “Don’t try to wake it up or we’ll both die, got it?” It’s mouth dissolved into a stern frown. My heart was still pounding out of my chest but I replied hastily, trying to keep my voice quiet. Several questions rifled through my mind, but one stood out. My own lips started to quiver, forming the words “what do you want?” The entity became aware of the fact that he was still giving a potentially hostile expression and shifted it to a more passive one: a smile. “Oh, I just wanted to help, that’s all.” It put a hand on my shoulder. “The One on the Ceiling, he scares me too. Why don’t you come down below your bed with me? We’ll both be safe then.” “I... Um...” With what higher level thinking I could muster, I evaluated the situation. Could this... Whatever this thing was, could it hurt me while we were under the bed? And what was he talking about when he referred to the One on the Ceiling? I looked upward for the first time. There wasn’t much I could make out in the darkness, but I could see a giant blob drooping down from the ceiling. It wasn’t moving as far as I could tell, but in the back of my mind I knew that it would be if I woke it up. I shifted my gaze back to the entity and nodded. After all, dying to him was far better than ending my life at the hands of a mysterious blob on the ceiling. At least this creature had sentience and seemed to have a plan with me. “Great,” the entity gushed, almost abandoning the warning he himself gave me. Swiftly, he dove underneath my bed and I saw his hand beckoning me to hurry. I gripped my pillow and pulled off my covers all without making a sound and joined the entity below my bed. I fluffed my pillow and began to talk a bit louder, trusting my bed to muffle some of the sounds we made. “I’m here, are you happy now?” “Yes, very much so,” the entity chirped, a grin spreading across his face. Not one of malice, but genuine happiness. “Thank you. By the way,” he pointed at my pillow, “can I try that? I hadn’t used one in my life.” I somewhat reluctantly handed over the sleeping device and almost instantly the entity buried its face into the delicate stuffing. “This is amazing,” he commented. A few seconds later, he placed it between himself and I. “I’m sorry, that was just so... soft. It felt like I was holding a cloud.” I didn’t know what to say. Normally children would be warned about beings that made homes under their beds, that they would most certainly die if they were to meet them, but this one... The entity stared into my eyes using his own. “Listen, we should start to sleep now. The faster morning arrives, the faster the One on the Ceiling - and I - will disappear. I bet you want that to happen, right?” I sighed and began to relax my neck, my head descending into the comfort of my pillow. “I suppose so. So just what are you, anywa-?” My question was interrupted by a sharp wail. My baby sister. She was only a few weeks old, but aged enough to keep quiet during the night. Even in the occasional call for food or my mother, I was capable enough to take care of her myself. For her to act up now of all times, though, was a fatal mistake. The tide of fear flooded back into my head and my heart started to ramp up its activity to unprecedented levels. “No...” was all the entity could say before my ears were filled with a crashing sound. Peering my head outside, my eyes yielded the sight of a dark appendage slowly reeling my sister toward the blob, the One on the Ceiling. Even though there was a voice screaming in the back of my head for me to do it, I knew I couldn’t attempt to fight back against the monster. I was too weak to do anything. I pulled my head back. There was a sharp crunch coming from the ceiling and my sister’s wails ceased. In my now shock-filled brain, I linked the sound to a cracker being split in two. The entity placed its hand on my shoulder once more, apparently sharing the same expression I felt myself displaying. “Sleep, James. It’ll all be over soon.