There is a man under my bed that claims to be a monster. I think I’ve seen him before and I pretty sure he’s a homeless man I gave a dollar to. My parents and brother and sister say they don’t see anyone when they check. And he is gone when everyone else is in the room, but I know better. I don’t mind him, he doesn’t do anything wrong, but some nights I can smell him and he will kiss my cheek. It’s a little disturbing but I’ve gotten used to it even though his beard tickles a little bit. He does keep my room clean and helps me with my chores and my homework. He even makes my bed every day, and I think he helps with the laundry, but my mom thinks it is one of us kids.
“Mark,” I hear my mom say.
“What mom?” I ask back.
“You remember that you’re going to be home alone, right?” She asks.
She has been telling me this for the past week. The rest of my family members are all going to different places. Both mom and dad are going on a business trip, and my brother and sister are at summer camp. I’m going to be home alone with the man under my bed for part of the weekend.
“Yes, mom,” I know I said it a little rudely, but I’ve said I understand more times than I want to.
“if anything happens, call the police or go over to the neighbors,” She has said that multiple times too.
“I know mom. You told me over and over again. Breakfast is in the fridge, and lunch and dinner for the next couple of days too.” I say dropping my shoulder and lolling my head back.
“I’m sorry,” My mom says rubbing my head. She kneels down and kisses me on my forehead.
“Good bye Mark,” She says and picks up her bag before heading outside.
I watch the car drive away.
I put on a movie and start watching.
“Finally, everyone is gone,” The man says coming into the living room.
I groan loudly.
“Oh,” the man claps and jumps up and down, “I’ve been wanting to watch this movie, but I never know when anyone will come back home so I’ve had to wait.”
“You could always leave to go somewhere else,” I suggest.
“Oh, you,” the man shaking a finger at me while grinning. “I’ll go make some popcorn.”
Popcorn does sound good. I pause the movie while I wait for the popcorn to come out of the microwave. He gives me a big bowl with most of the popcorn and he has just a small cup.
We watch the movie and I try to ignore the man as he jumps, squeals, and gasps at every little thing that happens. He does clean up the room as I put the movie away. I go to bed, hoping that the man goes away, or sleeps in another room. He creeps into my room and squeezes himself under my bed.
In the morning, I eat some cold cereal while watching cartoons. As it’s Saturday, I call some of my friends and find every excuse to be out of the house. I go to one friend’s house until noon and come back for lunch, and then I’m out of the house until about five and come back to start heating up dinner.
“Oh, you’re back!” the man says happily.
I groan as I listen to the microwave whirring on.
“Yeah, I promised mom and dad I would sleep at home.”
“Well, there were some strange men knocking on the door,” the man says, “they came back looking inside the house several times.”
“They probably just wanted to try and sell something,” I say not really caring.
I take dinner to the living room and we start watching a movie. I turn the lights off. We’re most of the way through the movie when the front door comes crashing in. A man in a mask comes barging through the broken door. We stare at each other for a moment and I grab the phone. The masked man jumps at me and grabbed the phone out of my hand. Another man comes in looks around then leaves.
We fight for a moment and I bite him hard on the arm and grab the phone and start calling 911. I feel a blow to my side and then as I fall to the ground I get kicked several times. The man picked me up with both hands.
“You little brat,” he said and his breath smelled of smoke and alcohol.
“Put him down!” A voice echoes the room and makes the house shake.
I can’t see what is happening by the man’s eyes grow wide and he is shaking. I drop to the ground. I feel a sharp pain as I hit the coffee table.
The room goes dark. The TV is suddenly quiet. I turn around to see what the masked man is looking at. The old man that sleeps under my bed is growing and it seems like all the light and sound is being pulled into him. His arms changed into tentacles like a giant squid’s. His face morphs into what looks like a blob with octopus tentacles in front of his mouth. His body turns a shade of green and bloats like week-old roadkill. The masked man screams as the tentacles lash out and seize him. The sound seems to be pulled out of the masked man’s mouth and he is suddenly limp.
“You shall not harm my patron!” The monster screams.
The monster that was an old man rushes out the door pulling the man that broke in. The sound of screams, pounding and all sorts of deconstruction can be heard outside. I don’t dare look. My heart is racing, and it takes me a while to realize there is a sound coming from the phone.
“Hello?” I ask quickly as I put the phone to my ear.
“Are you alright? I hear some screaming.” The voice of a very nice lady asks.
“Uh . . .” I honestly don’t know, “I think I’m okay now. someone broke into my house.”
“What’s your address?” She asks.
I recite my address.
“Police will be on the way. Stay where you are.” She says.
“Well, that man won’t be bothering anyone anymore.” the old man says crossing over to the kitchen.
His hands are covered in blood. he turns on the faucet and washes his hands.
“Who was that?” the lady asks.
“Oh, uh. . .” My mind is all fuzzy and it’s hard to think straight. “someone that was here when the break-in happened.”
I don’t pay attention much to what the lady is saying and try to answer her but time seems to flash by.
Sirens fill the air and red and blue light flood through the broken down the front door.
“What happened?” A police officer asks as he comes inside.
I absently hang up the phone and turn around.
“Are you okay?” the officer asks and two other officers flank him.
“I uh. . .” I try and think of what to say but it’s still hard to think with everything that just happened.
“No,” the old man calls from the kitchen, “he was attacked when he tried to call 911.” the old man comes into the living room with a first aid kit.
“What happened outside?” The officer asks very slowly.
The old man lifts off my shirt and I can see some red marks and some blood. He frowns and starts cleaning the cut and bandaging me up.
“Outside . . . is the man who broke in.” the old man says calmly.
“I think we are going to need to take you in.” a different office says taking out some handcuffs.
the old man looks hard at them and the lights stark going dark again and all the sound seems to fill the man.
“Go, change and get ready for bed.” the old man says his fold swelling again. “I need to talk to the police officers.”
I don’t wait to see what happens and I rush to my room. I can feel how bad I hurt now. I get on some pajamas and wait for a moment. My nerves are calming down and walk back to the living room.
The old man is talking to just one officer now, and then picks up the door and as the officer leaves, the old man fits the door back where it was.
“Don’t go outside for a while,” the old man says, “the police are going to clean up the" he coughs "mess.”
He turns on the light. “Oh, no we missed most of the movie and your dinner is all over the floor. Here I’ll get that cleaned up. Are you hungry?”
“No,” I answer.
“You will be later,” He says. Has the trash can and is throwing away the food from the floor.
“Do you want me to restart the movie?” he asks.
“No,” I answer.
He finishes cleaning up the mess and is sponging up the liquids from the carpet.
“Do you want me to do anything for you?” he asks.
I suddenly remember him in his monster form and it makes me suddenly tired and weak.
“I . . . I think I just want to go to bed.” I say truthfully and head to my room.
I don’t remember getting into bed or falling asleep, but I remember waking up. The room is bright, and the room is very quiet. I look at my alarm clock and it is almost ten in the morning. I hurt where I was hit and I am starving.
I get up and go to the living room. The door is still broken but it’s fit in the frame.
“Oh, you’re awake.” the old man says from the couch. “I couldn’t leave the room in case someone else tried to break in. There is a police officer outside though. Did you want breakfast?”
“Yeah.” I nod.
I walk to the front window and look outside. there are multiple spots on the grass that are covered in blood and it looks like the sidewalks have been washed but there are still spots of pink. There are two police cars parked on the road and several police officers walking up and down the street talking to people asking questions and pointing to my house.
There is a sizzle and the smell of bacon fills the air.
There is a knock on the door and it opens slowly. A police officer pokes his head inside.
“Oh, I see you are awake and okay.” it’s the first officer that came last night.
“Yeah, I think I’m okay. I mean other than being hit by the person that broke in last night,” I say not really wanting to think of what happened.
“I understand your parents should be coming back soon?” the officer asks.
“I think my mom comes back around noon,” I say trying to remember her schedule.
“Okay, well, we’ll be outside if you need anything.” the officer says and closes the broken door the best is can be.
The old man serves me breakfast in the living room and tends to my wounds again.
He sits down across from me with a serious look on his face.
“I know you saw the real me and I don’t want to leave but I will if you want me to.” He says this slowly.
What he did and what he said hit me. What he said.
“You called me your pa . . . patro . . .” I try and remember the word.
“Patron.” He says.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
He looks at me smiling hopefully.
“It means you paid me.” He says.
“You were that old man I gave money to,” I say trying to fit it in my mind.
“Yes. I said I would serve anyone that would give me for the rest of my life. I didn’t actually think anyone would.” he says.
“So as your patron what do I do?” I ask. “I mean what does that make me?”
“You are my boss, basically,” he explains.
“I don’t want to be anyones boss.” I say looking down at the food he brought me. “I don’t know how to be a boss or anything.”
He laughs.
“What?” I ask.
“I think that makes you the perfect boss for me,” he says smiling.
I start to eat and then after halfway through the plate i look at him again.
“Did you kill that man?” I ask and i am afraid of the answer.
“Yes,” he says.
I was afraid of that, but at the same time, he did save me from that man.
“I don’t want you to kill anymore,” I say moving food around on my plate with the fork.
The old man sighs and pauses at what he was doing.
“Okay.” he says.
“But, if someone breaks into the house again that isn’t supposed to be here you can kick them out.” I say and pick up a piece of bacon. “And I think mom and dad will need to know about this too.”
“Ooooo.” he says and frowns. “But let me explain the pact to them, it will be a delicate subject. You will need to properly introduce me.”
I finish the bacon and look at the door again.
“Okay,” I say and I hope mom understands.
“Good.” he says nodding while I finished breakfast.
The door swings open and my mom enters the room. Her face is white and the broken door slams on the ground.
“Mark, what happened?” She asks her voice is quivering.
“Uh. . .” I can’t think of a good way to explain it. I look at the old man. “This is the monster under my bed. He’ll tell you what happened.”