My name is Tommy. I’m ten years old and I have a secret. There’s a monster that lives under my bed. I wake up screaming every night. My mom and dad tell me there isn’t a monster under my bed but I know the truth. It’s there, terrorizing me every night. He comes out from under my bed and tortures me. He leaves scratches and bruises on me but when I show my parents, they say I probably fell out of bed.

The terror starts when the lights go out with a flick and the door closes with a click. Soon, I hear the tap, tap, tap coming from under my bed. I can almost see those giant, glinting claws tapping against the polished hardwood floor. Tap. Tap. Tap. The tapping becomes more persistent and that’s when I hear it.

The low grumble of the monster saying, “Close your eyes, Tommy.”

I know what will happen if I close my eyes. The monster will come out and torture me just like he’s been doing since we moved here last month. I don’t know why he tortures me or why he’s here.

The low grumble comes again, “Close your eyes, Tommy. Do it now!”

He’s getting angrier; I can hear it in his voice. I know if I close my eyes now, the torture will be much worse. I must not close my eyes tonight.

“SHUT YOUR EYES NOW, TOMMY! DO IT NOW!” roars the monster.

The roar scares me and I accidentally close my eyes. I shut them so tight I begin to see purple spots and that’s when I realize what I’ve done. I try to scream but no sound comes out. The monster has taken my voice. Then, I feel a thumping from beneath my bed. Thump. Thump. Thump. The monster is trying to get out. Thump. Thump. Thump. I close my eyes again and pray that it won’t be too bad tonight.

“Thank you for listening to me, Tommy. But you did not obey me the first time. Tonight’s torture will be much, much worse,” says the monster in his low, rumbly voice.

I’m very terrified. I try to yell but no sound comes out. I want my mom and dad. I open my eyes and see the monster slowly coming towards me. The monster is a huge, hairy beast with glinting claws and a low rumbling voice. He has a full set of razor sharp teeth that he enjoys biting me with. He lives under my bed and comes out to terrorize me every night.
We moved in a month ago because this house wasn’t as expensive as the others around it. I learned later that there was a little boy who lived here. He was just like me and then one day he was found dead in his room, barely recognizable. His head was completely gone. His blood was all over the room and there were chunks of white matter around the room, later identified as his brains. My parents try to tell me this isn’t a true story and it’s just told to scare me, but I know the truth. The little boy was real and the same thing that happened to him will happen to me.

“You have been a very bad boy, Tommy and now it’s time for your punishment,” the monster says as he sharpens his already-sharp claws.

He takes one giant claw and swipes it across my face, leaving a big gash on my cheek. My cheek burns and I feel the blood begin to flow. It drips into my mouth and I can taste the sharp metallic sting of it on my tongue. I begin to cry and the salty tears mix with the blood.

“Don’t cry, Tommy. You’ve been a bad boy and you deserve this” comes the low rumble from the monster.

The monster is becoming angry. His face is turning red and his eyes are so black. His eyes are empty and cold. I know I must stop crying but I can’t. Why is this happening to me? Then he slaps me across the face hard. My cheek burns and the gouge oozes blood. My eyes begin to water but I will not let the fresh tears fall. I try to wipe at my eyes but before I can the monster yells.

“NO! YOU STUPID BOY! YOU MUST OBEY ME!” bellows the monster.

He grabs me and slams me into the wall, sending pain throughout my entire body. I see spots flash behind my lids before everything fades to black.

I wake up, only to find the monster still there. I try to move towards the door but he sees me trying to escape. He throws me on the bed and ties my hands and feet together. I struggle to escape but the ropes are too tight and cut into my skin. My whole body aches and I just want all of this to end.

He sees me struggling and tells me to stop but I refuse to stop. This should not be happening to me. I try to yell but no sound is coming out of my mouth. The monster is becoming angrier. I can see the rage boiling inside of him just waiting to be released.

Suddenly, he grabs a match and lights it. He begins to burn me with it. He burns the tips of my fingers and then stops. I try to cry out but it’s no use. No one can hear me.

“If you don’t listen to me, I will continue to burn you,” says the monster.

I stop struggling for a little bit, trying to think. I try to think of a way out of here but the ropes are too tight. I stay like this for what seems like hours but I know is only a few minutes.

“Since you have decided to behave I will remove the ropes,” says the monster.

This is my chance. I can kick him and hit him when he unties the ropes and then make a run for the door. The monster comes over and cuts the ropes with a giant claw, also cutting me in the process, but I don’t care. This is my chance to get away. When he is done, I raise a leg to kick him but he sees me coming and breaks my leg in half. The pain is excruciating. I scream even though no one can hear me. I can’t move my leg. Once again, the world goes black.

When I wake up again, the first thing I notice is the pain in my leg. I can’t move my leg and when I look at it I’m shocked. My leg is discolored and swollen. I know this isn’t good. The monster notices that I’ve woken up. He comes to me and tells me I have made him so angry that he will kill me tonight. I’ll never get to see my parents again.

He ties me up and then pulls out a silver sparkling knife. He slowly peels off layers of my skin from my arm. The pain is so terrible. I try to scream but no sound is coming out. I’m crying but I don’t care anymore. He stops after finishing the first arm. I see bright red blood gushing out of what used to be my arm.

“SHUT UP! Stop crying now!” he roars at me.

I try to stop crying but instead I bite so hard on my tongue that I bite right through it. I can feel the warm blood dripping down the back of my throat. I taste the coppery flavor of the bright red blood. I begin to choke on my own blood. The monster grabs me and turns me over in an attempt to stop me from choking, probably so he can torture me more. I start coughing and puking. All I see is the red of blood all over my bed and some on the walls. I wonder why my parents haven’t come in to see what all the racket is.

Then, as if the monster can read my mind, he says, “As you may have noticed, I knocked your parents out so they wouldn’t be able to hear you. I also took your voice so they wouldn’t be able to hear your screams of terror. MUAHAHA!”

There is no hope for me; tonight I will die. I only wish I had told my mom and dad I loved them.

Suddenly, I am grabbed and thrown to the floor. I see the glint of a hammer in the monsters hands. He slams the hammer onto my foot and I cry out in pain. He does this repeatedly, each time the pain worse. Finally, he stops. He leaves me there for a minute or two and then comes back, this time with the knife he used to cut the skin off my arm. I shrink away but he grabs me and cuts a chunk of skin off of my face. I scream and try to kick or hit him but it’s no use. It’s as if my arms and legs don’t work anymore.
I lay there, silent and still, until he comes back with an instrument shaped like an ice cream scoop. I don’t know what this is for and I don’t want to find out. He comes towards me and grabs my face. He holds my eye open with one hand and then I realize what he is plotting. He is going to take my eye and blind me. He cuts the nerves around my eye but I can’t yell. His giant, hairy hand is covering my mouth. Then he pulls my eye out with the ice cream scoop. I can only see out of one eye now. There is no chance that I will make it out alive tonight.
He takes the eye with him and leaves. I wonder what he is doing with my eye. He comes back with it and tells me I have to eat it. I can’t eat my own eye. I try to keep my mouth closed as tight as I can as he advances toward me. He grabs my face again and tries to pry my mouth open. I try to keep it closed but I can’t. He gets my mouth open and as he attempts to stick the eye in my mouth I bite down on his hand. I can taste something in my mouth, a mix of blood, a chunk of eye, and skin. I gag and puke. Tonight’s supper coming up in a liquefied form along with blood, bits of skin, and chunks of what used to be my eye. The monster grabs the mixture and tries to shove it back in my mouth. I spit out the horrible mixture and the monster says something. I can’t understand what he said but it doesn’t sound good.
The next thing I notice are the snakes covering my room. I’m terrified of snakes and I cower in fear as they come closer. They keep getting closer until their slithering all over me. One of the scaly creatures slithers up to my face and begins to wrap itself around my neck tighter and tighter. I can barely breathe. Then, it stops. All the snakes have disappeared, almost like it was a dream. I know it wasn’t a dream, but I wish it was.
The monster screams in rage. He grabs me and throws me across the room. He stalks over with the knife in his hand and shoves the knife into my leg. He rips it out of my leg and then shoves it into my chest. I can feel warm thick blood coming out of my mouth. The world slowly fades to black and I know I am dead.
I wake up again but this time, there is no pain. I’m in my room but I can see my body. My body is covered in bright red blood. I notice chunks of my skin are missing and I’ve been decapitated but my head is nowhere to be found.
I am dead now.
My parents walk into the room. My mom screams and faints and my dad stares with his mouth wide open in shock. I think he calls the police because within a few minutes they are swarming my room.
What’s left of my body is removed from my room. The police still don’t find my head. I begin to wonder if the monster ate it or he hid it. My parents are taken out of the house and they don’t return. My room is cleaned and then repainted to hide all evidence of my murder.
I slip under the bed and find a pile of heads including mine. I laugh as I grab my head and shove it in my mouth. I chew on it for a bit and then swallow it. I let out an evil laugh and then wait for the next boy to inhabit this room.
“Now it’s my turn to be the tormentor,” I growl in my new voice.