The Protector

Maggie awoke to the sound of shuffling underneath her bed. Her first thought was it was the cat, but then she realized that she never had a cat. Even though she wanted one, she never could get it because of her allergies. She lay there, still, trying not to move and turning her head to hear. 

Thump. Tha-dump.

As if someone was crawling around underneath her bed, she could feel someone moving, coming up from the mattress. 

Her heart froze in her chest. Her hand inching away to where a teddy bear lay next to her. She really didn't want to alert whoever it was that she was up.

Her mattress moved. 

She held her breath, frozen in sheer terror. She didn't know what to do. Then she grasped her teddy bear and held it close.

Then suddenly the movement stopped. There was nothing, no sound. Maggie, still afraid, held her teddy bear. "You'll protect me from the big bad monster," she said to the bear as she turned to see its face. "I know you can do it before it comes back."

Cautiously she peered over the edge of the bed, seeing the darker-than-dark darkness underneath her bed, and she saw what appeared to be two or maybe three glowing eyes. 

She sat up on her bed and looked at her teddy bear.

"You ready?" she whispered to the bear. In her hands the teddy bear's head seemed to nod. "I know you can do it." 

The movement began again underneath her bed, and that's when she tossed the bear underneath. "You go get him MAX!"