"Shadowplay - 1" by Garon E. Whited

          The figure moved like a shadow, flickering along the shores of streetlight pools.  It flicked from tree to bush to house, a negative flash, the moment of darkness within a blink.  Up the wall, across the roof, a human shape clinging to the edge of a window.

          Soundless, one hand slid the sash up.  The dark figure entered with nothing more than the wind stirring the gauzy curtains.  The window slid closed.

          The room was a child’s bedroom, done in pinks and bunnies.  Stuffed animals stared in glassy-eyed amaze as the figure padded soundlessly across the thick carpet and vanished behind the louvered door of the closet.

          From the hallway, muffled voices.

          “But I’m not tired!” said a little-girl voice.

          “Jackie, it’s your bedtime,” replied a grown-up woman-voice.  “You’re already staying up later now that school is out for the summer, so don’t complain.”

          “But I’m not tired!”

          “Then just go lie down in bed.”

          “But I’m not tired!”

          “Jacqueline!”

          Sullen silence.

          “Jacqueline, you go to your room and get into bed right this second!”

          Footsteps in the hall.  The sound of a bedroom door opening.

          “And if you slam that door, there will be no cake, no party, no nothing for your birthday!”

          A pause.  The sound of a gentle snicking sound as the door closed.  Muttering.

          “Not fair I have to go to bed.  Not tired at all.  Grownups stay up for hours and hours and hours and I have to be in bed.  So not fair!”

          Jacqueline huffed around the room for a minute, then selected a stuffed animal.  The plush rabbit looked at her as she held it at arms’ length.

          “You don’t look tired, Floppy,” she told it.  “Why don’t you just play with Ragamuffin and Bob for a while?”  Floppy made no dissent.  Ragamuffin, a rigid doll in a lacy dress, and Bob, a plush dog, joined Floppy on the bunny-embroidered bedspread.

          “Now, Princess Ragamuffin, it’s time for you to go to bed,” Jackie asserted, covering the doll with a doll-sized blanket.  “But your adventures will continue tomorrow.”  Jackie patted the blanket reassuringly, even as the other hand brought Bob around in a sudden attack.  “Oh, no!  The Princess’ bedroom has been infiltrated by a spy!  Oh no!  Whatever shall we do?”

          Floppy, bounding to the Princess’ defense in Jackie’s other hand, knocked Bob away from the sleeping doll.

          “Back, dirty scounder—sconder—evildoer!  I, the great Sir Floppy, will defend the Princess with every hair of my head!”

          “Grr!  I, Bob, the sneakiest sneak that ever sneaked, will have my revenge on the Princess for not filling my supper dish!”

          Outside the bedroom, a woman’s voice again.

          “Jackie!  If that light isn’t out in ten seconds, I’m coming in there!”

          As the counting started, Jackie put Floppy and Bob down next to the Princess Ragamuffin.  “Shh,” she cautioned, and tiptoed to stand next to the door.  She put a finger on the light switch and waited.

          “Eight!... Nine!...”

          Click.

          Jackie tiptoed back to the bed by the light from the window and gathered up Floppy and Bob to smother her giggles.  She wormed her way down under her covers and lay there, still smiling over her little prank of waiting until the last second.

          Eventually, she turned on her side, then turned back.  She eyed the closet.  And, as any child knows, monsters love to lurk in closets, just like they love to lurk under beds.

          Jackie wormed around, hanging over the side of the bed, threatening to slide completely over the edge, and lifted the bedspread away from the floor.

          No monsters.  Just shoes.

          She squirmed back onto the bed and looked at the closet again.  It seemed to look back.

          At last, she slid out of bed.  Armed with a Floppy and a Bob, she approached the closet with some care.  With the Bob-hand, she pushed down on the handle, pulled, and flung the closet door wide.

          Curled up on the floor of the closet was a figure all in black, wearing a strange, head-hugging hood that hid everything but the eyes.  A handle projected over one shoulder.  One eye opened, then the other.

          “Oh, no!” the figure whispered.  “It’s Floppy and Bob!”  It scrunched back in the closet, half-hiding under the hanging clothes.

          Jackie was nonplussed.  Monsters weren’t usually scared.  They were supposed to be scary.  And this one was a little scary.  It was a lot bigger than she was, if it ever stood up.  It was also dressed all in black, which was also a little scary.  It didn’t seem to have a face, just eyes, which was really kinda scary.  But it was also trying to hide from Floppy and from Bob, and that wasn’t at all scary.

          “Are you a closet monster?” she asked.

          “No.”

          “Well, you’re in a closet,” Jackie pointed out.

          “Okay, you have a point.  But usually, I hide under the bed.”

          “I keep all my shoes there.”

          “That’s why I’m in the closet.”

“There’s still room, I think.”

“Do you know what your shoes smell like?”

          “Oh.  Okay.  Are you going to jump out later and scare me?”

          “Not my job.  I’m just here to listen to you dream.”

          Jackie tilted her head, an affectation inherited directly from her mother.

          “Why?”

          “It’s the only way I can stay.”

          “Why?”

          “Because I’ll vanish if I don’t.”

          “Why?”

          The figure in the closet uncurled a little, shifting to sit on the floor more comfortably.

          “How old are you, kid?”

          “Six on Saturday.”

          “Okay, this is going to take a little explaining.  It’s complicated.”

          “Okay.”

          The bedroom door opened and the light clicked on.  Jackie’s mother, dressed in nightgown and bathrobe, stood there staring.

          “What are you talking to?”

          “The closet monster.  ’Cept it’s really a under-the-bed monster, but my shoes are smelly.”

          Mom walked into the room and looked in the closet.  The monster waved.  Mom frowned.

          “She can’t see me,” the monster whispered.

          “Jackie, you’re supposed to be in bed!  Not still playing pretend-games.  Now get in that bed and stay there.  There are no monsters, under the bed or in the closet or anywhere else.”

          “But, Mom!” Jackie protested as she was gently but firmly put to bed and tucked in.  “The monster says its got to listen to my dreams to stay, and if I fall asleep I’ll dream and it’ll never go away!”

          “Well, if it’s a monster, it’s very well-behaved,” Mom said, reasonably.  “Would you rather have a bad monster?”

          “Huh,” Jackie said, thoughtfully.

          “She’s got a point,” said the monster.  “Tell you what, we’ll talk later.  You get your sleep for now and tomorrow we can decide if I’m going to stay or not.”

          “Okay,” Jackie said.

          “Good,” said both Mom and the monster.  Mom kissed Jackie’s forehead and turned out the light.  The door closed with a quiet snicking sound again.  The monster sat down on the edge of the bed.

          “Are you going to be a good monster?” Jackie asked.

          “Only if you have lots of dreams,” it replied.

          Jackie squinched her eyes closed immediately and pretended to snore.  The monster made a soft sound, halfway between a chuckle and snort.

          “I don’t think that’s helping.  Shh.  Here, I’ll help.”

          The monster sang, softly, in strange words.  Jackie didn’t understand the language, but it was obviously a lullaby.

          It really isn’t all that scary a monster, Jackie reasoned, as she lay there and listened.  With Floppy and Bob tucked under either arm, she fell asleep.

          Jackie dreamed in the bright colors and whirling movement of a child, skipping from one dream to another like a butterfly in a field of flowers, always with a black-garbed monster along.  And, really, it was just there, like a shadow.  It never did anything.  It just was.  And, Jackie realized, not scary at all.