moonshadows

“Arthur, are you sure this is wise?”

“Look, we knew there would be some unusual aspects to raising her, right? Well…this is one of them.”

“You’re going to frighten the poor child, Artie.”

Artie lifted the brush from the ancient, battered, scary-looking plush animal he was painting and looked at the two women. The parts already touched twitched and writhed. “Jane, she was crying because there wasn’t a monster under her bed. She spends half the night listening to metal and sleeping fitfully, and the other half not even trying, and then she naps during the day. Under other circumstances, I’d switch to a nocturnal schedule with her, but I can’t. I shattered her belief in an intangible monster under her bed to eat her nightmares, so now it’s up to me to give her a tangible monster.” When no response was forthcoming from either Regent or Caretaker, he turned back to the battered plush and resumed using Disney’s paintbrush to give it a cartoonish appearance.

====

“Claudia!”

The girl so named, nine and ten months, jerked awake and waited.

“Claudia!!”

Front hall. Artie’d just gotten there, then. She took a deep breath and yelled back, “WHAT?”

“Get down here,” the shouted reply came back, echoing up the stairs. He must be at the foot of them. “I’ve got something to show you!”

Curious, she slid off the bed and went to the head of the stairs. “What is it?”

This time, the reply came muffled from the living room. “I’ll show you when you’re down here!”

Claudia rattled down the stairs recklessly, using the bannister to guide her descent, and arrived in the living room moments later. Artie was sitting on the floor with an unassuming, plain cardboard box on his crossed legs. She hoped he hadn’t gotten her a puppy; she didn’t want a puppy.

“What is it?” she asked warily.

He was beaming like the traditional depiction of Santa Claus. “Open it and see.”

She sat in front of him, and he put the box on the floor between them. Cautiously, she lifted the lid and a quietly-snarling…something… looked up at her.

“I found you a monster for under your bed,” he said quietly while it snuffled and turned around on four malformed limbs, pressing its ugly face into every corner.

Claudia blinked, then twice more, but the tears wouldn’t be stopped. Trembling slightly, she reached into the box and picked the monster up, comforted by the feel of its soft but tattered fur and the way it squirmed in her arms. “Thank you,” she choked out.

Artie moved the box out of the way and pulled her into a hug. “You’re welcome, kiddo. I know I’m not your dad or your brother, but I still care about you and I want you to be happy.”

“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest, hugging the monster tight and trying not to cry.

“You want to go settle him in his new home?” When she nodded against his chest, Artie released her. “Go for it.”

===

That night, for the first time since she’d arrived in Univille, Claudia slept through the night without a single bad dream to interrupt her rest.