Step 1-Monster

That night, sleeping alone in my new bedroom for the first time, I was awakened by a barely perceivable sound that stopped when I sat up in bed, groggy from sleep. Initially, I attributed it to the bleating of the goats of Nanny Goat Island and attempted to return to sleep. It was a windy winter’s night and I could hear the naked branches of the trees wrapping and groaning outside my window. As soon as I settled down and sleep again returned, so did the sound. This time it didn’t sound like the bleating of goats but the whimpering of a child. I was fully awake now and missing the companionship of my two sisters, but the option of sprinting to their room, in the middle of the night, was totally out of the question. It finally dawned on me that the sound was coming from somewhere in my room. As my eyes adjusted, I noticed a dim, green illumination coming from the partially open door of my closet. If I had chosen to attempt an escape, I would’ve had to pass in front of the closet door. The whimpering baby’s voice became a pleading cry and it too came from the closet. I steeled myself and crept from my bed towards the closet; not knowing whether I was going to slam the door and make my escape or attempt to find the weeping child. As my hand touched the cold brass doorknob, the dim yellow green glow compelled me to look into the closet. To my surprise, what I saw was an oak tree that had the configuration of a man. It was not a fully grown Oak tree of course, but what you might call a bonsai. Pete Moss draped from its branches and it was standing in a low-lying fog that reached to its knees (The feet could not be seen). Standing only 2 feet tall, the creature, by this time this is what I knew it was, was surrounded by a yellow green halo. As I stood there watching it, all of my fear had dissipated. In fact, the sound of the crying child began to make me feel relaxed and unafraid. Then suddenly, it opened its fiery red, almond shaped eyes, and speaking in a booming voice, that I felt in my chest, it said,” You will be mine.” That was my first meeting with the creature.