From within the darkness of midnight a small shrill voice screamed out, “Daddy!” Hurried footsteps were heard from the master bedroom, into the hallway and finally to a crying child’s room. Tears were wiped quickly away and a deep soothing voice along with the comfort of rocking back and forth in a father’s arms slowly calmed the fear that was once there.

George’s small daughter told him it was the monster under the bed again; he tried not to let her see him roll his eyes in disbelief again. He let her go for a moment, turned on the light and looked under the bed. Nothing was there, as usual, yet her eyes told him that this was more than just a childhood phobia.

Danielle was almost five now and more than capable of knowing monsters were not real--that was her father’s opinion anyway. Before he left the room she asked him for a flashlight so that she could protect herself from further attacks.

Like any good dad, he went overboard taking the time and trouble to help her set up a ‘fortress’ complete with flashlight, fly swatter and some anti-monster spray. The spray was really nothing more than a squirt bottle filled with tap water, but to his little girl he knew it meant the world.

George had trouble getting back to sleep that night; the echo of her scream haunted his mind for several hours. She had never before screamed with such panic in her voice. Morning came and he was slowly awakened by his loyal dog licking him in the face. “Get down Rex, I’m getting up boy.” His canine friend reluctantly complied with his master’s command.

Immediately he went to check on Danielle. She was asleep with the flashlight clutched tightly in her hand. Her face was that of an angelic cherub, every bit as beautiful as the day she was born. Rex came from behind him and began to lick her on the face which made her smile as she came to. As she got out from the covers her father noticed a couple scratches on her legs that had not been there last night. His eyes opened wide as he realized that they were not from the dog or even anything of this world. George did not want to act afraid or surprised as he tried to convince Danielle that they must have come from her bumping into something last night.

Although she couldn’t recall getting out of bed she shook her head and smiled in agreement. George got her dressed, fed her some corn pops brand cereal and took her to preschool for the day. Abruptly after that he called in sick to his job and drove to the nearest library.

Once there he started to research any books that contained information about childhood phobias and unusual night time phenomena. He tried the Internet for information and he was about to give up when across his screen came an unusual link. All it said was: Shadow Monsters EXIST! He clicked on the link and started reading up on them, but for the most part it was a site based on urban myths. However he did notice that one article spoke of a particular book that held information on this topic and it was from the 1700’s. George wrote down as much about the book as he could and went to the woman at the counter to see if she could help him locate it. Her reaction was not pleasing; she simply asked him to leave and try another way to locate the book.

Surprised at the response he got, he left and went to the only other place he knew of which carried books of a questionable nature and drove to the occult bookstore down the street. They were not open till after noon though. Grumbling under his breath about young hippie kids and how lazy they were, George decided to go home until later in the day.