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Speaker 1: I was sixteen when it happened. I didn't talk about

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it for a long time, but sometimes when I can't sleep,

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I still go over that night in my head. I'm

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older now, I've moved out and got my own place

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and job, but a part of me is still anchored

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to that house. There was something about it that never

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made sense. We grew up in a bad area. I'm

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talking burglaries, gang signs sprayed over garage stores, Cops cruising

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past our streets slow enough to make it feel like

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they were waiting for something to happen. I saw someone

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get dragged out of their car in front of our house.

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When I was thirteen. We heard gunshots a few blocks

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over so often we stopped checking the news the next morning.

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People broke into homes for TVs, tools, even food. It

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happened all the time, but it never happened to us.

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That was something I could never explain. We weren't special.

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We didn't have a dog or bars on the windows.

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We didn't even have a working security system. Sometimes I'd

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come home and find the screen door unlatched or a

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window that looked tampered with, but nothing ever came of it.

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My mom would brush it off and tell me not

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to worry. I tried not too, but he'd always stuck

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with me. On the other hand, my old man was

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gone before I even turned six. I used to ask

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about him sometimes. My mom never had much to give.

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She said he worked in a specialized field, and whatever

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that meant. I figured it was a nice way of

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saying he was mixed up in something illegal. Maybe ran

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off to keep us safe or save his own skin.

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I never bought the noble sacrifice angle he left us behind.

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My mom worked her ass off to keep things afloat.

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I watched her come home with her feet so swollen

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she had to sit on the bottom step to untie

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her shoes. She'd run her hand through my hair and

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go check on my little brother before she even made

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herself a plate. She was always tired, but never stopped trying.

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I couldn't imagine walking out on that. I started stepping

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in when I got old enough to see how much

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she carried on her back. I didn't want my brother

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growing up with a kind of resentment that built up

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in me. I figured if I could keep his world calm,

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maybe he wouldn't need to carry a grudge. His name

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was Michael, same as our father. I remember fighting her

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on it when I first heard. I was only eight,

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but I remember sitting on the side of her hospital

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bed saying it made my skin crawl. I didn't want

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to come home and say that name again every day.

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I didn't want to picture that man every time my

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brother laughed or cried or needed help tying his shoes.

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But she wouldn't budge. I called him Mikey still do

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wouldn't say the full name if I could help it.

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He was a good kid, though, smart, curious, always in

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his own little world. My mom got the call on

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a Thursday night, about twenty years ago. She didn't say

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much when she entered. She only stepped out onto the

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porch with her coat still on. I stood in the

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kitchen watching the clock tick toward ten, already knowing what

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it meant when I saw how she kept her hand

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on a hip, nodding. She came back in after a while,

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and before I could ask, she rubbed the side of

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my face and told me she needed to leave in

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the morning, some project downstate. It was part of a job,

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some contract work she'd picked up to fill the gaps

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that a full time gig didn't cover. It wasn't optional.

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She packed fast. It wasn't a first time leaving for

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a job like that, but it had never been for

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a full week before. She made a list of meals

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and taped it to the fridge, left cab money under

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the toaster in case something happened, and showed me where

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she kept the house key she used to hide in

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the crawl space. In the morning, she left before the

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sun came up. She stood in the hallway for a second,

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watching me make toast, and said she didn't like leaving us.

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I told her I knew, and I'd take care of everything.

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She held on to the door for like she didn't

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want to let go of it. Then she walked out

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without looking back. She trusted me with a house, and

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more than that, she trusted me with my key. Later

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after dinner, Mikey was laying on the floor with his

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knees pulled up while he scribbled into the back pages

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of a note book he'd torn from school. I was

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sitting on the couch flipping through channels. I wasn't watching,

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but every so often I looked at him. He was

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humming under his breath some off keychune he'd made up

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that he never stopped repeating. He was focused on whatever

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he was drawing, with a seriousness that didn't fit an

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eight year old. He always had that far off focus

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when he got stuck in his head. I didn't think

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he was weird. I think he saw things differently than

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most people, since he could form full sentences. He'd been

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adamant that there was something in his room, not some one, something.

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I remember him telling mom that it whispered to her

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while she slept. Said he woke up one night and

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saw it petting her hair. She didn't know what to

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say to that. Clearly it freaked her out, but she

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told him he had a vivid imagination and turned the

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lights on in his room for a week after that.

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It didn't help. Mikey tore my train of thought when

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he joined me on the couch. He sat close enough

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that his shoulder touched mine. There was always his way

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of asking for something without saying it outright. When I

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didn't react, he finally spoke, d'ye think we could watch

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a scary movie? He asked. I gave him a side eye,

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Since when do you care about scary movies? I found

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out about them to day in school, Me and my

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friends were talking about monsters, and they said, people make

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movies out of them. You already have enough problems sleeping.

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I won't if I see what they really like, he

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said smugly. I figured if he saw a guy in

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a rubber soup pretending to be a ghost in my

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break whatever spell, he'd put himself under, fine, I muttered,

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But if you have a nightmare, I'm makin you sleep

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in the laundry room. He smiled and shook his head.

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I won't. I started flipping through the free channels. Most

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of it was junk, but one station had a horror

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line up running. There was a zombie movie half way through,

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another one about some haunted motel. I let the previews

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play while Mikey leaned forward, fascinated. Then the screen flickered

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black and the emergency broadcast tone kicked in. I froze,

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hands still on the remote as that flat, buzzing drone

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filled the room. Mikey leaned back, confused. The words amber

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alert appeared in block white letters, then switched to the

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red warning screen. The message said there had been a

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confirmed break in a few blocks over the authority's urged

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residents in the surrounding neighborhood, to lock all the windows

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and doors, and to report anything suspicious immediately. Mikey read

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it slowly, lips moving, then turned to me. He didn't

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seem worried, but he watched me get up. I could

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already feel my chest tightening. It wasn't the alert itself,

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it was the idea that if something went wrong, I'd

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be the one standing between him and whatever came through

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the door. I'm gonna check the house, and I said,

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go brush your teeth, get to bed. But now the

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movie's over. He groaned and stood up, dragging his feet

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toward the stairs. I walked to the front door, pressed

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in the lock, tested it twice. I pulled the windows closed,

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tightened the latches, shut the blind. My hand was shaking,

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and I hated that. After my paranoia induced energy wore off,

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I shut off the lights in the living room and

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headed upstairs. I passed Mike's room and saw that his

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door was cracked open. He was already under his blanket.

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He didn't say anything when I walked by, but I

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knew he was still awake. I stepped into my room

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and shut the door behind me. I dropped into bed

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and stared at the ceiling, the same as Mikey was

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probably doing. I kept my phone close. The charger cable

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was lying on the ground unused. I hadn't plugged it

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in earlier, and now I didn't feel like the right

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time to go hunting for the outlet. I must have

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been hovering on the edge of sleep when I heard it,

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a high pitched scream, Mikey's voice. I sat up so

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fast my shoulder cracked, My feet hit the ground, and

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I was through the hallway before I knew i'd start up.

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My heart kicked hard in my chest. I didn't have

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time to think. He was screaming, and there was no

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question in my mind what that meant. The alert the

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burglar must have broken in and now is after Mikey.

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I should have grabbed something abat the chair by the stairwell,

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anything I didn't. I pushed this door open so hard

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it bounce off the wall behind it. There was nothing.

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It was only Mikey, sitting up in bed with his

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arms around his knees, crying through his teeth. His eyes

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were wide stuck on something that wasn't there anymore. He

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saw me and flinched, then opened his mouth to speak,

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but nothing came out. I walked over and sat on

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the edge of the bed. My hands were shaking worse

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than his. You're okay, I said. I kept my voice low,

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my throat was dry. You're right, He didn't answer. His

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breath hitched a few times before he could get it

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under control. I reached over and pulled him in. He

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was sweating through his shirt. Bad dream, I asked. He nodded.

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His face stayed buried in my shoulder. I wanted to

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be annoyed, but I wasn't. That scream had torn through

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everything I thought I could handle. The fact that it

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was a dream made it easier, but it didn't make

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it go away. I was still wound up so tight

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my neck hurt. You want water, I asked. No, he whispered,

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you want me to sit with you a bit. He

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nodded again. After a minute, he pulled away and wiped

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his face with the sleeves of his pajama top. He

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wouldn't look at me. Here was the monster again, he said.

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I glanced around the room, taking it in. There were

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clothes on the floor, a plastic cop with a juice

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box straw still stuck in it, and one of his

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drawings taped to the wall above his head. A thick

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black line ran down the middle of the page, splitting

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it in two. On one side was a boy with

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a balloon, and the other side was a weird figure

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made of scribbles. He saw me looking. Can you check,

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he asked, his voice cracked at the end. You know

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there's nothing here, I said, already standing. He probably packed

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up and moved when he heard me coming. Mikey didn't laugh.

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He watched me with his hands, bawled into his blanket.

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I sighed and walked over to the closet. I slid

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it open and waited. Nothing but a few shoes and

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one of my old hoodies. He kept stealing when I

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wasn't looking. I turned to him and gave a mock gasp,

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empty guess. We caught him on a smoke break. Still

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nothing all right, I said, let's go all in. Clausets

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cleared now from under the bed. I dropped to one

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knee and leaned in. I expected dust, a sock, a

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piece of broken toy, maybe one of his drawings crumbled

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up and shoved out of sight. But that's not what

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I saw. At first. All I saw was darkness and

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the clint of something smooth in the back corner. I

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thought it might be a marble or one of those

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glass eyeballs he picked out of a Halloween prize bin

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last year. But then it blinked. It didn't blink like

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a person. It flexed. A long, vertical slit opened and

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closed slowly, and I realized it was staring at me.

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Two massive yellow eyes sunk into a head that should

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not a fit in the crawl space beneath a child's

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bed frame. The pupils adjusted as I stared, thin and long,

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narrowing against the light. The longer I looked, the more

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of it I could make out. It was covered in thick,

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uneven fur, damp around the edges, clinging to the floor,

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as if it had soaked into the boards. Its body

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stretched deep on the foot of the bed. Thick limbs

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pressed against the underside, like they were forced there, like

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it had wedged itself into a shape that didn't belong

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to it. It stared at me. Its mouth was slightly open,

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its tongue sat limp between rows of disjointed teeth. Thick

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strings of spit hung from its staw. There was something

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in that look, something not curious, not afraid, not hostile either.

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If anything, it looked pleased. I couldn't breathe, my chest

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locked up. I could feel my pulse in my ears,

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but I couldn't will my body to move. Then its

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jaws shifted, not wide, but enough to show more of

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the teeth. It grinned at me. The spell snapped. I

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threw myself back and scrambled to my feet. Mikey was

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watching me with white eyes, waiting for me to say

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he was crazy, or that it was clear, or that

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we could both go back to sleep. I didn't say anything.

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I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him so

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hard he stumbled. I dragged him out of the room,

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across the hallway toward the attic hatch near the lawnch clauset.

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He was asking questions. I couldn't hear them. I pulled

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the chain, dropped the ladder, and shoved him up ahead

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of me. I scrambled into the attic behind him, grabbing

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the string and yanking the ladder back up with both hands.

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I retracted with a crack. I slammed the hatch shut

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and sat back, listening for anything beneath us. Nothing. Mikey

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was sitting in the corner near the insulation rolls, breathing

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through his nose, trying not to cry. I sat beside

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him and stared at the hatch. I pulled on my phone.

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I cracked thing I brought from a guy at school

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for forty bucks. The screen was scratched, but still worked.

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I dialed nine one one and pressed it to my ear.

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My hand wouldn't stop shaking. It rang once before the

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operator answered. I didn't wait for her to go through

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the usual questions. Some one broke in. I said, there's

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some one in our house. I hesitated. That wasn't what

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I meant, but I didn't have the words for what

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I'd seen. I couldn't tell her there was something under

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the bed, so I didn't explain. I repeated myself, voice cracking,

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there's something in our house. We're in the attic. Please

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send someone, please. She asked for my address. I gave

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it to her twice. She told me to stay calm.

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She said officers were unroute and asked if I could

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describe the intruder. I didn't answer that. I told her

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the doors were locked, that we were hiding. I asked

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her how long they'd take. Then the screen went black.

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I stared at it for a second, not understanding what

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had happened. I pressed the button. Nothing. I flipped it over. Nothing.

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It had died in my hand. Mikey looked at me.

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He didn't ask if it was okay. He knew from

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my face that it wasn't. And then from downstairs, something

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broke through the kitchen window, followed by scrambling steps and

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drawers opening and closing. Eventually it was accompanied by another sound,

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a massive crash that sounded like it came from where

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Mikey's room would have been. Another set of steps started,

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but they were strange, like whatever was down there didn't

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walk often. The first view was slow, then it turned

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into what sounded like a gallop. Something big moved through

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the house, gaining speed. The other said footprints, presumably in

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the living room, stopped. A while later. I could hear

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blooded screams. Cabinets slammed, a table, tipped, chairs screeched across

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the floor, wood splintered. Something thick and weighty tore through

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the hall. I heard an animalistic noise roll up through

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the floorboards, something between a growl and a calf. Something

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started crunching, and a massive gulp radiated through the house.

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Mikey buried his face in my side. I couldn't move.

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Then all sound ceased. Nothing followed, only the cold stillness

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of insulation pressing against my back and Mikey's rapid, silent

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breaths against my ribs stayed. I didn't know what was

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going on down there, but I knew sure as hell.

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I I didn't want to find out. I didn't ask

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mi Key if you heard it, that would have been insulting.

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He was shaking, hands clenched around my shirt. I didn't

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speak either. I didn't want my voice to break the

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silence in case the silence was what kept it from returning.

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Time passed. When the first blue light hit the far

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window in the attic, I audibly gasped. A car door slammed,

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then another. Boots moved across the porch. A voice called

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out from the front of the house, but I was

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too afraid to make a sound. They found us both

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in the attic. We were pale and shaking. My throat

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was so dry I couldn't answer their first question. Mikey

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hid behind me, still holding onto the hem of my shirt.

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One of the officers stepped in gently. I scanning the hallway,

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his free hand near his hip. They led us downstairs

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once they confirmed we were alone. The house was a wreck.

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The dinner table had been split in two, its senter

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legs crossed inward. Two chairs were broken in places, one

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lodged halfway through the dry wall. The cabinet doors hung

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open and their contents scattered across the floor. A streak

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of something dark had smeared across the linonium one wall.

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The one beside the coat rack near the stairs had

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been cracked open with sheer force. I could see where

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the woods splintered outward. The broken kitchen window led in

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a cust of wind, and on the floor below it

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was a pistol. The officer picked it up with gloved hands.

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He turned it to his partner and said something I

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didn't hear. From what I overheard, they identified it as

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having belonged to the man from the amber alert, the

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burglar who'd been breaking into homes near by. One of

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the officers patted my shoulder. He told me I'd done

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a good job, said calling it in had probably saved

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both our lives. His tone carried confidence. He looked past

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me a few times while he spoke, scanning the room

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as if something might still be standing in the shadows.

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He said. The guy must have broken in, panicked and

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fired off around before trying to escape, or maybe something

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else scared him. They didn't know. No one had found

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anything at all, and they never found that man. After this,

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I nodded and kept my mouth shut. I didn't see

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a reason to correct him. I wouldn't have known what

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to say if I tried. Years later, I kept thinking

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about what the cop said, that maybe something scared him off.

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I never saw the thing under the bed again after

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that night. I don't think Mikey did either. He stopped

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talking about it. But I've thought about it more than

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I cared to admit. That night, it could have followed

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us up to the attic, but it didn't, and I've

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come to believe it wasn't haunting Mike at all. It

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was guarding him.