Write on Wednesday: 19

The Write on Wednesday Spark:  The monsters under your bed
Think back to when you were very young. Try to recall one of your first fears. A shadow on the wall, a ghost in the closet, a person, a scene from a movie or book. Write about that fear. Try to remember the feeling it gave you, what that fear would make you do and how you were comforted. Write a real life story or a piece of fiction. Wherever the prompt takes you. Keep your post on the short side: up to 500 words OR a 5 minute stream of consciousness exercise. Link your finished piece to the list and begin popping by the other links. Oh, and enjoy!

I don't know what all this talk about very young or first fears is. I mean, a scary movie will have me tucking the bed sheets extremely tight around my legs and make me check the locks at least twenty times.
I never had one big first fear. I was actually a lot less scared when I was very young. But I can clearly remember one thing that terrified me just because it terrified my silly bunkmate so much. 
So, without further ado, this is a story about an 8 year old me and my 3 year old little brother.


"He's here again." the small voice whispered from below me. 
I swung myself over the edge of the bunk bed and looked down at the small shape of my little brother. He had the covers pulled all the way up to his nose and his big blue eyes shone with unspilt tears as he looked up at me. 
"The Wee?" I asked. I had always found the name of his monster quite ridiculous. But when the reality of the monster was here in the room. I didn't feel so secure in making fun of his name anymore. The little guy had given me a clear description of the nasty creature that lived under his bed. More than I wanted to know.
The Wee had several rows of teeth. His head was larger than any normal head in comparison with his body. I shuddered to think of such a large head squeezed under my little bro's matress, the pressure pushing his bulging red eyes forward. 
What terrified me the most about him, was that he was every color on the palette. I don't know why this scared me more than anything else. It was probably for the same reason that my brother hadn't imagined something dark and spooky. We weren't afraid of the dark or wolves and night creatures. We were afraid of other things. Of unexplained things. Of a unproportioned creature, with way too many teeth, made up of too many colors. Afraid of something that could not be desribed. 

He was shivering. 

I shuffled over to the end of the bed and moved down the ladder very, very carefuly. As I got to the bottom of the ladder and made sure I was nowhere near the last two steps of the ladder, or the cold floor underneath. 
"Come here!" I whispered. Too afraid to speak any louder. 
My brother shot up from the protection of his covers. Somewhere deep inside I was kind of proud of the fact that I could instill such trust in him. I only wished I could trust in my own power to protect him. 
 I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up the ladder above me, at least he would get to the safety of my bed first. There was the flash of a grin on his face as he dashed up the ladder. 
There wasn't a glimpse of the tears I had seen a moment ago.
He was asleep in a second. The sound of the purring cats, that had moved to curl around him, made me smile. I had done my job as a big sister. 

As I drifted into sleep as well. My eyes never once strayed from the top of the ladder. 

Did I mention that the Wee had long black fingernails?