Sweetpea has a minion!

Snug the Crowned Mip

Sweetpea had never been a very good Monster-Under-The-Bed. Oh, he’d tried, and he’d been taught by the very best. But in the end, he could rattle and moan and scratch as much as he wanted, but he never could get the results that he wanted.

This was his last shot. He’d been placed with a young child who was known to have an overactive imagination and that could scare herself by looking at her own reflection sideways. It would be perfect, he knew it would. Otherwise, he was out.

Not many places would take an out of work Monster-Under-The-Bed. Not even those weirdos, the Monsters-In-The-Closet.

So he set to work. The child would be put to bed by her parents, and his routine would begin. He always started with scratching. It was subtle enough to be normal house noises, but persistent enough to make the listener uncomfortably aware that it might not be.

Then, the shaking. He would shake the bed quickly but for a long enough period of time that the victim would have time to slowly realise they were not dreaming, and something truly odd was happening.

Finally, the moaning. Sweetpea wasn't a huge fan of this part, he thought it seemed a bit ostentatious. It was a requirement, however. At this point, the victim would be fully aware something was happening but unable to stop it.

The child was shouting for her parents by the time the shaking stopped. They came running, and the father did the standard check to see if anything was there. Sweetpea was good at the hiding from parents part.

And so he continued nightly. Things seemed to be going well.

Until she got the Nightlight. Nightlights made every child a bit braver.

She stopped screaming for her parents every night. Eventually, he began to get worried.

So he broke The Rules.

After the little girl fell asleep, Sweetpea popped out from under the bed to take a look at her. She slept peacefully, and he gave her a little prod, hoping to wake her and shock her. She eventually woke groggily. A look of surprise settled on her face when she saw Sweetpea. Perfect. Then worry. Even better. Finally, a grin. No!

Not the result he needed. He ducked back under the bed, but she climbed over the edge to see him better. She was still smiling.

“Cat!” She cried happily.

And that was it.

He was never going to be a Monster-Under-The-Bed. If only his monster form hadn't been a kitten, he could have done it.

The little girl lunged at him unexpectedly and pulled him to her. “My kitty!” she exclaimed.

Sweetpea let himself be hugged. Even failed monsters needed to be cuddled sometimes.

Maybe he would just stay here for a while.


Other Monsters: Vivika, Ponder, Sabine, Maynard, Cosette, Ree, Fionn

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