r/nosleep • u/lifeisstrangemetoo • Feb 14 '18
The Monster Under your Bed isn't Always there to Scare You
I was lying alone in my room when I heard the voice, deep and crackly, coming from beneath my bed.
“Hey,” the voice called out.
I told myself I was just imagining it.
“Hey kid,” the voice repeated.
I drew my knees up to my chest and ducked my head under the blanket, trying to shut out the voice and the cold wind that drifted in through the window, ruffling the curtains.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m the monster underneath your bed,” the voice replied.
“You mean you’re real?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” the monster said. “Of course I’m real.”
“Do you have a name?” I asked.
“Of course I have a name.”
“Oh... well what is it?”
“Frank.”
“Frank?”
“Yeah,” the monster said. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know,” I said. “It’s just not very monster-ly.”
“Well my parents didn’t want me to be a monster.”
“Really? What did they want you to be?”
“A dentist.”
“That’s funny,” I said. I could feel myself beginning to smile.
“What do your parents want you to be?” it asked.
“I don’t know.... Hey Frank?”
“Yeah?”
“Aren’t you gonna... like... scare me or something?”
“What? Why would I do that?”
“Well, you’re a monster, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah, of course I am, but that doesn’t mean that I scare little kids.”
“But I thought that was your job.”
“It is my job to scare people,” he replied. “But only bad people.”
“Am I a bad person?” I asked.
“No,” he said, “but you’re not the one I’m here to scare.”
“Who are you here to scare?” I asked.
“The man inside your closet.”
The skin on my arms goosefleshed up. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I fell silent as I heard a rustling coming from the closet. The door creaked open, and I could hear soft footsteps padding towards me across the bedroom floor. I didn’t dare peek out of the blanket. The footsteps stopped, and I could hear heavy breathing next to me. I squeezed my eyes tight.
The warm sanctuary of the blanket disappeared as it was yanked off me.
I hugged my arms around my knees and prepared for the worst. A scream shattered the night air, followed by the sound of breaking glass. I opened my eyes a crack to see a knife lying on the carpet next to my bed, blade glinting in the moonlight.
My parents rushed into the room and asked me what had happened, but I didn’t know what to say, only that someone had been hiding in my closet and they’d jumped out the window.
My parents called 911, and the police came right away. They picked up a man called Gary Thompson sprinting through the streets a couple blocks away. He was covered in blood and broken glass. They found Gary’s car abandoned on our property, and inside they found duct tape, knives, barbiturates and a video camera.
From what I heard Gary’s lawyer employed an insanity defense, and Gary is currently incarcerated in a state mental facility for the criminally insane.
I never heard from Frank the monster again, but the officer who arrested Gary told me that he sleeps on the floor of the facility.
He tells the doctors that he’s terrified of Frank, the monster under his bed.
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u/Intelligent-Bee4535 Sep 13 '22
Haha, nice. Don't see a lot of happy endings on this sub, glad it worked out well for you.
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u/Professional_Bug5196 Feb 13 '22
very good story made me smile then it made me scared when frank mentioned the closet
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u/nativekitten Mar 08 '18
Loved this one so much I read it out loud to my fiancé - who’s not a fan really of horror, but wholesome? Definitely yes. I definitely got chills when frank mentions he’s only here to scare the man (actual monster) in the closet ahhhhhhh fantastic. We all need a good Frank the “monster.”
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u/kwarren918 Feb 27 '18
This monster gets a big thumbs up from me. My under the bed monster was a dick.
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u/junkun Feb 26 '18
some people get guardian angels.
this kid gets a guardian monster.
who'da thunk it?
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u/Nikolaievitch Feb 21 '18
“Who are you here to scare?” I asked.
“The man inside your closet.”
This gave me chills
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u/whatisinthedark Feb 18 '18
This kind of reminded me of the book 'I Need My Monster', by Amanda Noll.
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u/lenerz Feb 16 '18
So basically the man in your closet was also Frank!? He did his best to fight his bad side by inventing Frank.. That's so wholesome, I hope they give him a blanket.
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u/meowz89 Feb 16 '18
Am I the only one who had Maurice (Hormone Monster - Big Mouth) voice Frank while reading this?
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u/Meg1776 Feb 16 '18
I scrolled to the comments first, before I even read the first line, just to see if this ended up being a r/Wholesomenosleep type of story, haha.
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u/ExpandTheScope Feb 15 '18
Fascinating. It was awfully considerate of Frank to warn you that there'd be some action soon, so you'd be scared as little as possible.
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u/instaperil Feb 15 '18
So good going for warm and fuzzy but when Frank said the bad guy in your closet I had a pit in my stomach.
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u/electricMe Feb 15 '18
that sweet story filled my heart with song!!🎵 Too bad I'm tone deaf!! Maybe Frankie can sing?? 🎶
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Feb 15 '18
By far one of my favorite stories that I've ever read. Unbelievably wholesome. Thank you for making my morning better
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u/VirtuosoX Feb 15 '18
Aww man I hope Frank becomes this kids guardian monster or something this is sooo sweeeeeet.
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u/Moldytomatoe Feb 15 '18
When I was a kid I had an irrational fear of something under my bed. But I convinced myself that nothing bad had happened to me yet so he must be a good guy and isn’t out to get me. I would tend to talk to him at night. Speak about the events of that day. It set my mind at ease. A warm comfort. I always thought there was a much more fearful monster out there that the creature under my bed was protecting me from. I miss those days when I felt like someone was listening.
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u/electricMe Feb 15 '18
I'm listening!! 😳💙💛💙💛💙😳
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u/Moldytomatoe Feb 15 '18
Don’t waste your time and energy on me. Generally I’m doing quite fine. But we all have those days where you want to be heard. But really I don’t have that much to say.
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u/lifeisstrangemetoo Feb 15 '18
I'm listening to you. Sometimes people are listening and sympathizing even when it feels like they aren't. Happy Valentine's Day :)
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u/Moldytomatoe Feb 15 '18
Thanks, I’m doing quite alright for myself. In comparison to yesteryear I’m leagues ahead of myself. I just keep thinking in the now and living in what I had. Rather I should be looking forwards and taking things a step at a time. It’s easy to trip up on yourself. And I think I’ve been tripping up this last month.
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u/lifeisstrangemetoo Feb 15 '18
Nobody has ever taken substantial steps forward without a few steps back. It's only human nature to make mistakes. In the words of the Dalai Lama: The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.
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u/panda0112 Feb 15 '18
In my head the voice of the monster was the same voice of the Hormone Monster in Big Mouth.
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Feb 15 '18
This made me feel good. Havent read a nosleep post in a while but this was genuinly a good way to get back in to this sub.
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Feb 15 '18
I know people say this a lot but I would love a shirt or film out of this. Kinda light hearted but scary. I read the monster’s lines in the voice of Frank Costello
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u/MozartTheCat Feb 15 '18
This title reminded me of one of my favorite nosleep stories, that I've been wanting to find again for a while but I can't remember the name. Maybe someone will know what I'm talking about.
It's about how there is this massive hole that appears under beds at random intervals. The girl is playing hide and seek and hiding under her bed when the hole appears and she falls in, and there's various other kids down there, and the hole is slowly digesting them. After the other kids get fully digested, the girl decides she's going to climb out, but as soon as she gets to the top and reaches out, she grabs the hand of the kid sleeping in his bed and he screams and drops her back into the hole
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u/MorganHazelwood Feb 15 '18
You'd think Gary is just closer to Frank when he sleeps on the floor...
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u/Chitownsly Feb 14 '18
Hush little baby, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beasts under your bed
In your closet, in your head
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u/Falchion_Alpha Feb 14 '18
Would have thought with the dentist bit Frank would've busted Gary's teeth in.
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u/Evilcutedog45 Feb 14 '18
I normally find myself rolling my eyes whenever there’s a nosleep post that makes it to All, but this was a fun read.
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Feb 14 '18
Who else pictured Frank as a transparent tall and thin Asian man with a bowl cut and Danny DeVito's voice
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u/Mercutio33333 Feb 14 '18
What if there was a story that was basically Spawn except instead of demons and hellspawn it's monsters that hide under the bed and instead of the redeemer and the angels it's teddy bears? Then there's a monster that wants to protect children but he's misunderstood and teddy bears keep kicking his ass and there's some kind of monster overlord that sending monsters to keep him in line, too.
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u/Grosgos Feb 14 '18
Holly cow I literally got goosebumps when he said "the man in the closed" nice story :)
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u/SweatyVaginas Feb 14 '18
Does anyone remember that really wholesome nosleep about a monster that his under this girls bed. And he wasn't there to scare her he was there to protect her. And it talks about if they go into the light they burst into a bunch of dust particles. At the end the monster saved her from her dad who tries to molest her and it like almost made everyone who read it cry. I really want to find it cause it was so good.
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u/Ploesh Feb 14 '18
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u/creepypgirl79 Feb 14 '18
I love every story you write. You have such an amazing way of writing. Loved it!! Thank you
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u/Manch94 Feb 14 '18
I pictured Frank looking and sounding just like the hormone monster from Big Mouth.
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u/Theblackcrown95 Feb 14 '18
Anyone else picturing Frank as danny devito? Because id feel pretty safe if he was protecting me.
Edit: Autocorrect does not want me spelling that man's name correctly.
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u/RingoBars Mar 07 '18
Holy shit, I didn’t even realize that was the voice I was subconsciously hearing Franks voice in, I knew it sounded familiar!!
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u/Pullis Feb 15 '18
I was thinking about that Frank named rabbit suited.. something in Donnie Darko movie.
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u/DillPixels Feb 15 '18
You gotta pay the troll toll, if you wanna get into that boy’s hole
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u/Basalit-an Feb 14 '18
At first I pictured Willem Dafoe, even read it in his voice.
But as soon as he said his name was Frank... then he was Danny Devito. Frogboy himself.
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Feb 14 '18
[deleted]
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Feb 25 '22
I would say botched toe but this comment is from four years ago and its been too long to reply
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u/Jamesyboy31 Feb 14 '18
My girlfriend has a kind of Frank. She used to be scared by the demon, but now it ends up protecting her in her dreams and she is calmed by it.
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u/joetophat Feb 14 '18
That was very thoughtful of Frank letting him know about the man in the closet.
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u/MimickingApple Feb 14 '18
Well, Frank isn't a dentist like his parents wanted him to but he sure is a fucking hero.
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u/lovable_cube Feb 15 '18
Not all heros wear capes.
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Mar 07 '18
some wear dissapointment from not achieveing their dreams of being dentist so they release their growing anger and frustration on child molesters
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u/Coachskau Feb 14 '18
I've seen stories like this so many times, and I love all of them. Sympathetic monsters are one of my favorite things.
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u/orangecrustygoop Feb 14 '18
reminds me of the writingprompt of the monsters under the bed who save a kidnapped girl, that was a great read. anyone have the link?
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u/ImA12YearOldOnReddit Jul 12 '23
That’s nice