Cal slipped his noggin underneath his bedsheets. He remained quiet and still, hoping that what he had just seen in the corner of his room was an optical illusion. Just now, he’d seen a dark figure looming over his toy chest near the open closet. Surely it was there, he thought. A tall figure hovering in the dark and in the blink of an eye it was gone. As he lay still for a moment, he gathered the courage to peek from his fortress of linen. He bravely removed the covers from his face and leaned up in his bed to scope out the room. Expecting the worst but not knowing what that might be, his mind raced. He thought of all the terrible things that could be lurking in the dark.
  He looked over at the toy chest, then began to look around the room. There was nothing near the chest and the closet was dark. The desk was as usual, sitting near the bookshelf that held Cal’s old volumes of nursery rhymes and picture books. There was a picture of Cal on the first of four shelves. The bottom shelf held his baseball glove and his many participation ribbons. He wasn’t the athletic type but he enjoyed being on the team with his friends. Cal decided he must’ve been imagining things. The figure seemed so real to him though, and he caught more than just a glimpse, he was sure. But, the room appeared empty now. In order to know for sure, Cal decided he would check the last place anyone or anything could be hiding in his room; under his bed.
  He slid his legs over the side of his bed to stand up. Dropping his left leg to the floor first, then his right. He rose from the bed and got on his hands and knees. Cal grabbed hold of the blankets and prepared to lift them to check under the bed when a rumble came from his closet. It was a quiet, low pitched growl. The sound of a beast ready to pounce. Cal rose sharply from the floor and jumped back into his bed peering into the dark closet. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but he could soon make out two very bright yellow eyes.