Three Little Fangs

        It was true darkness inside the bedroom, the type of pitch black you only get before the naked moonlight pierces through the windows. There was something about the combination of dark and silence that troubled my gullible mind. It was danger, lighting a flame to my crazy imagination and allowing it to run wild. Those scary bedtime stories my mom would read to me before bed all sprung out from within my memories. I envisioned extending limbs, furry jointed legs, antennaes and elongated scaly tentacles all lunging at me from beneath the unknown. This fear overwhelmed me until I could compose myself and convince myself they weren't real.

           The first night I spent in my new bedroom, I was rightfully skittish.

           When my mom barged in late at night to say good night, I jumped.

           "Keenan?" she said pushing the door so fast it caused a light breeze.

           "Whoa!" I flinched placing a hand across my chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

           "Sorry, honey. I just wanted to tell you to set your alarm at 6:30 am for school tomorrow, I need to get to work early."

           "I didn't even hear your footsteps."

           "I know. I'm so sorry, I thought you'd still be watching TV or something."

           "It's okay. But, sure I won't stay up late, I promise."

           The culmination of my horrors began when I was given my brother's old room who enlisted in the Army. It happened after my mom and brother got into a very bad argument over the phone. I remembered that day because she had me pack all of his stuff into compressed boxes and place them in the attic. My brother called me the same night very upset.

           "Hello?" I laughed. "Whose this?"

           "Keenan, bro..." he sniffled and spoke in a low toned-voice I could barely understand.

           Sorry, I couldn't tell who it was.... Were you crying?"

           "Nah. I wasn't. Hey, listen, little brother. I heard you got my old room?"

           "Yeah, Mom wanted me to have it."

           "That's cool. You have my blessing for what it's worth. She's pretty upset I want to move out after graduation. But, she's controlled me my whole life, I need to get away. Anyways, just checking up on you. I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks after my passing out." he exhaled. "Oh! Hey, you might find cigarettes in my closet. Can you do me a favor and toss them? I mean it, don't let mom see them, or I'll be in deeper shit. Ok?"

           "No problem George...."

           "Thanks, bro."

           "I'll miss you."

           "Me too, Keenan. Love you bro."

           "Love you too."

           The very first night I slept in that giant room of his, was the first time anyone had slept there in a couple of months, at times, my mom would leave the window open to circulate the air for a few days, but nobody really went inside. The room was kept spotless until my brother came back, it was sort of an abandoned mystery for a year. When I was given the room, a part of me was excited to leave the tiny bunk bed I shared with my little brother, it was like gaining my own pocket of freedom. My old bed had already been passed down to my little sister so I had no choice but to take it.

            The first night, my attempts to sleep were spoiled when I was awakened at 3 AM. There were strange scuffling sounds coming from inside of the drawers as if something had possessed them. It started off slowly, then began shaking violently.

           Then the crunching sounds began, large bites followed by more scrapes of the furniture. When I jumped to turn on the light, the sounds would stop, whatever it was, it hid under my bed and was afraid of the light. I was petrified as I tugged onto my covers and closed my eyes tight wishing the night would be over soon.

           The next day I mustered the guts and was determined to catch a glimpse of it. With the aggression I had seeing my toys reduced to plastic crumbles of unrecognizable chunks, I would divulge the little monster. I couldn't allow it to destroy everything that I ever cared for after all. I needed to find out if it was a rat, though I had been skeptical because how quickly it transported across the room. Before night came along again, I shut the lights off and waited patiently in my old bedroom, leaving the door wide open so I could catch it during the day.

Finally, when I heard the furniture rattling again, I snuck in and saw something jumping up from under the bed, a black shadow with yellow bright eyes, prickly sharp hairs that climbed up with so much speed and agility. It was angry chasing a fly hovering across the room. It swiped it's large metal claws at it, but instead cut a wooden shelf in my room clean in the middle. It exposed it's sharp fangs before making a sounds that was reminiscent of a venomous cobra secreting saliva from its mouth. It melted a hole in my Minecraft posters after it hissed. Those black thin pupils darted at me when I took a few steps. I half expected its defense mechanism to kick in, but I had spooked it unintentionally. It ran back deep into the black abyss under the bed and disappeared again. When I pointed a flashlight underneath, it had been too late.

           I tried sleeping again in the room, set out to conquer my fears, wearing my Halloween mask as protection from the biles it shoots, I slept with extra layers of clothing for his claws and was ready for anything. After an hour after shutting the light, I heard those small footsteps again, they turned to heavy pounds on the wooden floors again but this time there had been more and more frequent steps, as if it was multiplying. That night the fear overwhelmed me, so I let them roam underneath for the night and fell asleep.

           I lit a candle in my room the next night to trick it, so It would be comfortable enough to come out, but I could still try and see it, and catch it. It came back out for a second and I realized it was terrified of me, almost as much as I was terrified of it. It hissed again, but no acid was spat. It gave me a threatening taunt of its sharp fangs before disappearing again.

           I had been obsessed with seeing it another time. The next day on a Saturday when my parents were away, I placed a plate of ham in the hallway and tried to lure them out during the day. I was surprised to see there were now three little monsters that exited my room! The little black shadow one with glowing eyes, I was familiar with but, then there was a ginger one that seemed to be more ferocious than the rest. The red one hissed more frequently. There was a more docile grey one with a white belly, it followed it's brothers along exploring the rest of the house like well behaved little monsters.

           After luring them in with the ham traps, I chased them down to a smaller section of the house, there was a closet in my parents room that they ran into. There they cowered in a corner, making more submissive noises. I had reached my hand out to try and grab them, but they continued growling in deep feral ways that made me flinch.

           I took a deep breath and picked the angrier one of them up. When I held it in my room, I realized it wasn't such a terrifying thing after all. Despite those strange demonic eyes and large gaping mouth filled with sharp daggers, It was actually kind of harmless. After it felt comfortable in my arms, it cuddled against me and let me pat its mishapened head and moist little nose. I got in a habit of feeding them and sharing my bed with all three of them. The ginger one had even come around and stopped trying to takes chunks of me and my toys. They were all my new secret pets, and my cure for the terrors of the darkness. All was fine until my mother discovered them one day, barging into my room again.

           "Keenan, do you know anything about a nibbled cigarette in my-?"

           I watched as her eyes widened two sizes its size, all while she stood under the doorway. "Mom, I can explain."

           Her scream was enough disapproval without saying anything, she grabbed the closest object she could find, tossed it across the room and found a broom by the wall for protection.

           She forbade me from keeping the little monsters, demanding I get rid of them and let them roam outside on their own.

           She threatened to call animal control, but after begging her, she opted to give me time to find someone to care for them. My mom then remembered having a number of a woman she had worked with who was something if an animal activist.

           She had me speak with her and explain the situation with the three little fanged creatures.

           She wanted to know our whereabouts, but we needed to keep our location vague. She said those creatures sound a lot like the ones she saw at the dog pound once, that were too dangerous to keep as pets, especially when they reached a certain age. She loved all creatures so she was able to help find someone who could take care of them and help them assimilate into the wild at a far away place.

           "Can you do me a favor and bring them to the Starbucks parking lot." She said.

           "You got it, ma'am. I'll have my mom drop me off and I'll bring them."

           As I stuffed the three fanged little monsters in a breakfast tray with a clothing basket taped across, I realized I was going to miss those little guys. Especially the little grey one who loved climbing up my drywalls sinking it's little claws ripping pieces deep within, then like a miniature stuntman it would hop back down into my arms.

           After speaking with the woman, I knew she could adequately care for them. The last day I looked into those yellow marbled eyes, I knew I'd miss them but, they would be in a much better place with more things to munch on and destroy.