The thoughts of what Samantha’s brother told her earlier kept running through her head as she approached the door, “It will tear your eyes out, poke holes in your feet, and if the slime gets on you…it will keep on eating whatever it touches!!!” The image of the sand dunes in the background and the fire in front of her ablaze, it made every part of her jumpy.
The tapping on the door persisted, as did the sound of a low gurgle, a huffing sound, and small pops. Samantha reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly. At the last click of the knob the door swung open and there it was!
Samantha’s eyes moved from the floor up to the four bulbous eyes looking at her. The eyes were on antennas like a snail’s, but glowed lime green. It was huge! There were four black peg legs like a spider has. “Keep your feet away from those,” Samantha thought.
It’s body was bright red and ellipse shaped like a crab! There were two pairs of claws, one on each side of it. Samantha took one step back and repeated, “It will tear your eyes out,” in her head. The clicking of them made Samantha even more frightened of what was to happen next.
She focused onto the four holes in the center of what seemed to be its face. There was bright green slime coming out of each one with a popping and gurgling sound. Below the holes was a light blue line going left to right and it began to move. It was its mouth! Opening up to the shape of a banana and Samantha remained tense. The monsters mouth had four teeth, but the teeth were not scary. They were square like Chiclets chewing gum; two on the top and two on the bottom surrounding those.
The monster huffed in a breath, clicked its claws, and slime splashed onto Samantha when it opened its mouth. She screamed in terror! The smell of its breath was a bit unbearable, but then the monster spoke. “I am so sorry, I did not mean to frighten you! You see, I have a cold and was looking for something to wipe my nose with and did not want to ruin your clothes.”
Samantha was stunned. She replied, “So, the slime is not going to eat through me.”
The monster said, “No, it is unpleasant and I did not mean to get it on you.”
She slowly moved towards her bedside and grabbed a few tissues to get the slime off of her shirt. She ran into the bathroom and grabbed a towel. Upon her return, the monster had remained where it was. She handed it the towel. It replied, “Thank you so very much,” blew its nose, “what a relief!”
The monster did sound better and said, “My name is Crustforth, thank you so much for your kindness and not running away when I was in such need. I will go now and let you get back to sleep so you do not end up all slimy faced like me!”
Samantha replied, “You’re welcome Crustforth, my name is Samantha. The next time you need anything please knock and I will know it is you!”
Crustforth disappeared quietly into the darkness of the back of the closet and Samantha returned to her bed. As she settled herself and drifted off to sleep she thought, “I guess you shouldn’t always jump to conclusions and believe rumors you hear.”
Sara's Monster
I should have read "two-pairs of claws" more carefully! Also my lips are blue-- just hard to see! ~ Jane
