Editor’s note: From time to time, we’ll run original flash fiction (very short stories, 100-1,000 words long) in text — not audio — format. Eric Sandler’s “The Monster” gets us started.

‘The Monster’

Written by Eric Sandler.

The boy lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He pushed back the covers, breathing hard. Beneath the bed, the monster lurked, hiding. Waiting for him to close his eyes. The boy could hear it, slithering about, even over the noise Mommy and Daddy made.

They were yelling. The boy had heard it every night, for days now. He didn’t understand what the yelling was about. Daddy was always angry with Mommy, and Mommy was angry with Daddy. But the monster didn’t care. The monster wanted to eat the boy. To gobble him up. The boy had barely slept the past two weeks because of the monster.

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