Scary Story for Young Readers

There’s A Monster Under My Bed
by Audrey Helm

“Goodnight, sweetie,” Mom said as she tucked me
into bed. I snuggled under the warm covers and let out a
sigh. After a long day with school, soccer practice, and
art class, I was ready for a long night of rest.

“Before I leave, do you need anything?” Mom asked.
“Nope, I’m good,” I said contentedly, closing my
eyes. “Goodnight, Mom.”
Mom patted me on the shoulder before standing up,
turning off the light, and closing the door behind her as
she walked out. I kept my eyes closed, waiting for sleep
to come.
But it didn’t take me long to notice that something
wasn’t right. My room was darker than usual.
My eyes flew open and I looked around. The night
light by my bed wasn’t on.
Suddenly, I felt panic. I wasn’t sure why my night
light wasn’t on, but when it was completely dark in my
room, I couldn’t see anything. And when I couldn’t see
anything, I couldn’t see if any monsters were lurking
around in my room.

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I started to shiver, and held my covers closer around
my shoulders. I’m acting dumb, I thought. I just turned
ten. I shouldn’t still believe in monsters.

But there was a shadow -- one big shadow, that I
could see in a corner of my room, where the moonlight
reflected against the wall. It sent goosebumps on my arms
and chills down my spine. It looked like the back of a
scary, hairy monster. Was he standing there, watching
me?

Using all the bravery I had, I reached for the lamp on
my nightstand and flicked it on. But to my horror, the
light didn’t turn on.

I gasped. How come none of the lights were on? Did
the hairy monster cut the cord to my lamp so he could eat
me in my sleep?

I wasn’t going to be outsmarted so quickly. Hairy
Monster lived under my bed during the day and only
came out when there was no light in the room. Did he
break my night light so he could sneak up on me? I
wasn’t going to be his victim!

Quietly, not letting my eyes leave his shadow, I
opened the top drawer to my nightstand and fumbled
through my belongings. There had to be some sort of
weapon I could use to defend myself.

To my relief, I pulled out the twirling baton from the
second grade. Surely I could use this! It was hard and

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straight -- I could use it to hit Hairy Monster if he came
close enough to eat me.

I held it next to me under the covers while waiting to
decide what I would do next. I needed to get light in my
room fast. It was the only way I could scare away Hairy
Monster and keep myself alive.

But how could I run across my room fast enough to
escape before Hairy Monster got me? I couldn’t even see
the door.

Holding my weapon close to me, I slid out of bed as
silently as I could. But then -- did the shadow MOVE?

A single bead of sweat slid down my forehead. I had
to hurry out of my room. I was already out of my bed,
and my bed was the safest place to be.

I leapt over the dollhouse and dodged under the
hanging poster in front of my door until I was safely out
of my room. But the hall was dark, too. I couldn’t see
anything -- I wasn’t quite out of the danger zone yet.

I tiptoed down the hallway until I entered the kitchen,
and tried to flip on the light. But the kitchen light wasn’t
working, either.

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed at me from the door
to the hallway. I backed against the kitchen counter, but it
kept nearing closer and closer to me. The hairs on the
back of my neck stood up on end as I braced myself for
an attack by this monster.

“Stay away!” I yelled loudly.

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“Honey?” Hairy Monster said. “What are you doing
out of bed?”

Oh, it was just my mom.
I sighed in relief. “I’m sorry...I was just trying to
figure out why none of the lights were
working.”
“Our electricity is not working tonight. The wind
probably blew out the power lines,” she replied. “Go
back to bed, honey.”
But I didn’t want to go back to bed. I was still too
scared. I didn’t want mom to know I was scared of the
monsters, though. I guess that was stupid for a 10-year-
old.
“Okay,” I said, putting on my grown-up voice.
“Goodnight.” Slowly, I entered the pitch-dark hallway,
fearing a monster was going to jump out at me.
Once I reached the doorway to my room, I leapt over
the dollhouse again and jumped into bed, pulling the
covers around me. But my eyes would not leave that
large, hairy shadow in the corner of the room. The Hairy
Monster was still there, ready to eat me. He wanted me to
go to sleep first, but I wouldn’t let that happen. I kept my
eyes open for hours and hours, until I became so tired I
could barely stay awake any longer.
Suddenly, the bright light of my night light came on,
ready to expose the monster that had been preying on me
all night.

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But there was no monster. It was the dollhouse. Just
the dollhouse. See, this whole time, I was just being
stupid.

I rolled my eyes and drifted to sleep, unaware of the
monster eyes that were watching me from outside the
window.

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Planet Bonsai
by Alyssa Raley

In some moment in time and space, there was a planet
named Bonsai. Planet Bonsai had huge, beautiful trees all
throughout and perfectly even grass. Its people, called
Summas, had light blue skin and gorgeous eyes. Like
every planet, it had its problems, but it was still a great
place to live.

It was a particularly beautiful day outside. The suns were
up but it wasn’t too hot. In the capital of the Hem
province, which was right on a shore, the Lulu birds sang
and played. Everyone was happy and ready to work.
Well, almost everyone.

Despite how beautiful it was, something felt off in the air.
It was stiff and overcrowded. No one noticed except for
the young ones, who cried or hid or just didn’t act
right. The caretakers weren’t sure what the problem was.
It was unsettling.

And then it happened. A shadow. An overbearing
darkness that covered Sorin, the farther sun. It happened
swiftly and fast. The animals and plants seemed to

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respond immediately. They drooped and stood so still
that they looked like a paused movie. It seemed as if
every Summa was in sync. Plates were dropped, eyes
went up, and fear had taken over.

Nothing like this has ever happened to Bonsai.
Something that could completely cover the sun like that
had to be absolutely massive in size.

At first, there was silence, as everyone looked up in fear
and awe at the sight. But then again, chaos.
“What is that?!” people screamed. Everyone talked and
whispered, then they started to demand answers.
“The government has to know! They’ve probably known
before this happened!”

In planet Bonsai, there lived the leader of global security,
Ryan. Ryan was a loyal and hardworking leader. Since
birth, she has cared about keeping others safe. Her heart
sank at the sight of the shadow. She knew that there had
been some strange interferences on the satellites, but she
thought little of it.

When she stepped out of her office, all the workers
looked at her. Some out of anger, some out of fear, some
to seek guidance. Ryan had to remain confident. She
announced an emergency space security meeting that

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should take place in 10 minutes in the board room, and
returned to her office.

Ryan waited as everyone shuffled in the boardroom.
Once they were all seated, she began to speak. “Alright
everybody. Before we do anything else, we need to find
out what is causing the shadow.”
“Why didn’t we investigate the interference before this
happened?” Agent Martha asked.
“Interference happens all the time, it’s no one’s fault.
Now let's focus on what we are going to do instead of
focusing on what we should have done.” Ryan replied
sharply, “Now we need someone to fly into outer space
and figure out what is causing the shadow. Who is it
going to be?”
Everyone looked around the room. No one was willing to
do it, they were all scared.
“Anybody? We are all spacecraft certified.”
Again, no one seemed willing. “Why don’t you Ryan?
You’re our leader, so you should do it” Agent Alex
asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Ryan has never gone on
a mission like this, but she was willing to do it to ensure
international security. “Alright, I’ll do it!” She said,
putting her fist on the table. Everyone clapped in
appreciation.

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That afternoon, the space team set up everything for
Ryan’s exploration. The spaceship inspector made sure
that the engines were clean, all the gears were oiled up,
and all the controllers worked. Ryan watched as she put
on her gloves, and went through the procedure in her
head, over and over again.

“Hello!” a guy shouted into Ryan’s ear. Ryan jumped out
of shock.
“I’m your co-pilot, Timothy. Nice to meet you” Timothy
said, holding his hand out for a handshake. Ryan glared at
him, then shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you Tim. I wasn’t aware I had a co-pilot”
she responded.
“Well, you do!” he said with a chuckle.
“Hmmm. I guess I have no choice” Ryan said.

Ryan and Timothy sat down in their seats, all suited up.
“3...2...1...take off!” said the intercom. Ryan clenched her
hands as the spaceship launched into the air. The left a
thick cloud of white smoke. After a couple minutes, they
were in outer space. As they went up, the shadow seemed
to disappear.

In front of Sorin was Bonsai’s moon. That’s why it was
impossible to see what was causing the shadow. They

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headed towards the moon and Sorin. Outside of the
window was an absolutely gorgeous view. Stars twinkled,
Bonsai glowed, and the darkness never ended. Ryan and
Timothy both looked out, eyes glimmering.
“Whatever is out there can’t be too bad. Right?” Timothy
asked. Ryan shrugged.
“I guess we’ll figure out” The control room became quiet
again as they peered out the window.

And that's when it happened. The shadow reappeared.
Ryan’s eyes shot wide open.
“T-T-Timothy? Do you see that?” Ryan could not believe
her eyes. What she saw was another spaceship, but it did
not belong to any Summa. It seemed about 50 times
bigger than theirs.
“Timothy?!” she now screamed. She looked to her right,
and realized Timothy had passed out.

“Timothy! Wake up! You cannot leave me alone with
this!” Timothy finally woke up. He squinted out the
window and moaned.
“I was hoping it was a nightmare” he said.
“Unfortunately, this is very real.” Ryan replied. She
could not be afraid, the citizens she’s protecting needed
someone strong.

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“Let’s check them out. See what they look like.” Ryan
grabbed the controls and zoomed closer, trying to remain
at an angle that kept them hidden behind the moon. Now,
she could see through the windows. Unsurprisingly, she
saw what she had dreaded: ginormous aliens.
“They’re so weird looking!” Ryan said. Not all of them
had the same skin color. Some had very white skin, some
tanner, some very dark, but none of them had that
beautiful blue tint that Summas had. Ryan noticed one in
particular, a girl who seemed to be the prettiest out of all
of them. She had dark skin and blue eyes. At that very
moment, those blue eyes looked right into Ryan’s.

“Oh no” Ryan said. The alien girl pointed and alerted
about what she just saw.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Ryan exclaimed. Her hands
fumbled as she tried to fly away.
“What are you doing! Hurry!” Timothy shouted.
“Don’t you see I’m trying!” she shouted back, as they
started to fly away. Even though they were going as fast
as they could, they were much, much smaller than the
alien spaceship, and it caught up really quick.

Ryan glanced up at the spaceship, and realized the aliens
were trying to communicate something to her. They
waved their hands, and mouthed “Wait!”

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The aliens did not seem like they wanted to cause any
harm, so she gave in. She began to stop the ship.

“Excuse me, what are you doing?” Timothy asked. “Our
mission was only to find out what was causing the
shadow, not to fix it.”
Ryan rolled her eyes, “Come on Timothy, they don’t look
mean, and I don’t think we should waste money on
sending another spaceship later. Let’s just see who these
aliens are”
“Well, I say no,” Timothy said, arms crossed.
“Well, too bad I’m the boss, and I say yes” Ryan said, as
she flew onto the moon's surface.

The aliens noticed they had stopped, and stopped as well.
Ryan stepped out of the ship, and told Timothy to wait
inside, just in case something bad happened. A few of the
aliens stepped out of the massive ship. Step by step, they
walked up to each other. Once they were a foot apart,
they stopped. They began to examine each other’s
features.
“Wow you are absolutely spectacular,” the alien said.
“And you are absolutely enormous,” Ryan replied. The
aliens laughed in unison.

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“So, what do you tiny aliens call yourself?” the alien
asked Ryan. The question surprised her, because she saw
them as the aliens, not the other way around.
“We are Summas, and you?” She answered.
“We are humans” the beautiful girl responded, “And my
name is Rose. What is yours?”
“My name is Ryan” Ryan said.
“I’m so shocked that we actually found living beings that
are not from Earth. We have been searching for hundreds
of years. This is amazing!”
Ryan smiled in response, and held out her hand for a
handshake.
“Well we are very happy to meet you too. Want to take a
tour of our plane?

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