Monster Blogfest and Christine Rains Fearless release

Christine Rains is hosting this awesome blogfest - What was your childhood monster? - 

in celebration of her new book Fearless. Click on her cover below for info. 

Congrats, Christine, on this! 

Can't wait to check it out!

And now for the blogfest... Click on the pic below for more info if you'd like to join in on the creepy fun! You can find my story below.

Closet monster...

When I was younger, I had a canopy bed draped in shades of pink and white with blue Holly Hobbie print on it. (Do you know who that is? If not, dayam I'm old.) 

I used to think the canopy was my protection, like a shield. As long as I was under it, no one or thing, could harm me.

I also had a walk-in closet... we had a love/hate relationship. 

In the daytime, it was fun to play in it, like it was my own little retreat. I'd go in there to read, have tea parties, and a place to get away from my three pesky brothers. 

At night, that closet came to life.

After I'd get ready for bed, I'd shut my closet door then fold down my comforter. I'd turn off the room light and sprint to my bed, praying that nothing grabbed my feet. I'd dive in and cover myself up to my eyeballs because - remember - as long as I was under my canopy nothing could get me. The blankets were just a bonus, in my mind. But even with my canopy and blanket, I was still scared.

One time, I did my nighttime routine, but it wasn't until I peeked out from under the blankets that I saw light trickling out from underneath the closet door. A few moments later, shadows moved around inside. I could see them from under the door because I'd left that stupid light on!   I. Was. Terrified. To make matters worse, we had hardwood floors so every creak of a board intensified the already creepy feeling.

I stared at the door for hours, or that's what it felt like anyway. It was probably more like ten minutes. Then, I got worried. What if one of my brothers was in there? What if they got stuck in there trying to play a joke on me and now the closet monster was hurting them?

I panicked, jumped out of bed, and opened the door to find no brothers. Just my clothes hanging there. I looked up at the string dangling from the closet ceiling. (That's what I'd use to pull the light off or on.) It swayed on its own. I freaked out, shut the door, and got back into bed.

The next morning, I told my dad, so he "investigated" like parents do and told me that a draft caused the string to move on its own and the creaky floors, well, that was the house's way of settling. Yeah, right. At the time, I thought he was nuts. But here I am alive to day, so he must have been right...  or was he? 

Did you have any childhood monsters that made you lose sleep?