the MARVELOUS IMAGINATION of BILLY IERRIM

Billy Ierrim was a typical five year old who was afraid of "things that go BUMP in the night." Until he let his imagination lead the way...

 

 

Some are big and some are small.
It doesn’t matter, the night loves them all.
The dark will feed a hungry beast,
But what they need is fear at least.
So hold your blanket and pillow brave,
for your imagination with keep you safe.

If I were to tell you that monsters don’t exist and there weren’t things in the night that like to cause mischievous mischief, then I would be lying, and I don’t want to start off on the wrong side of the bed.

When you are young the closet, under your bed, and the dark of the night, are scary places for monsters to lurk, making bedtime a dreadful time that most kids must hide under their covers to feel safe. As time goes on, they grow older and are no longer afraid of such things. It is then that more frightening things arise like getting a driver’s license, the ACT’S, and your first kiss. But for Billy Ierrim, life couldn’t be any scarier than...

                             

BEDTIME.  (Full Moon)

            It must have been 9:30pm already, and Billy was still running around the house as if he were looking for an excuse to stay up. But that couldn’t be it, what little boy doesn’t like to go to bed just after sundown?

            Billy never liked going to bed, especially after he got a “big boy” bed. His new bed had enough room for him and his stuffed animals. He had a gorilla named “Garry” and a husky named “Bartoe” who always slept right next to him. Garry would be on his left and Bartoe on his right. They were his bestest friends.
“Billy, it’s an hour passed your bedtime.” said Ms. Ierrim as she shooed him into his room. As Billy climbed into his bed, his mother pulled open the blinds to his windows, and then sat on the edge of his bed.
“Night light.” Billy said as if she had forgotten that he sleeps with one every night.
“I thought tonight you could use the moonlight to help you sleep.” she said, reassuring him that she hadn’t forgotten. “It’s a full moon; it’ll give you more lightly than that little plug-in one.”

            Billy looked at her, his eyebrows turned down, concerned that the full moon wouldn’t be strong enough. “But mom, what about the-“ he lowered his voice to barely a whisper, “mon-sters?”
Ms. Ierrim leaned back to get a better look at her son. “A five-year-old afraid of monsters?”
“Shh! don’t let them know that! He’s been coming around more since dad left!”
“Oh, honey, that’s just your imagination. Monsters don’t exi-“ But before she could finish, Billy leapt up and put his hands over her mouth. “SHH! They exist more if you don’t think they do!” Billy bellowed as quietly as he could. “I’ve only seen one but he said he’s going to bring more!”

            Ms. Ierrim stood up from the bed and walked towards the closet. Peering into the closet she said, “You know what, Billy?”
“What?” he questioned.
“My fath-, grandfather..” She was now walking towards the bed. “..told me a rhyme that helped me get rid of all the monsters in my room when I was little. Do you wanna hear it?” “Mom, are you kidding? You’re just saying that so I’ll go to sleep.”
“No, no..” she said, kneeling by the side of his bed.
“You promise it will work?”
“Well it worked for me!” She leaned in and kissed Billy’s forehead. Kneeling back down, she took his hands.

            Ms. Ierrim was racking her brain to come up with something that may comfort her son and help him sleep. She looked out the window as if the words were going to float in. She looked back at Billy and let the rhyme flow off the top of her head.
“Repeat after me.” she said looking into Billy’s eyes.

“Moonlight, keep me safe.

Shine all night around this place.”

 

            Billy repeated his mother.

“Um…” Ms. Ierrim muttered the rhyme to herself searching for something, anything.
“ You don’t even know it!” Billy exclaimed.
“Yes I do! It’s been so many years since I’ve said it!”

 

“Moonlight, keep me safe.

Shine all night around this place.

Light up the room with all your might.
And the monsters will stay out of sight.
I’ll hug my blankie close to my chest,
and let the moonlight do the rest.
Tucked in tight I will be brave,
keep the monsters far away.”

           

            Ms. Ierrim let out a big smile, “See I told you I knew it!” She repeated it back to Billy so he could learn it.

           

            The moon shone through his window all night, illuminating from his bed to the closet. Billy kept repeating the poem in his head, over and over, until he fell asleep.

Which I think is ridiculous because that poem is phony! I mean, come on, does she really expect us to believe that her grandfather told her that? It just really ticks me off that… I’m sorry, it’s not my story. Anyway, where were we?

 

            All seemed well the next morning, the sun was bright and vibrant; a slight breeze helped the trees sing. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the house as Ms. Ierrim hummed to herself on the way to Billy’s room.
“Time to get up, dear.” She spoke in a gentle voice as to not startle her son. She quietly opened the door to his room.

            Billy was lying on his stomach with no covers on and his head under his pillow. His blankie was draped on the back of the rocking chair that sits in the corner of his room. His blanket was tossed on the floor, partially in the closet. His room didn’t look too messy for a boy his age.

            Ms. Ierrim looked around wondering if a tornado had passed through there after she had tucked him in. She walked over to Billy and took the pillow off of his head.

“Wake up crazy man!”
            Billy let out a groan, and then slowly rolled over. He flopped over onto his back and with wide eyes he stared at the ceiling.

“You lied to me. You said it would get rid of the monsters. But I saw him last night.”

“Sweetie, I said it helped me but you gotta understand that it’s all in your head and they can’t hurt you.” His mother said sitting him up in bed.

            Billy huffed and puffed but then eventually got out of bed and went into the dining room for breakfast. He and his mother discussed what he wanted to be for Halloween and if he wanted to go ‘trick or treating’. Billy decided on being a superhero because they weren’t afraid of anything. So really he was being a superhero because he thought it would help him scare away the monsters.

            Billy went back to his room where his mother had laid out an outfit for him. He stood at the end of his bed and changed into his pants then his shirt. After he had pulled his shirt over his head he noticed a box placed in the rocking chair. But it wasn’t an ordinary box, this light brown box had no openings, no slots for handles, and it was furry! Billy was a little startled but he didn’t yell for his mother. He thought telling her about the monsters then being afraid of a box would make him look like a baby. But he wasn’t, he was a brave young boy who loved finding new things and exploring the scariest places! So Billy walked up to the box with Garry in his hand. He didn’t know what it was but it gave off a warm feeling that let Billy know it wasn’t going to hurt him.

            As he approached the “box” he declared, “I’m not going to hurt you” and threw Garry at it. Billy jumped back, waiting for something to happen. A few seconds went by and still nothing happened. He then took one step towards the “box” and at that very moment it began to grow! It changed from a light brown to a purple-ish color and began groaning and growling. Growing taller and taller and growling louder and louder, it groaned as if a truck were trying to start. This thing was nearly touching the ceiling and Billy was frozen in freight and amazement.

            Its head was a box-y shape and had fur all over it and its body was shaped like a bears but was lightly striped with purple and green. As it turned around Billy stood still staring at it. When it turned fully around and saw Billy it made an “oh” sound and shrunk back to two-thirds Billy’s size and said, “Hi, I’m Marvel!”

            Normally Billy would be terrified and would run to get his mother but something stopped him. He wasn’t afraid of this creature that invaded his room, he felt warm ad protected as if he never knew fear. He stood in front of this thing silent and still, smiling.

“My names Billy!” he said with enthusiasm.

            Marvel then began to smile baring sharp, vicious looking teeth. Billy noticed that Marvel had teeth like the dinosaurs he had seem in one of his books and cringed.

            Licking his teeth, Marvel realized how ferocious they must look and quickly closed his month.

“There, that should be a little less daunting!” Marvel said showing a more subtle version of his pearly whites.

            Seeming a lot more comfortable Billy looked at Marvel with a confused look on his face.

“What’s ‘daunting; mean?” he said.

Clack, clack, clack, Marvel chomped his teeth together and rolled back and forth on his back.

“Ha, ha, ha, it means scary! I made them less scary!”

            Billy laughed then grabbed Garry and told Marvel that Garry was his best friend and that he wasn’t afraid of anything!

“Me either!” Marvel announced proudly and jumped up on the bed. “And maybe I could be your best friend like Garry one day!”

            Billy stood at the end of the bed watching Marvel as he did flips and spins on his bed, Billy, anxiously wanting to be fearless, climbed onto his bed and began jumping.

 

            Hours passed as Marvel showed Billy how to be courageous. They were jumping back and forth from the bed to the floor and running around the room trying to hit each other with pillows. Billy was laughing and having fun. He felt happier than he had in a very long time.

 

            Ms. Ierrim was mindlessly doing a crossword puzzle as she always did when she saw her saw crawl across the floor in front of her and hide behind the reclining chair. She was curious to know what he was doing be he was keeping himself occupied so she didn’t bother him. She could hear him whispering and giggling behind the chair as if someone was with him but she knew there wasn’t. “SHH!” she heard from behind the recliner as the whispering came to a halt. “You go… no you go!” the voice said as Ms. Ierrim giggled a little to herself. Just at the sound of her laughter Billy took off from behind the recliner.

 

            Billy and Marvel ran around the house all day, Ms. Ierrim didn’t think anything of the ruckus he was causing, she was just happy that he was having fun. After all, Billy hadn’t been too happy since his father left. But now he seemed to be having a good time, laughing and running around, exploring the deepest darkest closets and coming out with odd, dusty things.

 

“Oh no, it’s almost bedtime!” Billy said to Marvel as he looked out the window.

“So? Night is the best time to go hunting!” Marvel said mimicking a hunter in the wood trying not to be heard.

“What do you mean by hunting?”

Marvel explained to Billy that he knew about the monsters and the reason he was there wasn’t because of the poem but because he wished upon the moonlight, and that he would be there for Billy as long as he needed him.

 

Marvel told Billy to leave the night light off while he went to get a few things that would help them catch the monsters. As Marvel disappeared in to the closet, Billy’s mother walked in to his room to say goodnight. She walked over to turn his night light on.
“No!” Billy yelled, sitting up in his bed. Ms. Ierrim was startled and shocked to hear her son did not want to use a night light.
“Wow, no night light?” she questioned, walking towards his bed.
“Marvel told me to leave it off. It’s probably because the monsters don’t like it and it will make them easier to catch!”
“Now you want monsters? And who is Marvel?”
“Marvel’s my friend, Mom. I’m not afraid when I’m with him. He’s funny. He said we’re going to hunt the monsters, then they won’t bother us anymore.”
“Oh, dear, you have some imagination.”
She kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, son. Dream sweet.”
“Goodnight, Mom. Thanks for bringing me Marvel.”

Ms. Ierrim was slightly confused as she shut off his light, but smiled at her son, and pulled the door almost to a close behind her.
“Ah, just missed her!” Marvel said, stumbling out of the closet. Billy stared at Marvel, whose hands were full of different things. Marvel laid the items out at the end of Billy’s bed as Billy examined them curiously.
“Monster Masher, Sneaky Snatcher for the big ones, and a Levram.” Marvel said as he pointed to each item.
“That is a tennis racket, a net, and something weird.” Billy corrected Marvel.

Billy recognized two of the items because they were in his closet, but the third item he did not. The third think Marvel had brought out was a thin, rectangular box, no bigger than a book, and it gave off a greenish-blue glow that lit up Billy’s room.

Billy’s eyes were fixated on the box and it seemed that he had forgotten how to blink.
“What… is… that?” Billy asked Marvel, barely able to speak.
“It’s a Levram!” Marvel replied as if Billy should know. “After we hit the monsters with the Masher, we push them into the Levram and it sucks them up so they can’t get out!” Marvel spoke quickly and excitedly, making motions with his hands to demonstrate how to capture a monster. Marvel was so excited he was jumping around the room, hiding, then pouncing out, pretending to catch monsters.
“Where did you get it?” Billy asked, still staring at the Levram.
“I made it just a moment ago. I knew we were going to have to put them somewhere. I simply said, ‘Monsters may be big and bad, but I hold the moonlight. This will make them very mad, a cage to hold them, locked up tight.’ and this is what appeared!” Marvel said, now spinning on his furry feet.

Billy was very ecstatic about hunting the monsters that had haunted him night after night. Now that he had a partner, he wasn’t afraid of any monsters that the darkness was hiding.

Marvel gave the Monster Masher to Billy, who sat up in his bed.
“Lay down, Billy. You have to pretend you’re sleeping to get him to come out here. Then whack him with the Masher!” Marvel said as he acted out what looked like a scene from a martial arts movie.
“Me!?” Billy exclaimed, alarmed by this idea.
“Yes! You’re bigger than I am!” answered Marvel, who was now starting to crawl under the bed. “Then I’ll come out and snatch him with the… snatcher…!” he laughed aloud as he got into place.

As Marvel hid under the bed, Billy was still unsure if he could catch the monster on his own. The thought crossed his mind as to why Marvel was hiding under the bed, since monsters were under there too, but it was too late to ask him now.

Billy was lying in his bed with the Masher held tightly to his chest. “Marvel said I can do it, so I know I can do it.” he thought to himself. He had been lying in his bed motionless for what seemed like forever when he heard a low, growling laugh.

Billy closed his eyes even more, squeezing them as tightly as he could. A coldness came over him and the room, as if someone had turned the air conditioner on full blast. He tried his best not to be scared. Luckily he wasn’t very strong or the Masher may have crumbled due to his grip. He felt the sheets slowly start to slide off him like the night before, but this time he wasn’t going to bury his head under his pillow and pretend nothing was happening. He laid there silently, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do, when out of nowhere a powerful whisper shouted, “Now, Billy!” and he immediately sat up and swung.

In the brief second before Billy had struck the big dark figure, he noticed that it had dark yellow eyes. Its mouth was wide open but it had no teeth. Billy had smacked it right across the shoulder while it was looking down. It caused the creature to stumble, allowing Marvel to gracefully slide out from under the bed and capture the beast with the net.

The net seemed to be five times larger than what it really was. Billy looked at Marvel in amazement; this thing that they had captured was three times the size of Marvel and struggled to break free of the net. The monster wiggled around, and clawed at the net, making ferocious sounds trying to scare Billy and Marvel.
“Grab the Levram from under the bed!” Marvel yelled as he was holding the net down.

Billy thought about what hid in the darkness below his bed, but glanced at little Marvel containing the large beast with all of his might and quickly jumped up. He bounced off his bed onto the floor, bonking the beast on its head on his way down. “Arrgh!” the beast let out a roar. Billy then got to his knees and looked under the bed. The Levram lay under the bed, still glowing, but now it was blinking. He reached under and grabbed it.
“Now what?” he asked Marvel.
“Just throw it at its feet!” Marvel replied, now growling back at the beast.

Billy tossed the Levram at the beast’s monstrous feet and instantly its top opened up like a box. In the blink of an eye, the beast was sucked into the Levram like it was being flushed down a drain. After the beast was sucked into the Levram, it closed. Billy watched as the glow began to fade out.
“That means there’s something in there.” Marvel explained before Billy could ask. “When it glows, it’s empty, and it blinks when a monster is close by.
“That. Was. Scary!” I didn’t know what to do!” Billy exclaimed with a haste in his voice.
“But you did! You were the best partner anyone could have! We’re monster hunters now!”
            Billy crawled into his bed while Marvel picked up the Levram. Marvel walked to the edge of the bed and knelt down and slid the Levram under.
“They’ll take care of it.” He said to Billy know walking over to the rocking chair.
“Who will?” asked Billy
“The ‘Gonsters’” Marvel replied as he climbed onto the chair and stood up on it. “I’ll tell ya tomorrow.” He said with a yawn.

Billy flopped down onto his bed and pulled the covers over him. “okay.” he said looking at Marvel.
“Tomorrow is tomorrow, it’s time for sleep, here we go.” Marvel said just before he started spinning in circles.

Marvel spun around three times while he slowly started shrinking. He shrunk down to the point of a medium-sized box, now light brown in color. Billy watched marvel and smiled. “Goodnight, new friend” Billy said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep with no fear.

            Now you see, Billy and Marvel had become very good friends in a short amount of time. They were practically inseparable! Marvel taught Billy new things all the time and Billy taught Marvel things a little rambunctious creature wouldn’t have learned back at his home. They would cause trouble, nothing too bad, just typical little boy stuff, like running around the house hiding from one another, making new weapons to capture. Haha, we would test… I mean, THEY would test out the new weapons on Billy’s cat “Crumbles”. That would really get Ms. Ierrim heated! But things started to get different; Marvel had been changing throughout the days. He was getting bigger and his colors started to become darker, and when he would do his “ferocious face” he couldn’t keep his teeth in his month .Billy had been changing too, it all started at…

BEDTIME. (New moon)

 

Billy mother, Ms. Ierrim, had been looking in all of his hiding spots for him. It was 8:30 and she couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Billy, where are you?” Ms. Ierrim called.
“I’m in bed, Mom!” Billy yelled from his room.

To Ms. Ierrim’s amazement, Billy was lying under his covers waiting to be tucked in.
“Well this is something new.” she said as she pushed the covers in all around Billy.
“It’s a big night, Mom! No moon!” Billy said excitedly.
“You mean New Moon, sweetie.”
“No, there’s no moon so the biggest ones will be out tonight!”
“Biggest what? Monsters? Billy-“
Billy interrupted her, “Yeah, but I’m not afraid because Marvel and I are the best team!”
“Oh yeah, Marvel’s still hanging around. Where is he?”
“He went to get the Levram. Maybe you can meet him tomorrow.” Billy said to his mother as he shooed her out the door.
Okay, I love you, goodnight, Mom!”
“Geez, love you, too, honey.”

Ms. Ierrim hastily left the room and closed the door behind her. It was strange enough to her that Billy wanted the door closed, but he also didn’t want a night light, and with the new moon, it was especially dark. But her son was growing up and that’s nothing strange. Ms. Ierrim went into the living room and proceeded to continue watching her shows.

 

Inside Billy’s room, just after Ms. Ierrim had left, it was more silent than usual. Marvel crept from the closet, crawling on all fours like a bear, with the Levram in one hand. He slid the Levram under the bed, and then pounced up on top of it.
“RAH!” Marvel roared, trying to scare Billy, but the bed was empty. “Huh?” Marvel thought to himself. Then, from his right, out of nowhere, a figure leapt on him and tackled him.
“Gotcha!” Billy yelled, sounding proud of himself.

They wrestled around for a minute or two before remembering what they were supposed to do, and headed to their places.

Marvel hopped off the bed and was headed to his normal hiding place under the bed.
Wait!” Billy said. “Can I be under the bed this time?”
Marvel smiled big. “Of course! I thought you’d never ask!”

Billy slid himself under the bed with the Levram, and crawled into the bed, under the covers. It wasn’t long before they heard a hissing sound. Billy began to get a little shaky, but he had done this plenty of times before. Marvel could hear what sounded like hundreds of tiny feet climbing up the walls and onto the ceiling. Marvel peeked one eye open and saw an overgrown centipede with the head of a snake. It was much bigger than Marvel and Billy put together. The snake-ipede started reaching for Marvel, the front half of its body hanging from the ceiling like the pull string for a light. As it got closer and closer to Marvel, its tongue was hissing in and out of its mouth. It stopped about a foot above Marvel’s head when he sat up in bed with an intimidating “ROAR!” and his sharp fangs glistened and his claws were out.

The snake-ipede was so frightened by Marvel is released its grip from the ceiling and fell onto the bed before bouncing off onto the floor, startling Billy. Marvel jumped up and off the bed, and grabbed the snake-ipede by its back end. He started to swing it around like a lasso. Billy climbed out from under the bed with the Levram.
“Hee-haw! You ready, Billy?” Marvel shouted.

Billy slid the Levram in front of Marvel.
“Nice slide!” Marvel said as he directed his swing towards the glowing box. He slung the snake-ipede right at the Levram and let it go. It shot straight into the box and clamped shut, beginning to fade.
“Woo-hoo!” Billy and Marvel exclaimed.
“That wasn’t too hard.” Marvel said, swiping his hands together as if they were dusty.
Yeah, that was easy!” But there’s no moon. Shouldn’t there be more than just one?” Billy asked Marvel.
“Just wait.”

 

The Levram had just got to the point where it was barely visible in the darkness and Billy and Marvel were sitting on the floor, curious if more monsters would be coming, when Billy heard a familiar laugh coming from the closet. It was low and indistinct. Along with the laugh came a humming sound that started to grow louder and louder. The sound seemed to get so loud that Ms. Ierrim should have surely heard it, and then it suddenly stopped. Dead silence, with a coldness coming from the closet. A few seconds had passed by, as a deep growl came from a number of different creatures within the closet. Billy and Marvel looked at each other as the closet purged out monsters! Big ones, small ones, short ones, tall ones, sticky ones, stinking ones, all hungry for fear. The monsters flooded into the room, ready for a feast.

Billy and Marvel stood stunned looking around the room which was now filled with monsters. They were surrounded and the amount of saliva dripping from each monsters mouth told the boys that they weren’t going to go easily. They looked at each other uneasily but rather calm given the situation.

Marvel kicked the Levram into the center of the room, “WE CAN DO THIS! BE BRAVE!” he said as he spun around three times growing with each spin until he was nearly touching the ceiling.

Marvel gave out a ferocious roar and glared around the room. Meanwhile, Billy too gave out a fearsome growl, “YOU DON’T SCARE ME!” he said jumping onto his bed, smacking two monsters off the ceiling with the monster masher, to which Marvel scooped them up with his big paws and tossed them into the Levram.

Four monsters, one slender with a long beard, another the shape of a marshmallow and two more, one on the other’s shoulders, attacked Marvel!

Marvel, loving new challenges and growing from his mistakes, shrunk down to his box form. The monsters looked at his confused. Marvel let a few seconds go by before he regained his former size and pushed the marshmallow shaped monster into the two smaller ones. Then he grabbed the slender monster by the beard and twirled him around, knocking down two other monsters that were attacking Billy. Directing the bearded monster at the Levram, Marvel let him go.

Now smiling with a grimace, Marvel lunged towards the marshmallow monster while Billy was still jumping on his bed. It seems that it was a little more difficult for the monsters to grab a boy who was jumping up and down, like they couldn’t focus on him. Billy was swatting at the monsters and laughing as though it were a game and the object was to hit the monsters into the Levram. But if it were a game Billy and Marvel were winning.

But let me note that even though Marvel was towering over Billy, Billy was fighting with the courage of ten Marvels. Anyway…

 

The boys fought like this was why they became friends, but really they became friends because they needed one another. They brought the bravery out in each other and now they were a flawlessly working team.

As Marvel grabbed the two smaller monsters by their heads, one in each hand, Billy had jumped off the bed and landed on a spikey pillowy monster, and luckily the spikes folded as if they were made of foam.

Spinning around frantically trying to get Billy off its back, the monster gave out a roar! Billy let go of the monster, and regaining his balance he laughed. “Grraahh” the monster growled but Billy laughed louder and pointed towards the floor. The spiked monster had spun its way onto the Levram and in a flash it disappeared.

“BILLY!” Marvel yelled as he tossed the two monsters in the air and Billy got ready as if he were playing tennis. “One and… two!” he proclaimed as he whacked the two into the Levram.

The chill had been increasingly letting up but now it was gone all together and the room was silent except for Billy and Marvels victory cries!
“Nevermore!” Marvel roared.

“Nothing can defeat us! Monsters… HA!” Billy said as he heard his name being called from the other room. “Oh shoot!” he said as he pointed for Marvel to go to the rocking chair as he jumped into bed.

            The door swung open, Ms. Ierrim peeked in and looked at her son suspiciously who seemed to be sleeping. She looked around the room, sensing something much more dramatic than the few scattered toys on the floor and the way her “wild child” had been lying in bed had gone on. But since nothing seemed to out of place she gave a little laugh to herself and closed the door as she left.

            Billy sat up in bed just as the door latched and looked towards the rocking chair. Marvel was rocking back and forth, still the size of a giant. “Billy, you were awesome! I’m glad you’re my friend! I couldn’t have done it with anyone else!” he said as he shrank back down to normal size.

            Billy was now resting on his elbows, “That’s what friends are for!” he said as he yawned and lay back down. “I’m sleepy, let’s talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Mhmm, night Billy.”

“Night, Marvel.”

 

            The next morning Marvel wasn’t there which wasn’t different because Marvel usually went home in the morning. Well, at least that’s what he told Billy. He would usually show up when Billy least expected him by jumping out of the closet or tickling his feet from under the bed, so Billy wasn’t upset.

            A few days went by and still no Marvel, but there were also no monsters. Billy started to miss playing with Marvel, all the adventures that he would take him on. Marvel was always good at finding the next fun thing to do.

            Billy had asked his mother if she had seen Marvel, but she said not since he had made a tail out of her favorite scarf. Billy went on the next few days wondering if he would ever see Marvel again and just kept thinking about all the monsters they had captured together. Billy smiled as he drew more pictures of him and Marvel.

 

So it seems that the best friend had abandoned Billy without saying goodbye, without leaving any sort of note explaining his whereabouts. Poor Billy left to fend for himself if any monsters where to come back because his so called friend had “moved on”. But did you ever think that Marvel wasn’t allowed to come back? That he was sent on a chance moonlight wish and once the task had been carried out that he had to vanish? And did you ever think that Marvel was just as heartbroken as Billy? Well, let me tell you he was and still is. But he didn’t exactly leave without saying goodbye. It wasn’t much different than any other

 

BEDTIME (Full moon)

 

            Billy walked into his room, followed by his mother. He climbed into his bed without trouble and crawled under his sheets. His mother kissed him on the forehead, “you okay?” said asked.

“I don’t think Marvel’s coming back.” Billy replied in a glum tone.
“Well… Marvel’s probably off helping other boys because he know that you’re brave enough to fight the monsters on your own now.”
“Oh no…” Billy said.

            Billy had been sleeping with a night light ever since Marvel had left but tonight was a full moon and his mother wouldn’t allow it. She tucked him in and told him “goodnight” and left his room leaving the door open a bit.

            Billy pulled the covers close to his chin; he looked around the room as the moonlight poured in. He squeezed his eyes closed as tight as he could, “be brave” he told himself.

            As Billy was battling himself, trying to find the strength to fall asleep he heard something slide across the floor. Billy cringed, wondering if a monster was creeping from the closet because there was no night light. Billy opened one eye and looked towards the foot of his bed, but to his surprise he saw something glowing from the floor. He crawled to the end of the bed and saw the Levram! He instant looked towards the closet and called out, “MARVEL!?” But there was no reply back.

            Billy grabbed the Levram and sat in his bed looking at it just as the door knob started to turn.

“Billy” his mother called. “Did you need something, sweetie?”

“No… I thought Marvel was back but he’s not.”
“Aw, honey… what’s that?” Ms. Ierrim asked Billy as she took the Levram from Billy.

            Billy explained to his mother that it was something that Marvel had made to capture monsters. She smiled and then contorted her face a little. “Be brave?” she said as she looked at Billy curiously then handed the Levram back to him. Billy looked at the Levram which was engraved with “BE BRAVE” on the top of it.

“My brave little boy.” Ms. Ierrim said as she took the Levram and placed it on the rocking chair and then once again tucked in her son and left the room.

            Billy looked at the Levram and gave a little grin. “Goodnight, Marvel” Billy said as he fell asleep… fearless.

 

As it turns out, Marvel didn’t just up and leave Billy. He left him with the most powerful thing to fight against monsters. Now Billy won’t have to be afraid ever again. And I know that not a day goes by that Marvel doesn’t think about Billy. But in the end it was Billy who grew as he fought not Marvel. Billy’s courage grew and he overcame things he had once been terrified of, he just needed a little confidence as we all do. So find a place that makes you feel safe, and with your imaginations grace you’ll never forget how to be brave.

 

                           Sincerely,

                                     Marvel