Today is the first day of the
A to Z Blogging Challenge. Yay! Every day in April (except for the Sundays after this one) participants must write a post for that day's letter of the alphabet. It can be about anything you wish as long as it has to do with the letter of the day. Hundreds people are participating. Make sure you set aside a little time to visit their blogs. It's going to be a fantastic month!
I'm writing a story that will stretch over the entire month. Hopefully I can pace it right to have it end on the 30th. Please sit back, read, and enjoy!
A IS FOR ABBY
Abby White was seven years old when she killed the monster under her bed.
At first, the monster only made weird noises. It sounded like it was sick. Abby's mother told her that she was hearing her father's snoring from down the hall.
Then the monster began to talk. Dark and silly rhymes, and rude things about her mother. Abby's mother told her she was having bad dreams.
The next week, the monster tugged at Abby's blankets and pulled her hair. It told her it was going to eat her toes first. Her parents ignored her screams and pleas. When she tried to sneak out to sleep in the living room, she was locked in her bedroom. She hid under her blankets clutching her stuffed hippo Tawa and stayed up until the morning sun rose.
Abby wore her father's steel toed boots to bed the next night. The monster growled it was going to eat her fingers first instead. It was another night without sleep.
Abby put on the boots and her mother's mesh gardening gloves the night after. The monster snarled and said it would just eat her head. It yanked the blankets off her and wiggled out from under her bed.
She was exhausted and terrified. More so, she was furious. No one had believed her. She had fallen asleep at her desk at school and the teacher yelled at her. Her friends laughed when she missed the ball she intended to kick and fell on her rear in gym. Her parents looked at her as if she were sick like her Aunt Hilde who lived in that special hospital. It was all the monster's fault.
Screaming as she leapt off the bed, Abby threw herself onto its thick and hairy body. She kicked at it with the too big boots and threw off the awkward gloves before pounding on it with her little fists. Her hands began to glow. Soft and blue.
The monster's tentacle wound around her middle and it laughed at her attempts, until it noticed the glow. Both she and it stared at her hands as they grew brighter. A shining blade slowly emerged from each of her palms. Abby barely had time to grasp the ornate hilts when the monster's grip tightened and she rammed the swords into its neck.
An inhuman screech left her ears ringing and she was flung back onto her bed. The monster crumpled into a black heap on her floor.
The blades disappeared back into her hands and the glow winked out. Just in time for her parents to throw open her door.
"What's going on in here?" Her mother demanded.
"Just a nightmare, mom." Abby gathered up her blankets and hugged Tawa. Neither of her parents turned on the light or entered the room to come hug her, and thus they didn't notice the dead monster. Her throat tightened and a small sad sound escaped her.
"All right then." Her mother nodded and shooed Abby's father away before closing the door.
Abby buried her face against the softness of her hippo's big head and cried.
Get all the tears out, girl. You're safe now. Tawa said without moving her mouth. She made a few comforting noises, and when Abby stopped crying, she added, It's about time you killed that bloody monster. Listening to it trying to spin a good limerick was pure torture.
