The Night Light

It may have been under the bed, or it may have been in the back of the closet. I wasn’t sure where the monster was, but I knew it was there.

Waiting.

And some night, it would come for me.

The only thing that kept it at bay was the night light. It wasn’t one of those little plug in the wall night lights that look like a disembodied Christmas tree light. This was a light on the dresser that looked like a train engine and probably burned a 5 watt light bulb.

It was one of those lamps that only parents think are cute, “Oh, look, a choo-choo! He’ll love that!”

But we didn’t care what it looked like. We only cared that it served its purpose. And that was keeping the monsters away. Everyone knew that monsters hate the light and would only come out if it was really, really dark.

When I say we, I mean my twin brother and me. He had the same lamp in his room. As a matter of fact, he had the same everything in his room. If I wanted to know what my room looked like in a mirror, I just had to go across the hall and look at his.

And then, one night, the light went out.

Before panic set in, I looked through the door, which was left open just a crack, to see the light coming from up the hall where my parents were watching TV. But that light was gone too. Then I realized I couldn’t hear the TV anymore.

I didn’t know anything about power or electricity. I only knew that my whole world had gone dark and quiet.

And that the monsters would come next.

Then I could sense, rather than see, my door slowly open. I thought the monsters got my brother first, and now they’re coming for me. But then I smelled the faint odor of cigarette smoke, which meant my dad had come to save us.

“Hey, buddy, you okay?”

“No”

“You mind if I sit with you a minute?”

“No.”

So, he sat on the edge of the bed as I tried to see through the total blackness that surrounded us.

He explained to me about electricity and power and how the lights had gone out all over the neighborhood, but they would be back on soon.

He then went on to tell me about darkness and light and how our eyes will adjust to it if we let them. He said that soon I would be able to see good enough that I could tell there were no monsters in the closet without the night light.

He went on to talk about a lot of things, and I just lay there listening to the sound of his voice and realized that now I was able to just make him out in the darkness.

After a while, he asked if I was okay, and I said that I was, but I don’t think he believed me. But I could see him better, and that made it alright.

Then he told me to look at the closet, so I did. And I could see it! It was still dark, but I could just make out the board games on the top shelf, Monopoly, checkers, and Sorry. I could see the red vinyl toy chest on the floor, overflowing with stuffed animals, toy soldiers, and one badminton racket.

He asked me if I would be okay to sleep now, and I said that I would. I could see all the way to the back of the closet and there was nothing there that wasn’t supposed to be.

Just as he stood to go, the lights came back on. The little night light was very bright now. I could see the hall light and my mom coming out of my brother’s room.

Dad said he would turn off the hall light and shut the door, so I could sleep.

I stopped him and told him it would be okay if he turned out the night light.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m okay now.”

“Okay, buddy, night-night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He turned out the little choo-choo light and closed the door as he left, leaving it open just a crack.

I rolled over, looking back into the closet, and I could see everything now.

The world right once again, I closed my eyes to sleep.

A few seconds later, they popped back open again.

What about under the bed?

If you enjoyed this article, please consider dropping me a tip below. I need to buy a new night light. Thanks for reading.