Messy Room

"Go clean your room, Sam." his mother demanded.

"But, Mom –"

"No buts, Sam. Your bedroom looks like a tornado ran through it."

"Willy was gonna come over, Mom," Sam whined.

"Go, now."

"Fine!" Sam sighed, sulking into his room.

Once inside, Sam reluctantly picked up all of his toys. He put his trains in their box, the dirty clothes in the dirty laundry, and all of the legos away. He smiled at the spotless room, proud of the job he had done.

All of a sudden, he had to pee. Once he came back, the room was even worse. Nearly everything he owned was scattered across his floor and bed. He looked down just in time to see a fluffy orange hand disappear under his bed.

Then his mom walked in.

"Sam! What were you doing up here?" she asked.

"I was cleaning, Mom, I promise! I only left my room for a minute, then I came back and it was all a wreck again! It was the Under-The-Bed Monster, I know it was!"

"Sam, tell me the truth."

"I am, Mom! I cleaned, just like you told me to. It was the monster!"

"There's no such thing as monsters, Sam," his mother sighed, "Now, you will stay in this room until it's clean."

"Yes, Mom."

Sam's mother left the room again, leaving him with the entire room to clean. He slowly began again, organizing until it was as clean as the last time he had tried.

"Mom, I'm done!" Sam called across the house, not wanting to leave the room before his mother was able to see it.

Suddenly, a large, furry, orange creature came out from under Sam's bed. It grabbed Sam's stuffed animals off the bed and started throwing them to the floor.

"No, no! I just cleaned up!" Sam shrieked.

At just that moment, Sam's mother stepped into the room to see if he had cleaned up correctly.

"Sam, why are there stuffed ani –"

That was as far as she got before she let out a piercing scream at the sight of the monster.

"What – what is that?" Sam's mom asked.

"Oh, this? This is Freddy," Sam explained. The orange creature smiled and waved at her.

"Freddy?" she asked, looking faint.

"He's my Under-The-Bed Monster. He often causes trouble by messing up my room. Then I have to clean it up."

"Oh, honey, if you had told me –"

"I tried to, Mom," Sam groaned, "You wouldn't listen to me!"

"I'm sorry, Sam. I just . . . I never thought . . . "

"I know, Mom. I was surprised when I first met Freddy, too."

"Now what about your sister's room?"

"Oh, you should talk to her about Sally."

"Sally?"

"Yeah, that's her Under-The-Bed Monster."