The Story of the Sock Monster

Mom was mumbling under her breath again. I wasn't so sure I wanted to ask her if I could go play outside anymore, I was afraid she was in a bad mood.  I walked into the laundry room where my mom was dumping baskets of clothes onto the counter. "Whatcha doin'?," I asked.

My mom kept her back to my while she answered, "Well buddy, I'm trying to find the matches to all of these socks."

I got on my tip toes to see the vast array of socks laying all over the counter. My mom glanced down at me and smiled. "I think the sock monster took them," she said with a wink.

My mouth fell open. "A sock monster?," I asked in shock.

My mom laughed and patted me on the head as she walked out of the room. "Yep, don't know what else it could be," she said.

I was speechless. There was a monster that stole people's socks? I marveled at the thought. Where does it live? What does it eat? I would need someone older and wiser to help me with this one, so I ran off to find my big sister.  Brennan is eight years old and seems to know the answer to everything. I, on the other hand, am only six so I have very limited knowledge, or so I'm told.  Brennan was sitting on the couch watching television when I came running in. "Bren guess what?," I panted.

She was completely immersed in her show and didn't seem to hear me or understand the urgency of the moment. "Brennan, did you know that there is a monster that steals our socks?," I asked in awe.

  The word "monster" must have gotten her attention because she immediately jumped up off the couch and faced me. "Who told you that?," she asked with her hands on her hips.

"Mom did!," I said with a smirk.  Everyone knew that whatever mom said was the truth.

Brennan's eyes grew big, "She did?"

I nodded my head up and down. "Yeah! She said she couldn't find the matches to some of our socks and that a sock monster must have taken them! I was about to go and find out where it lives. Do you want to come?"

Brennan grabbed her purse that was stuffed with a video game, a hair brush and lip gloss off of the couch and headed towards the door. "Let's start in our bedrooms", she said, "That's where our socks are, so that has to be the best place to start looking for a sock monster." 

I couldn't have agreed more, her logic was amazing.  I followed her out of the den and down the hallway to my bedroom.  I was beginning to feel a little bit nervous though. What if the monster was in there now? Brennan pushed my bedroom door open and charged in. "Now where would I hide if I were a sock monster?," she asked herself.

  I watched in fascination as she paced around my room while she thought.  "Ah ha!," she said while holding one finger into the air, "I've got it...it would hide under the bed!" 

Of course, I thought to myself, the perfect place. And how many times have I found socks and other strange missing things underneath my bed? Brennan and I slowly crept on our hands and knees to the bed.  "We have to be very careful," she warned me, "they might eat people too and we don't want to scare it!"

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. "Maybe we better go get Mom," I said.

Brennan ignored me and stuck her head underneath my bed.  "The coast is clear," she assured me, "but I think I've found a secret passage to its home!"

I was shocked. There was a secret passage to the sock monsters home underneath my bed?  I stuck my head under too and entered into another world.



"You were right!," I said in awe.

It was dark, but I could tell there was a tunnel that must have lead to the monster's lair.  We crawled towards it slowly. The tunnel was long and damp and I could hear the sound of water dripping.  "Where do you think it leads?," I asked my sister.

"I'm not sure," she said from in front of me, "but we have to find out!"

We crawled for another minute when I saw a bright light up ahead. We crawled to the end of the tunnel then stood up and walked into the sunshine.  There were green grassy hills and blue pools of water. I looked to the left and saw a large tree with a door made into the trunk. "Do you think he lives over there?," I asked as I pointed to the tree.

  Brennan nodded her head. "I bet he does. Let's go find out!"

I followed her through the green grass to the large tree. It had lots of thick branches that would have been perfect for climbing.  The leaves were the same bright green as the grass and there were small red flowers growing on the tree too.  The door in the trunk has small, coming only to my shoulders when I stood.  "Are you going to knock?," I asked my sister.

She nodded her head and tapped on the small wooden door.  Nothing happened.  "Maybe you should knock harder," I whispered from behind her.

"Why don't you do it?," she snapped at me.

I bowed out my chest and pushed past her. "Fine, I will!"

I pounded on the door with my fist then took a few hesitant steps back and waited.  We both jumped when we heard something on the other side of the door turning the lock.  "What do we do?," I asked in a panic.

I started looking frantically around for somewhere to run.  All of the sudden this didn't seem like such a great idea.  I was about to run back to the tunnel when the door was jerked open and small, hairy brown thing stepped out. Brennan screamed and took off towards the tunnel leaving me alone with the creature.  I was frozen in place with fear. "What do you want?," the creature demanded while tapping it's tiny hairy foot.

I couldn't speak, though I was stunned that the creature could.  I was too busy taking in it's appearance. He was small, only about two and half feet tall, and had large green eyes that reminded me of a cats.  His feet were larger than his body and he had sharp claws at the end instead of toes.  His hands were small though, but still had the same sharp claws at the end.  He also had pointy ears that stuck up from his head and was completely covered in brown shaggy hair that was knotted in places.  He started to approach me and I jumped back in alarm. "Why are you beating on my door?," he said in frustration.

I took another step back as I said, "My sister and me were looking for the sock monster."

The little creature narrowed his cat-like eyes at me. "The sock monster huh?  What do you want with him?"

Brennan walked slowly back from the tunnel when she realized the little guy wasn't going to eat me.  She stepped up beside me and answered, "We want to get our socks back." 

The creature shook his head at us. "I don't think so," he said. "Those socks are long gone by now!"

Brennan's eyes grew big as she realized who we were talking to. "So you're the sock monster," she stated matter-of-factly.

The monster grinned at us revealing a set of sharp pointed teeth. "Why, as a matter of fact I am!" 

Brennan put a hand on my arm and started pulling me backwards. "It's time to go," she mumbled under her breath.

The monster grabbed me by the other arm. "Now don't rush off," he purred, "You only just got here."

  I was really starting to panic now. "LET ME GO!," I shouted.

The sock monster surprised me by sticking out his lower lip in an obvious pout. "But I never get any visitors," he complained, "every one is scared of me!"

I, for one,  could understand why.  Brennan pulled harder on my other arm. "They are scared of you because you're mean!," Brennan screamed. 

The sock monster suddenly released my arm causing me to stumble and  fall into my sister.  "I don't mean to act mean," the sock monster whined, "I'm just not used to having someone to talk to."

I started to feel sorry for the lonely little guy.  Maybe we should give him a chance after all. "Okay, my sister and I will talk with you for a little bit," I said, "but only if you are nice and promise not to scare us." 

The sock monsters hairy face lit up in joy. "I promise," he said happily. He grabbed me by the arm again and started pulling me towards his house. "Come with me," he said, his voice tinged with excitement. "I want to show you my home!"

Brennan and I followed him into his little tree house. We had to crawl to get through the door, but once inside we could both stand up.  His house was amazing and much larger inside than I would have imagined.  There was a spiral staircase to the right of the door that lead to another level of the house. To the left was a den and just past it was a small kitchen, all made out of wood and rocks.  Brennan looked around the small den and asked, "So what do you do with the socks you take?"

The sock monster smiled up at us, "Why I eat them of course!"  He led us to his kitchen and opened one of the mini cabinets revealing a stash of hundreds of socks.  I reached inside and pulled one out. It was a Christmas sock, complete with flashing lights and a tiny Christmas tree.  "So you can eat these?," I asked in surprise.

The sock monster took the sock from my hand and popped it into his hairy mouth. "Sure can!," he said while he chewed it up.

  He suddenly made a strange face, then reached inside and pulled the mechanism that made the sock light up out of his mouth. "Yuck!," he snorted, "but I don't eat these!"

Brennan and I burst out laughing at his funny face.  "Are there many more sock monsters like you?," I asked.

His face fell in obvious sadness and he walked into his small den to sit on a couch made of wood and grass. Brennan and I followed him and sat down on the floor, the furniture was a bit to small for us.  "We are becoming extinct," the little monster said softly. "More and more children are growing to fear us, and fear causes us to disappear."

Brennan shook her head at the monster, "But now that we know you, we're not scared of you anymore." 

The sock monster smiled a little, "But not all children are like you. Many of them fear us because they fear things that they do not understand. If they continue to fear us, then the door from my world to yours will close and we can no longer take your socks for our food."

I was worried about the little monster. Sure, he shouldn't be stealing kids socks, but I didn't want him to disappear either.  "Is there anything else you can eat?," I asked in concern.  The sock monster shook his head slowly. "There is nothing else I have found to eat," he said. 

Brennan's eyes lit up suddenly, "What about cereal? Everyone loves cereal!" 

The sock monster's little face wrinkled in confusion. "I have never heard of this cereal before. Where would I find it?"

I jumped to my feet as I said, "We can get some for you! We can leave it under my bed so you can come and get it whenever you want!"

The sock monster smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen. His green cat-like eyes misted over with unshed tears. "That would be wonderful!," he exclaimed. "Then perhaps I could tell other monsters like myself about this cereal and they could eat it too!"

Brennan and I nodded excitedly. We could even show the little monster where to find cereal in houses so he could go get some whenever he wanted.  Maybe he would learn about other foods he could eat too. Wouldn't he love trying out a McDonald's?  Maybe there was a chance we could save the sock monsters!  "We need to go home now," I said, "but we promise to leave you some cereal underneath my bed.  If you want, you can come out and play with us at our house!"

The sock monster grinned again, "I would love to do that, but only if you're mother doesn't find out. Most moms and dads don't like us much."  Brennan patted the monster's hairy head, "Don't worry, it will be our secret!" 



    The sock monster followed us out of his tiny tree house and down the hill to the dark tunnel.  "It was nice meeting you," I said as I shook his tiny hairy hand.

"I very much enjoyed meeting you as well," the monster said happily.  "Please come visit me again soon!"

Brennan and I promised to come again and then we crawled into the dark, wet tunnel.  I hated this part of the adventure, but the rest was amazing. I could hardly believe that we had discovered a real live sock monster!  We saw a dim light up ahead and hurried through the opening then crawled from underneath my bed.  "We're home again!," Brennan exclaimed. "Let's go get some cereal," I said as I ran to the kitchen.

  Mom had just walked through the back door carrying something wet and dirty in her hand.  "Look what I found," she said as she held the nasty blob out to me.

"What is that?," I asked as I leaned away in disgust.

"It's one of your missing socks!," she laughed. "I found two different ones outside in the mud, one in the car under the seat, one on top of the refrigerator, and another stuffed inside of one of your toys!"  She laughed again as she threw the dirty socks into the washing machine. "It looks like the sock monster has been found out!," she said with a wink

. My eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean?," I asked in fear that she had discovered our secret tunnel.

"I mean that you and your sister are the sock monsters, silly boy! You two take your socks off in the strangest places and they get lost.  I guess that makes you two 'sock monsters'!"  I smiled up at my mom in relief.  "Yep," I said as I reached for a box of cereal from the pantry, "that's us, little hairy sock monsters!"