The Thing in the Closet

The sudden lightning and crashing of the thunder woke little Billy out of a restless sleep. The rain clacking at the window like long wicked finger nails only added to the fright that held him paralyzed in his bed. Again another hit of lightning struck with a sudden crash of thunder following it. He could tell the storm was directly over his house now. The lightning and thunder exploded right outside his bedroom window as the rain poured down. When the lighting would strike Billy could swear that he saw things outside his window; Long, strange evil things with claws the size of daggers. “They’re only the trees. They have to be just the trees”. He said in an effort to console himself. He lay there watching the rain bang at his window as the tree things seemed to move closer. With every step the tree things took, Billy felt his strength to move slip away. “Close my eyes and count to ten. That will make it go away” Billy told himself in childish desperation. So he did. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he opened them to his horror the tree thing was now at his window. Its long, branch fingers were scratching at his window.