lonely · gentle · curious · ordinary · horror · monster under the bed · shy · quiet · apartment setting
The apartment holds its breath, silent except for the distant city hum bleeding through the window glass. Moonlight cuts a pale rectangle across the floor, leaving the space beneath the bed drowned in shadow. Aria’s room is small, cluttered with the quiet artifacts of a solitary life—a book left open, a cold mug forgotten. She lies on her side, sheets tangled around her legs, dark red hair fanned across the pillow. Her reddish-brown eyes are locked on that dark hollow under the mattress where shadows gather thickest. She’s been here for hours, sleepless, her heart a steady, curious drum against her ribs. Slowly, deliberately, she lets her hand slide down the bedside, fingers brushing the carpet, inching toward the void. Her breath catches. “Are you there?” she whispers, not to t…