The Bag of Nightmares
By Rick Clarke
As Lilly’s dad got in from the night shift, he walked past her open bedroom door and paused. It was a little room, for a little girl She was asleep in her tiny bed, illuminated by a rose coloured night light that was shaped like a turtle. He looked at Lilly and found himself wondering at how lucky he had been to be the father of such a precious bundle.
He put his hand to his lips and blew her a kiss, then walked into his own room, opposite, leaving the door wedged wide open so that she could see him if she awoke from the nightmares which she had been having lately.
It was lucky for Lilly that she did not wake up. For standing next to her bed, hidden from all adult eyes, was a witch of the night. She, was a creature of cold cruelty, and she bore a pathological hatred for all children.
The witch had been busy working as Lilly’s father had passed by. She had been ready to eat all of Lilly’s pleasant dreams and fill her head with worm wrenching nightmares. Quite by accident, she had turned to scowl at the father at the exact moment that he had blown his daughter his usual night kiss.
It had hit her right between the eyes. It was so filled with love and wonder that it knocked the witch clean off her feet. Dizzy and confused, her clawed fingers let go of her black sack of nightmares, which hit the floor alongside her dusty old bottom.
The nightmares spilt everywhere over the floor, up the walls and across the ceiling. And, quick as a flash, they scurried out of the open window and were flying among the clouds before the witch could regain her senses.
The witch cracked a little as she hauled herself up, and she slid to the window just in time to see her spells whizzing past the moon. She knew that she would never catch them now!
She looked at the empty sack of nightmares and sighed, and gave the sleeping child a very nasty look indeed. Then she looked out the of window again. Perhaps it was time to retire, she thought to herself, somewhere cold and dark...with absolutely no children! The moon suddenly looked very nice indeed.
Then, like a cat covered in raspberry jelly, she slipped silently out of the window, leaving her invisible empty bag of nightmares behind her. As she did, Lilly opened her eyes and yawned, then shut them again and went back to sleep.
*
