"Good night, dear," his mother said as she bent to kiss his forehead. "Sleep tight."
"Good night, mamma," the little boy called as he watched his mother turn off his light and close the door.
"Will he be okay?" he heard his mother's voice in the hall.
"He'll be fine. Now come away from there," his father returned.
His parents walked down the hall and entered their own room. The boy could hear the soft click of the door and could see the light in the hall that came from their room. It faded as they shut the door, and the boy was alone in the dark.
The poor child, it was his first night alone in his room, and he was naturally afraid of everything he heard, saw, or thought he did.
Once or twice he would doze, and then the wind would wake him. Once or twice he would imagine Sleep had taken him, yet there would come a stirring to his ears and his eyelids would be flown wide in fright.
He could not see...he could not see a thing...he called to his parents.
"Mamma! Pappa!"
The light flicked on in the hall. He heard the pitter patter of his mother's slippers on the carpet. The door opened and the child ran to hug his mom.
"What is it son?" she asked sleepily.
"I can't sleep," the child replied.
"Come, dear let's see if your father will let you sleep with us," she replied as she hugged him.
The boy dismissed this. He was with his mother after all.
But, then the ceiling begun to rise and the floor begun to fall. The walls were no longer walls, but horrible monsters, all piled one on top of another. They stared at the boy with malice in their eyes.
Yet, the boy walked on...holding his mother's housecoat so tight that his hands burned. He buried his face in the coat to keep from seeing the terrible visions.
Finally, as the visions became more horrible and started to create ghoulish sounds, the boy finally had to shout...
"Mother! Please make them stop!"
His mother bent down and squeezing his hand tight, replied, "You have created this nightmare! You must face it! You must live it! You must fight it!"
And with this, the child woke up.