There's Nothing Here in the Dark that isn't Here in the Daylight.

The dark is not very welcoming at night to a child who is going to bed.  The dark always seems to hide things

which aren't there in the daytime.  Children's imaginations run wild to the point where a stuffed teddy bear becomes

a werewolf at   night.  A hanging mobile becomes a witch on a broom soaring through the air.   Sometimes even a night light

doesn't seem to ward off these frightful images.  The following story is about a child with  an   imagination I just spoke of..

or was it her imagination?

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Briana  has just settled in for a good nights sleep.  Her mother had tucked her in tightly, kissed her forhead and told her

she loved her more than anything in the world.  She heard a noise. 

"MOM!", she yelled.

"What?", replied her mother.

"I heard something!", she whispered.

"Oh, Briana...it's just your imagination!  Look sweethear.", her mother turns on the light and opens the closet door peering inside.

"See...no monster!", she yells.

Her mother then looks behind her door, "See..no monsters!"

"Now, Briana go to sleep. There is nothing here in the dark that isn't here in the daylight!"

Briana tells her mom goodnight for the second time, and settles back down to go to sleep.

Just as soon as she closes her eyes, she hears a noise again.

She sits up as fast as she can, pulling her covers up to her nose.

"MOM!", she screams.  No answer. "Oh No!" Briana says to herself. She realized her mother could not

hear her.  She looked at the door.  It looked extremely far away.  She glanced around her room.   She saw nothing out

of the ordinary.   She thought to herself that it was just her imagination.  There is nothing here that is not here in the daylight.

She grabbed her teddy bear and pulled it close and closed her eyes shut.  She put the pillow over her ear so the noise would

be muffled out.   Finally sleep came.

The next morning, Briana awoke to bright sunshine and the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen.   She pounced out of

bed and ran to the kitchen where her mother was busy preparing breakfast. 

"I heard that noise again mommy, but I told myself it wasn't nothing that wasn't there in the daylight, and I went back

to sleep!", she bellowed as she slid into the kitchen chair.

"Well, I'm very proud of you!", her mother exclaimed with a big grin.

"How many pancakes would you like?" She asked.

"Three! I'm hungry!", Briana yelled.

After she ate, she walked back to her bedroom and started to make up her bed.  She noticed that halfway under her

bed was a doll that her grandma had gotten her for Christmas one year. 

"Hmm, what are YOU doing down there?", she laughed as she snatched up the doll and placed her back on the shelf with

her other dolls and stuff animals.  She got dressed and left for school. 

That night at bedtime again, her mother tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

"I love you more than beans and rice!" she cheerfully laughed.

"No..me!", Briana cried.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!!