The Monster Under The Bed

Chapter 4

     Emilia hops off the bus, and skips in the house, up the steps, and to her room to see if the monster is back. To her dismay, she doesn't see any signs of him. 'I'm sure he will be hungry when he comes,' Emilia suddenly thinks and goes down to the kitchen to get some food. When she reaches the kitchen she forgets about the food when she sees a box on the table. Emilia walks up and looks at the tag that reads, 'Happy Birthday Emilia. Love Mommy and Daddy.' Emilia squeals and opens the box. Inside is a stuffed animal. She grabs it and spins around with it. As Emilia is spinning around, Alice walks in and smiles at her happy daughter. Emilia stops spinning and runs to her Mommy when she sees her.
     "Thank you, thank you, thank you Mommy! I love him so much!" Emilia shouts out.
     "You're welcome sweety, and Happy Birthday! I can't believe my little girl is 8 years old." Alice says. Emilia smiles at her Mommy once more, and runs upstairs to play for a bit. Alice watches Emilia run upstairs and sighs when she is out of sight. 'Please let me get along with Justin tonight. Just this one night,' Alice hopelessly thinks. She turns to the mirror in the hall and sees her black eye caked in foundation. Alice runs her fingers through her hair and goes up to the bedroom to cover her eye more.
Emilia finished her homework and is bored of playing already. She goes downstairs with her stuffed animal to see what her Mommy is doing. When she reaches the end of the steps she hears soft crying in the living room. To her surprise, her Mommy is sitting on the couch crying. 'Why is she crying? What happened?' Emilia panics. She tiptoes over to her Mommy and asks a question.
     "Mommy... why are you crying? Please don't cry.... Here hug Norky, he will make you feel better," Emilia doesn't know why she said Norky, it just sounded right. Alice takes Norky and gives him a big hug.
     "Thank you Emi. I feel better now." Alice says, trying to wipe away her tears. Emilia doesn't know what else to do, but knows her Mommy needs her so she snuggles on the couch with her watching tv. After a couple hours the door opens and Justin walks in sober for once.
     "Daddy! You're home!" Emilia happily says.
     "Hi, pumpkin! Happy Birthday! Come on over here and give me a big hug" Justin replys holding his arms out. Emilia runs into them and gets swung around in a big circle.
     "Thank you for the present Daddy. I love him," Emilia squeals out.
     "Oh, uh... yeah, you're welcome pumpkin. Now run off upstairs. We will have dinner ready soon." Justin fumbles out. Emilia giggles and runs upstairs, but not failing to notice his stumble in words about the presents. 'Did he not get it for me too?' Emilia questions.
     Justin watches Emilia run upstairs and turns to Alice on the couch.
     "Why did you put my name on your gift Alice?" Justin whispers out furiously.
     "Well I don't know Justin. You're never home, so I just thought it would be a nice thing to do in case you didn't get her anything," Alice whispers back just as furious.
     "You don't need to do that. You think I would forget about our daughter's birthday?" Justin raises his voice.
    "No Justin, I just... nevermind. Just... let's just get along tonight even if it's pretend. Please for Emilia," Alice sighs.
    "Fine, just lets not talk to each other much," Justin relents. Alice nods and works on dinner. An hour passes and Alice calls for Emilia and Justin. Justin walks in the kitchen and gives Alice a look. Emilia comes skipping downstairs and sees her favorite meal and cake laid out on the table. She looks to the kitchen and sees her parents walk out and sit down. The air is tense, but Emilia and her parents try to ignore it. Emilia enjoys her birthday meal and gets a few more presents. When dinner is finished Emilia runs upstairs to play with her new toys. Justin and Alice sigh when Emilia is out of sight and Justin goes into the living room leaving Alice to clean up the mess from dinner.