At 8 o'clock, a scarlet sunset calls out the monsters of the dark. As the light fades to dusk, the sun falls asleep and awakens the moon, along with all the other nocturnal creatures.

I get ready for bed and the creatures under it get ready, too.

10 more hours until daybreak, and the night begins with howling gusts of wind. The wild spirits wail with the wind, searching for a single crack in the walls to enter my room. The walls act as a barrier against the harsh wrath of the wind, but the thought of the peeling drywall and cracked paint keeping them out wasn’t exactly reassuring. The walls kept the spirits out, but they also housed the expiring mice that scratched and scuffled along the fading paint.

9 more hours until sunlight, but I don’t look out the window. I know I'll see something I shouldn’t have seen - a witch cackling on her broom as lightning strikes behind her, a horde of zombies gathering under my window, smelling the fear. Quickly, I look away into my bedroom, which wasn’t much better. No matter what the stories told, the beams of light from the moon were dull, even the full moon’s shine could only faintly light the room.

8 more hours, but it feels like forever. The adorable dolls and stuffed animals grinned and stared, and I swear I saw one of them blink.

7 more hours, and I hear a flutter of curtains: the pixies and fairies dancing in the moonlight. I know have to be careful of their tricks, for their beauty hides their sinister intentions. As they dance, they create looming shadows across the room.

6 more hours till the sun, and by squinting around the room, I could see the dark silhouettes created by the flickering lights, blaming the ghosts. The shadows danced across my room, positions changing every time I blinked.

5 more hours and the spot underneath my desk grows larger. I mustn’t be fooled though, that was the portal where the tentacled beast emerged and waited at the corner of the room. Waiting, waiting, waiting, for the second I flip the covers, and it can attack. The thought sent me shivering and hiding deeper into my covers.

4 more hours left and the eerie echoes bouncing around the room made me peek out from under the covers again. I don’t go out of the blankets, though, because the pale vampire hiding under my bed is waiting for the dangling arm or leg to snatch away.

3 more hours, but the banging coming from my closet doesn’t falter. The hairy beast with teeth sharper than kitchen knives and its deep crimson eyes was occasionally peeking under the thin gap beneath the wardrobe. The creak in the hallway was proof of the wandering mummy, dragging its stained white bandage and eternal haunting.

2 more hours left and with it comes the roar of car engines and wolves running past the house and shaking the room. If I listen closely, I can hear the bubbling coming from the fish tank, with its sporadic growls, an azure fish filled with color, but the deceiving blue and green meant it is as poisonous as it is beautiful. The flapping of wing on top of the roof blew with the wind, with its predator eyes that bore holes in the ceiling and watched my every move.

1 hour left, the darkest hour, inky skies covering the world. But the night is yet to end.

The monster in the bed growls.