Coffee Stop

From the picture grew a story…

There once was a little girl named Brenda Lee. She lived in a big beautiful house. She had two wonderful parents who always took care of her, but Brenda was very afraid of witches, goblins, and monsters. She was especially afraid of witches. 

 

She heard them at night calling from the vents in her room. She would ask her father every night to please cover the vents with heavy boards so that they could not come and take her away in the middle of the night.

 

One night little Brenda Lee fell asleep watching TV and her father took her to bed without covering the vents.

 

She woke up in the middle of the night, startled to discover that the vents were open. She began to cry and wanted to call out for her father, but she was afraid that it may cause the creatures to come for her.

 

She heard a rustling in her closet and pulled the covers up under her chin.

            “Who’s there?” she whispered.

            Just then one of her sweaters began to crawl from the closet and Brenda Lee began to cry harder.

           

 

“Don’t cry Brenda, it’s just me.” A small voice called out from beneath the sweater. A curious Brenda stopped crying and crawled to the edge of her bed peering at the moving sweater. She watched as a fuzzy bear wiggled his way from beneath the sweater.

            “It’s me, Snuggles.”

 

Brenda gasped and reached out to grab her stuffed teddy bear.

            “You can talk?” Brenda momentarily forgot all about the witches, and monsters.

           

 

“Of course I can talk silly, I just can’t talk in front of adults.” Brenda nodded, that made sense. Then she remembered the vents and she pulled Snuggles close and got beneath the covers.

           

“We have to be quiet, the vents are open.”

            “What do you mean?” Snuggles asked.

“The vents aren’t covered. The witches and monsters can get out.” Snuggles laughed and jumped out from under the covers.

 

“No silly, the vents are traps. When monsters and witches try to come through the windows they get sucked in and they can’t get out.”

 

“Oh,” Brenda said. She thought about this for a minute. “So that’s why I can hear them in there? They are trying to get out.”

“Right!” Snuggles exclaimed. The door opened and snuggles froze, falling back onto the sheets.

 

“Brenda?” Her dad stuck his head in, “Who are you talking to?”

Brenda looked at Snuggles who now lay lifeless on the bed and smiled. “No one.”

He walked in and sat on the edge of the bed, “Do I need to cover the vents?”

 

“No Daddy!” She smiled. “They are traps, the witches can’t get out.” Brenda’s dad laughed and nodded. “Ok.” He walked out and closed the door behind him.

 

Brenda looked at Snuggles who lifted his head and winked. She pulled him up close and laid her head back down. She could hear the witches and monsters wailing, but she wasn’t scared anymore.

 

The next morning when she woke up, Brenda Lee walked over to the open vent. She found a pair of black pointy-toed shoes stuck in the vent and smiled. She’d caught a witch.