Bear, the Protector: 5 Minute Freewrite, Prompt, Snoring

trigger warning: creepy shit

The SNORING. Again. The sound was reverberating through the room. She could hear his snoring through the floorboards. The walls were thin enough in their old apartment, that the neighbors could surely hear him as well.

The little girl wrapped herself up tighter in her thin blankets and buried her head under the pillow. She both hated and loved the snoring. If he was snoring, he was asleep. And if he was asleep, he wouldn't come into her room and bother her. He would sleep and leave her alone.

She clutched the worn teddy bear closer to her and whispered, "Just let him stay asleep like we planned. Just keep him asleep and then you and me, we can be safe. We won't have to hide under the bed this time."

She'd gotten the bear from an old lady at the carnival three days ago. The old lady had grabbed her soft little hand in her rough, cold and gnarled old fingers and clutched her so tight that she'd almost cried out. The old lady had stared into her eyes with her own watery, bloodshot eyes. Then she'd gotten so close, so close that the smell of cigarettes on her breath nearly made the girl's eyes water. But she was close enough so that only the girl could hear her, "Little girl. I know you are scared at night and can't sleep because of..." the woman looked around like she was looking to make sure no one was listening, "Monsters..."

The little girl was wide eyed. HOW did this woman know of her secrets? No one was ever supposed to know! She started shaking a little under the woman's gaze.

The old lady's face softened, "You have nothing to fear from me, little girl. I'm here to save you. Take this," and thrust the worn, ratty looking bear into her arms. The little girl clutched at the bear like her life depended on it. For some reason, the bear just exuded some sort of safety, some sort of peace. She hung on for dear life. The old woman leaned close again, "Just keep this bear right with you every night. Tell him what you're afraid of and he will help you. If you're ever afraid for ANY reason, just tell him." She squeezed the little girl's arm again, "Do you understand?"

The little girl gave her a solemn nod. She'd talked to the bear that very night and for the next two nights and so far it had worked miracles. He had snored through the entire night for the last two nights and it looked like he was going to snore through another night. The girl felt herself unwinding, relaxing a bit, maybe for the first time in her life. She had started to drift off when the silence jolted her awake. She felt his boots hitting the floor as he came closer to her room. She cried out to her bear, "Help me! He's awake! He's coming... please!" Her voice was a desperate whisper, but the bear heard her clearly. She somehow knew to get under the bed and hide. The bear stayed on the bed.

Her doorknob rattled and the door squeaked on the old hinges as the door slowly opened. His frame filled the doorway and she pressed herself back against the wall. She knew it wouldn't matter. He would find her. He always did. And then he was usually even more angry, but she couldn't help it. She pressed her hands over her mouth to stifle the sob that was trying to break out.

She saw his boots at the edge of her bed and then suddenly the bed springs squeaked as if he'd sat down on the bed. She was confused, though, because his boots were still facing the bed.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" He roared and stumbled backwards. His body hit the floor with a thud that shook the whole room. She covered her eyes, but then peeked between her fingers and leaned towards the edge of the bed. He sat there, looking up. Looking... scared. She couldn't imagine what HE would ever be scared of. He was the meanest, toughest person she'd ever met, but there he was, looking terrified. "Get away from me!" He yelled, but his voice ended with a squeak as a great shadow loomed over him. The pale light of the moon through her window did nothing to illuminate him through the lurking shadows. He scrambled backwards, trying to get up, but suddenly was... falling? Was pushed? He was back on the floor and cowering.

A soft, but still voice whispered through the room. All she felt was peace and relief, but the man on the floor apparently only heard horror. He started shaking his head and yelling in a panicked voice, "Yes. Okay. Yes! I PROMISE!" He was sobbing and choking on his words while she stared at him, not comprehending why he was so scared of the soft, sweet voice of her bear. The shadows over him moved and shifted. The floor creaked as he tried to get further away, but he was pressed against the wall.

She heard the whispers again. The man screamed and covered his face, sobbing and shrieking like the demons of hell itself had their hands around his throat. She smelled the fear and then another, more familiar smell of... urine? Had he... wet himself? She slowly started to climb out from under the bed.

When he saw her, he started freaking out again, "Go away! I won't hurt you! Go away! Leave me alone!" and his sobbing started anew.

She walked over and stood next to his form huddled on the ground. Why, he didn't seem scary at all anymore. She felt a confidence start to well up in her and as she stood over him, she started to smile. "You will NEVER hurt me again." She saw the shadows shrinking down before her eyes.

In quite a state of confusion, she turned to her bed and saw the bear sitting there, all innocent and sweet, just like she'd left him. If he looked slightly bigger for a second, that was surely just in her imagination. If he was shrinking before her eyes, surely that was just a trick of her eyes and the shadows. If his sweet black plastic eyes had looked red and very, very real... well, surely that was just part of this whole scary night... but somehow, some way, she felt stronger. She felt free.

She knew that her life was changed and that she would never ever have to be scared again. She turned to the man on the floor, "Get OUT." She said with a dead calm.

"Yes... I am. I mean I will, I'm... I'm sorry." he said weakly as he crawled across the floor and left her alone with her bear.

She turned the bear so she could whisper in his ear, "Thank you, Mr. Bear." She gave him a long hug, "We're going to be best friends always... aren't we?"

She imagined, right then, that she heard him say, "Best friends. And no one will ever, ever hurt you again."

The End... of the Bad Things, at least.

Prompt: snoring
Set your timer for 5 minutes
Start writing
Use the hashtag #freewrite
Publish your piece (include a link to this post if you wish)
Copy and paste your URL into the comment section of the prompt post.
Or, if you don't want to publish your freewrite, just copy and paste as a comment under the prompt post.
If you don't know what a freewrite is, here is a link to the introduction post.

Thanks to @mariannewest

Other posts of mine that you may be interested in:

My Real Life Stories:

My #introduceyourself post