[ WP ] The apocalypse has come . The only survivors : a young child , and the monster under the bed ...

`` Your daddy's not coming back,'' said the monster under the bed. 
 
 A wan moonlight shone through the collapsed roof, lining edges in white, but otherwise the room was dead dark. Every lamp, every streetlight, every building in the world had been hollowed out and left empty. Isabelle curled tighter around her precious water bottle and screwed her eyes shut. 
 
 `` He said he'd be back,'' she whispered. `` I just need to wait here and be safe.'' 
 
 `` It's been two days, Isabelle. And I've always known when your parents were coming, have n't I? You'd call for them and before they'd come in I'd hide myself away. They'd look under the bed and in the closet and they'd never find a thing.'' The thing under the bed pulsed, and Isabelle gasped and huddled tighter, trying to get as far away as she could from the edges. `` Well I'm not hiding now, am I?'' A wrist bumped against the underside of the bed. Claws raked across the floorboards. `` Your daddy's not coming back. And you ca n't stay in that bed forever.'' 
 
 `` Why did n't you die?'' Isabelle said. `` Everyone else died. Why did n't you?'' 
 
 The monster paused and hummed reflectively. `` Same reason you did n't die and your daddy did n't die, I suppose. Pure blind chance. Someone's got to be the last one left.'' 
 
 It stretched and made the floorboards creak, made the window frames rattle. `` And is this what you're going to do, as the last one left? Just lie in that bed forever, waiting for a daddy who's never coming back?'' 
 
 Isabelle took a long shuddering breath. She felt like all her tears had dried out. `` I'm lying right here,'' she said. `` Why do n't you come out and get me?'' 
 
 The monster chuckled, and then was silent. 
 
 `` It's been two days! Come get me! Come get me!'' She sprung upright in bed and pounded the worn mattress with both fists. She realized she was crying, tears hot on her cheeks. `` I hate you! I know my daddy's not coming back! I know that! So come get me already, you stupid monster!'' 
 
 She screamed herself out and collapsed back on the mattress. Between her sobs, she could hear the monster breathing, hear its heart beating. She splayed herself out on the bed, her limbs suddenly boneless. There was nothing but her and the monster and the night air. 
 
 `` You do n't have to leave the bed,'' the monster finally said. 
 
 Isabelle did n't reply. 
 
 `` I can come out, if you want me to. You can just lie there and close your eyes, and I'll come out and swallow you down in one bite. You wo n't feel a thing. Is that really what you want?'' 
 
 Isabelle sniffled and wiped her snot off on the pillow. `` I'm so scared. I do n't know what to do.'' 
 
 The monster chuckled, low in its throat. `` Of course you're scared. I'm scared too. The world's over. You're the last kid left. What am I going to do after you're gone?'' 
 
 Isabelle was astonished to find that she could still break out into a giggle fit. `` You're - you're hungry too? Because all the kids - hee hee!'' 
 
 `` Of course I'm hungry! I've always been hungry! You think the world ending made things any better for me?'' 
 
 Maybe she was going crazy, Isabelle thought. Crazy people kept laughing at things that were n't funny, did n't they? But maybe being crazy was n't so bad anymore. It could n't be, not after everything else that had happened. 
 
 `` Okay,'' she said, when she could finally talk without giggling again. `` I'm going to get out of bed. But you come out too, okay? I want to see what you look like.'' 
 
 The darkness hesitated. `` Fair enough.'' 
 
 Isabelle lowered her feet over the edge, within reach of the shadows underneath. She hesitated, her toes dancing tip-toe over the floor, and then dropped the full way down, instinctively skipping away and out of reach. 
 
 `` Are you sure you want to see me?'' came the voice behind her. `` Last chance to back out.'' 
 
 Isabelle turned to face it. `` Come on out.'' Her voice came out a squeak. 
 
 Big-knuckled hands reached out from the darkness, embedded their claws in the floor and pulled something closer. `` You want to know the real reason I did n't die?'' A pair of red eyes lit up. A row of teeth gleamed. `` Because I'm your monster, Isabelle. I'm the worst thing in the world. And I know the world is very, very bad right now. But there's always something worse, is n't there? And that's me, and there's always going to be me.'' 
 
 The shadow unfolded itself, rose to loom over her. Its fur was patchy and threadbare. Its chest was sunken, its limbs long and scrawny. It had eaten even more poorly than she had. It was emaciated, its face stretched across its skull to form a hungry desperate grin. 
 
 Isabelle looked it over, touched its skin and saw the sores. She looked up into its eyes. They were blood-red and wet, like a pair of healing wounds. She shivered. `` You're not that scary,'' she said. 
 
 The monster's mouth twisted into a smile. `` I'm the worst thing in the world,'' it repeated. `` And I'll always be here. So what now?'' 
 
 Isabelle played with the hem of her shirt, twisting it between her fingers. `` If you eat me, then you'll be all alone out here.'' 
 
 `` That's true.'' The monster made no move towards her, simply hung in place like a shadow. 
 
 `` Do you... do you think my daddy's still alive?'' 
 
 `` Ah.'' The breath rattled through its chest like a shudder. `` He might be. He might not be. All I know for sure is that he is n't coming back.'' 
 
 `` But we should find out. Even if he is dead. We should find out what happened to him.'' 
 
 It stroked a long finger underneath its chin, and then nodded. `` That's true. It's very sensible, actually. It's a reasonable thing to do.'' 
 
 Isabelle turned to the window. The first faint light of dawn was filtering through the sky. `` Let's go find him then.''
