It was midnight. I was under my blanket, trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, it started thunder storming outside. There were lightning and horrible thundering that made me want to pull the blanket over my head and hide underneath. And to make things worse, the lights went out. I was lying on my bed in the dark. All alone. What else can go wrong? I was relieved. Wait, no, am I alone? It took me another nanosecond to realize that I was not alone at all. I heard them, hiding underneath my bed. Wait, they are UNDER my bed. No worries. What if they come out? Eight spiky legs and super terrific eyes. What if they have cobbled wings? It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m ON the bed. My precious feet are inside the blanket. No, they can’t bite me. Umm, what if they are under my blanket? Oh-oh! I screamed, “AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The lights came back. I quickly checked if anything was really under there. They are not there. What a relief! I went back to sleep, turning the lights off. 

Just as I closed my eyes, I felt something feathery touching my feet. I opened my eyes, too afraid to check it. I stopped moving. No movement, just my heart beating. My breath started becoming louder. My heart was racing. After a while, I completely forgot about it. Then as I realized I was about to forget something, I realized that thing was not touching my feet anymore. Still, to make things sure, I took my phone and turned on the torchlight. 

Just as I sparked some light in the dark world under my blanket, I instantly started to regret it. There were thousands of them. They started coming out everywhere. How terrible their eyes looked! They were making scary noises with their antennas. Some of them crawled over my legs. I thought I must not move. They bit my baby fingers and tickled them in a very uncomfortable manner. I saw my face turning white in the mirror. Oh no! One of them is on my hair. Mom!!! Get them off me. No one responded. I knew I was in trouble. I quickly got off the bed. They started following me., Thousands of them. Each one looked scarier than the previous one. Go away!!! They probably thought I told them to come out and bite me as we never spoke the same language. So, they did. Not knowing what I was supposed to do, I ran downstairs and saw my dad watching TV. I told him to come over and check them. I guess he was not afraid of them, but I sure was. As soon as he entered and turned on the lights, they were gone. There was no sign of them. I flipped over my blanket. None of them were there. My dad asked me if I was dreaming and also asked me who they were. I knew that it was not a nightmare. It was morning by then. I had not slept all night because of THEM. Where were they? Maybe they were hiding in my closet, under my bed, and in all those dark and dusty corners. So, once and again, who exactly were they? Creepy, crawlies, and a touch of my imagination.