“Mummy, there’s a monster under my bed,”

A sentence every child cried, voices filled with dread.

The monster who haunted my childhood had always been there,

Paralysing and terrifying, it was all too much to bear.

Vampires, gargoyles and ghouls too,

All reasonable fears for a girl so small, what shouldn’t have been was you.

My empathy for the girl who used to be me is unconditional,

Pained at the hands of her own mother, cruel and untraditional.

I’m older now though, time has passed,

Since I was that little girl, it’s all gone so tragically fast.

But the one thing im grateful for is that it’s been a while since I have said,

“Mummy, you’re scaring me, get out from under my bed.”