Sock Thief

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, having been with us since the dawn of human history and mostly likely even further back - for as long as humans have existed they have had a fascination with the macabre and frightening.

In the modern age, monsters have increasingly become the subject of ridicule as people's knowledge of the world around them grows, alongside a trend to dismiss the unknown in favor of hard "facts" or logic...

Resigning our childhood fears to the realms of fantasy..

Every now and then, however, something happens which reminds us that even in this day and age monsters can still play a part in our lives - the story I am about to tell you is just such an occasion..

It was Saturday night and a friend of mine by the name of Heather was home alone, her parents having gone out and not expecting to be home until late morning - this suited Heather as she liked the freedom of wandering the house by herself, watching TV and ordering pizza.

Heather also took the time to gather some clothes that needed washed, her room never exactly that tidy (in stark contrast to the stereotype). As she gathered her clothes she suddenly noticed one of her socks was missing.

Glancing around, Heather jumped as she saw the sock disappear into a nearby closet, the pink sock just appearing at the corner of her eye before vanishing.

Shaking her initial shock Heather decided to investigate, opening the closet and expecting to find the sock laying on the ground - even though she did not understand how it could of gotten there.

What greeted her, instead, was an ugly dwarf-like creature with pointed ears, a wide mouth, and dressed in grubby rags with a little pointed hat on top of a head of matted hair.

The creature held Heather's sock in one stubby hand and stared at her, the mouth growing into an even wider smile - Heather fled the scene as quick as she could and ran down the stairs, to her horror the creature following her, shuffling along the floor and hopping down the stairs after her.

Heather let out a cry of fear as she went to the front door and fumbled with the lock, her panic making it hard as she struggled with the lock - she had just managed to open the door when she felt a clammy hand clamp down on her back and tug her back, the door slamming shut.

Heather screamed out as the creature began to tear at her clothes and growled, leaving her battered and bruised - shaking all over, after a while the creature dropped the sock on the ground by Heather and went back up the stairs.

Heather lay on the floor for hours, shaking and crying - until eventually her parents came home and rushed to their daughter's aid.

Heather's parents searched the entire house but could not find anything, police were called to the scene and ordered a search of the surrounding area - ultimately, this too was a failure and Heather refused to sleep in her room, despite continual reassurance.

After a while most came to the conclusion Heather was the victim of some kind of house invasion, the story of a "monster" her way of dealing with what was a traumatic event.

After a few months, Heather and her parents decided to move to a different house, and from what I've heard, Heather is doing alright now and is enjoying her new life, though she still doesn't like being alone at night.

I admit I don't really believe Heather about the whole "monster" thing but she was definitely scared, when she told me the story I could see her shivering and she jumped when I tried to comfort her - whatever happened to her was real and I hope she never has to experience anything like it again.