Of course, Timothy didn’t get to leave right away. As Weztix said, there’s a labor shortage down here. But his reward for recruiting me was to be allowed to go back to the land of the living about ten years after I got here.

That’s what I’d like to do someday. After all, I’ve been down here delivering nightmares for nearly thirty years now. The thing is, being a messenger of darkness and fear is the kind of work that twists a guy.

I’m not the person I used to be.

Even so, I dream of going back to the other side to stay.

It won’t be long now. I’ve found a weakness in the boundary between the worlds. It’s not as good as the one under my bed was, at least not yet. But it will be when I’m done with it. A place where someone real, someone living, could pass through into this world.

It’s under a bed, of course.

Maybe yours.

The thing is, I’ll feel funny about pulling another kid down here to take my place. After all, he or she won’t be any happier doing this than I am.

That’s why I sent this dream to the person who’s writing this story. I figure if I send a warning, if I give kids a fighting chance to save themselves, I won’t have to feel so bad when I finally do bring one of them down here.

Well, there it is. Now you know what might be waiting under your bed. You know what can happen if you don’t get out.

Whether you do anything about it or not—well, that’s up to you. But I’ve done my time. Sooner or later someone is going to take my place down here. Sooner or later someone—maybe you—is going to have my job.

Sleep well, friend.

I’ll see you in your dreams.

The Stinky Princess

ONCE THERE WAS a princess named Violet who didn’t smell very good.

This was an unnatural condition for a princess, of course, and it did not reflect well on her parents. On the other hand, it had nothing to do with either her birth or her upbringing. In fact, she had started out smelling just fine. When she was born, she had smelled as a rosebud does when it is just beginning to open on a misty morning in early June. When she was a little girl, she had smelled of mischief and mud pies (it was a small kingdom, and she had an understanding nurse), as well as cinnamon, apples, and sunny afternoons. And when she was just becoming a young lady, she smelled of clear mountain streams a moment before the rain comes, of lilacs, and of a small red blossom called dear-to-my-heart that grew on the castle grounds and nowhere else.