Elizabeth was 6 when it first happened. She always thought her father was silly. Making up stories about a scary monster that took her mother away from him, and would take his precious children too. She thought that it was just a scary story her father made up in an attempt to spook her and her brother. That was, until the first attack. She had been sitting up in her bed, her Tinker-bell nightlight emanating a soft, pale blue glow throughout her room. She had her stuffed animals, one brown, fuzzy bear and one old stuffed rabbit that had belonged to her grandmother. It wore a pink nightgown that her father told her was handmade by her grandmother. That night, she had decided to secretly stay up past her bedtime to play with her toys. She tucked the stuffed animals safely into her sides, wrapped up in the blanket all together. She was making shadows on the wall, and when she got bored of that, she had decided to take a trip to the kitchen to get some milk.

She tiptoed down the dark hallway, using the wall to feel her way around. When she eventually made it to the kitchen, she blindly felt around for the handle of the refrigerator door. However, the air suddenly shifted. It seemed to suddenly get colder, and the small girl wrapped her arms around herself as she looked around, feeling unsafe. It seemed darker and quieter, and she was desperately listening for her father’s loud, familiar snores, to remind herself that she was safe. But she didn’t hear him anymore. Suddenly, there was a slight creek in the floor, that made her jump and squeal loudly in surprise. Tears gathered in her eyes as she started to run to her father’s room. She however was stopped in her tracks. As she rounded the corner, she came face to face with two, stick like figures. She followed the shape up, and up, and up some more…

Towering several feet over her was a creature with glowing red eyes and shark-like teeth. It’s hair was long and slicked back, and it’s skin was as pale as death. It’s face had humanistic features, but there was just something wrong about it. She just knew it was not a human, and it certainly wasn’t supposed to be in her house. She gulped nervously as she trailed her eyes down to its long talons, looking like it could do severe damage with even a slight graze. The air surrounding it was colder than before, and she could literally feel the evil radiating off of the creature.

Elizabeth was frozen, stuck in place just staring at the creature’s face, having to crane her neck all the way back. The creature knelt down in front of her suddenly, noticing the child was dazed with fear. He positioned his face close to hers and slowly cracked an sinister grin. Her eyes widened with his smile, staring at his teeth and trembling. But no matter what she did, she just couldn’t seem to move her feet. The monster opened it’s mouth, wider than should have been possible, and her fear dissipated, instead she felt calm, staring into the creature’s mouth, hypnotized.

The creature was grinning, excited to have found his next meal. Another Kingsley, too. He had been looking for this family for quite a while. What he didn’t notice in his silent victory, was the careful and quiet footsteps advancing on him. Suddenly, a loud smack echoed around the room as a pan was harshly brought down onto the creatures head. This definitely did not hurt the creature, but it certainly angered him. His attention off of the little girl, he slowly turned his head towards the man standing behind him, not moving the rest of his body a single inch.

After a short staring contest, the creature let out a loud roar, cause young Elizabeth to fall to the floor with her hands over her ears, suddenly snapped out of her trance. She gazed through her squinted eyes to see her father the target of the creature’s fury. Her father winced at the screech but, just stared at the creature with determination, not moving as approached him quickly. She saw her brother crying and peeking his head out of his room, screaming for his father to run, to move, to do something.

That was the night everything changed. They had to leave their home, their school, their friends, everything they had ever known. And they had to do this the rest of their lives.