Charlie's Nightmare

Charlie has a dragon living under his bed that looks like Death. Charlie knows what Death looks like because in the hospital, on Easter Sunday, when Charlie’s grandpa took his last breath, there was a shimmery light that bounced off the walls and fell out the window. Charlie’s mother said it was just a refraction of the light, but Charlie didn’t know what that meant. Plus it looked like Death, and smelt like the last page of your favourite storybook.
Charlie also knows that the dragon under his bed loves to eat little boy’s fingers. Charlie knows this because his brother told him, and he’s smarter than Charlie because he spends all day at school.
At night, Charlie leaps into bed and pulls his blankets under his legs like a cocoon. He won’t move until the sunshine peaks over the window frame, and the dragon becomes invisible.

On Charlie’s 5th birthday he decided the dragon had to go. Charlie found a sword and a shield so he could fight it. Really, all Charlie found was a washing basket and a plunger, but the dragon had probably never seen a real sword before. After all, it had lived under Charlie’s bed for as long as he could remember.
What Charlie didn’t know is when you poke a dragon, it gets angry. Charlie should have known this because all his storybooks told him so, but nobody really listens to literature.
All in all, Charlie wasn’t really surprised when the house burnt down. His parents were. But not as surprised as everyone was when, amongst the ashes, they found the skeleton of something that didn’t belong. And not hardly as surprised as they were when Charlie told them it was the dragon that lived under his bed, and looked like Death.