Credit photo : Jo Naylor / Cretative Commons

There is a light under the door. You try to sleep, but you can’t. You have a look at it from time to time. You attempt a glance, hoping it will go away, but the light it still here. You might think it’s something natural, like your parents in the kitchen, or your partner in the living room, but you know it’s not possible. The light draws you in. You hide under the sheets, you try to sleep but you can’t, until you finally give in and get up to check. That’s when the Thing hits. From under the door it drags you. You try to scream but you can’t. The pain is unbearable. Every bone in your body is crushed. You slowly slip under the door, feeling squished, feeling broken into pieces: you’re a victim of the Thing Under The door.

These monsters aren’t well known, but they’re deadly. They’re shapeless, just bright and sneaky. They live under doors, and prey on those who try to sleep. If you give in, you’re dead. The Thing will force you to walk to a door, then pull you until your body passes under the door, with all the consequences, and it’s quite painful.

Of course, once discovered, the corpses of the Things’ victims look like if they were dead from natural causes. Heartattack. Stroke. But the expression on the victim’s face is unmistakable: pain and terror. So if you ever try to sleep and see some light under the door, don’t go look. It’s probably the Thing Under the Door, the sum of all your fears.