Under the Bed Page #3

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I'm glad you haven't changed.

What happened to you today?

I fell asleep in class,

and I woke up screaming.

Why didn't you

say anything, man?

Well, 'cause I kind of

like just hanging out

without talking about screaming.

You ready to stop screaming?

Yeah.

Paulie?

Paulie! Paulie,

if you're sleeping, wake up!

Wake up, man,

there's something happening!

Yeah, this stuff.

I don't remember this!

What the f*** is this, man?

Usually happens

after I've already fallen asleep.

What's happening?!

I don't know, Paulie!

Hang on!

Dad!

Dad, what are you doing?

Dad, leave him alone!

Dad! Dad!

What are you doing?

Get off him, Dad!

Dad, what...

Stop!

- Dad!

Neal!

No! Dad!

Dad, stop!

Dad! Dad!

No, no!

Aah!

Does it hurt?

Mm-hmm.

Do you want to tell me

exactly what happened, honey?

No.

Paulie, you know,

I can put medicine on your bruises

in the middle of the night,

but the only way

I can truly help you

is if I can stop this

from happening in the first place.

Paulie, honey, I love you,

and I really want to help you,

but you have to trust me.

Please trust me.

Okay, you have two ways

of answering this for me.

Either you did this,

or he did this to himself.

- Which one is it?

- No.

Which answer, Neal?

Which answer is gonna

make us less miserable?

You don't really think

that I would ever

do that to him, do you?

So he did it to himself?

I didn't say that.

God damn it, Neal!

Knock this sh*t off, please!

'Cause I don't think

you two can survive another day!

I don't think I can survive

another day of this!

I know.

This is not the way to protect

your little brother.

You know, he doesn't need you

making excuses for him.

He needs you being a man,

standing up for him.

I'm trying.

Dad thinks you did it.

Really?

Angela thinks you did it.

She does?

If she says that to my face,

I'm gonna call her a b*tch to hers.

Well, then that'd be

the first time you talked to her.

Did it hurt when it grabbed you?

No, it...

It felt worse.

Like what'd it feel like?

It was cold and...

and numb,

and it felt like I was...

Falling asleep?

Yeah.

Jesus Christ.

Okay, boys, it's late.

Let's try this again, shall we?

Come on, honey,

let's get you back to bed.

Honey, come here.

I'm really worried about you.

How can I make this better?

Can I have my sleeping bag?

Sure, I'll go get your sleeping...

No. Paulie's sleeping in a bed

like a normal person,

and this door is staying locked.

The sooner you two

get past this phase...

The sooner we can

go on living our lives.

What are you doing?

What am I doing?

Normal people sleep in the dark!

So is he!

It's a little extreme, Terry.

Come on, please?

Come on.

Neal.

Come on.

Boys?

Paulie? Neal?

Wake up.

Good morning.

You okay?

Yeah, Dad, we're both fine.

Okay, Well, it's...

It's breakfast time.

Come on.

I know. Thank you, Sam.

I really appreciate it.

Yes, I will.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

They understand.

They're not happy,

but they... they get it.

I'm sorry, Ang.

It's okay, honey.

It's not your fault.

I found Neal in Paulie's room

this morning.

- What?

- Snuck in.

Oh, my gosh.

At least they didn't

kill each other.

Oh, honey, I'm so sorry.

I swear to God, Ang,

I have no idea what to do.

Did Dad tell you

about Mom's grave?

One of his letters

had pictures of it.

Yeah, well, she's not there.

No f***in' way.

I wanted her to stay here,

and Dad said it was okay

as long as he didn't see it.

So I keep it in here.

You remember Mom

staying in the house

after the fire reached

the living room?

That night...

I begged her to stay with me

so she could see

what was under the bed.

She did, and...

she died because she believed me.

She was protecting us.

I miss her.

Look, you gotta hold it

from the side, too.

Keep your finger

on the trigger.

Keep it steady and push forward

with your back hand.

In.

You'd have to be pretty close

to hurt it with this, right?

Well, yeah.

We'd have to get closer

than we've ever been

before sooner or later.

What makes you think

we can kill it?

I think it's afraid of us,

and it wouldn't be afraid of anything

if it couldn't die, Paul.

Would you be?

We're something this thing

has never dealt with before.

What?

We're brothers.

Oh, sh*t.

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

Uh, Neal, dear?

Let's leave that alone

for the time being.

Dad taught me to use it before.

Well, he's not here

right now, so, uh,

put it down.

I'll be fine.

Put it down,

please.

Come on, pal.

Paulie?

Sweetheart,

please tell me what's going on.

It's not a big deal.

Well, if you can just tell me

a little bit, honey,

maybe I can, I don't know,

somehow help you?

If you want to help him,

stay out of his way.

It looks pretty good in there.

Yeah, not bad for two hours

of sleep between us.

We're okay.

Before I got sent away,

I used to sleep anywhere I could,

like the kitchen,

Mom and Dad's room, outside.

I slept in the garage

a few times,

but it only ever got to me

when I would

try to sleep in beds.

It's bound to beds.

Why?

I don't know.

I have theories, I guess.

Beds are where people

sleep the most,

so if it usually strikes

when you sleep,

it makes sense.

That's where you have

the most dreams

and nightmares.

Maybe that's what it looks for.

Maybe.

I have another theory, too,

but you can't freak out.

Go ahead.

I read once that you shed

a lot of dead skin cells

in your bed.

Like while you sleep,

you know, like,

your bed is full of dead skin

and pieces of your body.

Maybe it starts

by, like, feeding on...

on your dead flesh

before it, you know...

Before that's

not good enough anymore.

Yeah.

You looking at that old Polaroid?

Yeah. You know about this?

Yeah, I found it after you left.

So that's what it looks like, right?

That crazy face?

I guess.

I never tried to take

another picture after this one, so...

I did.

You did?

Yeah.

I thought that

if I could prove it was real

then you'd come back

sooner, you know.

So I started taking

pictures under the bed,

staying up late, making noise,

you know, stuff like that.

Until one night,

that mist came out of nowhere,

and it's never gone

away since then.

Can you sleep?

Neal? Neal!

What?

Run.

Come on, Paulie, this way!

' Oh, my God!

Paulie, that's my old bed!

Aah!

You okay?

No.

Come on, boys, wake up.

You been asleep all afternoon.

What is all that?

We're gonna try

something new tonight,

something fun.

Mr. Evans next door

has offered

to have you guys

spend the night.

His boys would love to have

you both for a sleepover.

You gotta be

f***ing joking.

Neal, come on.

Dad, didn't you just finish telling us

we need to grow up?

I mean, what the hell?

- Neal, stop it.

- They're expecting you anytime,

so whenever you're ready,

up you come, boys.

Come on, it's gonna be fun.

Paulie, you're

not gonna need that.

Give that to me.

Thank you, honey.

But, Dad...

No, she's right, honey.

Come on.

- Thank you, sweetie. Here.

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