The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of

Part 1

Brendon came into our room at around 2:30 in the morning. He woke us to tell us that he heard noises in Jessica's bedroom.

"There's someone in her room. When I looked under the door, I saw a big foot near her bed. There's someone in there."

Jessica sleeps with a nightlight, so there was enough light to illuminate her room.

I nudged Jeff to go check it out.

He got out of bed and slowly opened the door. There was no one in there. Jeff brought Brendon back to bed. Soon after, Brendon came back in saying he heard a banging noise downstairs like someone was trying to get into the house.

Jeff got up once again, and checked it out with Brendon in tow. There was no one out there, but Brendon wasn't convinced.

They came back into the bedroom where Brendon asked to sleep out the remainder of the night. I told him he couldn't because Jacob was then with him and he'd want to sleep in our bed.

Brendon pleaded with us. I said, "Brendon, no one is going to come into our house. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because they're all sleeping!! Now get back to bed!"

I want to give a special shout out to my mom to thank her for telling me about an article she read in People Magazine where a guy with a knife broke into a house one night, and was about to attack the daughter in her bedroom when the parents heard muffled noises. They investigated and when they saw the guy, they wrestled him to the ground and waited for the cops to arrive.

Brendon overheard the story. When I told my mom to stop telling it in front of the kids, she proceeded to continue anyway.....I knew I'd be in for a sleepless night.

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Part 2

Jacob came to me asking about vampires. Why they sucked blood....do they know where we live.....where do vampires live.

I knew I had to tread lightly on the subject and not give away too much detail for concern that I'd feed his imagination to create an out of control mess at bedtime.

I told him vampires need blood because that is their food. They don't know where we live. Vampires live in Mexico (I thought I heard that vampires bats live there....I'm just flying with answers off the top of my head here).

"Mom. Do moskweetos drink blood? My teacher said they do."

"Yes. You're teacher is right."

"Are moskweetos like vampires?"

"Well, in a way they are because they drink blood, but they're so tiny. You'd just have a little red mark after they bite you."

A look of concern shot across his face.

Daaaamn it, I thought. Please don't let me be in for a sleepless night.

"Mom. Do moskweetos know where we live?"

"Yes. They're all over the place in the summer, but they can't hurt us."

"Lock the doors in the summer. I don't want the moskweetos to suck our bloods."

"Hey Jake...how many bloods do we have?"

"Only just a little bit. You have a lot, and I have a lot of bloods."

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Part 3

I was working out in the basement while Jessica was rummaging through the holiday supplies I have stored away.

She came across a vampire wig...very long black hair with strips of white hair streaked throughout.

Later the next day, Jessica lured Jacob into the basement where she showed him the wig.

He bugged out and came running up the stairs.

"Tell Jessica to put the wig away!!!!"

"It's just a wig Jake", said Jessica.

"Don't show me that ever again! It's cweeping me out!"

The next day, Jake was enticed by the suspense and he and Jessica went down to the basement.

I heard shrieks and laughter as their little feet tumbled up the stairs as quickly as their legs could move them.

They still can't get enough of getting scared by the wig.