Using a prompt for this: "A child is home alone when their house is broken into. Alone, except for the monster under their bed."

Enjoy and leave a review if you feel like it! Trying to get my writing motivation back so I can finish some things I've left stagnating!

Ciel wasn't usually alone at home. Mother had said she'd be back soon, she was just going out to meet up with her sister and then they'd both be home. Father was at work with the police, and he wouldn't be home for a long time.

He wanted them both home. There was glass on the floor in the living room and he could hear the men in black clothes shouting at each other and breaking all the vases that his parents had bought from antique shops and inherited from older family members. He was hiding, like a good boy, in the hall closet. He wanted to go into his room and shut the door and crawl under the bed. He was safe under the bed, because that's where Sebastian lived.

Sebastian was tough, he had claws and red eyes and had big dark wings. Father said he was just Ciel's imaginary friend, but that was stupid, because twelve year olds didn't have imaginary friends.

Carefully, trying to be as quiet as humanly possible, he opened the closet door and peered into the hall. He couldn't see any of the bad men in their dark clothes, but he could hear them down the hall, in his parents' room. His bedroom door was ajar, but the light was off, so the men hadn't gone in there yet. They hadn't found Sebastian's hiding spot, which was even better; under the bed was still safe. There was a loud crash from his parents' room, making him jump and knock over one of the shoes from the shoe rack. Panicking, Ciel bolted out of the closet and into his room, shutting the door behind him as softly as he could. He could hear the men coming out of the other room, and quickly walked across the room, grabbed his stuffed bunny with the one eye, and dropped to the floor.

The men were talking to each other now, they'd obviously found the open closet and the knocked over shoe. Ciel swallowed nervously and slid under the bed, where it was a little too dark and a little too cold.

This was Sebastian's home, and he liked it dark and cold, he had said so once when Ciel had asked him. The dark and cold was a safe place.

It didn't feel safe as the boy wriggled further under the bed. Surely the men would simply drag him out, it wasn't like the hiding spot was very good.

The door opened with a creak.

Light from the hallway spilled into the childishly decorated room.

Ciel clutched his bunny to his chest, too scared to move.

He could see black boots walk into the room, leaving bits of grass and mud behind on the nice wood floors that mother had mopped that morning. If she was here, she would yell at them.

But she wasn't. And neither was father. He was all alone and he was scared that these men would hurt him.

Cool hands descended upon his shoulder and a black feather fell onto the floor right in front of his nose. Sebastian was here. The effect was quick - the entire room was cold, and the darkness seeped from under the bed like a slowly creeping weed. Ciel picked up the black feather, feeling the downy softness with his fingertips. He felt the hands leave his shoulders and pet his hair, and a voice like spinning saws and gentle purring crooned into his ear.

"You're alright, my child. My master. Close your eyes, cover your ears and count to ten. Everything will be alright." Ciel nodded, knowing that the men wouldn't hear Sebastian talking but that they'd hear him if he uttered even a peep. So he covered his ears and closed his eyes. Sebastian slid away, there was the sound of claws on the floorboards and Ciel pressed his hands harder over his ears and started counting.

One.

Guns being fired.

Two.

A very loud crash and low, guttural growling.

Three.

Someone was screaming.

Four.

The splatter of liquid on the floor, and something warm hitting one of his hands.

Five.

The screaming stopped with a sudden crack of breaking bone.

Six.

Footsteps. Someone was running away, or, no, towards the room.

Seven.

Sebastian slid back under the bed, Ciel could tell from the coldness of his hands against his own. He had to keep counting to ten, because he'd been told to.

Eight.

Someone else was in the room now. They were screaming too.

Nine.

Sebastian traced a word into his hand, one that made Ciel almost cry out in protest.

Ten.

He opened his eyes and dropped his hands, but it was too late. Sebastian was gone and his mother was reaching for him, sobbing and telling him to not look at the ground. She took him in her arms and ran out of the room, still crying. He knew his mother was strong, but he was also very small, so Ciel wasn't surprised when she ran all the way outside and to her car, where his aunt was calling 911.

He turned to look at the house, and he saw a flash of something dark leaving the roof - a large crow.

He rubbed his hands, and started crying like his mother. Sebastian had said goodbye. He had protected Ciel and that had been his job.

Goodbye, Ciel.

That night, Ciel told his father there were no more monsters in the house. His father had agreed and said that the ones who were injured and the ones who died were long gone. The boy only smiled. He hadn't been talking about the bad men with the guns and dark clothes.

He was talking about the good monster, the one who had lived under his bed and whispered stories to him. Sebastian was gone now.

There were no more monsters in the house.