There’s an old story my mother used to tell me about the truth behind the monsters under my bed. I was always scared as a kid that they were waiting for me there at night ready to grab me and drag me down to their lair at any moment. But the way my mother explained it to me was that all those monsters are there to protect me, not endanger me. She said that every monster must fight; battle each other in a great war to earn the right to a child.  Only the best and bravest monsters are allowed the privilege of guarding a child and once that privilege is earned they must journey to the human world and take their place under the bed. But you see Monsters are smart, they always choose the bed of a child they see as the most scared, the one that needs the most protecting. So when you feel that strange presence under the bed, it’s not one to be feared or frightened of; it’s one to be respected and revered. They pick their dwellings not based on the grotesque fear of being gripped by a monstrous hand and hauled off to their death but rather based on the growing insecurity and the harsh inner voices of the youth. These monsters are not monsters at all, but heroes. The creatures in the closet however, that’s a whole different story.