Monsters

My daughter woke up at 2 a.m. having had a nightmare about monsters. “There are no monsters,” I said, holding her close to my chest. She stayed awake for another 45 minutes watching cartoons. While perusing the Internet on my phone, I came across a disturbing article. A woman in New York City came home to find the nanny had murdered her two children. My heart ached for this poor mother. The children were just 2 and 6-years-old, close in age to my own. I read another article about the kidnapping and murder of Jessica Ridgeway. How could a 17-year-old commit such a heinous crime? Then, I thought about what I told my daughter. I lied. There are monsters. Sometimes they live among us and we don’t even realize it. I caressed my daughter’s hair as she drifted back to sleep. Then, I prayed to God to keep the monsters away.