"Monsters don't sleep under your bed, they sleep inside your head."

-Anonymous

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Ivan sauntered inside his room and sat on the bed. He sighed and thought about the day's events.

He was puzzled by the twins' behavior at his place today. He felt that he was the subject of the conversation between them and his mom. When he entered the living room, Elena had abruptly stopped speaking. This confirmed his suspicions.

What were they talking about? He had no clue.

Also, he noticed that there was this connection between the twins. Without even speaking anything, they understood what the other wanted to say.

The way Kate had gulped down the water and emptied the whole jar just by Elena's eye gesture proved the fact.

He realized later that Elena's special water was just an excuse to enter his room, other than the question which she had shown him. A question to which probably even his Astronomy teacher would've no answer to.

He had to give it to her, Elena was clever... very in fact.

After the twins had left, he had checked the drawers and had run a hand over the walls apprehensively. He was sure that they might have hidden something to scare him.

But, there wasn't anything scary and he shut the drawers properly. He was rather puzzled by one question that kept surfacing in his thoughts.

"What alien ring?"

Ever since the twins had come into his life, Ivan felt uneasy. He didn't know what was the reason behind it, but he felt that somehow he was missing something in his life.

Something important.

Whenever the twins talked to him, he felt that he had heard their voices somewhere. But, he had no idea what "some" and "where" were.

This was the main reason why he kept his side of the conversation with them minimal. Even if he did talk, it was unnecessarily rude to keep them at arm's length.

He was more on the observing side, a spectator who wanted to find out anything which could tell him more about the twins.

And why they seemed familiar.

Sighing, he looked out of the window. The twins' window was pitch black, indicating that the light was switched off.

"So, they're asleep early," he whispered to himself, sighing in relief.

What he didn't know was that at this moment the twins were standing near the pipe that led to his room.

As per his usual ritual, the nightlight was picked from under his bed and its working checked. He still had half an hour to go to sleep, but he always came early to his room and checked if his nightlight worked first.

He switched on his alien shaped nightlight and waited for the appearance of its soft, green glow.

But, there wasn't any.

"The Russos," he muttered with a groan. "Did they do this to my nightlight?"

He placed a finger upon the nightlight, tracing the alien's eye sockets with a deep frown.

"Aliens?" his whisper came out more like a question as he looked at it intently.

He ran both hands through his hair, frustrated that he wasn't able to know why the twins were searching his room.

Now the nightlight in front of him reminded him again about the question that haunted his mind since they had left.

He placed the nightlight back under his bed with a sigh. Taking his mobile from the table beside him, he quickly sent a text message to Max.

No way was he going to sleep alone in the dark, and he was too proud to tell his mom about it. Or to put in better words, "ask a favor from mother".

Ivan's mobile pinged a few minutes later and he noticed a text from Max. He snorted and replied back.

Come over my house 10:09 PM

Why?🤔 10:16 PM

Sleepover
10:17 PM

Really? Who all gonna be there? 10:17 PM

Us😒 10:18 PM

Ivy are you ill?😨 10:18 PM

Shut up Maxy😒 10:19 PM

Your nightlight's not working?😂 10:19 PM

Chicken😂 10:21 PM

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The twins stood near the pipe leading to Ivan's window. They wore full black clothes and Kate's hand clutched a mask, while Elena had worn it already. Spider stickers painted in neon color were stuck to their tops and pants, leaving little to no empty place.

As usual, they were found bickering about who'd prank Ivan. Elena started climbing the pipe and her hands shook as she caught hold of it tightly.

"Get down here, El!" Kate whisper-yelled and caught hold of Elena's leg.

"Knock it off!" Elena whispered back, shaking her leg to remove Kate's hold. "I got this."

"Yeah, right," Kate scoffed. "Get down, you're afraid of heights."

"No, I'm not!"

"El, what's the point of always being stubborn--"

"Get your hands off me, my stickers' gonna come off."

Kate caught Elena's leg and tugged it again, trying it bring her down. Elena wanted to yell at her but had to whisper as she didn't want to draw any of the sleeping neighbors' attention.

Elena looked at her twin with the biggest frown she could make. But, then she remembered that she was wearing a mask and Kate wouldn't notice it anyway.

"El, stop looking at me with that mask on," Kate whispered with a whine. "You're creeping the hell out of me."

"Leave my leg and I'll stop looking at you."

"Seriously, El, I've climbed pipes up and down way too much. Let me do this."

"Oooooh," Elena whispered, trying to imitate the whooshing of wind. She turned her face right and left and around.

The black, starless night, the silence hung like a cloud everywhere, and Elena's whooshing noises made Kate uneasy. The mask donned by her big sister turned out to be the biggest contributor.

It was a tarantula painted in neon which shone brightly against the black sky. And the stickers were made in the same way.

"Stop doing that!" Kate chided. "I told you it's creepy."

"Leave my leg and I won't. You're wasting time."

"You always prank him, why can't it be me?"

"My idea, remember?"

"Says the one who failed with the fake spider prank."

"I won't. Trust me, I got this."

"El, stop looking at me, turn your face."

"Leave my leg!"

"Turn your face."

"Leave my leg and I'll stop it."

"Turn your face and I'll leave it."

"Leave my leg and I'll stop it."

"Ugh! You're impossible."

"Do we've a deal, Dexter?"

"Yes, we do," Kate answered with a grumble and let go Elena's leg. The latter climbed upwards slowly, praying constantly within, hoping that she wouldn't fall.

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Elena reached the top and found the window to be slightly open. She sneaked inside, trying to be as inaudible as possible.

She slowly felt Ivan's bed and slid under it noiselessly. The room was dark and she grinned to herself. Get ready to face your biggest fear, Van.

She waited for a minute or so, hearing only breathing sounds that broke the silence. She came out from under the bed and sat down in a crouched position. Should this be sudden or slow?

She raised her bright, sticker-filled arm in an attempt to wake up the boy in front of him. But, she held it back. Nah, slow is good.

She patted Max's back, assuming him to be Ivan and attempted to wake him up. He didn't budge.

She shook him and placed a hand on his arm, trying to disrupt his sleep. But, he didn't budge either.

But, then there was movement and Max held Elena's elbow close to his chest. He murmured something inaudibly and Elena felt as if she heard him sniffling. Is he crying?

Elena tried to remove her elbow from Max's grasp, but this only tightened his hold on it.

She groaned and used her left hand to take out her mobile. Using the screen's dim light she hovered it in the air.

The light showed a glimpse of Max's face which was contorted in a frown. His eyes were shut and his breathing was slow indicating that he was fast asleep. What's he doing here?

There was more mumbling from his side. Elena closed her mobile and waited in silence, trying to understand what he was saying in sleep.

"Miss you," Max murmured and held Elena's arm close. She heard him sniffling twice and then there was complete silence. Maybe he's dreaming.

The hold on her elbow loosened and she removed it from his vicinity slowly. She got up on her knees and waved the mobile in the air. The light gave her a glimpse of Ivan's sleeping form.

Aw, he looks so cute when he's asleep.

Are you here to prank him or to appreciate his beauty?

Both, actually.

Shut up, crusher.

Crusher, like seriously, brain?

You've got to scare him!

Fine. Now shut up!

She crept closer to Max's side and hit his arm hard. He got up with a groan and sat, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Ivy, did you do that?" Max whispered and shook Ivan. The latter got up instantly and looked around in confusion. His frown was later replaced by fear as his baby blue eyes met with nothing but darkness.

"Why did you wake me up?" Ivan hissed and shut his eyes quickly.

"You woke me up first."

"I didn't!"

"Then who did?"

"You must be dreaming. Go to sleep, Maxy."

Elena had to smother back a giggle at the nicknames Ivan and Max had given to each other. She took this as her cue and stood up just behind Ivan.

Max who was preparing to sleep caught sight of the neon-tarantula-monster standing behind his best friend.

He let out a yelp and pointed a shaking finger at it. "Holy mackerel! What is that?!"

"What's wrong with you?" Ivan asked irritatedly, looking behind and then at Max. Apparently, Elena ducked down after Max had seen her.

She got up once again and Max let out another yelp. Ivan looked behind and yet again there wasn't anything. Elena crawled under the bed and reached the other side.

She stood behind Max and made whooshing noises. She had to literally bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

This time Ivan and Max both caught sight of the glowing tarantula-monster and each one let out howls, Ivan's bigger than Max's.

They both huddled in the corner as Elena stepped on the bed and crawled towards them.

"Mommy! Mommy, help me!" Ivan screeched as Elena crept towards him.

"Mrs. C! There's a monster!" Max howled and held Ivan tightly. The latter buried his face in Max's chest and shut his eyes tightly.

"Leave us alone, please," Max begged, staring wide-eyed at Elena's face or rather mask, which was almost in their faces.

"MOMMY!" Ivan howled. "SAVE ME!"

"SAVE US!" Max yelled, the daylights scared out of him, or rather nightlights.

At that instant, Elena heard shuffling of feet and quickly hid back under the bed.

Mrs. Moore entered with a panicked expression and hurriedly switched on the lights.

She sat on Ivan's bed and noticed both him and Max huddled close with their eyes shut tightly. Their foreheads were topped with sweat drops and their hair was messy.

"Ivan? What's wrong, son? Max?" Mrs. Moore asked, removing their palms from their eyes. She hugged them both close to her.

"We saw a monster, mom," Ivan whispered and panted. "It was a tarantula."

"It was huge and had this eerie green glow to it," Max added and wiped the sweat from his thick eyebrows. "And there were its thousand little babies."

"Mom! It was trying to kill us!"

"Where did you see it?"

"There, beside the bed."

Mrs. Moore looked around Ivan's side of the bed, finding nothing there. She came over Max's side of it and noticed a spider sticker dropped on the carpet.

She bent down to pick it up and came face to face with Elena who looked into Mrs. Moore's incredulous, blue eyes. She removed her mask as it had started to feel really uncomfortable.

Elena gave her a nervous smile and tried to hide the mask behind her back. She grinned weakly as the woman in front of her had already noticed it.

But, Mrs. Moore's full-blown smile made her grin wider automatically. She gestured towards her lips, signally to be quiet and Ivan's mom nodded.

"Nothing here," she said, looking at both Ivan and Max's puzzled faces. "You might be dreaming."

"How can we both see the same dream?" Max asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Go back to sleep," Mrs. Moore ordered and switched off the lights, the smile creeping back to her face.

"He called me mom after two years. Kel, maybe your return isn't as bad as I'd thought. Maybe you can help him... help him get everything back," Mrs. Moore whispered once outside.

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Hey, people! I completed writing this chapter by 1: 22 AM here but had not edited it. I did the editing part now as I felt extremely sleepy last night. I know I'm a bit late, but I hadn't been getting inspiration to start it.

But, last day I decided to write no matter what. I couldn't wait any longer.

So, what do you think of this update? What do you think of the prank? Did you like it or not?

This is my only book which shows pranks, fearful reactions, being sneaky and stuff. So, I still have to improve a lot. Your suggestions and views are welcome, and also constructive criticism.

What do you think is the best part about this chapter? Please let me know by commenting. :D

What do you think about Max and his murmuring? What do you think of Ivan's mom now?

Sneak-Peek of Episode 20:

Any idea what's going to happen next?

Keep smiling! 💕
Lots of love❤💙
Sakina

VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE AND FOLLOW❣

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