Martin fell backwards in fright. His eyes practically popped out of his head and his mouth kept opening and closing like a goldfish. The beast was right above him, hanging from one of the rafters by it's long tail! It looked like a great orange waterfall, except at the end of this waterfall was a huge red mouthful full of sharp teeth.

Martin's heart was pounding and his breath was coming out in gasps.
"M-M-Mom...." he squeaked, too softly for anyone to hear.
The beast leaner even closer towards him, reaching out with its huge claws. Martin cringed in fear. His insides turned to jelly. The cruel claws came closer and closer and then, gently plucked the feather from Martin's shaking fingers.
"Ah. Thank you, my dear. I rather fancy this belongs to me. How kind of you to pick it up." The beast carefully tucked the tiny feather back into the space it had come from.
"M-M-Mom," Martin's voice was a little stronger now.
The beast chortled, "Why no, dear, I'm not your mom." Then it tipped its head to one side and looked at Martin very hard, "Actually, my dear, you remind me of someone I once ate. Do you have relatives in the north?"
"MOM!" Yelled Martin, suddenly finding his voice.
"MOM! Even louder! In a lightning flash of energy, Martin jumped up and hurtled out of the attic and down the stairs at breakneck speed.
"MOM!"
"Yes, honey?"
"Mom! Quick! There's a monster in the attic!"
Mrs Chen looked at Martin blankly.
"Really mom." Panted Martin, "There really is a monster in the attic. Really there is, mom." Martin grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the chair.
"What sort of monster?" Frowned Mrs Chen.
"A big one, mom. It was real scary. Come on!"
Mrs Chen sighed. Martin could tell from the expression on her face that she was remembering all the other times he'd thought that he'd seen monsters. He just had to convince her that this time it was true. "It said, I looked like someone it once ate," said Martin desperately. It was the wrong thing to say.
A talking monster, Martin?" She almost rolled her eyes, but something in his face made her ask "What did it look like?"
"It was sort of like a crocodile or a big cat, except it had feathers...." He could tell that he was losing her. Finally he begged, "Please, mom, please come and look."

Of course, she didn't find anything. When Mr Chen came home from the Late Night Supermarket with some milk and eggs, they all went upstairs and his mom and dad stared at the rafters under the ceiling. Martin felt silly and embarrassed, and most of all, he felt cross. He stared at his shoes and thought about punching that monster right in the nose.
"Well, son," Mr Chen sighed, "I don't see anything. Do you Pauline?" He suddenly stepped forward with a frown, "What's that?" He asked.
"What?" asked Mrs Chen beginning to feel concerned.
"Over there. in the corner," Mr Chen went to look. "It's some sort of trapdoor!" Bending over, he took a firm grip on the handle and heaved with all his strength. At first the door was stuck, but after a couple more very hard tugs, with Mrs Chen and Martin helping, finally the trapdoor slowly creaked open.

Mr Chen blinked, Mrs Chen giggled and Martin groaned with disappointment. Under the trapdoor lay the rafters and the top of the ceiling of the room below. It was a door that led nowhere! Mr Chen shrugged his shoulders and put the trapdoor back in place and dusted himself off. His mother shook her head, "Whatever it was that scared you, honey, it seems to have gone."
Mom and dad looked at each other, then at Martin who seemed very glum. Mom took his hand and dad ruffled his hair.
They all turned to go when a loud, fluttering noise erupted above them.
"It's him yelled! Martin.
His mother gave a little scream and his father grabbed Martin and pushed him out of harm's way. But, it was only a dumb,old bird that must have flown in through the window earlier that day, beating it's wings against the panes till Mr Chen let it out.
"Well, there goes your monster, son," said Mr Chen, with a wink and a smile. "Tomorrow we'll get the ladder up here and have a good look around. We'll make sure no more monsters come sneaking up on you."

His mother and father went down the stairs. Martin listened to them as their voices faded.
Whoa, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, back there." That was his father.
"I thought you were very brave, honey," his mother answered.
"I'm going to start doing some more exercise," his father went on.
"You always say that." Martin could tell that his mother was smiling.
"This time I mean it......"

Martin had one last look around before he turned off the light and there, sure enough, were a pair of huge orange whiskers poking out from either side of the rafter at the other end of the room. As he stared at them, they began to wiggle. They wiggled and wriggled faster and faster, in some sort of mad whisker dance. Then they stopped. Martin gulped. Without waiting a moment longer, he switched off the light and slammed the door. A faint chuckle followed him all the way down the stairs.

That night, after his mother and father came to tuck him into bed, Martin got back up and pushed the top of a chair under his doorknob, Then, as an extra safety measure, he pulled the covers up over his head before he went to sleep.

* * * * * * *

It was Sunday afternoon. Mrs Chen swept out the attic and put up some curtains. Mr Chen got out the ladder, like he said he would, and checked the rafters for any nests that might have been abandoned last night. Then, the three of them carried up a brightly coloured rug and a comfortable, old easy chair.
"Now all we need to do, is get your toys up here and you'll be all set," Mr Chen grinned at Martin. Martin gave him a sickly smile back, and his father laughed and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, son. This place is one hundred percent monster free!"
How was he supposed to play in a creepy place like this? He thought about those whiskers and those teeth and a cold shiver ran down his back. What was that thing?

They spent the rest of the day unpacking boxes in different rooms. The house was starting to look like it really belonged to them as, little by little, more of their things were unpacked. Only Martin's toys stayed in their boxes on the attic floor. Mr and Mrs Chen decided to to say anything. Martin would unpack his toys when he was ready.

Martin lay in his bed the next morning, thinking about everything that had happened. He was staring at the ceiling when, he noticed there was some strange writing on the light...... He jumped out from under the covers and stood at the top of his bed on tip-toe, but the light was too high up and he couldn't make out what the writing said. Looking around the room, he suddenly had an idea. He closed the curtains right up and then pulled off the covers of his bed and turned on the light. There, on the white sheet, was the last message in the world that Martin had ever expected to see. It said

COME UP AND PLAY
BRING FOOD

"Whoa." said Martin under his breath. He stared at the message for a long time. However, when it was time to go down for breakfast Martin made a decision.
"Mom, I'm going to fix up the playroom today," he said to Mrs Chen, munching on his cereal.
"No more monsters, honey?" smiled Mrs Chen.
Martin shook his head, "I thought I could spend the day up there. I could take up a few sandwiches and muffins and stuff."
"Oh?" Mrs Chen raised her eyebrows.
"Yeh, it would be just like being wrecked on a desert island...." Martin watched his mother smile. "I could fix up the playroom and you could fix up your sewing room." He knew that would get her.

Mrs Chen eyed her son thoughtfully. It was true that she had a lot to do, the house was still a mess and it would take at least a week to get everything sorted out and put away. She would feel alot better knowing that Martin was keeping busy inside the house for a while, rather than fooling around the new neighbourhood and maybe getting lost. It would be worth the trouble of packing him a picnic lunch. A desert island! He was so cute with these make-believe stories, although she didn't much like the one from the other night.
"Hmmmmmm..." she thought.
"I promise I'll be good, mom," That clinched it!
She bent down and gave him a hug. "Okay, sweetheart, I'll pack you a lunch fit for a starving sailor!"
"That's great, mom. Could I have double of everything, please? I'm really hungry today."
She gave him a funny look, but made him two sandwiches, anyway. Then, she put two apples, a muffin and three chocolate chip cookies into the bag. "You bring down every single thing you don't eat," she warned, "I don't want to see any ants up there."
Martin nadded and waited till she turned away, then he scooped up the rest of the box of cookies and another couple of apples and turned and raced up the stairs. Mrs Chen shook her head and rolled her eyes. That son of hers!

Matin stood outside the attic door panting. It was very quiet in there. He put his ear against the door. He couldn't hear a thing. Well, it was no good standing around out here. He took a deep breath, straightened up his shoulders, and opened the door.