Three-year-old Marvel was supposed to be sleeping. Very late at night after the stars had come out and the moon was high in the sky - several hours after her parents tucked her in and were fast asleep, Marvel was awake in her bedroom playing with a new toy. She received a small, gray, plush elephant wearing a pink scrunchie from her parents as a reward for using a training potty earlier that day. Thinking of one of her favorite cousins, she named it “Sloan.” Marvel leapt and spun with her new animal companion and wanted to celebrate forever.
At midnight, she heard something strange stamping outside. The sound seemed heavy, distant, and somewhat unfamiliar to her, so she decided to ignore it and resumed playing. After all, there was a manufacturing warehouse with grain elevators nearby that was constantly producing loud noises.
Her bedroom was on the second floor of the house and overlooked the backyard. She was able to stand on her bed and barely reach the window to peak out. Sometimes, when the sky was clear enough, she'd look for beautiful stars or pretend that the moon was stationed above to protect her at night.
Tonight, the sky was pitch black. No moon or stars!
BOOM! Something heavy fell in the backyard and completely interrupted playtime.
BOOM! Marvel, who had been previously sitting on the floor, sprang up and looked towards the window.
BOOM! Slowly, she approached her bed and began to climb while clutching her elephant companion.
BOOM! She slid across the bed and raised the window blinds.
BOOM! Looking out the window down at the backyard, Marvel froze in disbelief and terror.
BOOM!
There, in the darkness, stood an elephant - a full sized, living elephant!
"Why is there an elephant in my yard? How did it get there? What does it want?" Her jaw dropped, dilated eyes widened, hand placed under chin, Marvel pondered.
The elephant stared up at Marvel and began to raise its trunk. As it straightened and lengthened, it seemed to extend further, and further towards the window. Slowly thinking this creature mistook Sloan for a baby elephant, Marvel clutched Sloan. Right before the trunk reached the bedroom, Marvel dropped the shades, jumped out of bed, shut off the lights, and hid under a blanket on the floor with the toy elephant.
ROAR! Marvel sobbed and tried to hide Sloan.
ROAR! The bedroom floor vibrated and the walls shook knocking down picture frames.
ROAR! She could hear the massive giant outside panting and thrashing its trunk towards the house as it seemed to come closer and closer.
ROAR!
And then...silence. Marvel stayed under the blanket on the floor with Sloan for the remainder of the night. Her blue eyes eventually closed.
The next morning, Marvel woke to discover that Sloan was missing. Immediately, Marvel frantically searched under the bed, scoured the closet, and removed everything from her toy box to no avail. Teary-eyed and pouting, Marvel called off her search, trudged downstairs, and tried to forget about Sloan.
Marvel’s father was sipping on black coffee in the kitchen and could hear Marvel stirring. He called out to her, “good morning honey - I have something for you. I found it in our backyard when letting our dog out. I think this belongs to you, right?”
It was the pink scrunchie. The new toy was gone! Sloan, her elephant plush was gone!
***Special thanks to David Capaul and Denice Anderson for literary advice and edits
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