"There is not. You're a liar." Michael stomped his foot and shrieked. He was getting really wound up by now. "I'm telling mom."

His older brother looked at him condescendingly. "Then mom will ground you for being a tattle tale. Besides, I'm telling the truth. There's a monster in grandma's basement." He pointed towards the small windows jutting up from the ground as he spoke. "It's right in there. Big scary thing. That's why grandma and grandpa built the house here - to trap it!"

"That's not true. Grandma goes down there all the time. There's nothing there." Michael protested fiercly, but his voice still wavered as he spoke. The truth was that he was scared of his grandparents' basement. It was dark down there and filled up with things and dusty. And there were spiders and bugs. He hated to enter it.

Tom's mind raced as he tried to think of the next thing to do to his brother. He had picked up on the hesitation in Michael's voice and knew that he wasn't as confident as he sounded. Besides, he also knew full well that Michael was scared to death of the basement. "Fine, then go down there and prove there's no monster. I dare you."

That taunt caught Michael off guard. He wasn't expecting a dare. He was pretty sure there wasn't anything down there, but he also wasn't going to be the one to prove it. "I...I don't have to prove it. There's nothing there. And you're a jerk."

Tom clucked like a chicken. "That's because you're a fraidy cat! Bawk bawk bawk!" He poked his brother in the chest. "Fraidy cat fraidy cat fraidy cat." Michael tried to punch him, but he stepped out of the way and held him at arms length. The younger brother was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not a fraidy cat! You go down there, then. You can prove it."

"I'm not trying to prove anything. I already know there's a monster, you're the one that wants to prove there isn't. I wouldn't go down there alone. But since you know it's safe, you should go."

This was getting to be too much for Michael. He couldn't stand the taunting, and even though he was scared, he just wanted to make it stop. He hated to be teased, especially by Tom. "Fine!" he yelled with his hands clenched into fists. "I'm going!" and he ran into the house with Tom hot on his heels.

He darted into the garage and barreled down the stairs. Tom shouted after him, "No turning on the lights! You go down there and open the door and look in! No lights!" Michael reached the base of the stairs and flung open the door. Nothing was there. He turned to face his brother, with his back defiantly against the blackened basement.

"See?" he screamed, "No monster! I told you!"

But all Tom saw were the two huge yellow eyes glowing just behind his brother's back.