sinister story for chiller-children #1

Hi,
As a way of easing myself in I'm going to post a run of easy reading comedy stories of suspect morality
Enjoy!

Cupboard

Joseph’s parents didn’t believe in the cupboard monster.
He told them again and again but still they didn’t believe him.
Joseph’s dad was a dentist and Joseph’s mother did something with money in a bank.
Every night his parents would be woken by a blood-curdling scream coming from Joseph’s room. When they rushed in they would find him staring goblin-eyed at his cupboard with arm outstretched, shaking fingers pointing.
He told them that a monster lived in there, and it had said it was going to eat him all up.
His dad stroked his brow, thinking perhaps one of his teeth needed a filling.
His mum stroked his cheek, thinking perhaps she should decrease his pocket money.
He was obviously spending it on sweets; the excess sugar giving him nightmares.
One thing appeared odd to them. Each night Joseph insisted on wrapping his lucky scarf around the cupboard handles to keep it shut; but every time they came in when he screamed, it was wrapped tightly around his neck.
Joseph’s parents consulted all the doctors they could find. One said to play whale music to relax him before sleep.
They did. It was awful.
One said to light scented candles.
They did. Joseph still screamed.
They were getting to their wits’ end. The cat had taken to sleeping outside.
Then Joseph’s mother had a brilliant idea.
“That’s a brilliant idea!” said Joseph’s dad.
That night they told Joseph they had a plan to stop the monster coming forever.
Mum got her toolbox, and went upstairs into Joseph’s room.
There was the sound of hammering. Joseph was so happy.
His parents were nailing the cupboard shut, he thought. He ran upstairs to watch.
Joseph couldn’t believe what he saw.
His mother had hammered the doors open.
Wide open.
She said that this way Joseph could see that there was nothing in the cupboard, apart from shoes and clothes.
They were very pleased with themselves.
Joseph begged them to shut it again.
They would not.
Joseph went to bed crying.
The parents were sad, but knew they were doing the right thing.
They locked the door.
When they went into Joseph’s bedroom the following morning, he was nowhere to be found.
The cupboard door was shut, with the nails neatly lined up on the floor.
There was a ‘thank you’ note.