It was a dark night with no moon or stars and it was a perfect night for a monster to be out stomping through the forest. Frank and his friend, Grant, lay asleep in their sleeping bags. Both were awakened by the ground shaking under them. They sat and listened. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Frank rubbed his eyes and looked around. "What was that?"

Grant slid into his sleeping bag and covered his face. "It must be a tyrannosaurus, like in the movie. We're going to die."

"Frank saw a huge shadow moving towards them. "Uh, Grant, we'd better run. It's coming to get us."

Grant threw the bag off and both boys ran and hid behind a tree. The monster came right up to the tree. Its round green eyes glowed in the dark. It slobbered and grunted and groaned.

Frank peeked around the side of the tree and saw it. He grabbed Grant and they ran into the forest. "It is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. It's all hairy and smelly and has huge fangs and bulging eyes. We've got to get out of here."

They ran all the way home, pushed the front door open and went inside. "Whew! We're safe now." Frank saw the time. "My mom and dad will be in bed. Let's just sleep on the couch down here. We'll have to go and get our sleeping bags in the morning."

"I'll bet it was a bear, not a monster. There's no such thing as monsters, Frank."

"That was no bear. It doesn't matter now. We got away from it." Frank lay on the couch and Grant lay on the floor with a blanket and pillows. It didn't take long for both of them to fall asleep.

A few hours passed and Frank heard a noise outside. He got up and went to the window, careful not to wake Grant up. The monster looked right at him. Frank let out a scream, waking Grant.

"What is it? What's wrong, Frank?"

"It's the monster. It followed us home."

Frank's parents came running down the stairs. "What's going on? Why are you two back home instead of camping out?" His father saw the look of terror on his son's face.

"There's a monster out there. It attacked us in the woods and followed us home." Frank shook with fear.

"Don't be silly. There's no such thing as monsters. It must have been a bear." His father shook his head back and forth. "A bear."

Just then something growled. Frank's father ran to the window. He saw the monster's big bulgy eyes. "Yikes! It is a monster. You two stay in here. I'll be right back." He disappeared out the back door.

All of a sudden the sprinklers came on. Water sprayed the monster. It roared and shrieked and ran down the street. "I guess it doesn't like water," Grant said.

The next morning Frank and his father went to gather the sleeping bags from the forest. They found a claw lying on top of one. Frank put it in his pocket. "It's the last time I'm ever going camping in the forest."

From that night on his family put the sprinklers on every night when they went to bed and never saw the monster again.