The Thing Under Julian’s Bed

“Did you know even athletes have nightmares… but some of them aren’t dreams?” Julian Shigeru Ito

grew up in Berkeley and never feared anything—not fastballs, not crowds, nothing.

But lately, something kept waking him up at night. A slow, rhythmic breathing

from under his bed… like someone hiding inches below him. He tried to ignore it.

Baseball players don’t get scared, right? But one night, after a late practice,

he heard it again— a whisper dragging itself out of the dark: “Ito… I will take

you deep…” Julian froze. It wasn’t a teammate messing around. The voice sounded

old… wet… hungry. He leaned over the side of the bed with his phone flashlight. The beam hit a pair