It was a nightly ritual. “Daddy, there’s a monster in my room.”

All the parenting journals promised: “Let her cry; two nights, and the crying will stop.”

Proud Daddy noted that after only fifteen minutes the crying had indeed stopped, as the monster dragged little Dana into the closet’s depths.

Alison spent many a night tucked under the supposed safety of her sheets, crying for Mommy and Daddy to rescue her from night terrors and other perceived threats. She is still wary of the closet and what lies under the bed once the darkness comes.