midnight
Imaginative children have more secrets to guard than adults ever think of harboring . I took Frank to bed with me , smuggling him under my pillow , and going to sleep with my hand on him . He was getting warmer every hour . At midnight a cry -- a series of cries -- aroused the slumbering household , and drew my father and mother to my room . I had been awakened from sleep too sound for dreams by the bite of sharp teeth upon the thick of my thumb . Even the certainty that Frank had evolved a mouth , and that it was in good working order , could not cheat me into forgetfulness of the terror and pain of that awakening . I jerked my hand from under the pillow and shook Something off upon the floor .