Sebastian has always been a little bit afraid of the dark.
He wasn’t afraid of it REALLY, he enjoyed running and laughing and screaming through Bluebell wood at night with his friends and they only had one torch between them, and he loved hiding in Mummy and Daddy’s wardrobe when his cousin Amy came around to play - and that was VERY dark.
So it wasn’t the dark he minded so much, but at bedtime - when he was tucked in and mummy or daddy had gone back downstairs to tidy away the dinner or watch TV and he was by himself - he liked them to keep on a small yellow lamp in the corner of his room on the bookshelf.
Now this one night, after Daddy has tucked him in and after mummy had come upstairs to give him a kiss goodnight, after they’d closed his door Sebastian lay awake and looked at his yellow lamp. It did give off a warm, almost orange glow that melted into the wall. And from his bed he could just see what was on top of the bookshelf: The moldy old tennis ball that he’s found yesterday in a hedge, and the clay model of a lighthouse that he’d made last year in school.
And that made him think about school. He remembered how only last week William had been talking to Clara and saying how he slept all in the dark without ANY lights on. And Clara had said that she’d slept without the lights on for AGES, now.
Sebastian hadn’t said anything. He knew there was nothing wrong with sleeping with the little yellow lamp on, even grown ups did it, but if William and Clara slept all in the dark - why couldn’t he?
Sebastian lay there and stared at the lamp. Could he be brave enough, he wondered, to go over there and switch it off?
Slowly he got out of bed, and looked around his bedroom. He knew it all in such perfect detail: His toys were there in their plastic red box with some spilling over the edge. There was his green cupboard, the rug on the floor with the purple stain where he’d spilt blackcurrant juice…
It was his room - what difference would it make if he turned off the light? Everything would still be exactly the same, even if he couldn’t see it.
He stared at the yellow lamp and its orange glow. Still looking into the soft light, he reached for the power cord and felt for the switch. And then, without closing his eyes, he turned it off.
The room went dark - but there, where the lamp was, were two puddles of light in the gloom. They weren’t bright lights, more like… cosy puddles of cloud or gloop in a pond. And not only were they calming to look at, they seemed to move slowly in the air.
Sebastian, still holding the power switch, turned the lamp back on again. The puddles were still there, just in front of his eyes, but slowly disappeared. He blinked and looked around his room. Everything was exactly the same… Well of course it was exactly the same, he thought! Why wouldn’t it all be exactly the same?
But now Sebastian felt that he wanted to see the puddles again. He liked the puddles, how had be done it before? He’d looked into the soft orange light and then turned off the switch. And so he did again… FLICK!
The room was sunk into darkness again, but there - right where the lamp light used to be - were the puddles. He looked closely at them. One was a bit greeny, and the other was more red.
“Hello,” said the green puddle of light.
“Hello,” said the red one.
Sebastian took a sharp breath. He had do idea what to say - he’d never spoken to puddles before, and certainly not puddles that floated around his room.
He thought. What would be a polite thing to say?
“Hello - to you,” said Sebastian.
“My name is Noffalous,” said the green puddle.
“And I’m Tibaluf”, said the red one.
Sebastian was just about to speak when Noffalous, the green puddle, guessed exactly what he was going to say and spoke before Sebastian could make a sound.
“We are lamp lights,” he explained. We are what you see when the lights go out.
“And are you here to help me?,” said Sebastian.
Noffalous and Tibaluf turned to each other, and blended together for a moment before separating again.
“Help? But with what?”
Sebastian liked Noffalous’ friendly voice and he trusted it.
“Well, I’m scared of turning out the light. I only did it tonight as a dare. And… it’s the first time I dared.”
The two puddles of light seemed to glow.
“Oh!” Said Tibaluf, sounding happy. “I see! Help with THAT!”
Sebastian suddenly felt his whole body feel light and floaty. He watched as Noffalous and Tibaluf, the two puddles of light from his lamp, began floating up towards the ceiling and noticed that he was too.
Even though it was dark, he could see the outline of his bedroom door with the light from the corridor shining around it, and here he was - at the top of the door - reaching out for his ceiling. Noffalous and Tibaluf melted into it and soon he did too - he felt the warm of the loft, and then out thought the roof and - into another room…
This was strange. It wasn’t a room that he recognised. There was a bed below him and… well! There was William from school - fast asleep next to a little blue light. He DID sleep with a light on! And though the wall they went and down a corridor, with Noffalous and Tibaluf leading the way, and into another bedroom. And there was Clara from school asleep in her bed, and she had a little green fairy lamp next to her. So SHE slept with the light on too!
Reaching out for the warm glow of his two puddle friends, Sebastian flew through room after room before he felt himself gently falling and landing on soft sheets that wrapped themselves around him. He knew where he was now - his own bed.
“You see,” said Noffalous, “A lot of children and grown ups like to sleep with a little light on.”
“Should I turn your yellow lamp back on, then?,” asked Tibaluf.
Sebastian lay there thinking… and then smiled.
The next morning Mummy came in and Sebastian stirred happily. She went to open the blind and turn off his lamp and then noticed it was already off.
“Did you sleep in the dark last night, all by yourself?,” she asked.
Sebastian climbed out of bed and rubbed his eyes wearily.
“I wasn’t by myself,” he yawned.
Mummy ignored him and opened the blind. “Come on, let’s get a move on.”
Sebastian walked over to his lamp, touched it, smiled, and went downstairs for breakfast.
