The Closet

By James Batta

“Dad there is a monster in my closet!”

John headed over to his daughter’s room like every night to check for the monster that is never there. John was a happy man with his wife and daughter. He was military, Special Ops, deployed in Afghanistan, but then he was put on leave.

Now he was a local manager at a grocery chain in North Dakota. His daughter, Gwen, was starting the second grade in a few days. It was about a month ago when she developed a fear of her closet.

John’s wife, Kelly, must get her clothes out every day because Gwen won’t go near it. John and Kelly cannot figure out why she fears the closet.

John walked into Gwen’s room that day to see her under her covers shaking in fear over the “monster” in the closet.

“I’m telling you there is something in the closet; I see the eyes at night, the huge eyes staring as I try to sleep.”

“There is nothing in your closet, honey. Say there was, I would take that monster down in a second,” John reassured Gwen before checking the closet.

John slowly walked up to the door like he was sneaking up on a imaginary beast. This made Gwen laugh. John swung open the doors and stared down into the dark closet. He stood there for a second and slowly walked back to Gwen’s bed.

“There is no monster, but you can sleep with me and your mom tonight,” he said. He held Gwen’s hand as they walked out of her room.

Once they got past the doorway sweat started pouring down John’s head.

He had seen it. The monster. It was a man in all black with red, beaming eyes. He could not stop thinking about the man’s eyes that had focused on his own and then lasered up and down his body.

John and Gwen were slowly getting closer to the bedroom where his wife Kelly was waiting. The house was silent with only the wood floors cracking and the routine cat meow stretching throughout the halls. They finally reached the bedroom with Kelly half asleep. John softly whispered in her ear. “We need to leave now.”

“Why,” said Kelly. “It’s dark outside.”

Kelly then looked into John’s eyes and saw the fear piercing through his gaze. She immediately jumped out of her bed and followed as John led her and Gwen down the stairs. John kept replaying what had happened in his head. Was there really a man? Was he going insane? How did it get in? Is it them?

John tried to focus on the mission right now, to get his family out of the house. They slowly crept down the stairs, making small crackles as they moved. Fear started to creep into Kelly’s mind as she realized that John wasn’t joking.

As John and Gwen planted their final steps on the ground, a loud creak descended into the air covering the whole house. They heard a bang in Gwen’s room and footsteps. John picked up Gwen and sprinted to the back door with Kelly right beside him.

Immediately after they made it outside, Kelly dialed 911. Gwen started crying as they ran around to the front of the house and onto the street. John and his family stood in front of their house like they were seeing a ghost.

This was no longer home, it felt more like a nightmare. Two cops arrived shortly after and began their investigation. They were in the house for an hour doing their work when a cop came out and told the family, “Y’all can go back inside, there is nothing there.”

“You need to check again. I saw it with my own eyes.” John pleaded.

The cop went up to Kelly and said, “I know John’s story; he is a war hero. Maybe he still is trying to overcome what he has been through.”

This filled John with an overwhelming rage. “You think I’m insane? You’re the one that can’t do your freakin’ job.”

Kelly grabbed John by the arm and pulled him back towards the house. “We are so sorry, thank you for coming out.,” she said apologetically.

John couldn’t believe it, even his own wife thinks he is insane. “I am not insane. okay, I saw it,” he murmured. “I saw the thing. I’m not insane. That cop is insane!”

As the police pulled away from the house, John paused as he reached for the door. “The cop! The cop!” He shouted.

John stopped his family in the doorway. “Don’t go in!”

“Honey, it was just your imagination,” said Kelly gently, as she tried to push past John.

“No!” John yelled as he ran in and slammed the door, locking his wife and daughter out of the house.

John sprinted up the stairs. “Why was there only one cop there, when there were two that went in?” He said following Kelly inside. “I swear I remember there being two.”

He busted open Gwen’s door to see nothing out of the ordinary. He checked the closet. Nothing. There was nothing.

“Am I going insane?” He cried. “It must of just been my imagination. I am not crazy!”

John slowly started making his way to the stairs until he saw a light on in his room. “I didn’t leave the light on,” John thought. He went to open the door, but there was something blocking it. John used all his might and pushed the door open.

There were two people lying there, one in a cop uniform and the other only his underwear. On the ground were pictures from an 80s Polaroid, pictures of Gwen sleeping and of Kelly making dinner. There was one of Gwen playing outside. John stood there in shock. He was stunned by fear.

John quickly gained his senses and gunned it down the stairs and out the door, bur no one was there.

“Gwen! Kelly!” John screamed out, but it was no use. They were gone; everyone John loved was gone.

John started having flashbacks from his time in Afghanistan–the screams of his comrades as they were pulled into the darkness and the pictures of their mangled bodies taped to his his tent.

They are back, he thought to himself. They’re back.