The Closet

“Never open the closet… never. Hang your clothes inside the bathroom or on chairs just..” she took a pause and fiercely looked into his eyes and repeated, “Just promise me, son, you’d never open it!!”

“Yes, Grandma. I promise..” he said it with a smirk on his face.

She shook her head side-wise and suddenly took the room keys out of his hands,

“No. You never will listen; you go and stay at the near motel.”

“Grandma, the so-called near motel is 30 miles due west, I ain't going that far again and coming back again tomorrow morning for Grandpa’s funeral. Look, granny, it's late already. I need to stay here for just one night. Why you have to make a scene!! Its just one night, so hand over the god damn keys!!”

“Watch your language James,” she took the control back.

She took a moment to think, at that moment she found her mind talking to herself, “Sarah, maybe James is right, it is very late. All you heard about that closet is broken stories. Maybe it’s just a myth, or they are just drawings, some scribbling. James took flight from LA to Sydney and straight came to this deserted place. Kid needs a break. Just hand him the keys.”

She exhaled a long breath, extended her wrinkly hand towards James and unwrapped her fingers.

James, with a sarcastic smile, lifted the keys and said: “Thank you, Nana, now was that so hard?”

“James, just don’t open it that closet…”

James had already started his walk towards the stairs, without looking back he said: “Whatever you say, Nana!!”

Sarah, 73-year-old, recently widowed handicap women, rolled her wheelchair towards her room and prayed that James doesn’t get curious.

~~~~~~

“Hey Honey bear, can you see me”

His laptop was connected to the internet and had a webcam-based chat window opened.

“No James… it's so dark. What’s your problem? It’s not like you have never taken your clothes off in lights,” Lisa said on James laptop.

“Ok... How about now?” James adjusted the lid of the laptop and asked.

“No James.. You need to switch on the light for me to see you,” Lisa said sounding a bit frustrated.

“Damn! It’s an old house. There aren’t many lights in this room. Just a bulb. Ok, hold on let me get the moonlight in. That ought to make things better,” he went away from the bed to remove the curtains from the window so that more full moon’s light comes in his room.

The room was only half lit. The table lamp near the bed was barely enough for the bed to be visible. The rest of the room was in darkness, so was the closet.

James opened the curtains of a single window that room had. But saw that moonlight isn’t reaching the bed, so he shifted the bed towards the window and took his shirt off. To get more light on him he shifted the laptop near the window.

Now bed was right against the closet.

“So Lisa babe, don’t you say you still don’t see nothing…”

“Yeah there the man I want to see..” there was a huge smile on her face.

“Hey L now it's your turn… show me those …” before he could finish, Lisa said, “James, you must be tired, maybe we can chat later..”

“Hey you.. don’t you get chicken now.. and show me those babies NOW,” he pointed out on screen.

“You mean these..” she took the tank top slowly off and juggled them slowly.

“Yeah…now take that lacy bra off.”

“NO before I set these babies free bouncing ... it's your turn... don’t you know.. let me see your jeans fly off”

“Tough crowd... sure.. here you go..L”

He stood up on the bed and was about to unbutton his jeans as she said “James”

“Hold your horses ..till mine one comes out”

“Aahh James.. What’s that..!” she had a worried face and she took her tank top and covered her recently revealed chest.

“What are you talking about,” he kneed down to get close to the laptop screen.

“JAMESSSSS who the hell is that…” she screamed pointing something behind James. Laptop screen went black.

James slowly turned back, towards the closet. It was slightly opened. There were two eyes, flickering.

James for a second shook up but gain control calmly.

“Who is that? Come out you pervert,” he said. Flickering stopped. The eyes hid in dark.

“You want to play tough! Ok, I can do that. you ain't going anywhere.. and I ain't going anywhere.. you come out now and I promise I won't hurt you … much!”

Silence followed.

“Ok.. your choice..” he took the gun out from his bag and loaded 1 magazine.

“I am going to count to 3.. and you are going to come out nice and slow”

Still no response.

“1…… 2,” he started walking towards the closet door and grabbed the door handle. “And……..3,” and forcefully opened the door.

With a second the whole room went BLACK. The lamp burst, the window got sealed, as if there was no window to that wall. It was pitch dark.

The darkness from inside the closet came and engulfed the room.

Little shocked to see the window disappear from the wall, James opened fire in the closet.

“Aaaaaa” he emptied the whole magazine in the closet but nothing happened.

He threw the gun and started crawling towards the room’s main door just to go out. He stumbled on a couple of times before he reached to handle. He tried to open the door, but the door won’t budge. He punched the door and kicked it but nothing happened.

Room kept on being dark. No voice except James’ heavy breathing.

“Let me outttttttt,” James cried out.

~~~~~~

Next day morning, the Church was filled with well-wisher and relatives of Sarah. Sarah’s wheelchair was being pushed by Father towards the casket. She had a final look at him and with a tear, in her eyes, she addressed to the assembled people; there was a shaky tone in her voice.

“Thank you all for coming. I must apologize for the difficulties you might have faced while finding this beautiful Church. I assure you I won’t keep you for long.” She took a pause and looked at Matt’s body in the casket.

“It’s actually Matt’s fault. Matt always wanted to live in secluded places and he did what he loved. In his last few days with us, Matt didn’t speak much. Drew a lot of drawings and scribbled in a diary. Those are the memories I have of him. His last words to me were that the monster is within us. We are the toughest enemy of our self, if we can make peace within, peace outside is not that hard. Not very romantic, I know but I know how important those are. He made his peace within and outside. I hope you could do the same. Thank you all”

Father moved her wheelchair away towards the burial ground. As she was leaving Church she saw an empty seat, a seat which was reserved for James.

~~~~~~

After the service, Sarah went home and opened Matt’s drawer. She looked at those pictures again. Pictures of the darkroom and slightly opened closet door. In those pictures, a shade of scared man was seen. In some pictures, the room was seen as if it was being flooded by water. In the next few pictures, the water level was seen rising and man was barely able to hold on from drowning. Next, all pictures had only dark black color and nothing can be understood. His scribbling was also not very clear but broken words here and there. Same words here and there written as, Monsters. You are the enemy. Can you survive you? Sarah remembered the day it all started.

Few years ago….

Matt loved this house and it was very chip too. Some gypsy women who had built this house but left it. The caretaker wanted to sell it off quickly. Though the house was two storied, there was only one room upstairs which the caretaker said that it was not in a good condition and shouldn’t be used. Considering the fact that Sarah was on a wheelchair, Matt decided to seal the upstairs.

After a few months when one day, Sarah came from her routine checkup, she couldn’t find Matt. She searched and searched but no clue. 3 weeks after Matt’s disappearance she woke up to a thundering sound. Matt fell down from the stairs. She asked him what he was doing upstairs but he looked shaken. After that, he didn’t say much and kept on drawing pictures and scribbling in his diary.

Can you survive you?

Sarah drew inferences from the pictures, the broken words and her beloved husband silence.

The Closet.

~~~~~~

In the pitch black room …

“James, can you survive you…” After a long time, heavy baritone women’s voice broke the silence.

“What?”

“Tell me James, have you ever drowned …”

“What is this... let me out I will kill you…” there was no reply. The indistinct sound of running water started. After some time, James could feel the water around him in darkness, and slowly it was rising.

The water level had risen above James' head. He had to swim to keep himself alive but after some time, he got tired and went down, but his natural instinct would kick in and again he would start to swim.

Finally, he got too tired to swim and hit the bottom of the room.

After some time the same voice was heard again, “Death isn’t your choice anymore James… ”

James touched his surroundings, it seems the water had been drained. He was coughing violently.

“Hell, it is..” James got up and searched for his bag. He put his hand in and took one more gun out. Put the barrel in his mouth.

BANG!

With that bang, James had put a hole in brains and he could feel it as his head was being exploded with pain.

But he wasn’t dead.

“I decide when you’d go: to your world or towards death but for you James, this isn’t over!”

Since then, Lisa has been searching for the house of Sarah and Matt Machony near Queensland Australia.