The Closet

FEAR-a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain,etc.,whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.

 

      There it was again, that eerie demonic laughter.

      It was coming from inside the closet.

      Vikki pulled the covers up, covering her whole body and head, except for a small airhole and gap between the comforters' edges, to peer out into the darkness.

      Her heart pounded erratically inside its protective cage; Vikki stared at the closet door awash in the faint moonlight. The shadowy silhouette of a tree's finger-like branches speared across her wall, causing an irrational fear to prickle at the edges of her conscience. Vikki knew it was ridiculous to be scared of the Boogie Man, her mother had told her so. But how else could she explain the creepy laughter she'd been hearing ever since she could remember? There was even the faint memories of a reddish light spilling out from under the door. That light was back tongiht.

      Vikki blinked, not even realizing she'd been staring intently at the red light feathering out from under the door frame. She'd never opened the door. The fear of being mangled savagely by something disgusting kept her curiousty at bay. Just barely.

      But now, Vikki was getting annoyed. She'd been losing sleep for the past nine years and the homework load was starting to get heavier, demanding more of her time.

      Meaning less sleep for me, Vikki thought darkly, glaring out at the closet door from between the safety of her comforters' folds. It was starting to get hot from inside all that material. Vikki ignored her body's plea for fresh air circulation. What if the 'thing' could smell her when she peeled off the comforter? Would something come bursting out from her closet and eat her?

      Vikki didn't particularly want to test that out. So she'd deal with the suffering of a possible heat stroke. But tonight was different. She was sleep deprived and cranky. The demonic laughter was becoming annoying and the red light was going to give her eyes an aneurism.

      Finally, eyes narrowed to slits, she threw her covers off and surged to her feet. Suppressing a yelp, Vikki tumbled to the floor in a twist of covers, landing hard on her butt. She sighed deeply as the faint spams of pain raidiated throughout her tailbone. Untangling herself she stood up and glared at the jumbled covers. Pulling her leg back, she let go with a violent kick at the sheets and slammed into the metal edge of the bed frame. Biting down on her tongue to squelch the stream of profanities and shriek of pain, she tenderly touched her big toe and caressed it carefully. Snarling as the demonic laughter started again,  she spun on her heel and stormed over to the door. Wrenching it open she inhaled to scream at the culprit, but stopped abruptly at the sight that was before her.

      Stretched out above her in a massive room were Cathedral ceilings, hundreds of feet high. A huge fireplace in the shape of a Gargoyle's head with its mought stretched to the limit was twenty feet away in front of her. Staglymites hung from random places around the vast room. Fireballs floated in midair in the darker corners of the room, flickering blue and red shadows on the walls. A black granite table was in front of the Gargoyle head with thirty chairs around it filled with frightening creatures who, at the moment, turned aorund to stare at Vikki.

      Laughter abruptly stopped and all movemnt ceased immediately. Silence blanketed the stifflingly hot room.

      "May we help you?" A soft voice asked to the left. Vikki looked and was met with a skeleton clothed in a black robe, a slight blue haze radiated out around him. He, Vikki assumed it was a male, made her feel quite at ease among all the strange beings surrounding him. One that particularly caught her attention seemed to be a werewolf in tattered jean shorts and a ripped lumberjack coat. Catching her eye, it smiled dauntingly at her and waggled its eyebrows, making Vikki's cheeks go pink.

      "Er-could you be a little more quiet please? I can't get to sleep with all of you laughing." Vikki said quietly, quickly turning her attention back to the radio active skeleton. He seemed to be petting a tabby kitten.

      "Of course, young lady. Since you have asked so kindly we will take our entertainments to another room and allow you the luxury of slumber." He said, opening his mouth wide in what Vikki took to be a smile. "May I ask you to close the door on your way out? There is a nasty draft circulating through and I'm afraid some of us are not accustomed to the cold." He cocked his skull to one side and smiled again, petting his kitten with a certain fondness Vikki took to be love.

      Vikki nodded, slightly dazed, then closed the closet door slowly. The red light she'd become so used to seeing under the door, instantly vanished.

      And, suddenly, the feeling of absolute loneliness engulfed her in the quiet night.

Reviews

[.Bunnie.]

Damn....so THAT'S what I've been afraid of all these years? And to think--I could've been out playing with endearing monsters while I, too, was suffering from the threat of a heat stroke under those damnable blankets!!! :P

Actually, I think that this could be made into a really cool book, if you ever wanted to try. Great job!

[Anthony]

This one has me intrigued. It reminds me of "Father of the Bloodline" in a way. Great work.