Ghost in the Closet

1. Prologue

Prologue

NO one else was there when the light came on in Chloe’s closet. Her parents were in the living room watching television. Chloe could hear the screech of a car chase through the walls. Carson, her younger brother, hadn’t been feeling well that day and had fallen asleep soon after dinner with a smudge of chili still on his cheek.

Chloe played alone in her room with the plastic horses she’d gotten for Christmas that year. She loved horses almost as much as she loved her family. She slid the horses along on the carpet, imagining them trotting through fields of long grass and wondering what they said to each other when humans weren’t around.

She was sitting on her yellow-and-white chevron rug, pushing her horses along, when the closet door silently glided open behind her as if pushed by an invisible hand. She picked up the larger horse and neighed as she made it leap through the air, completely unaware of the door now gaping open, spilling light into the room. Chloe turned to see a soft yellow glow pouring out of what should’ve been a dark space. The light had not been on before. At least she didn’t think so. She crinkled her nose and pulled her thread-thin eyebrows together. The earthy scent of hay and manure wafted into the air.

“Is there a real live horse in there?” she asked the plastic horse in her hand. She got up and crept over to the closet door. “It smells like there’s a horse in there,” she said. She looked at the bedroom door, wondering if she should tell her mother.

How could a horse be in her closet? It was too big to hide among her toys and clothes. Then she thought that maybe it was a tiny horse, like the plastic one she held in her hand, but real. The idea delighted her.

On television shows and in movies, sometimes the kids entered closets, only to end up in fantastical worlds where trees were made of cotton candy and rivers flowed with chocolate. They met magical creatures like dragons and unicorns and had adventures that Chloe wanted to have in real life, not just in her imagination. In those shows, the children never went and got their mommies. Those children were brave. They went to those magical lands without any grown-ups ever finding out. Chloe wanted to be like those children, so she set her plastic horse on the ground, took a deep breath, and walked into her closet, hoping to step into a different world.

***

“She’s right here,” Chloe’s father said from the hallway. Before he could set foot in her room, her mother rushed past him, sweeping her up in her arms.

“There you are!” Tears ran down her cheeks.

“I’ll go check on Carson.” Her father went up the hall to her brother’s room.

Her mother frowned when she realized Chloe was covered in slime that looked like snot. “What have you gotten into?” Chloe thought her mother would put her down, but she didn’t. Instead, she squeezed her so hard it hurt. “Where were you? We looked all over for you!” She lowered Chloe to the ground and held her out at arm’s length so she could look into her eyes.

Chloe would never tell anyone where she was. He told her not to, and she was more afraid of him than she’d ever been afraid of anything in her life. “I was right here.” She tried to make her voice as small as possible so he wouldn’t hear her.

She could tell by the way her mother’s face wrinkled up that she didn’t give the correct answer. “No, you weren’t. I checked your room.” She scanned Chloe’s body. “What’s all over you? I don’t understand.”

Chloe didn’t really understand yet, but even if she did, she knew she could never explain anything to anyone. She pressed her lips together and pretended they were glued shut. She hoped she wasn’t in trouble, but she knew it was better to be in trouble with her mother than it would be to be in trouble with him.

***

No one ever believed her, but Maia knew there was someone living under her bed. So, every time she’d go to sleep, she’d take a running leap onto her mattress. When she got out, she jumped as far as she could, landing with a thud on the floor. Her parents didn’t like it, but they didn’t understand. Her grandfather understood, though. He told her the thing under her bed was very scary, but she didn’t need to be afraid because he would protect her. She believed him. That was the only way she could play in her room.

It was midafternoon, and sunlight poured through the windows, illuminating her lavender bedroom. Maia ran into the room for a minute to get her favorite doll. It sat on the floor in front of her dresser. She liked it because it looked like her, with brown skin and dark curly hair her mother had braided for her just yesterday. She picked it up by the arm, pausing for a moment to look at the dark space under her bed. No matter how bright her bedroom was, inky blackness seeped out from under her bed. The place was a chasm where all manner of frightening things could hide.

Maia stood, gripping her doll and staring at the darkness.

“Don’t look at it too long,” her grandfather said to her.

She turned to look at him. He seemed to shimmer in the sunlight.

“Staring into the darkness is just inviting the evil to come out.”

Maia swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded her head. She knew he was right, but something about it made her want to look.

“I know,” she whispered.

“Maia!” her big sister Imani yelled from someplace else in the house.

Without a second thought, Maia ran from the room. As she sprinted up the hallway, a tentacle of light slithered out from under the bed like a snake.