Category : Stories

Sub Category : Fantasy

Emily went to bed every night facing away from her closet. She couldn't look, she wasn't brave enough. Or so she thought. Lying in the dark she waited to fall asleep even though the fear pricked at the back of her neck. Just the same as every night before, she heard the closet door creak open. A bit of rustling she could barely hear over the pounding in her ears. Emily held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut and wished for whatever was in her closet to go away. Then suddenly, just like every night, a calm rushed over her as she fell asleep without a care in the world.

At breakfast Emily had asked her sister about the strange noises she heard. Karen said it was her imagination. She was dreaming and that's all there is to it, of course a teenager would say that. But Emily heard it clearly. She was already eight years old and knew the difference between being awake and being asleep. 

Emily asked her mom, who was very smart being a scientist and all. Only, she said the same thing as Karen. Even though she said that, she still checked the closet for her every night claiming it was empty. 

Knowing she wasn't dreaming, Emily vowed to discover the secrets hidden in her closet. That night she made preparations, she was going to catch it!

Emily tied her jump rope into a slip knot (she had asked Karen to show her how) and placed it right in front of her closet, stretched it across the room and put the other end under the bed. Grabbing a doll and a couple of pillows she made it look like she was in bed asleep. Then she shimmied under the bed and waited. She could feel the tension in her body as she stared at her closet afraid to blink, afraid to miss something. 

Thirty minutes passed and nothing happened. Her eyes grew heavy, she figured she could just rest them for a second. 

She closed her eyes then immediately heard a creaking. Opening her eyes she could see the bottom of the closet door. It was opening. By itself. It stopped. The blood left her limbs and she felt it pump through her chest. It was now or never and she wanted, no, needed to prove that there was something in her closet. So she pulled. The rope came flying toward her. Nothing.

Feeling disappointed and tired she shimmied back out from under her bed. When she came to her feet she looked at the doll in the bed. Something was wrong. She could barely see it, as if something was covering it with a black mesh fabric. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, there was a big black shadow hovering over her bed. It was leaning over the doll. She couldn't breath. She couldn't scream. Her eyes felt like they might turn to dust because she couldn't blink either.

She started to shake and dropped her rope. The black figure looked up from the doll. It came closer. She couldn't move. Emily could feel a warmth radiating from it, the closer it came the warmer she felt. As she began to relax she heard a man's soothing voice, "Do not fear me, I am your protector, and I am of your own making."

Emily woke up the next morning. Blinking the sleep from her eyes the memories from the previous night came flooding back, but she couldn't remember how she got into bed. 

She went to the closet and opened it up finding only her clothes staring back at her in silence. She knew she wasn't dreaming when she saw that thing over her bed. Not knowing what to do or where to find him she just decided to get dressed for the day. 

Ignoring the events that unfolded in her room, she wanted to take in the beauty of the day. After getting dressed she drew back her curtains to feel the warmth of the sun on her face. 

She turned to walk past her bed to the door and noticed her shadow. She waved at her shadow and put her hand down, but the shadow didn't. It stretched across her room and up the other wall. Emily froze in fear losing any trace of a smile she had on her face.

"Please don't fear me," sounding worried, the shadow lost Emily's shape and in stead looked more like Emily wearing last year's ghost costume, "I told you, I am here to protect you."

"W-why?" Emily stared with wide eyes, barley breathing the word.

"You created me to protect you from the things you are afraid of." 

The shadow didn't move, not even when it talked, but still Emily felt her body ease a bit with every word the shadow said.

"I don't remember learning how to make THAT in arts and crafts."