Don’t Open the Closet Door By Sophie Wang 6th grade
I looked around the house. Rainwater trickled down from cracks in the walls. Cobwebs covered the top of the ceiling, and the floorboards creaked as I stepped around the bare corner of the attic that was supposed to be my bedroom. Our new mansion-like home was so creepy, and with each step I felt like it was pulling me in, pulling me in... “Lila, where are you? We have to get unpacking before it’s too late,” Mom called from the living room. I immediately replied, “Mom, just let me do things myself, okay?” There was no reply. “Alright, but come downstairs now.” I stomped downstairs. Mom was always so annoying. “There you are. You’ve spent an hour up there. Why don’t you go to my bedroom and grab the red suitcase? It’s about time we ate.” “Fine. You always make me do chores around here,” I said as I walked back up the stairs. Mom had stuffed that suitcase with everything she could before leaving. I had told her not to, as that would only make the car more cramped. She had told me to stop complaining. I sighed as I thought about what happened. I don’t know why Mom and I weren’t getting along. She always wanted me to do things for her, and was always calling for me like I was a baby. I glanced around the room for the suitcase, but there were no lights. “W-where is the light switch?” I whispered to myself as I stumbled around the walls, running my hands across to feel for a light switch. “Lila! You alright?” I heard Mom call. Ignoring her, I opened the closet door. There seemed to be a small light switch in the very back. Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked over. But all of a sudden...the wall disappeared! I blinked. The light switch appeared to have moved over to a further wall. I ran to it again, but the wall disappeared. Again, and again. What was this? My heart raced as I focused and ran for the light switch one last time… The world turned dark. It felt like I was falling...through a void of emptiness. Was this all a dream? My feet suddenly touched the ground. I looked around. This wasn’t a closet, it was a dark and murky forest. Trees with bare and lonely-looking branches surrounded the place. Right in front of where I fell, there was a very large tree. It looked like one of those spooky Halloween trees you see in the movies. The air was cold, and the wind blew strong and hard. I took a step. The earth was sodden with rainwater. I looked up at the sky. It seemed gray and barren, just like the rest of this place, and it was hard to tell what time it was. I thought of what to do. My mind was mostly blank, from the shock of what had just happened. “Hello.” I jumped. “What’s talking to me?” “My name is Gloom. Pleasure to meet you. I heard you just moved into my old home.” The otherworldly voice echoed.
