Closet Monster

The last of the lights on the lower level of the small two story house were turned off. The family of four walked up the cream colored carpeted stairs to the second floor. The oldest daughter, Clara had already had her shower and little Mallory had been given a bath by her mother after dinner. After a little T.V. it was time for the family to settle down for the night.
Thirteen year old Clara was in her black sweat pants and green t-shirt with a picture of a black cat on the front. Five year old Mallory held her mother’s hand as she tried not to trip in her pink Hello Kitty pants and shirt. Her legs just weren’t long enough to fit in them yet. Clara sauntered off to her room to finish up her science homework. It was most likely that she would stay on the phone while she was doing it. Dad walked into the far back bedroom to take his shower, leaving mom to tuck Mallory into bed by herself. Dad always saw this as a woman’s job, especially since they had two daughters and no sons.
Mallory jumped onto the bed sheets with little green, pink and blue bunny rabbit pattern illustrated on them. Mom wrapped the sheet around her shoulders. Mallory smiled sleepily up at her mother.
“Good night, sweetheart,” Mom said.
Mom kissed Mallory on the forehead and Mallory kissed her mother’s as was the nightly ritual for the two of them. Mom smiled at her youngest daughter. She was beginning to back out the room when a high pitched squeal came from the small bundle on the bed.
“What’s wrong, honey.”
“Where’s teddy?”
Mallory was now sitting up in bed and scanning the purple carpeted floor of her bedroom. There were many fanciful baby dolls piled in one corner. A large doll house was placed in another with a basket of Barbie dolls underneath a small white table it was set upon. A white dresser with some pieces of clothing sticking out of its drawers was set in between the two. On the other side of her bed was a large closet filled with board games and shoes on the bottom and clothes hanging above them. Mallory’s gaze passed quickly over the closet. She found Teddy lying next to the night stand with the lamp and a picture book about a princess who fell under a sleeping spell next to her bed.
Mom walked over, bent down and picked it up for Mallory. The little girl quickly snuggled with the bear against her chest before lying down onto the pillows. Mom smiled down at her daughter before turning and walking out of the room, making sure she turned the light off. When the door clicked shut, her eyes instantly flew open. Her gaze quickly found the closet door which unfortunately had been opened a crack. This meant the monster inside could choose this night to come out and finally get her. Mallory had heard a number of tales at school of children being taken by the dreaded closet monster. It had been seen in many different forms.
One boy named Thomas swore the monster was a meaner version of Barney with it sharp purple scales and even sharper spikes going down its back and long tail. Valerie who claimed her younger brother had been taken said the monster was more dragon-like. She had told Mallory that the monster was the darkest black with leather wings and long sharp claws that grabbed any child that left their closet door open at night. Every time the subject of the closet monster came up at the lunch table the description of the monster just got darker and scarier than the previous.
Mallory did not know which version she would find creeping out of her closet or when it would. Every night when every bit of light had disappeared from her room, he eyes strained against the darkness to see if the monster would come out and get her.
As the night went on, Mallory sat in her bed with Teddy caught tightly to her chest. Her knuckles were white as they clutched the poor bear’s mid-section, her face pale with fright. Her toes wiggled restlessly under her sheet as if to be ready to run if the need arrived. A creak sounded somewhere in the house and Mallory’s breath got caught in her throat. Then another.
Mallory was about to yell Mommy but was afraid the sudden noise would attract the monster’s attention and give her position in the bed away. She just whimpered quietly against Teddy’s head. Suddenly, a light filled up the hallway and water sounded from the bathroom that separated Clara’s room from her own. She squealed before diving under her covers. Then she realized it was just Clara using the bathroom and not the monster. The monster would not have to turn on the hall light on anyway. He most likely could see in the dark.
After the scare, Mallory’s fatigue caught up with her and she fell asleep but her dreams were filled with many different scenarios involving monsters jumping out of the closet. She woke up screaming at some point during the night. Her mother came to check on her. After a drink of water, she was able to fall back asleep with no more dreams.
The next morning, Saturday, Dad had gone off to work. He worked at a law office and used Saturdays to catch up on paper work. Mom was going to take Clara and Mallory to the library after they were finished with breakfast. It was way past 10:00 before they could leave since Clara had gotten into the habit of not waking up past 9:30 if she didn’t have to. It was rare that they would be able to leave the house for another hour after that because she took her time getting ready.
Mallory had not told her mother about the closet monster for fear of Clara over hearing and making fun of her. She was too stupid to understand the danger that was hiding in every child’s closet. That had happened when she had been afraid the Bathtub would swallow her up. Clara called her a scaredy cat for weeks. She wished she could think of a way to make fun of one of Clara’s fears. She could not think of anything she was afraid of so she just sleepily climbed into the back seat of their family van.
It only took them about 10 minutes to reach the library which stood across from the elementary school and was surrounded by bushes that now held beautiful pink and purple blossoms on its branches. A long stone staircase led to the red double doors. The words Public Library had been marked in stone above the doors, as if anyone in this small town did not know where the library was located.
When the group walked in the menagerie of bookshelves, the smell of printed paper and ink greeted them. A circular counter top was to their left with two elderly librarians wearing wire-rimmed glasses and flower printed dresses stood behind it. They were checking out books for the customers currently leaving. Clara walked off to the young adult section that stood directly opposite from the door and mom led Mallory over to the children’s section. The children’s books were in the back right corner inside two glass walls to keep the noise to a minimum. They did not just have books in the children’s section but also pillows and various kinds of toys including building blocks and dolls.
Mallory instantly walked over to the short bookshelves to look at the books, she never liked playing with the toys. She had all of them at home anyway. Her mom went to talk to the other mother’s standing around watching their children play on the carpet with the ABCs printed on it in rainbow colors. Mallory scoured over the baby books which included titles like Counting 1 2 3 and A is for Apple and went to the collection of princess stories. She had already memorized Sleeping Beauty and needed another one. She came to the title Beauty and the Beast and opened it to the title page and then began flipping through it to look at the pictures, since she could not read yet. The pictures were mostly of a beautiful girl in a large castle and an ugly wolf man. Mallory didn’t know if it would be any good but decided to choose it anyway.
Tucking the book under her arm, she walked over to her mother. She was deeply in conversation with the other women about when it would be best to plant their Petunias. She pulled on her mother’s shirt sleeve to get her attention.
“Mommy, I got one,” she said. She pulled the book from under her arm and showed it to her mother.
“Oh, Beauty and the Beast, that’s a great story,” she said. “I used to read this when I was a little girl.”
After saying goodbye to the other mothers, mom and daughter went to go find Clara. She had a handful of vampire romance novels in her hands. She replaced a black and pink covered book on the shelf when Mallory and her mom appeared beside her.
“Have you finished choosing which ones you want,” their mother asked her.
“I think so.” Clara picked another off the top bookshelf but then decided against taking it and put it back in the same place she got it. “Ok, let’s go.”
The old woman behind the checkout counter smiled down at Mallory who was holding her mother’s hand when Clara and their mother gave over the books they were borrowing. Her face was wrinkled around her eyes and the edges of her mouth. She was wearing glasses attached to a chain around her neck. Mallory could only see the red embroidered sweater she wore but knew she had to be wearing a matching skirt that she couldn’t see from her vantage point.
“These need to be back within two weeks or you can call before then and ask for an extension if you would like,” the librarian said. They were handed the bag of books and walked out the same doors they had entered a half hour ago.
Before going home, their mother stopped at the grocery store two blocks away from the house. Clara instantly spotted some of her friends from school and after asking their mother if she could go join them while she shopped. She ran over and began chatting away without another thought to her mother or younger sister. As if they didn’t say enough over the phone the night before.
After getting all that needed, they walked out through the automatic doors, bags in hand, and found Clara who was sitting on a wooden bench with a group of three other girls from school. After she gave them all hugs and saying “bye,” the three of them climbed in the van. Mallory was sitting in her car seat while Clara took the front passenger’s seat beside her mother.
Once they got home the three members of the family crowded around the kitchen table fixing themselves a sandwich and chips that their mom found in a cupboard. Clara took her meal up to her room to eat and probably call the friends she had just been speaking to. Mallory and her mother sat at the table.
“Mommy could you read the book to me,” she asked.
“After you eat all of your cheese sandwich,” she promised.
The two of them ate in silence with just the crunching of chips and the refrigerator with its school photos and school art projects all over it turning on breaking the stillness. When they were done, her mother took their plates to the sink where she preceded to rinse them off and place in the dishwasher before reading the book. Mallory went to the sofa with the book in her hand as she waited for her to get done.
“Ok, let’s see what we have here,’ her mother said as she joined Mallory on the sofa. “The Beauty and the Beast- what a good choice.”
The two of them were huddled together on the couch with Mallory leaning into her mother’s right side as she read her the story of the beautiful simple peasant girl who fell in love with a beastly prince.
“Again” Mallory pleaded
“Maybe later tonight after dinner” her mother said.
“Pleeeasssssse?”
“One more time only,” her mother said. “Then I have to get dinner started. The roast beef will take at least three hours to cook.”
Mallory’s mother read the book to her twice before making her way to kitchen to put the meat in the oven. Mallory stayed on the couch with the book sitting in her lap. She tried to read it herself but she had just memorized what her mother had read to her. After a few minutes she gave up trying to read it on her own and like any normal 5 year old, she turned to the television. She watched a little bit of Dora before going to her room to play with her Barbie dolls before dinner.
That day ended like any normal night in this family’s home. At about 9:00, the family climbed up the stairs after dinner. Clara went to her room to do whatever she did in there, Dad to his room to take his shower and Mom put Mallory to bed. She was not allowed to stay up any later, even though it was the weekend.
“Will you read my book to me before I go to sleep, Mommy, please,” Mallory asked.
“Of course I will, let me go get it from downstairs,” her mother said.
Mallory smiled with delight and waited for her mom to get back. It only took her about to minute to locate the book on the table beside the couch before she returned. She sat against her daughter’s pillow as Mallory placed her head on her chest and listened to her read.
Mallory’s eyes began to feel heavily as her mom finished the story. Her mom slid gently off the bed so that Mallory would go right to sleep once she turned the lights out. She found Teddy sitting on the end of the bed and lightly lifted her left arm and placed the brown bear safely there. If she happened to wake up she would find him. After a light kiss on the forehead she backed out of the room and flipped the light switch before closing the door.
As soon as the door clicked shut Malloy’s eyes shot open. Her fear of the closet monster was back. She snuggled into teddy’s furry head as she kept a sharp eye on the closet door. By this time, a storm had decided to make its way through the area. Mallory was not afraid of a storm but it did aid in intensifying he fear of the monster in the closet.
Mallory saw the thunderstorm as an omen, a dark omen. Tonight will be the night that the monster will be coming to get her. The thunder crashed and boomed outside her window. The lightning lit up her room in little flashes as it streaked across the sky. The lightning however, also created long shadows that Mallory saw as opportunities for the monster to slink across the room and get her. She tried to disappear into the fabric of the mattress but she knew it was useless. The monster could undoubtedly smell her or in some way sense she was hiding there.
An incredibly louder boom of thunder shook the house. Mallory instantly grabbed the nearest thing which happened to be the book her mom had been reading, as a weapon. Mallory held the book in front of her face with one hand and hugged Teddy with the other. She was conflicted between hiding behind this book and wanting to see when the monster was going to strike. With each flash of lightning, she saw Belle and the hideous beast dancing around a golden ballroom. She wondered when that image would change into sharp, jagged teeth.
The wind rattling the shutters on her window made her think of the monsters claws tapping on the floor. A draft filtered through the room and it she held her nose just in case it was the monster spreading some type of poisonous breath. When the lightning was bright enough to light up her room, the things in her room produced shadows on the wall and her 5 year old imagination saw huge monstrous shapes. A thought suddenly struck her as another streak of lightning flashed.
Belle, a lonely farm girl, was not afraid of the terrifying beast in the castle. Maybe she did not have to be afraid of the monster in her closet either. Who knows, maybe the closet monster will turn out to be some rich prince. A handsome prince who lived in a fairy kingdom and would fly her away to be his princess. Why would these stories exist of they could not happen?
Although she was still weary of the monster in her closet, still clutching the book in her hand, she stepped down off the bed. She had kissed Teddy on the forehead before venturing off, hopefully giving her good luck. She also did not want anything to happen to him if she guessed wrong. She took each step slowly and paused after each one just in case the monster was lying in wait for her somewhere in the shadows. She would step and then hold her breath. She would squeeze her eyes shut and listen intently. If she did not hear anything she looked all around her. The room remained dark except for the occasional flash of lightning. So far so good.
After what seemed like hours, Mallory finally made it close enough to her closet door where she could reach the shiny gold handle and open it. Removing one hand from the book’s spine, she reached towards the handle slowly. Her hand shook slightly in anticipation. When her hand made contact with the door, she quickly clenched her eyes shut tight. She thought something might jump out at her just for touching the door handle. When nothing did, she opened her eyes and carefully turned the knob. She was afraid to even breathe.
When the knob wouldn’t turn anymore she took a deep breath and swung the door open just as a bright flash of lightning lit up the sky. A loud boom of thunder made everything around her shake and the pounding of the rain rattled her window.
Mallory’s eyes were wide open. She held the book ready for the attack she knew came her way. She knew the monster had to be right in front of. She took the book and swung it violently through the air. She waited for the moment of impact. But none came. The book flew harmlessly, hitting nothing. A quieter flash off lightning lit up her room and for that split second she saw that the only thing in her closet was her clothes hanging up and her shoes paired up in a row on the bottom next to a stack of board games she rarely played. Not a single closet monster.
Mallory just stood there amazed as the noise of the storm died out in the background. Everyone had been wrong. Thomas, Valeria, they were all wrong. There was no monster with spike tails or purple scales or even leather wings. Nothing was trying to get her. The only that met her in her closet in the dead of the dark night were her clothes and some old games.
Mallory let out a sigh of relief as the book she had been holding fell to the floor. She glanced at the book’s cover. She thought of what Belle would have said in this situation. She would have been proud of her for not being afraid and now she would never be afraid of some silly story someone told her about some stupid monster ever again.
With her fear now abated, Mallory placed the book back on the nightstand and she crawled back into bed. She kissed Teddy once again on the forehead before snuggling with him into her pillows to enjoy a peaceful night of just sleep.
Her eyes flew open again. What about the monster under the bed?