Behind

"Mommy!" Ella called, as she reached the bottom of the stairs and hung onto the railing.

The light of the moon seeped into the living room through the large, glass windows. It was half past ten, way past Ella's bedtime. Yet, her mother was still in her kitchen, writing on some papers.

"Mommy, you have to come scare the monsters behind my closet." Ella whimpered, her bare feet sticking to the hardwood floor. She found her way over to the pale couch where her mother was writing.

Ella's mother looked back at her. Her tired eyes met her daughter's puppy-dog ones. "Sweetie." She began, but soon stopped herself. She wasn't about to tell her daughter that monsters don't exist. Because if she did that, then that would mean magic wouldn't exist. And, that would be the end of Santa and the tooth fairy.

"Mommy, it's there." Ella exclaimed. She was extremely sure that there was a monster in her closet, no matter what anybody else said. "I swear." She said, nodding her head.

Her mother gave a little smirk. "Sweetie, why don't you do it yourself?"  She questioned. "Surely, if the monster would be afraid of me it would be afraid of you." She stated, sure of herself.

Ella let out a small groan. "You just don't get it." She said, angrily. "The monster can smell fear. And since you're not afraid of it and I am..." She trailed off, figuring that her mom would get it.

Her mother sighed. "Alright, fine." She finally agreed. She got up and placed the papers that she was working on on the coffee table.

Ella smiled, happy that she got her way. She took her mom's hand and shuffled over to the stairs. She took them one at a time, her steps getting quieter as she reached the top. Ella put a finger to her lips, signalling to be quiet.

Her mother rolled her eyes, but still smiled and put a finger to her lips. Once they made it to Ella's bedroom, she pushed the door and it opened with a creak. Ella's grip on her hand tightened as the closet can into view.

"Open it, Mommy." Ella whispered, her voice wavering. It was very clear how scared she was. She had been afraid of her closet ever since they first moved into the creaky, old house.

Ella's mother's hand hovered in the air in front of the bronze doorknob. The sound of her daughter's voice truly scared her, Ella had never been this scared of the monster in her closet. She rolled her eyes. There was no such thing as monsters.

Ella held her breath as her mother swung the door open. Her mother looked back at her. "Ella, there's nothing there." She sighed, closing the door and turning to face her daughter.

Her mother thought that her daughter would be relieved, but her eyes looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Goodnight, sweetie." She said, kissing Ella's forehead and walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Ella stayed put. She stared at the empty closet. She could hear something coming from the closet that her mother couldn't. Haunted whispers. Haunted whispers came from the closet.

"Sinner, sinner." The voice spoke, it's silky sound wrapping around Ella. It tried to pull her in.

Ella slowly tiptoed backwards. The voice tried to take her, but it wouldn't. She darted to the door and reared it open. She sprinted down the hall screaming, "They're after my soul!"

"No escape." The voices whispered. No matter how much Ella ran, the voices were always faster.

Ella ripped down the stairs, tripping on the last one. She looked back up at the stair she tripped on. She could have sworn that there was no broken floorboard there when she had gone up them with her mother.

She suddenly remembered her mother. "Mommy!" Ella shrieked. She scrambled to her feet and made her way over to the leather couch that her mother should be.

"Empty house. Full of sins." The voice whispered, as if it was right behind her.

Ella looked at the couch. She didn't believe that there was no one there. The voices were right about the empty house.

"No escape." They whispered, now right beside her.

Ella slid down the back of the couch. She sat on the hardwood  floor and slowly laid her head down, too. A small tear slid down her cheek before she closed her eyes.

"No escape. No escape." The voice kept repeating. The whispers were inside of her now, a part of her. One with her.

Ella's blond hair was spread out around her head. Her head filled with haunted whispers. Her pink, poka-dotted pajamas hung loosely on her body. Her body that was filled with sins.

The eight year old felt hundreds of souls rummaging around inside of her, trying to find her own soul. She knew that this was the end, the voices had been telling her about this day for a long time.

Ella gasped as her eyes flew open. She winced and clutched her chest. There was some sort of feeling as if something was eating her from the inside, starting with her heart. She called out for someone, anyone.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. At first, Ella thought that the voices had left, but that thought soon ended. Soon, everything ended. There was one last pierce of pain in her chest, then everything went black. The lights went black, the air went black. Her eyes went black, and so did the eyes of everyone else who was currently within one block of the small girl.

"No escape." The voices whispered one last time.