The Closet-Dweller {#Wattys2016}

The Closet-Dweller

"Goodnight, Anna," said her mother as she closed the bedroom door.

"No, wait! Leave it open!" Anna cried, but too late. The door had already shut with an audible click.

Her eyes darted around the darkness, not daring to close them as she lay in bed. The noises didn't start until eleven. Not until after her mother was asleep.

There was nothing to do but lay there for hours, terrified and in the dark. One might have suggested turning the lamp on, but Anna didn't ever want to see what made the noises.

10:59.

The house was silent. Anna waited, clutching the edge of her blanket. She kept her eyes glued to the closet doors, which were shut tight.

11:00.

It started off as soft scratches coming from the inside of the closet. In a way, these first few moments were always the worst, as she waited for what was to come.

Anna burrowed further under the covers. She couldn't wake her mother. Not after the last time.

The clawing noises evolved into low, guttural growls, increasing in volume and hostility. It didn't take long for them to become full-out snarls, sounding as if something was preparing to attack.

Anna suppressed a whimper. Squeezing her eyes shut, she reached over and turned on the lamp beside her bed. Slowly, she opened one eye.

The room was empty and silent, save for her own breathing.

Except now, the closet doors were ever-so-slightly ajar.

+++

The next morning, Anna's vision was bleary with sleep; or rather, a lack thereof. Even after the feral noises from the closed had subsided, she couldn't sleep. Not with the knowledge that she wasn't alone in her room. 

"Why so tired, kiddo?"

Anna jolted awake, only seconds away from falling asleep in her cereal. Zombielike, she shrugged, and continued munching. Every few seconds, her eyelids grew impossibly heavy and fluttered closed before she forced them open again in an attempt to stay alert. 

Her mother finished making Anna's lunch, and set it on the counter.

"Just one more day," her mother said. "Then tomorrow's the weekend. It'll be here before you know it."

She ruffled Anna's hair and sent her on her way to school.

The day was no kinder than the night had been. Alicia proved to be just as harsh, knocking Anna's lunch off her desk and sneering from across the classroom when the teacher's back was turned. 

She doesn't matter, Anna's mother had told her. Having pierced ears and a late bedtime doesn't make somebody a person worth listening to.

In her mind, Anna countered each of Alicia's taunts and jeers with the phrase. 

She doesn't matter.

It did little to help.

+++

Darkness fell, and the night settled in again. It was a Friday, and Anna was allotted an extra hour of reading before she went to bed. She spent the evening sitting up and watching her closet doors, which she had since closed. She was armed with nothing but a flashlight, a plan, and a raw hotdog on a plate (which she had pilfered from the fridge).