The Closet Downstairs

My Worst Fears

     I am terrified. "OK Cole! You win! I'm scared and I want to go to sleep now." Silence. I try again. "Hello?"
     A loud thud echoes across the room - or at least I think it's a room. I gulp. "Please Cole! I'm done! You've had your fun and I'm scared." A glimmer of light shines hundreds of feet in front of me. I feel relief slide slowly throughout my body. I relax, and my shoulders slump a little. "Wow this is a big closet!" I yell. "What's it used for?"
     A small chuckle comes from the light and echoes off the walls back to me. "A closet? This is where I live. And I like where I live." The voice is cold and hard. I don't recognize it.
     "Who are you?" I ask in a low voice.
     "You should know me. I'm surprised you don't recognize me."
     "I can't see you. How am I supposed to recognize you?" I try to sneer. It comes out sounding like a threat from a toddler.
     Then, a thunderous laugh pounds like thunder through the closet. Or I thought it was a closet. I'm not sure of anything right now. I begin to tremble as chills run up and down my spine. I feel like something is crawling up my back. Wait - is something crawling up my back?
     I look down and see hundreds of spiders crawling towards me. They are all over my legs and are crawling up my back and onto my neck. I hate spiders. I scream and begin to throw myself all over the place. I try to kick at the spiders on the ground and shake the ones off my legs while I whack at the spiders on my arms. They scatter all over the ground, but they don't give up. They keep coming. I feel a sharp pain in my left ankle and I cry out. A spider bit me. My ankle begins to swell and is a bright red. I feel another on the back of my neck.
     "You see Rhiana, this is your imagination... almost. This is all happening like a nightmare in your head but it's actually real. Does that make sense?"
     I give up at fighting the spiders. They seem to bite less when I stand still. Their disgusting eight legs crawl all over my body and I can hardly stand it. Tears run down my cheeks but I try to act brave and defiant. "None whatsoever."
     "Good," is all the voice says.
     Then, all of a sudden, I look down to see the spiders but they are gone. Instead, they have been replaced by a pile of clothes. I try to pick them up but find that my arm won't move. I'm stuck. I can't move. I try to wiggle free but nothing seems to work. I am tied to a pole. When I look up to see the light again, instead I see a crowd of people. They are laughing. Why are they all laughing at me? I turn my face down, red with embarrassment and find why they are laughing at me. My clothes are on the ground. Desperate, I try to cover myself, but my hands are tied. The crowd laughs even harder. Tears are raining steadily out of my eyes, and my face is burning. The pole is cold against my bare skin. A man holds a torch that is flaming. I scream and cry for help but everyone laughs harder. He tosses it, and it skims my toes. I watch it as it lands into a bundle of sticks surrounding the pole that wasn't there before.
     "Wow what interesting fears," the voice echoes again. I feel myself burning with humiliation as well as burning under the flames. I feel like my feet are melting. They probably are. "You are very interesting yourself you know."
     "You don't know me," I hiss under my breath. Then, I scream out in pain as the flames take me over. The pain is indescribable.
     Next thing I know, I'm lying on the floor of the cold closet floor. I'm shivering and trembling. I am covered in spider bites and burns. I am weak and cold.
     "As I was saying," the voice whispers. I open my swollen eyes to see a blurry vision in front of me. It's a man. "I know you so well. Too well, in fact." I push myself into a sitting position and ignore the stinging pain.
     "Who are you?"
      He leans close into my face so I can clearly see him. I gasp. It's my father. "No!" I scream out and try to push myself away from him but he has hold of my arm.
      "Rhiana don't run from me. I am your father! You do as I say!" He swings his hand back and smacks my cheek. My cheek screams in pain. I look back at him to see his eyes filled with hate and greed.
      "This isn't you," I whisper to him. "You aren't my Dad. I want my real Dad back."
      "I'm gone Rhiana," he snaps. I quickly get to my feet and begin to back away. "I've been gone for a almost a year now and you haven't even heard from me. You know the truth as well as I do." I shake my head again and again as I continue to back up. He begins to follow me. His face gets a menacing smile on it. "I left you Rhiana. You weren't worth anything to me. I hate you."
      "No," I cry out. My back hits the wall behind me. I'm stuck. My father slowly approaches me. "You aren't my real Dad," I repeat. "This is all a dream."
      Then, a woman appears behind him. "Come Jeremy. You shouldn't torture your daughter." I freeze. That's my Dad's name. He looks behind his shoulder at her, then at me.
      "That's not my daughter." The words stab me like a knife. This has been a worry in my mind for a year. My Dad left to go somewhere and hasn't contacted us in about a year. Mom says it's his work. I know better. He hates us. He hates me.
      My hand finds the door knob behind me and grips it tight. Before anything else can happen, I fling the door open and run as fast as I can. I run back down the hallway of stairs, through the kitchen, fly back up the main stairs, and into my bedroom. I lock the door behind me.