The Closet Downstairs

The Rose Garden

     I allow Cole to pull me out of the room, down the stairs that will now haunt me, and out the front door. It's chilly outside, and the sun hasn't come up yet, but this is a peaceful quiet, not an eerie quiet. I see our car, too ugly to be parked in front of this place. He turns to the right, after we come down the front steps, and gives me a big grin.
     "Wanna run?"
      I glare at him.
     "I don't run Cole, and you know that." I decide not to tell him about me sprinting down the stairs earlier.
     "Aw come on!" Cole draws a line in the dirt with the front of his shoe. He sets one foot right behind the line, and gets into the position to run a race. "Come on!" He says again, more serious this time.
     "It's so dark out here though. I would get lost!" I whine. I sound like a three year old.
     Cole gives me a dubious look. "Are you afraid of getting lost? Is that a fear of yours?" My back straightens. He did not just go there. I narrow my eyes at him, and roll up the sleeves of my sweater I had put on before walking out the front door. I march next to him, and get in the same stance. Cole chuckles a little, but I ignore him.
     "Well, are you gonna say go?" I ask.
     "Oh right." Cole clears his throat, but before he can call it out, I shove him and he rolls onto the ground. I can't hold in my laughter. Cole gets back to his feet, laughing too. This feels so good.
     I sprint in the direction we were planning to race in, with Cole charging after me. The wind whips my face and my hair blows wildly behind me. The noise fills my ears and I feel free of everything. Cole makes me feel like this and I love him for it. All my problems don't matter right now. Everything is perfect.
     Suddenly, I feel Cole's strong arms wrap around my waist and he picks me up, spinning me in circles. I scream and laugh at the same time.
     Finally, Cole sets me back down on the ground. I turn to him and smile.
     "That was awesome!"
     "I told you it would be!" He grins at me and we look like little kids again together. I treasure this moment, savoring it like a child would a chocolate. I will remember this forever.
     "Hey, I want to show you something."
      I nod and follow him. We only walk a few feet farther before we reach a tall black gate. I look at the fence. It's probably ten feet tall, and its' dark, black bars make it look like a prison...except for the roses growing all over it. There are hundreds and hundreds of white roses intertwining with the bars. I pass Cole and touch one of the roses. Its petals are soft and rubbery almost to the touch. The scent fills my nostrils.
     Cole comes next to me and pushes the gate open. To my surprise, it doesn't squeak at all. It brushes open easily. I walk in and gasp.
     The inside is gorgeous. There are a few trees, and under each tree is a small concrete bench. The ground is a cobblestone floor, and there are all sorts of autumn colors of leaves and rose petals. The roses continue to grow along the fence, the trees, on vines blowing in the breeze, and even on vines lining the floor. The ones on the inside of the fence are red and yellow. It gives the place color and a wonderful smell.
     "Wow," I whisper. "This is truly -"
     "Beautiful." A familiar raspy voice calls. I look at Cole and he nods. This is what he wants to happen. I begin to walk towards it. I hop over vines, duck under hanging roses, and admire its beauty.
     I finally find who the voice belongs to: the old man. He's sitting on one of the many benches under a tree, near the back of the fenced-in garden.
     "Hey Jerry!" Cole smiles.
     He looks at Cole and smiles, then at me. He surveys me, looking me up and down, then up and down again.
     "I knew you weren't blind! I tried to tell everyone, and no one believed me."
     "Or they were just polite enough and refused to call me a liar," Jerry smiles mischievously. I can't think of a comeback. He pats the spot on the bench next to him. I take the seat reluctantly.
     I notice his giant, abnormal ears sticking out of the sides of his head, making him look like an old mouse. His bushy white mustache makes me feel like I might sneeze and the few hairs left on his scalp blow in the breeze. He needs a fashion artist. His eyes can pierce a soul, know and understand everything you're going through. At the moment, his expression makes him look distant, like he's in another land, in another time.
     "You both went in the closet?" Jerry asks after a moment. I stare at him blankly before stammering,
     "How did you know?"
     Jerry gives a toothy grin. "I just do."
     I swear this guy creeps me out. He just has this weird...he's just weird.
     "I created that place. Well, I made a simulation to trick the mind into thinking everything it was seeing was real, making the mind think its worst nightmares were real." Jerry explains quickly.
     I am tempted to blow up at him, but instead, I just sit and gape at him. "You? You made that terrible, awful, sickening -"
     "Why?" Cole bursts out in frustration. "Why would you do that?"
      Jerry sighs and gets that distant look in his eyes again."25 years ago, I finally had this place built up, looking beautiful. It used to be an old place, but I got it all nice and built up. The garden, the house, all of it."
     "I discovered a room I didn't recognize. I walked in and it was a huge closet. It looked like three living rooms put together. But she told me it was a giant walk-in closet, so that was that."
     "Wait, who told you?" I interrupt.
     "I don't know her name," Jerry says softly after a moment of pondering. "She's a spirit lady. She was glowing a faint blue and had gorgeous silver hair. With her help, I created a world. An entire world I made in just 22 years."
     "You created a world from inside a closet?" Cole asks confused.
     "Hold up - you created a world in a closet, for 22 years? You spent 22 years locked away in a closet?" I smirk. "Please." When I see Jerry's face, I explain. "Well going into a closet and making a world? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
     "Well neither does seeing your worst fears inside of it." He smirks back at me. I shut my mouth.
     He continues his story. "I created a wonderful world, almost identical to Earth. I made a few changes, and my world was perfect; exactly the way I wanted it. The lady in the closet sent beings to live on it - humans - and they lived in harmony."
     "Her friends live on your planet?" I can't keep my mouth shut for long, apparently.
     "Yes, I suppose," he mumbles. "She said they were lone spirits, along with her, who were longing for a planet. So, once I created an adequate one, she found it safe to send them to it."
     "So, there's a lot of spirits?" Cole says, questioning himself.
     "Correct," Jerry nods. "However, there were bad, evil spirits that were sent down to my world. One of their names was Avirika."
     "Avirika? What kind of a name is that?" I ask incredulously.
     "Speak for yourself," Jerry spits out. I'm surprised by his agitated tone.
     Before I could retort, he continues, "She and her followers created wickedness, terrible crimes that caused misery in my world. Before long, all of the terrible crimes humans do today became addicting to these people." He sighs heavily, and I stay quiet.
     "I'm still confused," Cole says slowly. "Where does the worst fear thing come into all of this?"
     "Well," Jerry replies. "My people are in desperate need of a good, brave human to join them in their world and set an example to them. I want them to be truly happy, and the only way that that can really happen is for Avirika to be stopped." I stare at him blankly. Save his people? How about saving reality? I don't care about spirit people. "So, I figured I needed a humble person who could conquer their worst fears. Otherwise they would join the rest of my lost people. And obviously, after seeing your worst fears, you don't want to face them again." He sighs before finishing, choosing his words carefully. "To end the dreams, you must go into the closet, conquer your worst fears, and live in my world until you can save them."
     I stare, unbelieving at first. "What?!?" I jump off the bench, and point a finger at him. "You're making us save your world. What kind of a person are you? You can't make people do things for you!" I'm breathing heavily, my blood boiling. He can't do that! He's playing with my mind, making me play a part in his little game.
     "Well," Jerry says, a smile playing with the corners of his mouth. "Apparently I can."
     I march out of the garden. I leave Cole protesting, but I don't stop. I begin to run back to the house.