Alice sat on her bed with her feet dangling inches off the floor as she stared into her open closet at three dresses. Her breath was shallow and quick. She was scared, really scared. It wasn’t like she was a fraidy cat or anything she told herself. I mean, she had a reason. She looked past the dresses at the scratches gouged into the back wall of the closet and followed them upwards until they disappeared into the darkness. Sarah had made those. Alice had heard the sound of her nails scraping the wood and her screams even through the closet door. That hadn’t bothered her at all. I mean, Sarah had it coming. All those times Sarah had teased her in front of the other kids calling her weirdo and names like Alice in Freakyland.
Her foster parents never did anything to stop Sarah. She hated them. Alice took a quick breath and felt her eyes drawn back to the three dresses hanging in the closet. Perfectly spaced, but one was hanging slightly askew. Alice jerked her eyes away from the dresses back to the scratches. Sarah deserved it, she did, she really did. It wasn’t just the name calling. Sarah would just waltz into Alice’s room and push her around while laughing right in her face. But that was over. Alice never had to worry about Sarah again. Earlier, Sarah had strode in and walloped Alice on the back of the head as she was straightening the items on her small desk. Alice had fallen to the floor trying to hold back the tears when she saw the closet behind Sarah…open. Sarah had heard the low creak of the door’s hinges and turned to face the now open closet. Sarah had peered into the dark closet and then whipped back around to face Alice.
“Is that the red bow that I was talking about last night?” Sarah had snarled. Alice, still on the floor, glanced around Sarah’s legs into the closet to see a bright red hair bow lying on the closet floor.
“Did you think that I’d let a freak like you have the bow that I wanted!” Spittle had flown from Sarah’s mouth in her rage. Turning back to the closet, Sarah had stormed inside and snatched up the bow. Spinning around, she had faced Alice with a sinister sneer on her face when suddenly, the closet door had slammed. That’s when Alice heard the screams and the sound of Sarah’s nails gouging the closet’s cedar wall.
But that was not why Alice was scared. That’s not why she was terrified. She had felt uplifted by Sarah’s misfortune. She would never have to worry about Sarah again or Steve or Mikey for that matter. Steve had been the first into the closet that morning. Always taking Alice’s lunch money, the closet had offered him a chocolate cake. Stupid, Alice had thought. Why would there be a chocolate cake in a closet. Mikey was next. His downfall was a baseball bat. Mikey always loved hitting Alice’s dolls with a bat and this one had appeared at just the right moment.
Alice’s found that she was staring at the dresses again and jerked her eyes away. The dresses didn’t tempt her. She didn’t even like dresses. The closet would never be able to offer her anything that would make her enter. She knew its tricks. It was wasting its time offering her dresses. Of all things, what did she care about dresses? But, that center dress was going to fall off, just look at it. Stop it she thought, just ignore it. It wasn’t like it mattered if it fell off. Who cared? She most assuredly didn’t care. So what if it fell? If only it was tugged on just a little, it would settle on the hanger properly. She caught herself staring at it again and forced herself to look at her desk. There, much better, the pencils were aligned perfectly one inch apart and perfectly sharpened. The four quarters that her foster parents had given her for an allowance were in a perfect row with all four George Washington’s perfectly rotated to match. Her notebook was perfectly centered on the desk. She knew this because she had measured…twice. Alice glanced back at the dress and quickly tore her eyes away. No, there was nothing the closet could offer her. She was too smart to fall for its tricks. Her gaze landed on her shoes arranged under her window. Flip flops, sandals, old sneakers, new sneakers all spaced exactly four inches from the wall. Perfect. Alice’s heart raced. When had she left the bed? She hadn’t even noticed when she had stood up and moved towards the closet. What was she thinking? But, she could almost reach the dress.
Why did it have to be crooked?
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Larry Wade is a Manufacturing Engineer with over 18 years writing technical curriculum for high schools and colleges covering topics from robotics to fluid power. He is currently serving as Amatrol’s Marketing Operations Manager.
OCD and an evil, haunted closet — a deadly combination. Fun story!