Guardian in the closet

Every night is the same. I look at my closet terrified out of my mind, hoping the noises would stop. Scratching and howling moans. I cried to my mother for the fourth time that night and I was getting pretty annoying. To the point she didn’t come in that time. My father came storming into the room.

“Shut up and go to sleep!” his face was scrunched and with his darting eyes. “for the last time, there’s nothing in your fucking closet.”

“But I hear noises coming from the closet.”

My dad opened the closet door. “See, there’s nothing there. Now keep this door open. And if I see this door closed the next time I come in here, I’m beating your ass- goodnight.”

He slammed my bedroom door shut. Leaving me to whatever was trying to get out of my closet. My parents had enough of me being a huge scaredy cat. My mother was concerned about me, but my father, who I believed, hated me. Whenever I looked into his eyes, there was no sign of genuine love. Like he was obligated to love me by my mother for them to stay together.

As I lied there, gazing at my open closet, my mind was curious but also frightened on what was going to happen next.

The noise continued again. I braced myself for anything. The next few minutes were nerve wrecking. My whole body tingled and sweat came out of every pore. My heart raced and pumped so hard I could feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest. I put the covers over my head. My parents were right, I was a coward. Too scared to face whatever it was scratching inside my closet. But as I hid to not see anything, something wanted to be seen.

As I breathed heavily, I abruptly stopped. Something was breathing heavy too. And it was coming from under the covers. A black mass in the shape of a hand grabbed my face. I tried to scream, but the hand quickly covered my mouth to shut me up. A head popped out from the darkness under the covers. It was a woman, a very old woman, who didn’t look like a horrid beast of the night.

She put one finger over her mouth. “Hush, Jacob.” she said, the real monster is coming. Hide in the closet.“

My eyes were setting and I realized the woman was no other than my grandmother, who died a month ago. I was unsure if my eyes were deceiving me, or if it was actually her.

Moments later, I heard my mother scream and glass shattering.

“What’s going on?” I asked my grandmother.

“The monster is coming.” I heard footsteps coming from outside my bedroom walking up the wooden floor stairs.

Scared out of my mind, I did what I was told and hurried quietly to the closet. I closed the closet door, leaving only a crack to see what was going on. My bedroom door opened with a loud creak. The footsteps entered the room. I was shocked to find my father standing at the foot of my bed with blood on his clothes and holding a dark red coated knife. There was a large lump under my bed sheets. My grandmother was still under them. My dad walked to the side of the bed and began stabbing at the bed sheets. My eyes grew wider and wider. He wanted to kill me. There was passion in his movement. Like he wanted to do that for a very long time. The bed sheets deflated when he was done. He quickly moved the covers to find nothing there. I quietly whimpered at the sight. It was then I knew he killed my mother and I was next.

He heard my whimper and walked towards the closet. He quickly opened the door to find me sitting on the ground. I crawled backwards away from him. His eyes no longer showed any imitation of love he portrayed all these years. It was like a demon desiring death glaring back at me. He raised the blade in the air and I screamed. Then, behind me, my grandmother revealed herself and charged at him with a long howling screech.

My dad jumped at the horrible sight of my grandmother. He slipped on the bloody wooden floor and fell backwards. He hit his head on my desk with a loud thunk and stopped moving. I carefully walked out of the closet and looked at his face. Blood came from his head and his eyes shown no sign of life. Police sirens are heard outside my house. I turned back to my closet. My grandmother stood there with a smile on her face and vanished like sand in the wind.

Later on, police picked up the dead bodies of my dear mother and the monster. The real monster.

“So what you’re saying saying is your dead grandmother saved you from your father?”

I nodded. I couldn’t explain it well enough to do it justice. Take him to the loony bin, I thought the officer was going to say. But I was surprised when he said.

“Well it looks like an open and shut case. We’ll be sending you to your grandfather.”

I didn’t know what made the officer want to say this, but it changed how I saw monsters.

“Ya know kid. Real monsters don’t live in your closet. Real monsters roam the world just like you and I.”

I smiled at the officer. “You’re right. Real monsters don’t hide in the closet.” I said. “Only guardians do.”