Terror In The Closet

• Lucy Stokes, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

When Latina was just a child, she witnessed the tragedy of her mother’s death. That is when she became an orphan. Her father had died due to a car crash before she was born. And now the event of her mother’s death repeats in her mind over and over again and still does to this to this day.
She can still remember the hooded murderer from when he came in and until he left. Since then, questions have not stopped popping into her head. Who was this man? Why did he kill her? Not one of her questions was ever answered.
Latina carried her trunk to the small Inn on the opposite side of the road. The cool, damp night air made her wish she had taken her jumper out of her trunk. Her warm breath escaped her mouth like steam. Latina was frightened that she would slip on the slippery wet road.
She walked across the driveway and knocked on the Inn door. Almost immediately the door opened to reveal a short woman, the height of a broom. She had dark messy hair and dirt on her face; she smiled at Latina with a very toothy grin and asked, “What can I do for you luv?”
“How much is it for a room for a night?”
The woman’s smile turned into a greedy grin, “15 marbles for a night.”
Latina paid the woman and followed her up the wooden stairs to a small room, “It’s not much but it’s all we got left luv,” and walked away.
Latina placed her trunk at the foot of the bed and looked around. The thing that stood out the most was the wooden closet; the key was still inside the lock. Latina laid down on the bed and tried to sleep.
She suddenly heard a tapping from inside the closet. Latina jumped up and opened the closet. Instantly a woman burst out and sat on the bed facing the empty closet, screaming. Latina had fallen back and was now sitting on her trunk which had fallen off her bed and onto the floor.
A hooded figure emerged from the closet and was heading for the terrified woman. Latina couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t let herself see
her mother die again. She couldn’t just sit there and do nothing! Latina pulled the sheet from her bed and threw it over the man’s head and pushed him back in to the closet, her back pushing hard against the door to stop it from opening.
Latina woke up panting and sweating, it had just been a dream. No, a nightmare. She got up, picked up her trunk, and walked out the door. She ran down the stairs and out of the Inn, into the morning air, the morning breeze cooled down her sweating as she walked down the town street, hoping terror wouldn’t follow her.