The monster in my closet.

I'm 17 years old, and before you read this, understand that you’re not getting out alive.<br><br>I don’t know how long I have before it comes back, but I need to tell you my story before it’s too late. The monster in my closet will be coming for you.<br><br>I wasn’t born with a fear of the dark. From a young age, it was the light that terrified me most. I just couldn’t explain why. My parents thought that if I was allowed to sleep with the hallway light on at night, I would eventually grow comfortable with it, overcome my fear. So I lay there every night, my bedroom door cracked open just enough to let the harsh hallway light spill in.<br><br>One night, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned for hours, and I was thankful for the light that shone in through my cracked door. It comforted me, and eventually, I was able to fall asleep.<br><br>It was around 3 a.m. when I woke up. I could see my clock on the bedside table, the red numbers telling me that I had a few hours to go before school. I didn’t feel the need to get out of bed yet, but something had woken me up. I looked at the door.<br><br>It was shut.<br><br>I groggled and jumped out of bed to rush over to the door. I thought that I was just dreaming, that my parents were out there and had shut it by mistake. That just wasn't possible however, as my door was a little hard to push. The hinges were old and worn down, so it would need a bit more force to close it. But when I opened it, I saw nothing, just the bright hallway light. I shut it and went back to bed, calmed down enough to fall back asleep.<br><br>The next night, when I woke up, I saw that my door was open. I fell asleep with it closed, and I knew that I had. I wasn’t dreaming, I had done that on purpose, to be safe. I jumped up again, to go investigate what was going on, but when I reached the door, I saw that it was open. The light was shining in from the hallway, and I saw nothing. I jumped back into bed, got under the covers, and thought about why my door had been opened.<br><br>The next night, the door was closed. Again, I wasn’t dreaming, and I didn’t close it. I was thankful for the rush of light that spilled in when I opened it, and I again saw nothing.<br><br>This kept on happening every night. It went from being a fear of the light to a fear of the dark. I didn’t know what was happening, why my door kept on being opened and closed, but I knew that the light was there for me. It was keeping me safe.<br><br>One night, I was lying in bed, listening to the sound of my breathing. I was so paranoid about my door, and I knew that it was closed. I had shut it for a good reason, I knew that my parents were asleep, and there was no chance that I was dreaming. I was ready for whatever monster came my way, and I was going to fight.<br><br>I had left my phone on my bedside table, and I was lying in bed, ready to take on whatever came my way. I had locked downstairs, so I knew that whatever it was, it was already in my room. That was when I heard it, a faint scratch. It sounded like fingernails against a chalkboard, a cat’s nails against a scratching post, or monster’s claws against my door.<br><br>I shivered, and I gripped the phone in my sweaty palm. I was ready, I was going to shine the light on it and scare it away, and I slowly sat up in bed and turned around to face the door. The scratching had grown louder and more frequent, and I could see the door moving slightly. I gripped the phone tighter and shone the light onto the door.<br><br>I didn’t even need to shine it that far, as the monster had already squeezed through the slight opening that I had given it between the door and the door jamb. I saw a long arm, covered in razor sharp claws and dirty, rotten flesh. I saw a finger, a thumb, and the wrist; the rest of the arm was out of sight, but I could tell that it was long. The arm shot back into the crack that it had made for itself between the door and door jamb, and I let out a sigh of relief. I thought that I had scared it off, and I fell back onto my bed.<br><br>That was when I heard it, the scratching again. But this time, it was louder. The monster had squeezed its long arm through the small opening again, and this time, it was scratching at the door. I knew it was drilling its way through, and at the speed it was scratching, it would be inside my room within minutes. I could see scratch marks as the light from my phone flickered against it, and I could see the monster’s fingers slowly coming through the door.<br><br>I sat bolt upright in bed and watched in horror as the door slowly started to break. I shone my light against it, but it didn’t work. The monster kept on scratching, and I could hear the sound of the wood drilling as it slowly made its way through the door. I thought about calling my parents, but they wouldn’t believe me. I thought about calling the police, but by the time they got there, the monster would be gone.<br><br>I sat there, frozen against my bed, as the monster made its way through the door. As it came through, more and more, I saw its arm. I could see its elbow, and I could see its shoulder. I thought that it had squeezed its whole body through the door at that point, but I didn’t see it. I saw a head of black, messy hair, but that was it.<br><br>It squeezed its head through the door, and I could see a child's face. The face was twisted and disfigured, with razor sharp teeth and long, scratchy fingernails. The eyes were black as coal, and they glowed in the light of my phone. It was an evil face, and I could see that it had been like this for a very long time.<br><br>I was frozen in fear, unable to move as the monster squeezed the rest of its body through the door. I could see a long torso, covered in the same rotten flesh as the arm, with long, spindly legs and sharp claws. It let out a screech of excitement and jumped onto my bed, knocking me to the floor.<br><br>I fell onto the carpet, and I could feel the soft fibers digging into my skin. I looked up at the monster, who was crawling toward me. Its arms were outstretched, and its razor sharp claws were out. As it crawled closer, I could smell its horrid stench, the stench of death and decay.<br><br>The monster pounced, landing on top of me. Its claws stabbed into my skin, and I let out a deafening screech. I could feel warm liquid pumping out of my body, and I could feel my consciousness fading. As I looked up at the monster's twisted face, I knew I was dead.<br><br>That’s why you’re not getting out of here alive. I am the monster in your closet, and I am coming for you.<br><br>The light is gone, and the darkness has taken over. You may think that you’re safe, that your locked doors and windows will keep you secure, but they won’t. Not from me. You see, the light may have saved me, but it didn’t save my life.<br><br>I am the monster in your closet, and I’m coming for you. You won’t see me, and you won’t hear me, but you will feel me. You will feel my cold, undead breath on the back of your neck, and you will feel my cold, undead flesh as my long, spindly arms wrap around you and pull you into my dark little world. You will never see the light again.<br><br>Don’t bother calling for help. I will squeeze through the smallest of openings, and I will scratch my way through any material. I am the monster in your closet, and I have been coming for you your entire life. I am the child that everyone talks about, the one that you should never mentioning in front of your kids. I am the one who took them.<br><br>I am the monster in your closet, and I am coming for you.<br><br>I have squeezed my long fingers through your door, and I am scratching my way through it as we speak. I can see a sliver of light, and I know that I am almost there. I will come for you any second now, and I will squeeze my entire body through the door.<br><br>My twisted child’s face will be the last thing that you see in this life. You will feel a rush of pain as my long, spindly fingers wrap around you and pull you into my dark little world, a world filled with twisted, disfigured monsters; a world devoid of light. You will feel my cold, undead flesh as I take you with me, never to be seen again.<br><br>I am the monster in your closet, and I am coming for you.<br><br>I am almost through.