My Parents Won't Let Me Open My Closet

I lived in my grandparents' old, broken house for two years since we couldn't afford a new one. I wonder why they told me to not open the door to the closet in my room, which was permanently locked. Hence, I kept my clothes and stuff in a trunk under my bed. The place always gave me the worst vibes possible, and whenever I was in the house, weird thoughts used to come up such as my parents won't come home from work or someone might break in. That's why I preferred staying in school with my friends. Maybe the reason was that I had no siblings. Just 8-year-old me, alone in my dark, gloomy home with nothing but silence.

One day, my parents informed me that they are gonna be out of the city for a night. I heard the words come out of my mother's mouth, and I felt my heart drown in fright. How would I be spending the night alone? However, I tried to rewire my brain and think about what could go wrong. Surprisingly it worked, and I felt less tense, but that wouldn't last long. Soon as my parents footed down the creaky porch, terror settled back in. I distracted myself by watching cartoons and talking to my friends on call. There were a few creaks, but that could be just the house fixing itself. Sun went, and I went to bed. But falling asleep felt impossible. I just kept staring at the closet door. The silence was too loud, and I could hear my breath clearer than ever. Fortunately, drowsiness overcame my fear, and I fell asleep.

Later, I woke up to a clangorous wood creak. Everything felt normal except that my breath was leaving a dense cold smoke. The temperature was dramatically low. Eventually, I woke up to realize that it was just a dream, nothing else. I raised my head to scan my room for anything unusual. Everything was normal. I took a deep breath of relief and fell back asleep immediately.

But then I woke up again. The temperature was chillier than before. It was another dream. It had to be. But the temperature wasn't the only thing different. Now, the closet door was open. I jumped out of my bed and hesitantly tip-toed to the closet. It was unlit, and there was no light bulb. However, the moonlight was able to illuminate a corner of the closet where I saw my grandparents sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, holding a baby, which I assumed to be me. They stared right into my soul with no facial expression while singing songs in a faint voice to keep the baby (or myself) asleep. I felt the current disperse from my spine to my body, and I let out a hysteric scream and woke up instantly.

I was relieved that that horrible dream was over. The same old bedroom and the smell of damp wood. However, the closet door, it was open.

I froze in time, just staring into the dark void without blinking. Was it my parents who had returned in the middle of the night and opened the door? Did someone break in? Am I still dreaming? There was no chance I would go and investigate the closet. The only smart move I could do is to rush out of the house and stay out till my parents return. I jumped out of bed, slammed the door open, and sprinted out of the house. I ran and ran away onto the wet empty roads and the night was spent outside.

Sun finally rose, and my parents returned. They stepped out of the car and I hastened to hug my mom, and tears started rolling down. I stammered and stuttered and told them about the experience. They were surprised themselves since the closet's keys were with them, and the house showed no sign of forced entry. I was then sent to my aunt's house while my parents shifted to a new home.