The Door

Janet-1971

There's a door, the size of a small child, in the back of my grandma's closet that has never been opened, not for lack of trying, it just won't open. I remember as kids, my cousins and I would sneak in there and try everything we could to open it, but nothing worked. We would make up stories about what could possibly be on the other side of the door. A scary monster, a dead body, a scary clown. All sorts of terrifying things a child brain could conjure. I was 16 years old the day my grandma died, i went into her room shortly after the coroner wheeled her body out. I wanted to feel close to her again so I did what I used to do. I crawled into her closet and sat next to the small door, I sat with my back pressing against the back wall, closed my eyes, and let myself feel the loss.

I'm not sure how long I stayed there before I heard a clicking noise. I opened my eyes to see the small door next to me, completely open. I peered into it but I couldn't see anything. It was completely dark. I heard a whistling type noise, almost like a breeze going through a cracked window. The eerie feeling that took over me was incredible, I've never felt so much terror and dread all at once. I tried backing away but it was like I was glued to the floor. My breaths were getting quicker and my heart was beating harder. Something touched my shoulder and started pulling me further into the door. I tried yelling for help but I couldn't find my voice.

“Janet! Janet, where are you?!” Janet’s mother yelled. She walked into her mothers room, checked the closet and saw nothing but the odd door. She bent down, tugged on the knob but as it had always been, it was locked and didn't budge. “Where could she have gone?” Janet’s mother searched everywhere inside and outside of the house to no avail. She called the police, they got the entire town searching for her. After searching daily for 3 months, the search was called off. The story was that she had simply ran away, found her way to the main highway and hitched a ride with a stranger to who knows where. Her mother knew how heartbroken she had been about the loss of her grandmother, she understood why she would run away, it didn't mean it hurt any less. The plan was to sell the house and split the money between the family, but now she has decided to keep it. She didn't want to move, just in case Janet made her way home. She never did.

Doreen-1991

My aunt Georgia passed away yesterday, in the very same bedroom her mother had passed away in 20 years ago, the same day as her daughter, my favorite cousin, Janet went missing. She stayed in this house, locked away, waiting by the window until dark and always leaving a light on for her missing daughter. Janet never returned. For the last 20 years, I've been thinking about her. I imagined that she grew up, changed her name, and had a family of her own. It's what I've always hoped for her. I'm here at the house today because it is now mine. A part of me wants to do what Aunt Georgia did, sit by the window, hoping for her to return, but the larger part of me knows that she isn’t coming home.

I walk into the master bedroom and see that nothing has changed in this room at all. Everything is exactly the same as I remember it being. No one in my family had interest in any of this stuff so I'm just bagging it all up and throwing it away. Aunt Georgia was not one to make messes so this should be easy work, then I'll be moving my things in. My divorce was final last week and I was really needing a change. I hate how the change came about but this was a blessing in disguise.

It took me almost a week to get this place cleared out and replace it all with my things. My first night in the house is tonight and I've got to say, I'm a little creeped out. Two of my loved ones have died in the same room that is now my bedroom. When I was clearing out the closet, I found the small door again. I had forgotten all about that thing. We all had so much fun trying to figure out what was behind it. I tried opening it again today, but of course, it didn't budge. I was always so curious as to what was behind that thing. I'll try again using some tools I found in the shed as soon as I wake up, I'm exhausted.

A clicking woke me up out of a dead sleep. I flipped on the light on the bedside table and looked around for the source of the noise. I didn't see anything at first, but then I noticed the closet door was open. I peered inside and saw that the small door at the back of the closet was also open. I have never seen that door opened before, I'm guessing that all of the things I tried earlier to get it open, had some effect.

The part that freaked me out wasn’t that the door was finally open, it was the sound coming from the door. It was almost like somebody was crying. I took a weary step forward, towards the door and the sound. “Doreen. Doreen, is that you?” I was frozen to the floor where I stood, the crying and the voice was that of my cousin Janet. She had been missing for 20 years, there's no way it could be her. No, I'm just tired, I’m still asleep. This is a dream, yeah this is a dream. That's the logical explanation. I tried turning around to go back to sleep, but I couldn't move. This time though, it was not from fear. I just couldn't move, no matter how hard I tried.

“Doreen, come closer. I can't climb out of this door myself. I seem to have gotten myself stuck and I need your help to pull me out. Give me a hand, would ya?” Janets disembodied voice called me to her, I couldn't leave her in there, could i? She was my best friend, my favorite cousin. I could bring her home. I moved forward like i was on a conveyor belt, i couldn't feel my feet carrying me towards the door, but i was moving towards it, towards her. I knelt down to reach for the pale hand that was now sticking out of the door, “Janet? I'm here, grab hold of me and we will get you out of there.”

The cold hand gripped mine, it was then that i realized that's not Janet, the scream was just starting to tear through me…”SOMEBODY HELP M…….

3. Riley-2021

“Just one night, that's all you have to stay. Don't be such a chicken shit.” Danny said as I looked up at the creepy house in front of us. This house has been boarded up for as long as I can remember. The story is that everyone who lives there either dies in the house or disappears completely. It's been on the market for years but no one dares buy the place. “I heard you can hear them screaming when you get close to the door.” Danny is trying to scare me, but he doesn't realize that I'm not scared at all. I’ve been dying to go in this house, no pun intended, for most of my life. I'm absolutely buzzing with excitement. The $500 bucks I'll get when I walk out of here in the morning will be the icing on the cake.

The more scared he thinks I am, the more money he offers to bet me. It started out as $100, we are now at $500. He is incredibly easy to con. He hands me my backpack with my overnight supplies, a blanket, pillow, and snacks and I start walking towards the house. There's a window in the back of the house I climb into that isn't fully boarded up, it's most likely because curious teenagers have crawled in and out of there doing who knows what over the years.

I immediately smell the mustiness of the house, houses have never scared me. Someone loved it here, they made it their home. Houses are just the carcasses of lives once lived. If you pay close enough attention, you can see a whole life in the walls, the floors, paint colors, and left behind furniture. People's homes say a lot about them. I'm about to find out about the people who lived and died here.

Making my way through the house without the use of a flashlight is proving difficult but I’m managing. Once my eyes adjust to the absurd darkness, I make my way through the living room. The furniture is all still here, covered in various sheets like they were going to paint and wanted to protect it from any droplets that may fall while they worked. I ran my hand across every surface, feeling for any fragments of life the furniture might have. This place was beautiful at one point, you can tell. So much work was put into it, so much happiness and love built this place. There are pictures on the walls depicting a loving family, many generations. I hate that tragedy struck them so many times.

I started climbing the stairs, the beautiful hardwood intricate banister feels cool under my fingertips. Walking through this house, where so many tragedies happened, feels surreal. I feel intrusive but money is money and Lord knows I need it. I finally get to the master bedroom where I plan on spending the night and I can't believe how beautiful it is. There is a large window with a sitting area underneath it, perfect for reading. The four poster bed in the middle of the room is absolutely gorgeous, dusty but gorgeous nonetheless. I walk across the room and open the door to the rather large walk-in closet, it is still completely filled with clothes, like the lady that lived here just stepped out for the day, not like she was never coming home.

I crouched down to look at the shoe boxes on the closet floor to see what was in them, when I noticed a small door at the back of the closet. It looks just big enough for a small child or maybe an animal to fit through. It's probably the door to some sort of attic. I tried turning the door knob, it would turn, but when i pulled it wouldn't come open. Hmm. Definitely curious about that. I pull on the door for probably 10 minutes and finally give up when it shows no signs of opening. I explore various other areas of the house until I finally get tired enough to try to sleep.

It is Summer and there is no electricity here for the air conditioner to be running, but it is suddenly so cold in here I can see my breath. I've never really believed in ghosts but I've seen enough scary movies to know this is not a good sign. The air is thick, my chest feels tight, and I realize that this is what complete fear feels like. This is a fight or flight moment and I can't for the life of me run. Every feeling I have is telling me to get up and run, but instead I turn my head to a noise on my left. A creaking noise is coming from the closet. I quickly became every stupid girl in a horror movie, and moved toward the noise. I don't know how it happened but I was in front of the small door in the closet before I could really comprehend what was going on. Something grabbed my ankle and pulled me down onto my back, I didn't have much time to react. I accepted my fate quickly, this is where I die.

*The next morning*

“Riley! You did it, you crazy bitch! I didnt think youd make it.” Danny yells as he's coming up the stairs of the boarded up home. “Riley?! Where are you?!” Fuck! Danny yelled to no one in particular. He noticed her things were still there, but there was no sign of his friend. He scoured every inch of that house and didn't find her. He decided to go back upstairs, collect her things, and take them with him. Hoping that she just skipped out in the middle of the night when she got spooked. “Turns out you were a chicken shit after all.”

A creak came from the closet and Danny heard his name being called. “Oh Danny boy, there's no chicken shit here, come help me out of this closet.”

“Jesus Riley, you scared the shit out of me! Guess I'm the chicken now, huh?”

“Just come get me out of here. Grab my hand.”

At that moment, Danny saw a hand come out of the small door in the back of the closet. He sighed with relief until he grabbed the hand with his own. It was impossibly cold and had a grip like a vice. Before he could make another peep, he was pulled into the door with it slamming shut behind him.

5. Harper- 2021

“This is Stu LeBlanc with Channel 4 news, coming to you live from what has come to be known as the house of horrors. This is the site of 4 confirmed disappearances. Janet Collins in 1971, Doreen Atchison in 1991, and Riley Wittmore and Daniel Trowbridge just 3 months ago. The Collins family who has owned the home since the late 50’s has decided to have it torn down. In mere moments the end of a very tragic era, one that has shaken our community for decades, will finally happen.”

I click off the TV and look out my front window where that douche canoe is giving his news report. He looks exactly like you think he would, a pompous asshole with a God complex. The eyesore next door is finally getting torn down so I'll have several days or maybe even weeks of loud construction happening. Not looking forward to that, but at least it'll be gone and my mom will quit bitching about it every time she goes out the front door or looks out the window. She is currently sitting on the front porch watching it all go down. I think she is more afraid of that house than she is pissed off by it bringing down the value of the neighborhood.

I saw Riley and Daniel before they disappeared. I could see them from my bedroom window, talking out front. She had a backpack and he looked like he was laughing. They seemed happy, full of life. I don't know what happened but no one saw them again. I never saw Riley leave that night, and Daniel went in the window the next day. I figured he was just going in to get her, but he never left either. Not that I saw anyway. The police interviewed me but I guess nothing came of it because they were not found, just their things.

I look from my mother to the house next door just in time to see the wrecking ball go through the top floor. They may make quick work of it after all. It's coming down pretty quickly, hopefully the clean up will be just as swift. I don't want to think about that house anymore after today. I hate being the last person to see Riley and Daniel. I should have just minded my own business but I have always been a people watcher. I have been super observant since I was little, I like seeing things that other people tend to not notice. I stay quiet and in the background most of the time so that I can observe. You learn a lot about people when they think they aren't being watched.

I stood at the window watching the house be reduced to nothing more than a large pile of wood, wires, and rubble. Mom came in happier than I have seen her in a while. “It's gone, Thank God. Did you see it go down?” “Yeah I did. I think I'm going to go to bed. Love you.” I heard her say “Love you too, kiddo” as I was walking up the stairs to my bedroom. I went to my closet to pick out my clothes for school tomorrow. Normally I don't care much but it's picture day so i have to look like i at least tried to put myself together. Moving my shirts aside, I noticed something very strange. In the back of my closet, there was now a small door that was never there before. I wanted to keep my curiosity at bay because I knew this was impossible but I'm looking right at it. I have lived in this house my entire life and this is the first time I have seen it. I allowed myself a moment of stupidity and tried to open the door. It opened right up, everything was black in there. The cold coming from the door was unbearable, before I knew it, I was being pulled forward into the door.

Downstairs, Harper's mother heard a door slam shut. She went up to see what was going on. When she looked in her daughter's room, she saw that she wasn't there but that her closet door was open. Her mother walked over to the closet, looked inside and saw the small door. She turned to run because that door had never been there, when something grabbed her leg and dragged her backwards into the door. The small door slammed shut for the last time, finally having been sufficiently fed.