Monster

Every night at exactly 2:13 a.m., 12 year old Emma heard crying coming from inside her closet. Her parents blamed scary books and an overactive imagination, but the sound kept getting louder every night with soft sobbing, like someone trapped and begging not to be forgotten. One stormy Thursday, Emma finally worked up the courage to open the closet door after the crying suddenly stopped. Inside was nothing except deep scratch marks carved into the wood and a sentence written in shaky letters: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP ME LOCKED INSIDE.

A cold breath touched the back of Emma’s neck. The crying started again, but now it was coming from underneath her bed. Trembling, she slowly looked down and saw pale fingers curling around the edge of the mattress. Then a girl with soaking wet hair and hollow black eyes pulled herself out, crying so hard her shoulders shook. Emma tried to scream, but the girl suddenly stopped sobbing and smiled. “Now,” she whispered, “it’s your turn to cry.”