Here we go, another chapter. Thanks everyone!
Somewhere inside this closet
Your whole life exists
An evil little secret
That keeps you so nervous
You're boarding up your windows
In fetal on the floor
But what you're keeping out is on the wrong side of the door
I know the reason you're running scared
I met the monster inside your head
You never know the feeling of being alive
It's not enough, it never stops coming...
.
— Monster
by Sick Puppies
-.-.-.-
Ever since they were both six, Jillian has always thought that her neighbor, or the girl she'll see swinging alone at recess was an odd girl. Most of the class thinks so, anyway.
...It's as if Mary is a horrible person, no, Jillian doesn't hate Mary really, and it's not like Mary gets into a lot trouble in school. Yet, there is...something odd about Mary she just can't explain. Mary looks relatively normal on the outside. She's slender and slim, and sweet, and her face is pale, speckled with little brown freckles across her cheeks, and her hair is something the other girls would be jealous of. It hangs long and naturally straight against her back, and it's sleek and shiny, raven black, and even though Mary was born in America, that hair of hers is fit for a Japanese princess.
But, it's just...Mary acts like she has this secret, a big secret, and she won't share it with anyone else because it's only hers to keep, and Jillian assumes that is what unsettles her. Mary's mysterious and in some way secretively special, and she's seemingly happy about that.
And while Jillian feels a little guilty believing all of this, she still dreads being forced to spend another night with Mary in the same room. They're both thirteen now and are growing up fast, however, Jillian isn't allowed to stay at home alone for several days at a time without somebody reasonable there to support her. See, the thing is that her parents worked as payed partners outside the city half of the year; they need to travel for court and such, and because of that, Jillian's usually placed within the comfort of Mary's house next door. It's close by obviously, and Jillian can still get to school and use the exact same bus stops without delay, and overall it's just easier on her parents than having to risk the hassle of flying her out to California to live with her aunt every single time they had to leave.
And her parents liked Mary's parents. Their mothers first met when they were in college back then. Jillian liked Mary's parents, too. They were familiar faces, and are always kind and generous to her whenever she's due to arrive on their front step carrying her blue duffle bag, and they do what they can to make her feel entirely welcome.
It's during and after their set bedtime though, when that initial cloud of comfort tends to slip away from her, and Jillian's left lying there on the foldable futon alongside of Mary's bed, huddled beneath her blanket, witnessing things she wishes that can't exist. This has happened before. She can confirm that Mary does have a secret like she'd thought, and it is a rather big deal, but Jillian can't bring herself to say anything to the adults for she doesn't understand it herself. She can't confess if she can't even explain what she wants to confess in the first place, can she? So, she keeps her mouth shut and pretends to sleep near Mary. She pretends she doesn't know that Mary will quietly sneak her way out of the covers, tiptoeing towards her closet door—and that door—the door itself is stark white with pink cherry petals painted on its front, and it looks so innocent, but as soon as Mary opens it, it has the power to unleash certain nightmares girls their age and younger should be afraid of.
Jillian usually cracks an eye open, out of scorching fear and also a twisted sense of curiosity, and watches Mary slide further into the darkness of her own closet, disappearing completely for a while as if there's no real walls beyond that point (which doesn't make sense at all, since during the day, Jillian can see the four walls that make up Mary's closet.) Although, for some reason, the closet changes after sunset and transforms into something more than what it seems (and obviously Mary's far too accustomed to this, because it doesn't faze her. In her black leggings and her loose pink sports tank top with thick white stripes down the middle, she'll deliberately crosses that anonymous threshold eagerly.)
And The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe used to be Jillian's favorite book. It's not anymore. Because in real life (in their lives) no good can come from a door turning into supernatural portals opening up to another world.
Sometimes, Jillian will even see strange shapes coming up to Mary first. There's mainly two of...whatever they are, and one's terrifyingly large and broad and spikey while the other's short and round, but no less intimating, for through the shadows, Jillian might be able to catch a glimmer of one giant eye glinting under the moonlight, or the white flashes of a lot of sharp-looking teeth. And other times, she'll just hear demonic hisses and pants and grunts and voices starting to whisperings amongst themselves...voices that sound inhuman and they tend to greet Mary with saying, "Boo."
This peculiar gesture makes Mary laugh back at them. It doesn't make her run out and lock the closet behind her in fright.
Finally, something in Jillian's young reeling mind just happens to click into place, and the puzzle becomes a little clearer. That when the shapes say Boo, they mean Mary. Mary is Boo. And she's actually friends with these...these...horrifying whatever-things. These monsters.
So, this is Mary's secret. This is why something about her simply did not line up before.
It's natural for kids like them to be suspicious of closets during the night hours. It's a routine every youthful person goes through at one point or another: make sure all windows are drawn shut, that the nightlight is fully powered and won't die out before dawn, look under the bed cautiously for any intruders that may be hiding there, and persistently double-check that the closet door is pressed firmly within its frame so there's no gaps or any possible entrance for the evil things to use to get inside.
Though, very unnaturally so, Mary-Boo always goes in search of the monsters lurking in hers.
That's where she has her fun.
