Hiya, and welcome to this collection of oneshots in the genre: Horror.

I named this collection Lights off, Door closed because I find that to be the scariest setting to read horror in. It gives you more thrill, and you get more scared. But of course, if you want to, you can read this as if it was called Lights on, Door open, I don't mind.

You're my best friend

Takes place: Season 2

Nicky-centric

When the Harper quadruplets were five, their aunt Juliette would visit them only once every month. She was Tom's older sister, and loved meeting her niece and nephews, and they loved meeting her. They thought she was so fun to hang around, and she easily had fun playing the quads' games.

She couldn't do that often though, since she lived far away, and worked a lot. Every time she visited though, she would bring a gift for all of them. When it was their birthday month she would even bring four presents, one for each quad.

The quads always loved these presents. They always fit so perfectly for each one of them. There was no present that would ever beat what they got in July when they were five though.

Juliette arrived on the 25th, and left two days later. They played and had fun all the way until she had to leave on July 27th. That's when she gave them a stuffed bear. It didn't look so particular compared to any other teddy bear. Light brown fluff, adorable big eyes, and holding a heart which said 'best friend'. None of those things were the cause of the quads extreme love for just this stuffed animal though.

They loved it because of what happened if you pressed the toy's tummy. In a cute little voice, it would say: "You're my best friend". The quads went crazy over this feature, and pressed and hugged the bear all the time. Sometimes they would even fight over who would get to make it speak next. They loved that plush toy.

That was of course, until Dicky dropped it down the stairs.

They had rushed down after it, trying to save their beloved toy. When they did catch it at the base of the stairs, no visible damage was taken. It still looked adorable as ever, to the quads' relief. Then Dawn tried to push the tummy, to make it say it's happy phrase. But it didn't. The bear didn't make a sound, no matter how hard any of them pushed or hugged. So they started doing anything in their power to make it talk. Bang it on the table, drop it down the stairs, hit it with other toys, anything. But nothing worked

The stuffed bear had said its last words.

Sadly, the quads stopped playing with it then. When Anne noticed this, she put it away in a box of old toys in the cleaning cupboard under the stairs. It had been there ever since. Three years later, when the quads were eight, Juliette was involved in a serious car crash. It broke about seventy percent of her bones, and damaged a lot of her insides too. She died later the same day.

Present time

The quads basically ran home from where they got off the school bus. They had to get home as fast as they could, as some relatives were at their house. Tom didn't only have Juliette, he had a little sister too; Addison.

Addison had three kids who were four, nine and thirteen. Since the quads were twelve, those were some perfect ages.

Dawn swung the door open, and saw Elise, Luke and Claire sitting on the couch. They looked up when they heard the door slam into the wall next to it, and immediately smiled.

"Quads!" Elise, the thirteen year old celebrated as she stood up.

Dawn and her ran into a hug with each other, while the boy quads fist bumped and high fived Luke. Claire was too little to even care, and just stuck to Addison. Dawn and Elise let go of each other.

"Oh my gosh, Dawn. We've got so much fun planned!" Elise smiled with her whole face as she started rambling about what they had planned.

They were sleeping over for the whole weekend, going to the water park, eating out, and all these other fun things. Slowly as they talked, the six oldest children started walking up the stairs. Ricky fell behind a little, but that was just because he ran over and got Claire with them. They all gathered in the Icky's room.

"So what do we do first?" Elise jumped onto Dicky's bed.

Luke immediately lit up.

"I know! We can play teams hide and seek."

Everyone thought about it for a second.

"Works for me," Ricky shrugged.

Nicky and Dicky looked at each other and nodded, while Dawn and Elise excitedly said yes.

"Who's the seeker?" Dicky asked.

"Me!" Dawn excitedly raised her hand.

She wasn't a that good hider, so she preferred seeking.

"Pair up, people."

"I'll take Claire," Ricky smiled, looking like he did it because he cared about her so much. He did care about her, but that wasn't the whole story here. Claire was so little so she could fit in small spaces.

"I want Dicky."

"I want Luke."

The two boys looked at each other, and put their elbows on each others shoulder.

Elise looked at Nicky.

"Then I guess I'm with you, Nick."

Nicky nodded, and they took a step closer to each other.

"I'm gonna take you all down," Dawn looked at the others with a confident glint in her eye, and her arms crossed.

She turned around and walked over to the wall, where she turned again.

"Now off with you!" she turned her head to the wall, and covered her eyes.

"One! Two! Three!..."

The three teams ran out of the room, and off in different directions. Ricky & Claire stayed on the second floor, while Nicky & Elise and Dicky & Luke ran down the stairs. Dicky and Luke disappeared away into the kitchen, leaving Nicky and Elise alone in the living room.

"Okay Nick, where are all the hiding places?" Elise looked around her

Nicky had been the one deciding they went downstairs, and he too, was looking around.

"Ummm...," then he spotted it. "The cleaning cupboard."

Elise looked at the little door he was pointing at. She looked hesitant.

"Are you sure we'll fit?"

"Of course. It's much bigger than it looks actually."

Nicky stepped over Luke's backpack on the floor, and opened the door to the cleaning cupboard. He stepped in. There was as usual a big mess in there. Clothes, cleaning supplies, old things they had forgotten. There always seemed to be something new, every time you stepped in there.

Elise got in after Nicky, as he made himself comfortable under a shelf. On top of that shelf stood a box with two words written with black marker on it.

"Old toys."

Elise stepped around on the little area where she could place her feet. She pushed some things out of the way, and sat down.

"This is the best hiding place ever."

"I know," Nicky nodded. "Cramped, but good."

Elise looked around her at the few things she could define in the dark.

"What do you keep in here anyway?"

"Oh, you know... old clothes, the ironing board, some other cleaning supplies, and some old toys."

Nicky pointed to the box above him, and Elise looked up at it. She smiled.

"How many toys from Juliette are in there?"

Nicky couldn't help but curve the upper end of his lips into a smile.

"Many."

"Like... the police station Lego set?"

Nicky nodded.

"Theeee... toy cooking set?"

Again, Nicky nodded, and he snorted from the memory of that. That cooking set was the start of his passion for cooking and baking.

"Well, you don't need that anymore. Your food is delicious."

"Thank you. I do quite respect my cooking."

"You should."

Elise looked up at the toy box again.

"What about that bear?"

Nicky didn't nod this time. Although he knew it was in there, he hadn't thought about it in a long time. It was like a distant, but happy memory. He nodded after a couple of seconds.

Elise just continued looking at the box in silence.

"Why did you stop playing with it anyway?"

Nicky looked up above him. He couldn't see the bear, nor the box. Only the wooden shelf.

"Well... We were fighting over who would get to make it talk next... then Dicky got hold of it. I think Dawn bumped into him, and he dropped it down the stairs."

Elise listened, seemingly very interested.

"Then when we tried to press its belly, it didn't work anymore."

Elise raised her eyebrows.

"So it was just like... dead?" she smiled, and Nicky couldn't help but fall victim to her contagious grin.

The whole situation just turned into a funny storytelling.

"We... we did everything we could to make it talk again, but nothing worked!"

"What, did you like bang it with a hammer?"

Nicky laughed.

"Maybe not that extreme, but close. We smashed it on the table at least. I think Dicky even threw it down the stairs again."

Now Elise was laughing too.

"That seems like one stubborn bear. Like-" she put on the role of the bear, with a dark voice, and stiff posture. "I will not talk."

They both laughed for a few seconds. Lucky for them, the cleaning cupboard was good at closing out sounds.

"Yeah, and that-," Nicky took a break for laughing. "-that's when mom put it in there."

"What happened then?"

Not laughing, but still smiling, Nicky thought for a second.

"I don't know. We met Juliette a few more times, but then... you know what happened."

Both their smiles were gone.

"I miss her," Elise smiled, now in memory of Juliette. "Not because of the gifts of course, because of her."

"Me too," Nicky looked down, nodding.

Then all of a sudden:

"You're my best friend."

A light and happy, but suffocated voice came from somewhere. Not just any somewhere though. It came from above Nicky. From the box.

Nicky felt a terrified feeling spread through him as goosebumps formed, and his forehead got sweaty. He turned to Elise, who looked just as panicky.

"Did... did you do that?"

Elise shook her head, not taking her eyes off the box.

"I was hoping you did."

They looked at each other, flinched, and started doing everything in their power to open the cupboard door. Elise pushed it open, and almost dived out. Nicky followed her closely.

"Ha! Found you!" Dawn turned out to be in the living room.

She jumped around in a circle around her feet.

"Honestly, I would never have looked in there," she calmed herself down and walked over to Nicky and Elise.

First now, she actually looked at them, rather than just celebrating her first find. She looked surprised, and confused.

"Hey, why are you so shaky?"

"The... The... You know...," Nicky's voice was just as shaky as him, as he pointed to the door.

Dawn crossed her arms.

"I know what?"

"The bear talked."

Dawn's eyes widened.

"What?"

She didn't know if she believed them, but judging on how they looked and acted, she leaned towards thinking it was true.

All of the others were hesitant about it as well. Anne even went in there and took the bear out. She pushed its belly, and nothing happened. Then everyone decided to just shove it under the carpet, and put the bear back where it had been for five years.

But it was safe to say that Nicky never set foot in that cleaning cupboard again...