We moved into a new home with an ENDLESS CLOSET
UPDATE!
They just didn’t quit; they kept knocking at the door, my neighbors. They wanted to talk to me but honestly I had no interest in hearing what they had to say. It had been a few days since me and Emma did our best to escape Ginger Hills, I’ve must driven for what seemed like hours and at first; the plan was simple it was to keep driving; I mean there had to be an exit, right? For the first few days we slept in the car, actually more like I would take naps and Emma, well, she still hadn’t woken up; the poor thing was exhausted and I couldn’t blame her. I think I might of gotten a total of 4 hours of sleep since the moment we started looking for a way out; a way to escape ‘Ginger Hills’. Every time I felt myself dozing off one of my neighbors would find us and approach the car; gibberish spewing out of their mouth, I didn’t bother trying to listen to what they had to say, instead; I would peel out of there with vigorous intent.
This became routine, I would park and close my eyes, as soon as I felt my body become weightless I would usually then hear the ponderous steps of someone getting close; that’s when my eyes would shoot open, I would then turn the engine only to find a new spot to hide. Eventually we ran out of gas, I didn’t have any other choice than to return home. I tried to wake my girlfriend but she didn’t budge, I had to carry her, at first I had no clue in the neighborhood where I was and figured I might be walking for hours, as soon as I turned the corner their was our house; It wasn’t even two blocks away. I didn’t have any logic to this whole ordeal and just accepted whatever the hell this was. I got back inside the house and placed Emma down on our couch, she was still breathing but it was faint and I feared she would never wake up.
I threw a blanket over her cold body and kissed her forehead as subtle tears cascaded down my concerned face. I then looked over at our bedroom; the door was wide open exactly how we left it, but even more dreadful was the closet door; it too wide open, darkness pouring out into the living room. With hints of terror swirling around my head I cautiously closed the door to the dire room not wanting to make a sound just in case that ‘thing’ heard we were back. After a few days the knocking started, my neighbors knew we were home, but I remained hidden in the shadows of our living room grabbing at my ears trying to shelter them from the ghastly pounding that was coming from my front door.
After awhile the knocking became a bit rhythmic; it soothing my mind as the what seem like endless noise had softly cradled me to sleep, I felt my heavy eyes collapse with exhaustion and darkness invaded my mind as my body gradually drifted into the realm of slumber. Funny enough I could still hear the pounding in my dream, or perhaps it was the thunderous beating of my own heart; in my dream I found myself somewhere new, it wasn’t the usual labyrinth of ginger bread, rather, I found myself in what seemed to be a school; an abandoned one.
I stood center of a classroom facing the chalkboard that watched over the dimly lit room, tilted over desks laid in ruins as a murky haze simmered in the air; I practically choked from the thick fog of dubiety. As I searched around the room I saw colorful pinned drawings scattered across the walls; it appeared to be the artwork of kids. I scanned through the images, my eyes moved intensely with absolute urgency and soon something became clear; all the colorful small stick figures in the drawings where running away in panic from some entity; it was something floating in the sky; it looked liked a black sun. I reached out to grab one of the pictures and it crumbled in my hand, as if it were made of gingerbread. That’s when I felt something brush up against my leg, I looked down and screamed out in horror; it was a rat, I jumped backwards from disgust.
I then heard a vague whistling coming from outside the classroom, my heart was virtually escaping my chest as I cautiously approached the old wooden door, I don’t know why but I had to know what the noise was; I was mysteriously being guided as if the ‘pied piper’ himself was pulling me effortlessly closer to the doorway. I opened it slowly, the door moaned out with a hefty creak, the hallway led to nowhere just a void of emptiness that protruded from the beyond; but the whistling intensified. I stood still petrified from fear as whatever the hell was coming towards me drew nearer. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the terrifying impact, before I could feel the agonizing collusion; I opened my eyes.
It was the knocking that awoke me, my shirt was drenched in sweat as drool poured down my chin, I got up and ran over to Emma to check on her, she was still breathing but she had a slight shiver, I grabbed another blanket and threw it over her.
“Just open the door we need to talk” a voice called out to me from outside.
It was Juan, I recognized his deep raspy voice; one that you would only get after decades of smoking, which is odd since I don’t remember ever seeing him smoke. I knew I had to confront him, I knew he wouldn’t go away and with Emma in her state I had to do whatever it took to protect her. I went over to my kitchen to grab a knife, I contemplated the idea of going to the family safe to get my hand gun but, it was in the bedroom; which wasn’t an option. I breathed in deeply trying to steady my shaky hand, I walked over to the door and unlocked the bolt; I then gripped the door knob tightly with my free hand as I could still hear Juan muttering incoherently. I counted to three in my head slowly as I prepared myself to stab my once friendly neighbor, I swung open the door and reached out my arm while holding the sharp knife but Juan was too quick and he grabbed my arm promptly stopping my attack, I then stared up at him and in the moment I realized how much bigger he was; he towered over me, his sharp gaze piercing through my very existence and I could feel myself tremble as he held me still.
“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you” he told me. I didn’t know what to say but he carefully released his grip on me and retracted his arm back in good faith in hopes that I would not hurt him. “What the hell is going on” I frantically said as each word seem to stumble over the other. “I’ll explain everything, I just wanted to make sure you and Emma were safe” he told me with genuine concern seeping out of his yellow tortured eyes.
That’s when I told him that she had been asleep for several days, that her breathing was faint and her pulse was light. He stormed past me entering the living room as he saw Emma’s almost lifeless body on the couch. He then peeled the blankets off of her as he pressed his oversize fingers on her neck seeking out a pulse.
“Now wait just a min…”“Don’t worry I was a medic in the military” he told me as he cut me off.
I didn’t know what to think but at first glance it seemed as if Juan knew what he was doing, confidence protruding from his presence, so I accepted his intrusion in good faith. He checked her vitals as Emma whimpered out in a bit of pain each time Juan moved her around. He then stormed out of the house and said he would be back, I walked over to the love of my life as beads of sweat dripped off her beautiful face; I just wanted her to wake up, I wanted me and her to escape this place together. I could feel my eyes fill with tears but I held strong not trying to show any form of weakness.
“Babe, I love y…”
Before I could finish telling Emma how much I cared about her Juan had returned and shoved me out of the way; I fell backwards unto the floor as I saw my neighbor holding up a syringe; it filled with some bright green medication that seemed to glisten in the light.
“What is that?” I asked with a defeated tone in my voice.
As Juan inserted the needle into Emma’s arm and injected the mysterious substance, he told me it was similar to adrenaline but it took longer to take affect. He then explained to me that she was merely lost in her dreams, that she had to be awaken the “right way”, whatever that meant. I don’t know why, but, I trusted Juan something about his demeanor felt sincere and I needed a friend. He then told me to let her sleep that she had to be the one to find her way out, but the medication will help and whatever I did, not to force her awake. I sighed out with despair and nodded my headed in agreement, as my body sank low with debility. My bulging bloodshot eyes felt heavy, but the tingling sensation of anxiety engulfed my senses, I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night.
“You need to get some rest yourself and tomorrow I’ll tell you everything I know” my friend told me.
I explained to him my troubles when it came to sleeping which didn’t surprise him, he then offered me some sleeping pills, holding up several small capsules; telling me to ‘take these’. Without apprehension I took them and escorted my neighbor out. As soon as I shut the door I chugged down the small pills ready to get some rest, my mind destroyed over that last few days and all I wanted was escape; even if it was in the dream world. I walked over to the couch where my sleeping beauty laid and sat next to her, uplifting her legs and placing them on my lap as I looked around the room feeling the medication taking it’s hold over me. I could feel my eyes beginning to close when I noticed something in the kitchen, the pantry door was open and on the floor was the all too familiar sight of a box of cookies torn open; apparently we still had rats.
I didn’t dream that night or if I did I had no memory of it, I don’t know how long I slept but I awoke to the sun raining down it’s harsh light unto my face as it seeped in throw the slits of our blinds. I felt a bit disheveled trying to get my bearings, I reached out my hand to grab at Emma, wanting to cradle her hand in mine and that’s when I noticed I felt nothing, just empty air. I turned my head and saw she was gone, I jumped off the couch and began shouting for her. My mind racing a million miles an hour as I began to search around the lonely dark house.
“Emma, where are you!” I yelled out.
I must of looked through the entire house top to bottom, she wouldn’t answer. I began to sob at the mere thought of losing her as I kept searching, there was only one place left to check which was the room that I had grown to despise; our bedroom. I walked over carefully to the door and pushed it open, there she was standing in front of the menacing closet; it too wide open, she was just staring into the void of darkness; her head tilted up as her body cautiously rocked back in fourth.
“Emma?” I whimpered out with a slight stutter.
She didn’t move just kept her blank stare towards the closet, I approached closer reaching out my arm to touch her; making sure it wasn’t one of those horrid nightmares. As soon as my hand landed on her shoulder she screeched out in the most dreadful way; screaming and clawing at the air. I grabbed out at both her shoulders trying to get her to look at me as I pleaded for her to calm.
“Emma, I got you” I told her as I pulled into my embrace. She finally came to and realized where she was then looked up at me while tears slipped down her frantic face.
After she calmed we headed towards the kitchen to have some tea, I did whatever I could to put her mind at ease; I didn’t want to ask her questions nor did I want to pile on all the bizarre things that have occurred. I told her she had been asleep for days and how Juan gave her some medicine to help her awake, that’s when she told me the most odd thing,
“No, you’re the one that has been asleep”.
I didn’t know what she meant I figured she was still a bit delusional from the coma she had been in. I didn’t bother questioning her, rather, we both remained silent in the kitchen sipping our tea as the steam from the hot beverage fluttered in the air creating a visible barrier between us. I wanted to tell her so many things, how much I missed her and how shattered I was at the thought of losing her but instead my cowardness conquered my voice as I pushed back slight tears I felt forming in my eyes.
‘knock, knock, knock’
To my relief Juan had come by just like he said he would breaking the awkward tension that had formed between me and my girlfriend. As I got up to answer the door Emma seemed to not even react to the noise, she just continued drinking her tea staring off into the blankness of space.
“Hey Juan” I told my neighbor as I greeted him by the door.
He stepped inside and saw that Emma had awoke, he then grabbed my shoulder squeezing it indicating he too was relieved. When he turned his gaze to look at me he clearly saw that I really wasn’t in the mood for small talk, he knew I wanted answers. He walked over to the kitchen table where Emma sat, to my surprise she snapped out of her daze of wander and acknowledged Juan even getting up to hug him with delight. I don’t know why but I felt a bit jealous, seemingly that she was more happy to see someone else’s face than mine. I walked over to them and cleared my voice; an indication for them to stop hugging.
“Right” my neighbor said as he looked over at me. Before I could even say a word Juan gestured for me to have a seat as his relentless stare seemed to only intensify.
“I don’t know much about what we call the “HOA”, I’ve only seen it once in my life, I have many demons, you see I have a bit of a past and because of it I entertain certain thoughts; dark ones. It was during one of these moments that I decided to, well; I was tired of this world, I had just moved here in what was my last attempt to escape from the harsh realities of my past. I guess you can say I was trying to run away, but how do you run away from your own thoughts. So I walked over to my kitchen cupboard and pushed aside the half empty bottles of whiskey that laid in front and reached my arm into the farthest depths of the cupboard, I pulled out my 1969 Macallan; it was given as a wedding gift; never opened. I poured a cup and inhaled deeply; savoring the sweet scent, then I walked over to my bedroom to retrieve my pistol. Still holding my glass I pushed open the door and in the corner of the room is where I saw ‘it’; what must of been the largest creature I’ve ever seen. Now I’m a big guy as you know, but that ‘thing’ easily towered over me it’s head brushed up against the ceiling; the dam thing was black, no not black more like empty; it’s skin swiveling around like the black goo you would see in one of those magic eight balls. I dropped my glass from pure terror and that’s when I noticed it’s eyes, those large black eyes, almost like it had some unbreakable hold over me, then that thing projected images into my mind”.
Juan was emotional, I could visibly see a slight tear slip down his cheek.
“What did you see?” I asked with curiosity me fully enthralled into his story. “Doesn’t matter, but from that moment I no longer felt the need to do what I was thinking of doing, I guess you can say that dam thing saved my life, it then disappeared back into the closet and I haven’t seen it since.”
In the corner of my eye I could see Emma nodding in agreement when Juan said the part about the beast saving his life.
“That’s when I met Sarah, I met her here; she’s the one that explained to me how things worked around here. You want to go to the store it lets you, want to go for drive it allows it; but the roads always lead back here, there is no escaping and for all I know the world doesn’t even exist outside these hills, but one thing is for sure; that creature keeps us safe”.
I scoffed at such a suggestion as my irritation from Juan being so obedient to this whole situation enraged me.
“Nope, no, I don’t believe it; of course there has to be a way out. Have y’all even tried to look for one? I mean for God’s sake there has to be something” I angrily spouted out. Both he and Emma stared at me with a bit of bewilderment or perhaps indifference. “Okay you said we can go to the store, then how about money, I mean do y’all work does anyone work outside the hills?” I asked. “No, no need, you will never run out of money, your bank card will just keep working; food never runs out.” ”Well, how about the employees, can’t we ask them for help?” I gasped out frantically. “I wouldn’t try, I’m not sure but I think everyone that works around here is possibly that creature, I think it can change it’s appearance; but I’m not sure”. Juan told me as he got up from the table.
As soon as he told me about that beast being able to mimic people I immediately thought of the landlord and how odd she had always been. I felt my stomach turning knots from disgust as my neighbor waved goodbye to us and walked out the door. Emma said nothing, she then too got up and walked into the bedroom shutting the door behind her not even glancing my direction; leaving me alone in the now cold and desolated kitchen.
That night I slept on the couch, Emma slept in the room; I wanted to be with her but no way was I going in there and I didn’t even understand how she could feel comfortable being in there knowing the endless closet only existed a few feet away from the bed. Either way, I tossed and turned for most of the night thinking about everything Juan had told me, the idea of no escape; to say the least I was alarmed. Eventually my mind began to drift and the shadows that lurked around every corner of the room soon morphed into a dark haze of nothingness as I cautiously fell into my dreams.
I found myself in the very same classroom I was in before; I was in the back of the room staring towards the front, though this time something was very different; the room was still dimly lit with the aroma of devastation fluttering in the air but I noticed that the desks were all sitting up perfectly aligned one behind the other and more distressing was the fact children sat in them. They all looked forward towards the chalkboard where I soon noticed there was a teacher tapping the board with a piece of chalk, the persons back to me; all I could see was the teacher was wearing some white lab coat. I couldn’t make out the words that the teacher was saying it sounded muffled like how adults sounded in those ‘Charlie Brown’ cartoons but that’s when I noticed the most bizarre thing; it was what the strange teacher kept tapping at with their chalk; it was a depiction of our solar system but it couldn’t have been ours because the Earth; it had two moons revolving around it. I stood in absolute astonishment and I felt my knees weaken as I stepped back from the mystifying scene, that’s when I accidentally made a noise; to my horror the teacher stopped tapping. Then all the children turned back to look at me, their hideous stares invaded my fear and then the strange person in the lab coat slowly turned to look at me, I screamed and that’s when I woke up.
I lunged off the couch hitting the floor with a heavy thud as I sweated profusely. I only got a quick glimpse of the teacher but what I did see were those eyes, I knew I wouldn’t be able fall back to sleep and instead I stayed up waiting for the sun to arise. I glanced towards our bedroom and saw that the door was slightly ajar, I then looked around thinking Emma came out to sleep next to me but sadly that was not the case, instead, I saw the usual scene of cookie crumbs scattered across the kitchen floor; those darn rats were never satiated and for whatever reason that made me smile.
The next few days were brutal, each day Emma seem to ignore me not interested in the least to find a way out this hellhole, any time I would try to talk to her about anything she would just shrug her shoulders dismissing my conversation. I don’t know what happened to her when she was asleep, perhaps she was traumatized, though, anytime Juan and Sarah would come by her demeanor would change; all of sudden she would be back to her old self holding my hand and slipping me a kiss here and there. Honestly I knew her affection in the moment wasn’t real but I would drink in every minute of it trying to extinguish my feeling of isolation. I told Emma about us still having rats, each morning showing her the remaining evidence left behind by our furry friends. She seemed more bothered than before, she told me to get rid of them, I even caught her slipping in rat poison into the box of cookies, I was utterly befuddled. I asked what the hell she was doing, I told her I thought she liked the ‘cookie monster’. She then told me the most frightening thing with an emotionless stare,
“Its against the HOA to have pests”.
That’s when I realized as long as Emma was here, she would fall deeper into this world of lunacy and I knew we had to get out.
I spent the next few weeks diving deep into the universe of puzzle solving and mazes, I must of asked Google a million different ways on how to escape a labyrinth and all I ever got was the ol’ Theseus story, I shuttered to think that the monster I saw was the Minotaur himself. I shook my head knowing that was silly, but then what Juan had told me before dawned on me, the HOA controls everything then why wouldn’t ‘it’ be controlling my internet access. I felt a bit defeated not knowing how I would circumvent such an obstacle but then remembered my company phone, it was a satellite phone and perhaps that thing didn’t have control over it; I knew it was a long shot but I didn’t have any other options.
I dialed in and quickly gained access to the internet, I then saw that my search returns were vastly different, ‘it’ didn’t know about my phone. I almost jumped from glee but kept my cool knowing perhaps that thing was watching. As I looked for answers I came across some conspiracy theory forum, I quickly made a new thread and titled it
“Have you heard of Ginger Hill’s?”
To my surprise I got tons of responses, some people said the place didn’t exist, other’s said it was an urban legend but no one really seemed to know how to escape this place. One of the responses literally made my heart sink, I felt my anxiety shred my insides, someone said that Ginger Hill’s is the place you end up when you die.
I jumped back from disbelief and memories of that dreadful night of Jake breaking in came flooding back, maybe we didn’t survive and that’s how we ended up here; maybe that’s what Emma meant when she said I was the one sleeping; perhaps I died first. I fell to the floor weeping at the prospect of this being death when I then heard a notification come in on my phone.
‘ding’
I looked down at the screen and saw I got a private message from a user named “The Mad Hatter”, I quickly opened the chat box.
“You’re not dead, Ginger Hills is real”, it read. I typed back rapidly wanting to know who the person was. “Who are you, what do you know about this place, how do I escape?” I asked with desperation. Three dots then gyrated on screen for what seemed like a life time as I eagerly awaited a response. “Solve the Rubik’s Cube and then you will be free” the person typed.
I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, what Rubik’s cube? Before I had a chance to respond the user went offline. I was left with more questions and only wished I could share this information with Emma, or hell anyone, my alienation becoming overwhelming.
Now normal, I slept on the couch that night and woke up feeling defeated, as if the world had dissipated into a cloud of vapor only for me to be left behind. I got up off the couch and headed over to the kitchen to make my morning coffee, I turned to see if Emma was awake but the bedroom door was still closed; my eyes dropped with disappointment. Stepping into the kitchen I saw the leftover fragments of my only friends, the rats came back last night; the box of cookies laid empty on the floor. I chuckled thinking on how these critters have been able to outsmart us up and till now and in the moment I fantasied about meeting them in a cartoonish world where we were animated like some Pixar movie; I really was lonely. That’s when I noticed a small folded up piece of paper next to the empty cookie container.
“What the hell?” I muttered to myself.
I looked around the dining area thinking perhaps Emma had woken up and left me a note, but the house laid still and quiet. I bent up over to pick up the small note and as my eyes scanned through the message I felt the hairs on the back of neck stand firm from absolute bewilderment and then fright.
“Today is the day” it read.
The stranger part was the hand writing, it looked like it was done by someone who perhaps had no fingers, as if they grasped the pencil in their palm and carefully wrote out the words.
“I just don’t understand” I told myself. “You don’t understand what?” a voiced called out from behind me.
It was Emma, she had just exited the bedroom, I could tell she had just woken up; her hair disheveled but still looked as beautiful as ever. She continued staring at me with her emerald green eyes awaiting an answer. I couldn’t tell you why, but in the moment I figured I shouldn’t tell her about the note because I knew it wasn’t from her.
“Nothing, how did you sleep?” I told her as I stuffed the small piece paper into my pocket. She didn’t respond she just walked over to the restroom, ignoring my existence as she had done for the last several weeks.
As I contemplated over the note through out the day something unexpected happened, Emma warmed up to me; she came over and sat next to me on the couch, apologizing for the way she had been acting, she said she was just adjusting to everything. It felt like a million bricks had been lifted off my chest because it was a moment I had wished for; for her to come back to me. To say the least I was elated for the remainder of the day, I didn’t even bother thinking about how to escape this horrid place instead I conversed with the love of my life as if it were our first conversation. Seeing her smile once again left me enchanted, I don’t know why the sudden change but I wasn’t going to question it, maybe she realized how crazy this place was but I didn’t want to push it. She then offered to cook dinner for us something she hadn’t done in months, even before the Jake incident. She said she was going to cook my favorite; spaghetti and all I could do was nod my head up and down in pure excitement.
As the blissful aroma of tomato sauce and mushrooms filled the air my stomach grumbled and I figured since she was doing all this for me I was going to at least change my clothes; after all I had been wearing the same thing for the last several weeks, me too scared to enter the bedroom. Though, this time I was going to make an effort I wanted this moment to be special; so I walked into the dark bedroom promptly turning on the lights. My eyes crawled over to the opposite side of the room where the closet door laid opened, it’s darkness flowing out swallowing the light that tried to penetrate in. I gulped heavy with disquietude and treaded softly over to the endless closet, since that’s where I had my change of clothes. Walking closer I realized I was shuffling my feet rather than stepping forward.
“C’mon if Emma can sleep in here then I can get a new shirt” I whimpered out.
I ran into the closet and reached out my arm where my shirts were; not caring which one I grabbed and then ran back out, I gasped out for air as I gathered myself, but jovial that I survived. In the moment I felt courageous and puffed out my chest in dominance as I stood in front of the closet. That’s when a small note gradually slipped down unto the floor, it coming from the endless void above; it was another note like the one I found this morning. My mouth gaped open with utter disbelief, was that thing sending me messages, I was left confounded. Though, my curiosity was peaked and I quickly reached out for the note. I hesitantly opened up the small folded piece paper and as before the hand writing was the same. My eyes widened with astonishment because to my dismay it read
“Don’t eat the food”.
“Dinner is ready” Emma called out to me from the kitchen, catching my attention.
I then looked back down at the note and remembered the time I caught her putting rat poison in the box of cookies. “No, no, no this can’t be real” I tried convincing myself as I repeated those words over and over again, as Emma continued to call out to me.
I don’t know what to believe, perhaps it’s this place messing with my mind or even worse maybe I’m the one that’s going crazy. Emma keeps staring at me as I sit in front of her twirling my fork around a strand of spaghetti but not actually eating it, I can see frustration growing in her eyes waiting for me to take a bite; funny enough she isn’t eating either. I don’t know what my plan is, I don’t think there is anything I can do; all I wanted was to escape this place together, escape this hell called Ginger Hills but now I’m not too sure if I’ll even survive the night.