The Closet

I tossed and turned feeling the sweat dripping down my body. Refusing to open my eyes and hoping above all things that I could fall asleep. I flipped over hoping to let my bare back feel some relief from the heat. While turning over to lay on my chest my head was turned just to the right and I could see the shadows dancing on my closet door. The heat , the exhaustion and my focus on dancing shadows lured me back to a sleepy state. With a final glance at my clock I saw it was 3 am and then the darkness took me.

When I woke in the morning I was drenched in a pool of sweat that had partially dried and left my skin so dry . A quick morning shower was in order I thought to myself. When I went to get a towel out the closet I saw that it was open. At the time I paid no mind to it because a shower was my priority. It wasn’t until the next unbearable night when the heat wave continued throughout the night that I was woken up at 3:00 am.

The night had started as normal being balls hot in the apartment and I know i didn’t have an ac unit yet but one was coming soon . I stripped down into my birthday suit and this time I had no issue falling asleep even though it was hot exhaustion won or at least I thought it did . This is where things are a little confusing for me . I fell asleep at midnight and at some point I heard a creaking sound that could only be my closet door. My eyes shot open and focused not on the door but at the opening . In the shadow of my closet I saw absolutely nothing but I couldn’t turn my eyes away. I felt in that moment an irrational fear that something was in my closet. I wasn’t even sure why I thought that “something” and not someone was in my closet. I felt like I was staring into the shadows for so long that I was starting to get sleepy but was still terrified to look away. I managed to glance at the clock while still keeping the closet door in sight and the clock said 3:00 am . At some point I lost the staring contest with the closet because I was woken up at 6 am by the sound of my alarm clock. As soon as I woke up, the memory of last night came back to me and looked at my closet only to find the door fully closed. I must have fallen asleep a lot sooner and dreamed that I was awake looking at my closet which was very weird. I dismissed it as a bad dream and went to work.

Night four and I might be losing it because I had another nightmare about the damn closet. My only problem is I’m not sure when I fell asleep . You see I came in after a long day at work and I did all the things I normally would do like shower , prepare dinner and watch youtube videos about odd creepy pasta type things for hours. Once I got tired of watching youtube in the living room I went to bed around 11 and crashed hard. The only blessing would be my new ac unit that the landlord hooked up in the bedroom earlier that day so I was expecting to sleep like a baby. Even though the temperature was perfect in the room I kept tossing and turning and thinking about that dream last night. Everytime i turned my back to the closet I felt a creepy feeling like I was being watched and so I would turn back to face the closet. At about midnight I couldn’t stand it anymore and I got up and pushed my dresser in front of my closet door. I immediately felt better that the closet door would not or could not creep open to disturb my sleep and even if it was all in my head the closet blocking door just made me feel safe. I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep. My eyes shot open at 3:00am and this time I heard noise. I heard scratching at my closet door. I was sure I must be dreaming and that if i ignored it my dream would change but then I heard the turning of the door knob . First it was a light turn as if testing to see if the door was locked then with a loud bang the dresser began to move a little. I was ready to run but the moment my foot touched the floor a growling sound came from the closet and whatever it was it sounded big. I reacted like a little kid pulled my feet back up and hid under the blanket . I sat there sweating down my face regardless of how cold the ac unit was making the room. I don’t think I was breathing because my heart felt like it was going to burst and my vision began to darken around the corners of my eyes. The last thing I heard and felt throughout my body as I passed out was a heavy crash as the dresser fell over.

In the morning I woke up with a scare remembering the nightmare from last night. I hate to admit that maybe the puddle I was laying in was not all sweat but that nightmare had me on edge . I got up and that is when all the blood in my body froze. The dresser was on the floor. The closet was empty but the claw marks on the inside of the door brought me back to reality. These dreams , these nightmares were becoming real somehow. I said hell nah I skipped the shower. I grabbed my bag with my laptop and got dressed as fast as I could. I have been sitting in a Starbucks writing down everything I can remember and as I see the sun beginning to fade I am terrified. I don't know what to do. I just know I can’t return to that apartment. Last night was too real and I just hope that whatever that thing is, it is stuck at the apartment and won’t follow me. The sun is getting low and I don’t feel comfortable out in the shadows of the night. I‘ll update more if I can when I get to a safe place.