Winchester: The Dark Closet

We were officially and completely unpacked. It was October, Halloween was approaching. We were very excited as Halloween is a favorite for us. The days were shorter and the nights were longer. The weather was so chilly that when the yards were watered with the sprinklers, they seemed to be wet all the time. There was never any warmth to dry it. As the sun set, all the little water drops sparkled like diamonds across the yard. Leaves were starting to fall from the trees, and it became even more gray and rainy out. It was beautiful.

We loved the house. My son, Elliot, was 2 and he could run around all over the place inside and out. When he wasn’t watching Toy Story or other movies, he was playing with his wonderful toys. He had tons of toys all organized in his multi-colored cubbies. His room was painted a creamsicle orange with red and blue VCT tile. It was all read with a band of blue and orange triangle going around his entire room. He had a high window to the side of the house and was covered in cowboy themed curtains which was perfect as he had a pretty big obsession with Woody at the time. Next to his room were two doors. One went to the bathroom with black tiled floors and a tiled bath/shower. It was tiled in white with black and orange accents. The other room went to this sister, Lilly’s room. All three of these doors were behind one door from the dining room. Lilly’s room was at the front of the house. It had two huge old fashioned crank windows that you turn the handle in a circular motion, and the windows open up. They looked out to the front yard and calla lilies growing just out front. They were covered with creamy white curtains that flowed in the breeze coming through the screen when the windows were open. It was painted in a deep maroon with a cream colored tile and maroon band all around the room. Her black stained crib was in between these two windows. She had my grandmother’s old rocking chair in the corner. Her closet was massive. It took up the entire wall of the room & was also painted maroon on the inside as well. When the doors were open, no light could pierce through it so the dark maroon appeared to be black. As the sun went down it would get darker & darker inside this closet and the wall almost looked like an endless abyss of ebony. It could be quite frightening to a small child, so I always kept it closed along with her window curtains. Her room looked out to the street, so I did not feel comfortable leaving them open at night for someone to see inside.

Lilly was a good baby. She never really cried, and would easily go to sleep on her own in her crib. I hardly ever stayed up all night with her and she rarely ever woke up at night. She never needed any rocking to sleep at night or during naps. I would simply give her milk and change her; that was it. Just lay her down & goodnight. A few weeks after living in this house, she would awaken all the time. Always at 3am, during naps, and did not want to be put in her crib at night. I would come in and rock her putting her to sleep with luck, but occasionally she would wake up screaming. Her face so red, and her big blue eyes full of tears running down her plump little cheeks. She had this little stuffed doll. Her name was Lulu. She had beige colored skin with brown eyes and brown pigtails. She had white flowers in her hair & a pale pink dress with tiny brown polka dots all over & little brown mary jane shoes. Lilly adored this doll. She went everywhere we did and she was never without her. Lulu was always tucked in with her at night and in the same place every single morning since she was born.

Lilly was learning to stand with the help of her crib rail. Suddenly, one night around 1 am, all of us were sleeping, the house was silent. A blood curdling scream followed by a baby crying. I ran into Lilly’s room. It was freezing in her room and almost hurt to stand in there barefoot. She was standing up in her crib, reaching her arms out towards the closet. She was crying so hard and reaching for her Lulu. Her window curtains were pulled open, and all four doors to her closet were wide open; there was utter blackness. Lulu was inside. She wanted her back and was reaching for her. This room was very large, and Lilly could not throw anything this far, she would never toss Lulu out either. The closet was dark and scary, so we always kept it closed. How did they open. Even if Lilly did want them open, she couldn’t do it herself. She couldn’t walk, much less stand on her own, and the handles were too high for a small child to reach, nor could she even reach the curtains to pull them upen away from her crib. Elliot too had a hard time opening them as the wood of the closet would swell and when the doors were closed, they would be difficult to pull open as they would get stuck. It took some force; plus he was always passed out sleeping in his room with the door closed. I know it wasn’t him either because Lilly would awaken from mid day naps like this while Elliot was with me in the living room. How did these doors open, and how did Lulu get in there? This was beginning to be an every night occurrence. Every night between 1 and 3 o’clock in the morning. Lulu was ripped away from her, put inside the dark, open closet and the curtains pulled....

There was one morning, the closet closed and curtains closed, I took the kids and our dog, Tonka, out for a walk at the beach. It was chilly outside and gray clouds were setting above us. There was a cold breeze. The clouds in the distance blended into the sea at the horizon. The waves were crashing and you could smell the salt in the air. It started to rain, so we rushed home. I put the kids in the living room to get warm, and I went to the rooms to get some dry clothes for the children. As I walked into Lilly’s room, it was bitter cold and I felt as if someone was in there with me. One of the closet doors was open, and on the floor of the closet was that green pencil that had found its way out of its drawer and into other destinations. Now in this closet? I was beyond suspicious. I checked behind the other doors of the closet expecting to find someone hiding in there messing around with me, but there was no one. The windows were locked and all the doors. I simply picked up the pencil, closed the closets and put the pencil in its drawer…

To be continued...