Friend in the Closet Chapter One

For a while now I've been wanting to post something that Nolan has written. This was a short story he wrote for his creative writing final for school. It's quite long for one blog post, so I will post one chapter at time every other day.

Friend in the Closet

Chapter One

   The bus was filled with the familiar smells of body odor and food. The sounds pounded against Terry’s ears as he struggled to turn his music up loud enough. That one noisy kid in the back of the bus was screaming at the quiet, nerdy kid sitting next to Terry. Carl wasn’t a shy kid, by any standards, he was just very quiet. Carl sank lower in his seat and closed his eyes. Terry skipped a song and turned to scowl at the noisy kid. The noisy kid, Ken, looked him dead in the eye and sneered. Terry rolled his eyes and turned around. Carl poked his shoulder and Terry removed an earbud. The sound was excruciating.
   “You got your math homework done?” asked Carl.
   Terry shook his head and glanced at his backpack. The quadratic equations laying there would take all night to complete. “Nope, It’ll be a while.”
   Carl sighed. “I can do mechanical stuff pretty decent, but not math. Hate it so much.”
   “Sure, ‘good with mechanical stuff’. You torched that last one. It literally caught on fire,” Terry smirked, his eyes sparkling.
   Carl glared at him. “We can no longer be friends. That engine was sabotaged,” Carl turned from Terry and faced the window.
   So, he was still sour about that after all. Terry returned his earbud and felt the bus slowly come to a stop. The door opened and the bus driver glanced back.
   Terry got up and shouldered his backpack. He got off the bus and waved Carl goodbye. Terry jumped when something slammed into his leg, taking him to the ground and knocking his backpack off. He struggled on the ground for a minute until realizing it was his dog, Ruck. Ruck was about seven years old and had a thin layer of grey hairs dotting his muzzle. He was overall black, except for one white paw. The paw was his front right and had black claws instead of white ones. He licked Terry on the arm good-naturedly.
   Terry pushed him off and sat up. Ruck leaned against him hard. His way of hugging someone. Terry put an arm around the dog and scratched his head. The dog closed its eyes and breathed slowly.
   “Terry!” Screamed Jennifer from the house.
   She opened her arms wide and ran toward her brother. Terry pushed the dog aside and embraced her. He stood, picking her up, and placed her on his shoulders.
   “How were you today?” Terry asked.
   “Good, how’re you,” She giggled as he ran toward the house.
   “My day was great, now, let’s go make daddy some food before he gets home,” Terry opened the door to see Miss Leron leaning against the door.
   She smiled kindly at him. “Need me here?”
   He shook his head. “Nah, Miss Leron, we should be good.”
   She dipped her head back inside only to appear a moment later clutching a brown purse. She opened the door and stepped outside while Terry and Jennifer entered.
   “You two have a good evening, and don’t burn down the house, Terry,” she called as she walked down the street.
   They waved her goodbye and shut the door. Jennifer squealed on Terry’s shoulders as he ran into the kitchen. He set her down on the counter and opened the pantry.
   “What should we make him?” Terry pulled out a cookbook.
   “Cereal,” she said, beaming at him.
   Terry stopped flipping through the book and looked at her. “Cereal? What kind of dinner is that?”
   “A good one.”
   Terry pondered that, then returned the book to the pantry’s top shelf. “Sounds like a plan to me. What kind of cereal do you think he’ll want?”
   She wiggled on the table. “I da’know.”
   “Well,” he opened the cereal cabinet and peered inside. “We’ve got his favorite in here, Sugar Stars.”
   “That sounds good to me,” she said, hopping off the table.
   “Alright, then you get the bowls and I’ll get the milk and spoons.”
   Jennifer opened the bottom cabinet door and retrieved three paper bowls with floofy robins on the sides. She set them on the table and sat in her seat swinging her legs. Terry watched her for a moment, then grabbed the cereal and set it on the table. He opened the spoon drawer and pulled out three spoons and grabbed the milk. He set them on the table and glanced at the clock: 4:10. He grabbed Jennifer and launcher her onto the couch. He plopped next to her and glanced out at the street.
A brown truck pulled to a stop in the drive and shut down. The driver’s door opened and out stepped a rugged man. He wore a dirty blue jumpsuit and a hat of the same color. The smudges of dirt danced on his clothing when he moved. On the hat was his name, Josh. He had a ring of keys jangling on his toolbelt along with many wrenches and screwdrivers. He looked in the back of the truck and then walked up to the door.
   Terry opened the door and smiled at him. Josh smiled back and looked at Jennifer. She ran and hugged his leg.
   “Hey, pumpkin,” he chuckled and ruffled her golden hair.
   “Daddy!” She hugged his leg tighter.
   He picked her up and held her in the crook of his arm. “How was school, son?”
   Terry shrugged. “Okay.”
   A look of concern flashed over Josh’s tired, dirty face for an instant, but only briefly. “Good, I’m glad. You make dinner?”
   Terry nodded and led him into the kitchen. Josh grinned when he saw the cereal. “Simple, but good. Thanks, kids, I’m gonna get changed. Go ahead and eat without me,” he set down Jennifer and walked toward his room, taking off his hat.
   Terry poured the cereal and milk into the bowls and ate with Jennifer. He rinsed the bowls and walked toward the stairs to go up to his room. When he reached for his backpack on the couch, his hand didn’t connect. He stopped and looked over. He panicked for a split second before remembering he’d left it out in the yard.
   He opened the door and walked out into the yard. Ruck was sleeping with his back against the backpack. Terry shook his head and nudged the dog with his foot. The dog awoke with a start and flailed its legs in the air. It rocketed to its feet and alertly looked at Terry. Terry chuckled and took his backpack inside. He hauled it upstairs and set it down on his bedroom floor. He opened it and pulled his math homework out with a sigh. No sooner had he got it into his lap when Jennifer ran into the room with her homework. She imitated Terry and looked up at him.
   “Help me?” She asked.
   He nodded and set his homework aside and looked over her head. The problem was the usual, math. Jennifer excelled at everything except for math. Terry thought it was just a family curse. His dad was horrible at math and so was he. At least she wasn’t his age. He couldn’t have helped her then.
   The problems were very simple. Two plus two and the like. Jennifer’s education was an odd one brought about by odd circumstances. The start of this school year was Jennifer’s first. She was so excited about the schooling, but not about the people. She’d always been wary of people in large numbers, or just people in general. Enough money couldn’t be made to send her to school, and neither Terry nor Josh could stay with her. Josh was beginning to panic when Miss Leron came to him saying she could watch Jennifer while the men were gone. Not only that, but she also said she would educate her at home for free. She said it had been a long time since she’d been around any young kids. Since her husband died, Miss Leron hadn’t been around too much, so Josh thought this was great for her. It was perfect. Josh and Terry didn’t have to worry about Jennifer’s schooling and they didn’t have to worry about going into debt.
   Terry loved that about Miss Leron, but he still didn’t like it. Even though she’d been in the neighborhood since Josh had been a child, Terry didn’t like the idea of anyone he didn’t fully trust staying home with Jennifer. Nevertheless teaching her, but there was nothing he could do. He just accepted it and was happy for Jennifer. Every day she ranted about how great Miss Leron was that day. Talked about what she learned about and what she got on quizzes. They always had tea parties around lunchtime.
   That was the thing about Miss Leron, she was a girly girl at heart. The kind that loved ponies and princesses and castles, and so was Jennifer. They were best friends, or at least that’s what Jennifer preached. Terry thought it was odd, but didn’t really mind. Josh thought it was great. He didn’t have enough time to do those things for his daughter, so having Miss Leron was a God-send.
   They got to the end of her homework and Terry did his usual thing; when he helped Jennifer he would always make up some problems for her to do. They were much harder than what she was used too, but she was grateful for the practice. Jennifer was an odd child indeed.
   Terry finished the questions and gave them to her. Then he heard something shift. He looked around the room. The room was dimly lit except for the bed. He turned on the main light and swept his eyes back and forth. He came to the conclusion that one of his books fell off the piles in the closet and opened the door.
   “No!” Jennifer squealed. “Don't open that!”
   Terry stopped and looked at her with concern. “What’s the matter?”
   She pouted. “Monsters.”
   Terry’s heart fell. Ever since he could remember, Jennifer had awful nightmares, but they weren’t just the run-of-the-mill nightmares either. She described them in vivid detail days after she had them, and they were often gruesome and horrifying.
   “Oh, it’s alright. There aren’t any monsters in here. Just my books,” Terry opened the door a little bit more, “see?”
   Jennifer hid behind a pillow for a little while before peeking. “Okay, maybe it's not that bad.”
   Terry smiled and returned his attention to the closet. He pulled the cord for the light and blinked hard. The light flashed on and hummed a low, steady growl. He looked around the small closet and saw that a stack of books he’d thought secure had fallen over. He sighed wearily and started stacking them. He finished and turned out the light. He closed the door and sat back down on the bed across from Jennifer. She had finished the problems and was watching him with her emerald green eyes.
   “It’s okay, Jen. No monster, real or not, is gonna get you if I can help it, and trust me, I can help it.”
   She smiled at him. “I know. Thank for your help, Tewwy,” she giggled, running away.
   Terry shook his head and shut his door. He returned to his homework and started on his Algebra 2, his devil.

   At around eleven at night, he finished and set the books and backpack against the foot of his bed. He slipped into his pajamas and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He dug around in his drawer before finding his “minty-fresh” toothpaste. He didn’t find it so “fresh”. It tasted like fire and burned his tongue. The only consolation was not having cavities when visiting the dentist. For a reason unknown to him he hated the dentist. Something about drilling in one’s head made him nervous and sweaty. Which led to him being embarrassed. He’d long since learned that teenagers stink.
   He spat out the foamy liquid in his mouth and bared his teeth at the mirror. He pulled back his lips and checked his molars. Eh, good enough.
   He walked back to his bedroom and crawled under the marble-white comforter he’d stolen from his friend, Carl. It’s not stealing if they know, is it?

Click here for chapter two.