The Gap in the Closet by David Corisis

A boy hears his mother’s voice calling from the closet—but didn't he just see his mother downstairs?

David Corisis is a born-and-raised Idahoan and graduate of Gonzaga University. He lives the exciting life of a programmer by day and aspiring writer by night. When not sharing a keyboard with his cat, David enjoys running, brewing mead, playing Magic the Gathering, camping, and worrying about the ever-marching hand of time stealing everything he holds dear. His favorite books include At the Mountains of Madness, and Flatland. He couldn’t be happier taking on the world and its challenges with his eternally inspirational wife at his side. To find out more, you can visit www.dcorisis.com.

His Spine-Tingling Tales anthology was just released. See his webpage for more information.

You can read "The Gap in the Closet" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com.

Website: kaidankaistories.com
Please feel free to contact me through the website contact form.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the kait on Kai Podcast, where every story
takes you one step deeper into the world of the strange,
the eerie, and the unknown. I'm your host Linda Gould
and tonight's story is The Gap in the Closet by
David Choruses. Childhood fears are so often dismissed as imagination.
The monster under the bed, the half open door, whispers,

(00:34):
and faces where none should be. Adults, with our logic
and focus on important things, try to allay our children's fears,
but often half heartedly. But what if those fears aren't
imagined at all? What would it take for we adults
to believe? David Choruss is a born and raised Idaho

(00:57):
in and graduate of Gonzaga University. He lives the exciting
life of a programmer by day and aspiring writer by night.
When not sharing a keyboard with his cat, David enjoys running,
brewing mead, playing magic, the gathering, camping, and worrying about
the ever marching hand of time stealing everything he holds dear.

(01:18):
His favorite books include At the Mountains of Madness and
Flat Land. He couldn't be happier taking on the world
and its challenges with his eternally inspirational wife at his side.
To find out more, you can visit his web page
d choruses dot com. The link will be in the
episode description. So now dim the lights, settle in, and

(01:43):
prepare yourself for the gap in the Closet By David
choruss Enjoy. The gentle motion was hardly noticeable in the
midnight darkness. I didn't think anything of it at first.
Our house was old and things liked to settle. Maybe
our cat, Misty had been pawing at the door after

(02:05):
I'd forgotten to fully close it. Still in a cloud
of sleep, I rolled over and pulled the blankets to
my chin. Dreamland might have swallowed my consciousness once more,
if it hadn't been for a whisper from the darkness, Caleb.
Drowsiness must have shielded my ears from such a soft noise.

(02:26):
I shifted under the sheets when my calf prickled against
an imaginary bug. The open closet wouldn't leave my mind,
but I had to ignore it. Twelve years old was
far too mature to be scared of an ajar door. Caleb.
The voice was undeniable. This time. I opened my eyes

(02:48):
to see my desk. A window sat over it, looking
out to the cold night beyond. Why did I have
to roll over? Why did I put my back toward
my closet. I could potentially see the door in the
window's reflection, but I didn't dare let my eyes focus
enough to do so. Caleb, I have something for you.

(03:13):
It sounded like some one calling to me from under water.
Fluid filled the spaces between syllables, as if they were drowning,
yet the words were dry as a desert wind. Sleep's
grasp had left me in favor of a racing pulse.
An invisible weight of denial kept me frozen in place.

(03:34):
I couldn't bring myself to roll over and face the
voice's source. Caleb, it's me. Something like finger nails tapped
against the door's inside, hollow and dry. Why did the
voice sound so frighteningly familiar? Yet my body reacted with
cold sweats? Caleb, don't you want to kiss your mud?

(04:00):
Good night? There was movement in the window's reflection. I
only saw it for a second, a pale blur moving
across a few inches of darkness in my open closet.
Something was in there. It sounded like my mother's voice
if she had a mouthful of soggy, decaying leaves. Caleb,

(04:22):
come here, sweetie. Sweat covered me like a second sheet.
I could feel the bed growing damp under my body. Surely,
surely this had to be a dream. I had to
roll over. It went against every instinct. Screaming in my head.

(04:43):
My muscles didn't want to follow my will. I thought
I might faint. As I forced myself onto my back.
Time slowed while the room rotated. Watching the other side
of the bed rise into view left me silently praying.
There was nothing there, no claw nor gruesome face waiting

(05:05):
at the edge of my mattress. The relief was almost
as great as my fear itself. There was still the
matter of my closet. However, I turned my head to look,
finding an empty column of darkness between the door and
the frame there should have been only close inside. Minutes
passed without the voice. I began thinking I had woken

(05:29):
from a nightmare, without noticing, only the sounds of an
old house were present to keep me company. A distant
rumbling came from my parents room downstairs. Surely my dad's snoring.
Listening to the constant droning helped bring peace to my
racing heart. Soon my eyes grew heavy. There were no

(05:51):
monsters here, only the sound of Caleb. The blood curled
in my veins. I couldn't look away from the darkness.
Teeth appeared before anything else, those perfect white teeth in
a wide, frozen grin, refusing to waver. I don't know

(06:17):
how her lips could stretch so thin, nor how her
grimace could be so visible in my dark closet. There
was no light in her eyes, open wide and refusing
to blink, they stared at me from across my room.
Her face was pale and shrouded in shadow. Whatever was

(06:39):
below her neck vanished into the inky blackness. It was
undoubtedly my mother. Her head was stabilized in my direction
with bobbing catlike movements. Kaye, she whispered. How she managed
to do so with so little lip movement made me shiver.

(07:03):
You never said good night, Come give me a hug,
I screamed, nightmare or not. I wanted this to be over.
No twelve year old signs up for this. Mommy, Mommy.
The entire neighborhood was awake. When my parents raced to
my room. They must have thought I was being murdered.

(07:24):
I'd never seen my dad burst through a door so
ready for violence. My light came on, and suddenly the
terrors of the night were banished. Frantic, my mother rushed
to the bedside to coddle her terrified child. Sweetie, sweety,
what is it, she asked, taking my head in her hand.
Upon finding me so pale, I stared at the open

(07:47):
closet behind her. There was no face in the darkness,
but seeing hers so aligned with its last location didn't
ease my fright. My imagination ran wild, as I her
lips to stretch and her eyes to stare like a
hungry ghoul's. My dad was less sympathetic. Upon finding me safe,

(08:08):
he sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. Bad dream buddy,
I pointed to the open door. There was a face
in the closet. Not hesitating, my father opened the door
and flicked the switch. Only hanging clothes stared back. No
pale face, no frozen grimace, no grating whisper. He closed

(08:35):
it in mild annoyance, running a hand through my hair.
My mom asked, did you sneak a snack before bed?
You know that gives you nightmares? No, I, mamma, we
turned to find my little sister at my bedroom door.
The commotion had dragged her from bed as well. Teddy
Bear and all Dad met her head on go back

(08:57):
to bed, Cupcake. Caleb just had a bad dream. Picking
her up like a doll, he carried her back to
her room. Everything's all right, sweetie, Mom promised, it was
just a nightmare. Dreams. Don't open your closet doors. Like
any sane child, I always made sure to close mine
before turning off the lights. Something else had turned that knob.

(09:22):
A kiss planted itself on my forehead, copacked a sleep sweetie.
I love you. I love you too, I grumbled. They
were gone as quickly as they arrived, left to the
darkness once more, I closed my eyes and rolled away
from the closet. I was far too old to be

(09:43):
calling from my mother in the middle of the night,
especially for such a silly dream. As I heard it open,
I didn't need to look. I could feel the empty void.
The faint smell of of putrid air pricked my nostrils. Unseen,

(10:06):
I heard her nails curl around the doorframe. Good night, sweetie.
Daylight has a way of keeping even the night's scariest
horrors at bay. I woke groggier than usual and tumbled
out of bed. It was obvious I'd been through a

(10:27):
rough night, but I was too tired to remember why.
There wasn't time to dwell on dreams. When I had
to get ready for school, I approached my closet like
a zombie. Only when I extended a hand toward the
door did last night come flooding back. My body recoiled
and I stumbled. My chest felt incapable of containing my lungs.

(10:50):
The door was still ajar, but there were no whispers,
no clacking of nails on wood. I knew it couldn't
have been real, but my mind mind refused to remove
that uncanny visage from my memory. I grabbed a baseball
bat and stood away to open the door from a distance.
Of course, I was scared of what I might find,

(11:12):
but I was just as scared of my mother discovering
I wasn't dressed for school so late in the morning
the door opened inside, I found only clothes in some
storage bins. There wasn't enough room for an adult to
fit inside, much less a monster. After my flesh for
good measure, I swung the bat into my shirts there

(11:33):
was no monster, only my imagination. Thanks to my detective work,
I was able to completely put the ordeal out of
my head. Dreams have a funny way of disappearing if
you let something else occupy your mind for more than
a few minutes. The face was no different by the
time I was staring into a bowl of sugary cereal.

(11:54):
It was less than a forgotten memory. Delightful sense of
a mother's cooking filled the kitchen when the school bus
returned me home. Few memories stay with you like a
mother's love filling a pot to the brim. Hi, ma'm
I greeted her, abandoning my back pack at the door.
Welcome home, sweetye, how is school? She left a bubbling

(12:17):
stove unattended to give me a kiss. Feel like spaghetti
meatballs for dinner? Nothing could have been sweeter music to
my ears. I quickly nodded and accepted a taste of
home made sauce. Satisfied with my grin, she ushered me upstairs,
Go get changed, and we'll get started on your math
homework before your father gets home. Misty followed me up

(12:38):
the stairs as if I had treats in my socks.
Mom hated when I let her get hair all over
my school clothes, but I didn't mind. Misty knew how
to greet you. After being away, Caleb, I slowed my
pace as I entered her upstairs hallway. It sounded like
my sister was in my room. Her voice called again,

(13:00):
where'd you go? Raising an eyebrow, I entered to find
her looking under my bed. What are you doing in
my room? Justine popped out and shock Her brown hair
was tangled from rubbing under my bed. How did you
do that? Do what you were? Calling my name? Justine

(13:21):
came close and narrowed her eyes with all the accusation
an eight year old could muster. I saw you run
in here. No, I just got home. This seemed to
stump her. No, No, you didn't. I saw you. You
told me to come find you. It was too close
to dinner time for this. Not wanting to put up

(13:43):
with her imagination, I pushed her toward the door. I
think you're seeing things. Now get out. I have to change,
but I closed my door inside. It was getting harder
to keep up with her as I got older. Eager
to finish my homework before dinner, I started to change,
but for halfway across my room. The closet door was ajar.

(14:06):
Had that been one of the places Justine looked? I
was certain I had closed it. This morning, a sliver
of the previous night flashed through my mind. The thought
of the event, somehow connecting it to Justine's experience was
far too outlandish to even consider. Still, I was uneasy

(14:28):
about approaching the gap. I felt foolish, but resolved to
stay away. A dirty pair of shorts and a T
shirt from the floor wouldn't hurt for one night. I
didn't even try to close the door. Maybe that's what
angered it in the first place. Caleb, don't wait too
long to get started on your homework. Mom's voice came

(14:48):
from downstairs coming. It was dark by the time I
was ready to go to bed. Entering my room was
among one of the last things I wanted to do,
especially with the sun no longer protecting me from the
horrors of the night. If Justine hadn't acted so strangely
when I got home from school, maybe the entire ordeal

(15:12):
would have remained purged from my mind. I heard my
mom's voice coming from the living room. Go brush your teeth.
I'll be up in a few to tuck you in.
Our stairs never seemed so long. I cursed our house
for only having one light switch for the upstairs hallway.
With Justine gone to bed an hour prior, the second

(15:33):
floor was a black abyss where only the unknown awaited me.
My stomach was in knots. I could feel the darkening
chill closing in around me. The hallway ahead stretched into creeping,
hidden horrors. I didn't dare blink when I reached the landing.
The last thing I wanted was to look away from

(15:54):
the light switch and find a gruesome face in front
of mine. A click brought the lights off with little fanfare.
Of course, there was nothing there. This was the real world.
I was letting my imagination get the better of me.
Feeling my pulse slow, I walked past my room to
the bathroom. It was only a blur, but it was there.

(16:22):
Something ran past my door in the darkness. I couldn't
be sure what it was. There had only been a
brief shadowy outline. It looked humanoid, but its movements were
lanky and sloppy, as if drunk or hobbled, and it
was far too tall and thin to be a person.

(16:44):
I gulped and began to call out, just eat. A
sound like a gunshot rattled my boones. Whatever it was
had just sequestered itself back into my closet and slammed
the door behind it. Caleb, you're gonna wake your sister,
my mother's voice scolded from downstairs. I couldn't respond. I

(17:09):
had to act now while that thing was in my closet.
Slipping my hand around my door frame and into my room,
I searched for the light switch. A golden glow bathed
my bed. I kicked my door open to find nothing waiting.
Though one of my jackets was still swinging from a
hook on my closet door. There was no doubt it

(17:30):
had recently moved. Enough was enough. Whether or not this
was only in my head, I wasn't going to put
up with it for another night. Taking my desk chair,
I wedged it against the floor and the closet handle.
Even my dad couldn't have opened that door from the
inside now, much less some non existent specter, or so

(17:52):
I hoped, Brushing my teeth was more an act of
procrastination than hygiene. When every pre bedtime reached ruol had
been completed, however, there was nothing more I could do
to stall. Wow. Misty greeted me in the hallway. I
think she knew I was struggling with something. Taking the

(18:13):
orange fur ball in my arms brought me comfort. As
I entered what should have been my space. The chair
was still against my closet, the jacket had ceased its movement.
Everything looked calm. Making sure to have my bedside lamp
on before turning out my light, I flipped the switch
and raced to bed. There was a loud pop, a

(18:34):
bright flash, then darkness. I froze halfway across my room
when the lamp bulb burst. Groping darkness smothered me and
choked my heart. I don't think my feet touched the
ground when I scrambled into the safety of my mattress.

(18:55):
Oblivious to my fears, it didn't take long for Misty
to curl up between my legs. Even as I pulled
the covers to my chin, Darkness huddled around my bed.
My room felt like a scene frozen in winter. I
didn't want to breathe. Maybe if I held my breath
long enough, I would pass out before I had to
endure this torment for much longer. Goosebumps sprang to my skin.

(19:19):
When the closet door rattled, Misty jolted upright between my
legs to stare. Seeing such a reaction wasn't comforting. It
meant it wasn't in my head. The door thunked against
the chair. I could see the handle jostling in the darkness,
and my jacket bouncing up and down. Something wanted out.

(19:44):
It tried harder efforts doubled. Annoyed desperation shook the door
with hurricane force. I wanted to scream. Misty looked like
she was surrounded by exploding firecrackers. Why Why was this
tormenting me? Caleb stop open the door, Caleb, go away, Caleb,

(20:08):
what in the world has gotten into you? My light
came on and stung my eyes. It hadn't been the
thing calling my name, but my mother. I was so frightened.
I hadn't noticed her open my bedroom door. Normally I
should be relieved in her presence, but her face brought fear.
I could only see it waiting in the darkness. What

(20:29):
is going on with you? She asked again, worried. A
hand placed itself against my forehead. You're burning up, mom?
Can I sleep downstairs on the couch. She stared at
me like I just asked to spend the night on
the roof. Why would you want to do that. My

(20:49):
eyes flitted between her and the closet. I just can't
sleep in here. You just have to turn your mind off.
You're thinking so fast that you can't find peaple. Mom.
Can I please sleep somewhere else. I didn't want to
let her hear the fear in my voice, but I
was becoming desperate. No, Caleb, you won't sleep well on

(21:11):
the couch and then you'll be tired for school. You're
sleeping in your room, in your bed. My sentence was
sealed with a kiss on my forehead. Now turn your
mind off. If only it was just my mind. I
watched her go to leave before pausing to stare at
my closet. What in the She walked toward my desk chair.

(21:35):
What is this doing here? You're going to hurt yourself
if you get up in the middle of the night.
My eyes must have looked like moons when she moved
the chair from my closet and replaced it under my desk. Honestly, Caleb,
you need to learn to keep your room clean. My
light went off. Love you, sweetie, get some sleep. Looking

(21:57):
back once more, my mom me good night, before closing
my door. Now, Misty purred and farewell before settling down
once more. Sweat made my pajamas cling to me like
a second skin. I stared between my closet and my desk.

(22:19):
If I was fast, maybe I could jam the chair
again before gaylbe it opened. The haunting void stared back
along with a penetrating stench. I knew what was coming,
but I couldn't have prepared myself. Caleb, Caleb, sweetie, her

(22:46):
face appeared. The same woman who had just put me
to bed was now staring back from my closet. That menacing,
uncanny grin turned my blood to ice. Why were there
so many teeth? Caleb, Caleb, come here, I want to

(23:06):
kiss you good night. Go away, I whispered. Was I
allowed to confront it? What could happen if I retaliated?
If it was able to leave my closet and come
for me, wouldn't it have done so already if it
was running around my room earlier? Why not? Now? Caleb, Caleb,

(23:30):
can you help me? I'm stuck. Misty stared at the closet.
When I pulled my blanket up to my chin. Leave
me alone. Those tapping, clacking nails were insidious. The rattling
against the door turned my blood to ice. Caleb, she growled,
it's rude to speak to your mother that way. Won't

(23:53):
you come give your mother a hug. I steeled myself
and felt blood rushing through my ears. You're not my mom,
The face pulled back into the blackness. A dry laugh
made me want to vomit. There was a pause for
a brief, hopeless moment. I thought the demon might have

(24:16):
left here. Kitty Kitty Misty perked up, and my heart
stuck in my throat. Hee kitty, kitty kitty. She started
toward the edge of my bed. I scrambled to grab
any part of her. Misty, Misty, stay, don't. She slipped

(24:38):
through my fingers and landed on the floor. I didn't
dare chase after her. As she sat down halfway to
the closets, opening, piqued interest made the tip of her
tail twitch. That's a good kitty, come to mommy, Missy,
missy phsps. I tried to coax her back, only her
tail twitched in response. Here, kitty kitty curiosity was too

(25:04):
great of a temptation. She started toward the closet. I
couldn't look away. When the front half of her body
entered the shadows. Something snatched her before she could finish
uttering a mew of interest. I only saw it for
a moment in the moonlight, A spindly hand of rotting flesh.
Human fingers aren't supposed to be that long, nor nails

(25:29):
that sharp. The crunching, that awful crunching. I would have
preferred to hear Misty screaming instead of the bone crushing horror.
It was the slurping that made me sick to my stomach,
that wet, drawn out suction of something torn and fleshy.

(25:50):
I could never prepare myself for the anguish that sound
would bring. I knew then that I was right to
be terrified. Nothing could have made me leave my bed.
Whatever was in my closet was hungry and would snatch
whatever came within reach. My eyes refused to focus. The

(26:14):
next morning, sleep never came for me, though perhaps insanity had.
How much more could I take before it was too much? Misty, Misty?
I could hear my mom calling our cat for breakfast.
Should I tell her? Misty wouldn't be running? To her
bowl of wet food. This morning, I hadn't been able

(26:35):
to look at my closet for more than a second,
even in the daylight, and that time I saw tufts
of cat hair on the ground before I refused to
look any further. The door remained open. After what I saw,
I wasn't going anywhere near it. Ppsps here kitty breakfast

(26:57):
wasn't appetizing. I couldn't stand the thought of chewing, much
less being in the same room as my mother. How
could I when her face haunted me every night? I
went to school as a husk of my usual self.
A math test went completely unanswered, leaving the teacher concerned.

(27:18):
My responses were barely coherent. When she pulled me aside
after class, I suspect I might be in trouble when
they contact my parents, but didn't matter. It felt like
a punishment. When the bus left me at home, I
didn't want to go back into that house. As usual.

(27:38):
Mom was busy in the kitchen when I walked in.
She didn't seem to notice my quiet arrival and continued
humming over a cutting board. I would have said hello,
but I still harbored resentment from last night. Maybe if
she had let me sleep on the couch, Misty's food
bowl wouldn't have still been untouched. I decided to return

(27:59):
to my room only once. I would gather several necessities
and clothes, and then sleep somewhere else. I didn't care where,
so long as it wasn't in the same room as
that thing. My room was cold upon my arrival. No
part of it felt safe, even with the sun shining outside.

(28:19):
I was determined not to look at the closet. Even
from the corner of my eye, I could see it
was still cracked open. That thing could have my room.
I didn't care. Caleb. A whisper drifted out. I was
hardly surprised, though I didn't expect it during the daylight.

(28:40):
Shut up, I'm not listening, I said, while throwing some
clothes in a bag. Caleb, I paused. This didn't sound
like the ghoul. It sounded like a little girl terrified
of being heard. I dared to look at the closet.
Justine a tiny hand around the door before her head

(29:01):
peeked into view. I had never seen such fear in
her eyes. What's wrong, you look like? Her voice was
barely audible. I Eine, I don't think that's mommy downstairs.
To any one else, that statement would have sounded outlandish,

(29:23):
but I knew what she meant. I knew right away.
Justine's eyes grew wide, the color drained from her face
as she stared over my shoulder. I realized I had
my back to the hallway, and I started to wonder
if it had been such a good idea to leave
my door open. Her voice dripped over my neck like decay. Caleb,

(29:45):
when did you sneak past me? Welcome home, sweetie? Would
you like a snack? My limbs moved faster than ever before.
I scrambled across my carpet into the closet, joining Justine.
She was terrified. There was no time for me to
be frightened. I had to be a big brother kids,
our mother asked, stepping forward. A plate of after school

(30:09):
snacks sat in her hands like bait. They were messy
and haphazard, nothing like the real thing. She couldn't fool me.
What has gotten into you too? You need to start
on your homework. Justine started to bawl. I wrapped my
arms around her in protection. When our mother stepped closer
and knelt down, we stared at her from within the

(30:30):
curtain of my shirts. For all the fear this closet
had given me over the past few nights, I had
never expected it to become our refuge. Justine, what's wrong, baby?
Why are you get away from her? I surprised myself
with my scream. Our mother's eyes bulged and shocked, and
she faltered several aunts on a log, slid from the

(30:52):
plate and landed on my carpet. You're not our mom.
Justine's face was buried in my arm. I could feel
tears soaking through my shirt. My shouts had to rise
to maximum volume to make it over her cries. All
the fear I'd had of this monster had turned to rage.
I was tired of the torment. Our mother's face sagged,

(31:16):
her gaze settled on my sister, Justine, Baby, what happened?
Have you been hiding it here this entire time? She nodded,
You're not my mommy. I saw you saw me? What honey?
She came forward and reached a hand into the closet.

(31:36):
I recoiled and she stopped short. Moisture made her eyes shine, kids,
it's me to see her fain. Such hurt only made
me angrier get away from us. Being the younger one
and in such a frightened state, Justine was taking most
of our mother's concern. She knelt down and opened her arms.

(32:00):
I'm here, baby, I'm right here. What happened? Justine looked
up and then away. Don't look at her, I warned, Caleb.
S she's scared, She motioned once more. Can I have
a hug from my little girl? I want to tell
her how much I love her. My sister looked up

(32:21):
her crying faltered. I have a big, big hug for
my baby and kisses to make her feel all better.
Don't listen to Caleb. Her mother hissed, in warning, your
sister is scared. I don't know what game you've been
playing with her, but it has to stop. Let her go.
But she moved forward. Come here, baby, you can help

(32:44):
me make dinner before Daddy gets home. Okay. I couldn't
stop her. Justine escaped my arms and ran from my
closet into the arms of that monster. For how much
fear she caused me, I was still powerless against her authority,
even if it was false mm exaggerated kisses assaulted Justine.

(33:08):
When my mother got a hold of her tears turned
into giggles as every bit of fright melted away. She
stood up with Justine in her arms, and turned to
leave my room. Justine, A final warning was thrown over
my mother's shoulder. Enough of this game, Caleb, Your sister
hasn't slept in days. Stop scaring her. They left. Then

(33:33):
I was alone in my closet. Clothes hung around me
and bunched on top of my head. I couldn't believe
I had let her slip out of my arms so easily.
Would Dad listen to me if I told him? Could
I even get him alone before it was too late?
I shivered in my little hovel as I listened to

(33:54):
them start cooking downstairs. The hangers clanked above me. What
should I do? Where could I go? Could I sneak
out my window and make it to a friend's house.
Maybe their parents would listen. And something tickled the back
of my neck. A cold layer of sweat broke out

(34:14):
over my skin. Such a good boy, protecting your sister,
I bristled and froze. You knew right away that wasn't
your real mother. I wanted to run. I tried to
stand up, but a long spindly hand had draped itself

(34:36):
over my shoulder. From behind my clothes, that voice of
gurgling sludge dripped down my back. The closet felt like
an icy abyss behind me. I wanted to cry out,
to scream at my mother and sister, so happily cooking
dinner downstairs, but my voice was paralyzed. The thing laughed

(35:01):
in my ear, and the hand tightened. Now, come give
your mother a hug. Mo air was ripped from my
lungs and tore my words away. I was pulled back, deep,
deep into the closet. The door raised a mile away
as that hand yanked. My voice jumped from my throat

(35:23):
too late, A squeak of fright barely escaped before the
door slammed shut and swallowed my screams. What I loved
about this story was how it took a trusted voice
and twisted reality around that voice, which was real, which

(35:46):
was imagined, which was monstrous. The one person children trust
more than anyone else, a mother, is used against this
child and us, to toy with us, to keep us
on edge, and then to ultimately trap us. Yes, it's
the child's character who experiences the terror and ultimately the death.

(36:09):
But each of us, whatever our childhoods were like or
our relationship with our mother might be, at one point
in our lives we trusted and depended on our mother,
and that expectation runs deep, so that betrayal cuts deeper
than any other. Thank you so much, David Choruss for
this interesting story. The kaiton Kai feature stories like this

(36:34):
of every genre, so don't miss any I post weekly,
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is in the episode description. Thank you for listening today.
I'll see you next week.