The house on third street—chapter three: Closet terrors

Max skidded to a stop beside her just as she reached the doorway.

“Emily?” Felicity called, her voice pitching higher as she stepped inside. “Payton?”

Payton stood in the middle of the room, breathing hard, eyes wide and unfocused. He spun when he saw them.

“She was right here,” he said quickly. “She walked over and—”

He pointed at the far wall

“—and then she just… disappeared.”

Max blinked. “Okay,” he said slowly. “No. That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Payton snapped. “She said something about the exit and went to check and then—”

He turned back toward the corner.

“Emily?” Felicity called again, louder now.

The room wasn’t big. Bare walls. A low ceiling. Dust coating everything like it hadn’t been touched in years. The only thing that stood out was the closet at the back — its door half open, shadows pressed thick inside.

Max squinted at it. “You mean she just… went in there?”

“Yes,” Payton said. “I think. I— I heard her scream and then it stopped.”

Felicity’s stomach twisted. “Stopped how?”

Payton didn’t answer.

Max stepped forward, peering into the closet. “Okay,” he muttered. “Curse mother for not teaching us bad words and raising us so well, but what the flippen heck is that?”

Felicity moved beside him.

The inside of the closet wasn’t filled with coats or boxes.

It wasn’t filled with anything.

The back wall didn’t exist.

Darkness stretched where wood should have been, deep and thick, like the space went on farther than the house possibly could.

Payton took a shaky step closer. “Emily?” he called.

Nothing answered.

Felicity swallowed. “That’s… not a closet.”

Max nodded slowly. “Nope. Closets usually have backs.”

Payton ran a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping short. “She didn’t just walk into nothing,” he said. “She wouldn’t do that.”

Felicity’s chest tightened. “She joked about the exit being in there,” she said quietly.

Payton froze.

“She said—” His voice broke. “She said, ‘Watch this,’ and laughed.”
 

Max clenched his jaw. “Okay. New plan. We don’t panic.”

Payton turned on him. “She’s gone.”

“I said we don’t panic,” Max repeated, firmer now. “That’s how you make it worse.”

Felicity stared into the darkness, her pulse thudding in her ears. It didn’t feel like a hole.

It felt like a place.

“We can’t just leave her,” she said.

Payton was already moving. “I’m going in.”

“No,” Max said immediately, grabbing his sleeve. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Payton snapped, yanking free. “I’m not standing here arguing.”
 

“Payton—”

He stepped closer to the opening.

The air shifted.

Not colder. Not warmer.

Just… different.

Felicity reached out. “Payton, wait—”

Before her fingers could touch him—

Something moved.

Not out.

Not forward.
 

In.

Payton vanished from sight.
 

“PAYTON!” Felicity screamed.

The darkness swallowed the sound.

And then—

Silence.

“Max, I’m going in” she said stepping forward 

“Felicity. My naive sister. Please don’t tell me you’re as stupid as Payton” Max said, desperate to make sure she didn’t go in.

“Max,” Felicity said, her voice shaking as she stepped closer to the darkness. “I’m going in.”

He grabbed her arm hard.

“No,” he said, breath hitching. “No, you are not.”

She turned on him. “They’re in there.”

Max’s grip tightened, fingers trembling. “Emily is gone. Payton just—”

He swallowed. “—just vanished.”