Melly whipped her head toward the door.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
She slammed her fist against the closet door, peering through the narrow slits near the top. Maya and Mia were pressed against it, grinning as they held it shut.
"Guys, please let me out! It stinks in here!"
Maya's voice came back sing-song and merciless. "Not until you tell us a secret, Melly! You'll get cursed if you don't!"
The stench clawed deeper into her lungs. Melly gagged, clamping her palm over her mouth. The closet was barely big enough for two people, the air heavy and stale. She squinted into the darkness, her foot sliding over the gritty floor, half-hoping to find a dead rat. Anything that could explain the rancid smell.
"Thirty seconds, Melly! Hurry before your time runs out!" Maya called.
Her head spun. Her chest felt tight as if her lungs were folding in on themselves. She leaned against the door, desperate for even the faintest breath of air. Whatever secret she'd prepared was gone, erased by the panic.
"Ten seconds!" Maya began to count down.
Suddenly, a thought emerged in her head.
"I…" Melly closed her eyes, bracing herself. "I…"
Maya and Mia pressed closer, ears to the door.
And then it burst out of her, muffled through her sleeve, but loud enough to reverberate in the tiny space.
"I LIKE THE BOY WITH RED HAIR!"
The door slid open, and Melly tumbled onto the waxed gym floor. Maya and Mia doubled over, shrieking with laughter.
"KAINES?!" They shouted in unison before collapsing onto themselves in another fit.
Heat flushed through Melly's face. She curled in on herself, crawling away from the closet's lingering stench and her own embarrassment.
When their laughter finally ebbed, Maya spotted her still on the ground. She walked over, resting a hand on Melly's shoulder. "Jeez, are you okay? Are you scared of the dark, or claustrophobic?"
Mia popped her gum. "Or both?"
Melly kept her nose covered. "Do you not smell that?!"
Maya and Mia looked back at the closet and shrugged. "Smell what? Dust?"
"N-no! It reeks in there, like a dead rat."
They just stared, blank. The quiet stretched until Melly's skin prickled. Irritation bubbled up in her gut. First from being shoved inside, now from being treated like she was imagining things.
"A-anyway, you shouldn't have pushed me in there without warning!"
Maya chuckled. "Oh, lighten up. This is just how the game's played. And you told us a very juicy secret, so I'm sure you won't be cursed."
Melly's stomach knotted. "You're not going to tell anyone, right?"
Mia giggled. "Of course not! We're friends. But seriously… Kaines? That zombie?"
Melly looked down at her feet and rubbed her arm, cheeks warm. "He's just nice to me, that's all."
"That's it?" Mia cocked a brow. "Nothing else?"
Melly's face burned hotter. "I already told you my secret. It's your turn now!"
Maya and Mia exchanged a smirk. Melly pressed the closet door shut, playing along as they took turns sharing secrets she couldn't care less about. Her sullen face only twisted when she leaned too close to the slits. When Mia noticed her still holding her nose, she spritzed perfume into the air like she was doing her a favor. Melly choked on the perfume, the bitter taste of it settling in her throat while the smell of the closet assaulted her nose. A lethal combo.
After a long first day of school, Melly's thoughts kept drifting back to that closet and to all the other times that weird scent clawed at her nose. She found herself wandering back to the gym after the last bell, only to find Kaines standing in front of the closet. He looked baffled, worried even.
Melly carefully approached him from behind. "H-hi..."
He jolted out of his thoughts, whipping his head behind him with wide eyes.
"Whoa! Don't scare me like that! I didn't even hear you coming!"
Melly shrank back, "Sorry..."
Kaines blew out a breath then looked back at the closet. The floor was littered with torn warning notes and wads of tape Mia and Maya had ripped down.
Melly followed his gaze, wondering if he's upset that her earlier escapade with Mia and Maya made a mess of the closet. "What are you doing here?"
"Malachi asked me to check the closet, make sure no one messed with it…" He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "Didn't think it'd happen on the first day."
Guilt twisted in Melly's stomach. The student council president, Malachi, seemed to already be giving Kaines a hard time. She didn't like seeing him mulling over something like this, especially when it was technically her fault.
"Sorry. Mia and Maya made me play the closet game. It's my fault. I didn't clean up."
Kaines' head snapped toward her, too fast. His eyes locked on hers, sharp and appalled. Unease quickly shot through her spine under his stare. Was that the wrong thing to say?
"...Did you go inside?" he asked.
Melly nodded in response, "I was the first." She didn't know what else to do other than to apologize again. "Sorry."
Kaines scoffed, then forced a laugh. "Figures. The M&Ms got you running around playing dumb games, huh?"
Melly blinked. "M&Ms?"
"That's what everyone calls Mia and Maya. And... Melly too, now."
Melly's lips pressed into a thin line. After everything that's happened, being lumped in with Maya and Mia felt like an insult.
His smile looked too strained to be real. "Anyway, the closet's taped off because kids fool around in there. The janitor hates it. Things get knocked over, doors slammed. It gets gross. He hasn't used it in years."
Melly internally cringed. The smell almost made sense now. Bodily fluids in the worst way possible and now probably clinging to the bottom of her shoes.
Then, as if summoned, the janitor entered the gym with a broom in hand. His keys jingled at his belt. He was a burly man with a fraying grey beard and a round, jolly belly. He chuckled at Kaines' explanation.
"Hehehe! No, no. Don't worry about it, really. I'm glad you kids are having your fun."
He whistled a tune as he swept up the scraps of tape and torn notes by the closet.
"Sorry, Mr. Rivenhall," Kaines muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He kind of looked embarrassed himself.
The janitor gave Kaines a hard slap on the back, making him stumble. "Quit apologizin'. I already said it's fine!"
Melly nodded politely at the janitor, but her stomach churned. She felt like an awkward bystander right now. Tugging at her backpack strap, she muttered, "I should go… see you tomorrow," and scurried off before she could say more.
"See ya," Kaines murmured back.
As she left, the janitor's booming voice carried after her. "Ya gonna stay late again today, Kaines? No funny business, right?"
She closed the door with a click before she could eavesdrop anymore.
That night, when Melly was laying in bed, her mother came into her room and sat on the edge of the mattress.
"How was your first day, Melly?"
Her mother's voice was careful, almost nervous. After all their fights about the move, it was no wonder she hesitated to ask.
"It stinks," Melly muttered, rolling onto her side with her back to her. She was still upset, but not enough to start another fight.
Her mother let out a sigh that sounded tired, amused, or maybe both. She brushed a hand over Melly's hair, kissed the top of her head, and stood. "Good night."
The lights went out. The door clicked shut.
Melly lay awake, eyes open in the dark before the silence lulled her to sleep.
…
Her eyes snapped open. She was standing in her school uniform. She wasn't in her bed, but in the very closet she dreaded. Instinctively, her hands shot up to cover her face. The stench clawed through her fingers, rancid and suffocating, coating her tongue. It was worse than she remembered.
She shoved the door open and staggered out, only to freeze. A dozen salt containers were scattered before her, and a line of white encircled the closet she'd just been in.
Her heart raced. What the hell is going on? Is this a dream?
She slipped her hand from her nose, only to move them back up when the stink rushed back. No… it was too real. But the air was colder than before, thick with a dark blue haze that seemed to swallow the gym whole.
At her feet, inside the salt circle, was a note written on paper. She bent down to read it.
"Melly, do not leave the salt circle. Please stay hidden in the closet. Someone will come pick you up soon."
It was signed: Kaines.
Her chest tightened. Is this some kind of joke? There's no way I'm staying in that closet…
Her eyes followed two thin salt lines that carved a path toward the exit. Keeping her steps careful, she traced the path, desperate to put distance between herself and the closet.
She had just reached the bleachers, the exit only a few meters away, when the gym doors slammed open.
Melly dropped down, pressing herself behind the bleachers, her hand already over her nose and mouth stifled the yelp rising in her throat.
A gurgling voice rolled into the silence, followed by the scrape of chains dragging across the floor.
"I heard footsteps…"
The chains rattled louder, punctuated by the heavy thud of boots striking the gym floor. Each step made the bleachers quiver. A faint jingle of keys swinging with every movement, sharp against the dragging iron.
The sound grew closer, until it stopped only paces away.
The voice rumbled again, wet and bitter. "These dumb fucking kids and their games."
The keys jingled once more, softly this time, as though the thing were turning toward her hiding spot.