My mom, my sister - Esther, and I just moved into this new town yesterday. In summary, my dad is a total jerk and my mom has had enough of his shit. She filed a restraining order against him and is going to sign the divorce papers next. I was sitting on my bed when my mom came and complained about how messy my room was.

"Ray, could you unpack and organize your belongings?" My mother inquired, looking around my room dejectedly.

My mother was looking at me worriedly. "Yes," I replied, quietly getting up and unloading the boxes. For a moment, she probably wanted to say something, but then stopped. I guess she was concerned about how my sister and I would deal with these sudden changes.

“Remember to come down for breakfast.” I watched her figure disappear, then resumed my cleaning work. Our new room was a fairly basic room (yes, I share a room with my sister), with a window overlooking the street and a built-in wardrobe. The sound of children playing in the yard distracted me a bit. I continued to arrange my books and adjust the blankets. Then I finally checked the closet. The closet door was rather odd in that it was designed to be opened only from one side. I opened it, preparing for whatever animal was there to run out, but it was empty, except for a piece of yellow paper lying neatly on the floor. I was about to pick it up, but a call from downstairs stopped me. I rushed down while my mother was carrying a plate of pancakes toward the table and my sister was eating hers.

"Estie, how did you sleep?" I laughed and hugged her. She squealed as she tried to keep the honey-stained fork from sticking to me. She gulped, then returned my hug. "It was tedious, but come and eat first, sis."

My mother continued, as she sat in a chair, dipping her fork into a maple syrup-filled pancake, "Take a bite!". I ate it. It was delicious. We ate together and talked happily, and I suddenly realized that it had been a long time since we sat down to talk like this. My mom called us upstairs while we were still cleaning. My mother's room was cluttered with an open suitcase, and several shirts were strewn across the floor.

"You forgot something?" Esther asked, bending down to pick up a shirt and folding it neatly. My mother shook her head, "Aunt Jones just called me."

"I thought you filed a restraining order against dad?" I frowned, "Why is he still trying to contact you?"

"He has some problems..." she sighed, looking back at Esther, "His lawyer said that I have to attend the trial tomorrow."

Esther looked back at her; the shirt in her hands was crumpled to the point of wrinkles. My mother came over and hugged her as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I won't hesitate this time, I promise." And she looked back at me.

"I'm going to be back in a week... Or more if he tries to reason with the court. So Ray, take care of Esther, alright?"

I nodded and tried to comfort Esther. She was a little bit shaky. Every time someone mentioned anything about my dad, her PTSD would rush right in. My mom packed her things for another 15 minutes and we all came to see my mother off. We waved goodbye as her car disappeared. I looked back at Esther, who was still very frightened.

"What do you want to have for dinner tonight?" I smiled, trying to cheer up. She wiped her tears, "Sweet and sour ribs? I always love that."

"Sure!" I nodded.

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We were walking down the street to the nearest supermarket. The neighbor was too quiet at this time of day. Esther and I finally came to the supermarket on our Google map. It was a small, local supermarket that seemed rusty at first, but it was the only one near my house. We walked in, and it was quite surprising because of how deserted it was. Only a cashier at the checkout, a janitor cleaning the floor, and two other employees are organizing the products. I shrugged it off, maybe they don't have that many employees at this time of day.

Esther was going around to get some snacks while I went to the meat section to get some ribs. We meet back at the checkout, with Esther holding a bunch of snacks. As we were checking out, I realized how one of the employees was looking at us with a worried look. I think Esther noticed that too. The cashier handed us the bag, and I gave her the money. "May he look over you," she said, smilingly. Even though I was very confused, I still nodded and smiled, "Sorry, but I'm an atheist. But thank you anyway."

For a moment, she seemed... angry. She held onto my wrist and screamed, "HOW CAN YOU BE THIS DISGRACEFUL!?"

Esther tried to break her grip on my wrist and the employee rushed in to separate us. I was shaking while she was still screaming and muttering unhearable things. The other employee came and escorted us out of the supermarket. "Our apologies," the employee said, "She has been strange these days." I shrugged it off, knowing it was not worth it to act like a Karen at this point. We just walked back to our house after that.

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I was still cooking when Esther came rushing down the stairs. "Pests again?" I laughed at her expression. She shook that off, telling me how weird the closet was. "It has locks inside. It's almost like a tiny room there." She described the closet. I smiled and ushered her to the dining room so that we could have dinner. We ate and talked for a bit, then I went up the stairs to take a bath while Esther was washing the dishes. We watched TV for a bit and then decided to go to sleep.

"Sis, don't you feel weird about that closet?"

"Alright, let's talk about it tomorrow. Let's sleep first!"

I hear her whimper under her blanket.

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It was 2:43 AM when I heard some woman's voice downstairs. Esther was woken up by it too. "I think," she said, looking down the window, "It's... MOM!". She quickly grabbed her cardigan and dashed downstairs. I held her back right after.

"How are you so sure it's mom? It could be anyone?"

"But she's wearing the same clothes that mom wore today. Maybe dad has done something to her again!" She shouted and went down right after. Shit, I cursed, as I followed her.

Esther was comforting the woman who she claimed to be our mom. I kneeled and asked her if she was alright. She was breathing heavily. She groaned, a small voice: "I... I'm alright."

"Mom, can you stand up?" Esther worriedly asked as she was trying to stand her up. But it was useless, the woman stopped the heavy breathing, and then laughed.

"You stupid, stupid little girls."

I could finally see her face, she was the cashier from the supermarket. She laughed as she was transforming into something that wasn't human. Her hand now turns into long and thin claws, which are shaped like knives waiting to pierce through the meat. Her eyes became hollow, darkened, and twisted. I looked back, only to see a sharpened smile that shone brightly under the moonlight. And she gripped my hand again, the same grip at the checkout booth.

Oh shit, I thought, I'm going to die here.

BANG!

All the chaos was interrupted by the sound of a gun piercing the woman's arm, and I looked around fearfully and felt the grip on my wrist loosen. From the side of the gun was a man, about middle-aged and a bit slim. In his hand was a shotgun. I was scared, screaming, "ESTHER! Get out of there! NOW!"

BANG!

Another shot rang out, it pierced the cashier's head. Her head was crushed, but instead of the usual brain and flesh, it was black and rotten liquid. I grabbed Esther and dragged her away, running for life. From behind, that creature was still following us. "COme BaCK!" It cried out.

"YOU TWO, HERE!" It was the voice of an aunt coming from the old man's house. Regardless, I dragged Esther to the man's side and tripped as I entered the door.

​

"ANDREW, COME IN!" The auntie shouted before the man fired another shot at the hideous creature. The uncle rushed over to us, pushed the three of us into the house, and slammed the door shut. The amount of adrenaline in my body made me shiver like I was on the other side of the North Pole, and Esther was still in shock. The man named Andrew gasped, then quickly threw the gun aside and sat down. "Thank God we got there early..."

Outside, the creature is still growling and whimpering under my mother's voice.

"How could you two leave me here to die?"

My new strange town has a set of rules to survive - We never knew those rules existed on the first day.