Behind Closed Doors

“Don’t talk to Ms. Peters! Don’t even go near her house, Dani!”

On any other day, Dani would’ve followed her mother’s warnings. The aggressive way she was brandishing a kitchen knife while warning her was more than enough to strike fear into her heart. But she hasn’t heard from Makoto in five days!

“Sorry, mom. Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Dani took a deep breath and steadied her nerves under the eerie yellow of her porch light. She knocked on the door. It took a few moments before someone answered. She had hoped it would be Makoto to open it, but she was sorely disappointed and slightly panicked when a grown woman stepped into the light of the porch.

“Good evening, Ms. Peters.” Ms. Peters was a middle aged woman that left a midlife crisis limping. Though well into her 40s by now, the lady was dressed like a hormonal teenager who just discovered tube tops.

“Good evening, little Dani.” The lady wrapped her in a tight hug. Her hoops swung back and forth and threatened to get tangled in Dani’s curly hair as the lady placed a big smooch on her right cheek. The five year old grimaced at the heady smell of liquor on her breath. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. And where is that cute brother of yours?” She made a show of looking behind and around her for her brother.

“He went ahead, ma’am. Blake and I wanted to hang out with everyone at Maple’s Saddle so we split up. Is Makoto home?”

“You know, you little tikes shouldn’t be hanging out at that club like you are. It’s not the place for adorable kids like you lot,” she tutted. Then the sound of a knock. Really it sounded more like a thud of something heavy falling over. Ms. Peters whipped her head back around towards the sound, but Dani caught the frosty expression she had on her face. That look was cold enough to make puppies weep and fish flop belly-up.

“Ma’am, is Makoto here?” Dani asked again.

“Huh?” She replied absently, her eyes trained on the steps to the left behind her. Dani knew those steps led to his room.

“Ms. Peters!”

“Makoto? No, he’s not here.” She turned away from the stairs, that look gone and the sugary smile back. “Maybe he went on one of his little walks. You know how much of a busy body he is, can’t ever stay still for too long.”

As long as she’s known the brunette, he’s been one of the calmest people she knows. He often prefers to stay to himself in the quiet corners of the room, quietly listening to his headphones or the buzzing noises of people socializing around him. Busy body was rarely the word to describe Makoto except in two instances.

The first would be if he was asked to do something. Something that Dani noticed about Makoto is that he has a weird work ethic. The boy could appear and even act lazy and sluggish. But when he’s assigned a task, he puts everything into it until it’s completed. She still doesn’t know if it’s because he just wants to hurry up and get stuff done, or if he just has some weird work ethic passed down from his parents.

The other instance would be if someone-

“Well dear, you’d best be getting on to that club. We wouldn’t want your mother worried about you, now would we?”

‘Respect your elders, Dani. Respect your elders.’ Dani could feel her right eye start to twitch. “Yes ma’am. Thank you for your time.” Ms. Peters already had the door halfway closed and was standing behind it before she could even finish her thanks.

“I’ll let you know if he comes back, dear. Bye.” The door was quickly shut in her face.

She knew the lady wasn’t going to tell her if he came back. She’d go back in and drink her troubles away. Her mother tried to keep her and Aren away from Ms. Peters, but it became much harder to do so when she took in Makoto. After that incident at the club though, Cody even started to keep them away from her house and usually goes to pick up Makoto on his own.

There’s another knock. This one was weaker. It was more muted this time around since there wasn’t an orifice open to hear it from the inside. Dani walked around to the left side of the bricked house.

There’s a lone window higher than the others on this side. It led to Makoto’s room. It’s the only entry and exit beside the door to enter and exit the room. No one is able to see inside the room. She had asked her mother why that was.

“It’s frosted glass. They can see out, but we can’t see in,” she said. She doesn't understand why they gave Makoto that room. Why didn’t they want anyone to be able to see inside?

Maybe it was a privacy thing.

Looking around at the bushes under the window, the brunette spotted something silver and metallic inside the shrubbery. It had rained last night, so the metal was slick from stale precipitation and morning dew. Picking it up was a harder matter. Usually Cody was the one who picked up the ladder and let her and Aren climb up. Sometimes he would let her help pick it up, but now that she had to do it on her own.

"I wonder when Cody got so strong,” she thought.

Once the ladder was upright and against the wall, Dani started to climb the way Aren taught her: right hand, right foot, left hand, left foot. She continued like that until she was high enough to push the windowsill open and pull herself inside.

She knew something was wrong when her feet hit the floor. The room seemed darker than usual. The darkness itself enabled a fog to cover up whatever was hidden within. Dani tried to maneuver through the dark to get to the light switch when a cracking voice stopped her. “Don’t turn… on… the light.”

“Makoto?” Why did he sound like that? “Where are you? Why are you talking so low?”

"Shh.” The whisper resembled the low hiss of a snake’s. The sound of it sent her heart down to her stomach and made her head feel like scrambled eggs.

Dani started walking towards him, or at least the direction where she last heard his voice. She slowly inched forward with her hand outstretched in front of her so she wouldn’t bump into anything.

When she was a little more than halfway across the room, there was a quiet squish and it felt slippery underneath her shoes. Makoto must’ve heard the squishing sound too.

"Stop, Dani. Jus’ go… back to Aren and Cody. Tell ‘em I’m not… feeling well… can’t m’ke it.”

“Why is the floor wet?”

He didn’t answer. It made her walk a little faster.

“Stop, Dani.”

She strode faster towards the sound of his voice.

“Dani.” Her foot met something solid. Her hands brushed against soft cloth and the round curvature of a shoulder. He flinched under her touch.

"I… told you… not… to come.” His breathing was slower. Dani moved her hand from his shoulder to the middle of his chest. It was rising and falling at a slower and slower pace. Her hand felt wet and sticky.

“Makoto?” He didn’t answer her, but she knew he was still listening from the slight tilt of his head.

There was buzzing on the bed next to what she assumed to be his foot. The phone screen lit up and shined enough light for her to see that her fingers were covered in red.

She immediately grabbed the phone and entered in his password. Her fingers were a blur as she entered Cody’s number. She avoided Makoto’s hand as he weakly tried to stop her.

“Hello?”

“Makoto is hurt! Come to Ms. Peters’ house! Quick!”

“On our way.”