The sunlight filtered through the curtains in the second floor giving off an orange light. Laughter danced inside the two-story home. Feet scrambled through the halls, and whispers cut the air. Amused eyes darted across the rooms, looking for someone. The floor beneath them trembled as they neared the bathroom, where they thought she was hiding. They stopped in front of the wide-open door and silently tip toed towards the shower curtain. Small hands ripped the fabric from their path before looking enthusiastically into the bathtub. She was definitely not there. Both squinted at each other and one of them smiled maliciously, the confused one soon got the idea. They ran to the front door as fast as their little legs could go. After jumping down two steps per jump they finally made it. They unlocked it and ran away into the backyard, where the storage room was.

Meanwhile, a bored teenager opened the lid of the, strangely, giant toy chest. She looked around the room, searching for the troublesome pair. As fast as lightning she went out of her hiding spot and closed the bathroom door only to retreat back into it when a sound came from downstairs.

Creeeeeeeeeeak

She covered her mouth with the back of her hand to hide a nervous giggle and sat silently in the darkness inside the toy chest. Her ear was inclined towards the cracking stairs, very close to the room she was in. Things had just got interesting.

The footsteps came closer, and closer, and closer. THUMP- the bathroom door slammed open. Beth frowned, that didn't sound like her brothers. She listened carefully to the outside world. Her mother's bedroom door only made a faint sound, as if it hadn't opened at all.

Fifteen minutes were wasted waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. She shifted her legs uncomfortably -it was getting hard to breath-. When she was going to open the lid and get out of there she heard it. Slowly, something crawled towards the toy chest. It sounded as if someone was walking on their nails. Beth's eyes widened and her brows furrowed. What in Lucifer's hell was that?

It got so close to her hiding spot that she could heard its humid breathing. It started gurgling, then murmuring things through the key hole. Beth's mouth was slightly open; lips quivering, throat closed, eyes clenched shut, listening; a sight to behold.

It said one last thing that made Beth's heart stop. Dark, obsene words flew out of that thing's mouth accompanied by its pestilence. Beth lost it right there.

She ripped open the fragile top of the toy box and grabbed it as a weapon. She looked around the room confused and breathing hard, teeth bared; the plastic lid raised above her head. Perplexed, she put down the 'weapon' (that, let's be honest, wouldn't serve her for anything, really). She blinked rapidly and shook her head. She slowly got out of the chest (now a treasure chest) observing her new surroundings.

This was not her mother's bedroom. In fact, this looked like nothing she had ever seen. Half of the roof was off, with wood poking out of it, the other half destroyed the bed when it fell, or so it seemed.

Turning around she noticed the large mirror in front of the bed. It was scratched and the walls surrounding it were peeling off; the written words on those walls were nonsense.

Looking at her left she saw that there were wooden boards on the window; a warm, orange light came from the holes that weren't covered. She didn't recognize this place. Something that had her completely confused: how did she found herself here? She just went through her mother's chest toy. Was this a joke?

She looked up to the decaying ceiling and closed her eyes. Sighing, she counted to ten.

She came back to herself after a while and stared at the dirty floor beneath her, just thinking. There was no logical explanation for what appeared to be an interdimensional portal in her mother's bedroom, or for the creature that spoke to her.

Deciding to at least try it, she took the top of the chest from the floor and got inside the treasure chest, where she had seemed to come from. She sat and put the lid on its place but alas, it was futile. Beth bit her lip. She knew it wouldn't work.

With anger and a scream she threw the lid to the other side of the room. Lips pursued and watery eyes, what else was she to do?

Soon enough, the light from the outside faded into blackness, leaving Anabeth to her tears and thoughts.