Cupboard Under The Stairs, The

There were four locks on the front door, two on the back, four more
on the bay window (one for each window that opened) - and an additional
bolt on every door in the house.

"We've gotta stop the zombies getting in, Josh," his mother always
said. He'd watch her each evening, going round locking all the doors,
then going round a second time to check she'd locked them all the first
time.

Josh didn't believe in zombies anymore. He did, however, believe there
must be something worth seeing outside - other than zombies - that his
mother didn't want him to know about. When he was very young he had
decided that as soon as he was tall enough to reach the locks he would
open them and see for himself.

Josh went through a growth spurt when he was nearly nine, and soon
found he was tall enough to read the bolt on the door to the cupboard
under the stairs. This was the lowest door in the house. It was the
only one his mother had to stoop to go through, but she didn't open it
that often.

"What's in the cupboard under the stairs?" he asked on his ninth
birthday.

He thought that as he had reached this latest milestone, she might feel
like imparting a few more of the house's secrets to him. Plus he was
going to give her the chance to tell the truth before he found out for
himself anyway. She hadn't noticed yet just how tall he had grown
recently.

"There's nothing in the cupboard, Josh," she told him, but checked the
bolt twice that night as usual. Then she packed him off to bed and went
back downstairs to check all the locks a third and final time.

Josh could only ever sleep with his night-light on. Ever since infancy
he'd been afraid of spiders crawling down from the ceiling and him not
being able to see them coming. Lying in the dark he would be too
worried to sleep. That night, he wanted to stay awake, so he turned the
night-light off as soon as his mother had left the room.

He waited until midnight. Josh knew it was midnight because the face of
his clock glowed in the dark. He never knew it could do that, because
he'd never seen it in the dark before. The illuminated clock-face also
helped him place himself. If the clock was on the desk, and he was on
his bed facing it, then his bedroom door must be on his right. It would
be easy to get lost in the dark, he thought.

Shortly before midnight, his mother went to bed. The last sound he
heard from the room next door was her turning the latch on the door and
switching off the light. He didn't know how long it took someone to
fall asleep, but he knew his mother was a snorer, so he just listened
for that. He heard plenty of other noises - noises outside - but no
snores.

He quickly grew restless, and decided not to wait any longer. He
slipped out of bed and started across the room with his eyes closed. It
wasn't as if he could see much anyway, but in his head he could imagine
the layout of the room perfectly, and plotted a slow course around all
the floorboards he knew creaked.

He reached the door quicker than he'd expected and went to open it. He
hesitated. It was strange. He had opened this door a thousand times,
but he did it so often he could no longer remember what sound it made.
He didn't know whether to open it quickly, and risk a louder noise, or
open it slowly, and risk a longer noise. When he did eventually open
it, however, it made no noise at all.

There was only one window in the hallway outside his bedroom. It was
small, round, opaque and too high above the landing for curtains. There
was a dim yellow streetlight outside the window, and it was by the
light of this that Josh started down the stairs. He counted the steps
as he reached them and avoided the seventh. He remembered how it made a
noise when stepped on. As a result, he miscounted, and reached the
bottom unexpectedly, twisting his ankle in doing so.

His wince was probably louder than he realised. He froze only for a
second to listen for signs of movement upstairs. There were none. He
reached into the darkness surrounding him until he found the side of
the stairs again, then felt his way along it until he found the
cupboard door. He knew he had found it when his fingers ran across a
vertical groove in the wood.

It didn't even occur to him, as he stood on his toes to reach the bolt,
that he would need a light to see what was behind the door. The bolt
was higher than he'd imagined. He hadn't actually had the opportunity
to reach for it before, but he'd sized it up adequately and judged
himself tall enough to manage it now. As it turned out, he wasn't quite
tall enough to get his fingers around the bolt. He'd have to tease it
open with his fingertips. It was stiff, and it didn't come easily, but
at least it was quiet.

Josh didn't know what he did, or what he had done, but as soon as he
had the bolt open, the hallway lights came on and blinded him. These
were the same lights they had on all day, but his eyes had grown so
accustomed to the darkness they now found the light unbearable.

"Josh?" called his mother from the landing. She didn't sound like a
woman who was half-asleep. Josh wondered whether his wince had woken
her, or whether she hadn't even been asleep at all.

He didn't answer her. He knew he had to hide. He'd never been told not
to look in the cupboard, but now he had an overwhelming feeling that he
ought not to. He stumbled squinting down the hall, but the lounge was
locked and so were the kitchen and dining room. He wasn't tall enough
to reach their locks, but by this time his mother was already on the
stairs anyway. He heard her on the seventh step.

"What are you doing, Josh?" she asked calmly.

When he opened his eyes, she was standing right there. She hadn't even
got undressed yet. Josh didn't say anything at first. He wondered if -
somehow - she had known all along.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," she warned him. "You do remember what
happened to your father, don't you, Josh?"

"Yes," he lied. He didn't remember what had happened. He couldn't even
remember who his father was. He only knew, from what she had told him,
that his father was someone who should have been around, but
wasn't.

"Then let's get back to bed, shall we?"

It wasn't really a question, so Josh didn't answer. His mother didn't
say anymore. She just glared at him for a moment, then snapped the bolt
back into place and took his hand in her own. Josh didn't think it was
the right time to tell her about his ankle, as she led him back to
bed.

At some point over the next few days, the bolt on the cupboard door was
moved several inches higher. Josh could see holes in the wood where it
used to be screwed in. He reckoned it would take him another year to
grow tall enough to reach it again, but he was in no hurry to be caught
doing that again.

Neither of them ever said anything about what had happened, but his
mother had obviously not forgotten. When he watched her check the bolt
on the door one evening she looked at him, pursed her lips and raised
her eyebrows.

"If a door's locked," she said. "Then it's locked for a reason."

"I know," he said.

"We've gotta stop the zombies getting in, Josh. Don't you want me to
stop the zombies getting in?"

"Are there zombies in the cupboard, then?" he asked. There had been a
time - before he was nine - when he would never have been so
cheeky.

"No, Josh," she replied bluntly. "There's nothing in the
cupboard."

And then it was time for bed again.

When Josh finally found out what was inside the cupboard under the
stairs it was closer to his tenth birthday than his ninth. He'd stopped
needing the night-light by this time. If he saw any eight-legged vermin
on the ceiling now he'd catch them and kill them himself. He figured if
he was ever going to convince her he was old enough to see inside the
cupboard then he'd have to prove he wasn't afraid of such silly things
anymore.

It seemed to work. One day she caught him sitting in the bay window,
looking out into their overgrown garden. After that she began talking
of getting a latch for his bedroom door - just like her own - so long
as he promised to stay away from the window. It made him feel older to
be given the responsibility over his own lock, even though she never
got round to installing it.

Josh broke his promise about the window whenever he was sure he could
get away with it. He was now tall enough to see over the windowsill and
the outside world fascinated him as much as the contents of the
cupboard. Their garden was large and surrounded by a tall fence. There
was a gate in the fence. This was bolted too. However, the first person
Josh saw in the garden didn't come through the gate - he came over the
fence.

The little boy was Josh's age. His hands appeared first, then his head,
and then he swung a leg up. Josh guessed somebody was lifting him up on
the other side of the fence and pressed his nose against the glass to
get a better look. The boy dropped down into the long grass and began
looking around. He had come for a ball. Josh hadn't seen it come over,
but now he saw it beneath the window. He tapped quietly on the window
and pointed. The boy looked startled to see Josh. He didn't take his
unblinking eyes from him as he reached for the ball, then he grabbed
it, tossed it over the fence, then scrambled back over after it.

Josh didn't tell his mother what he had seen. That would be admitting
he'd broken his promise, and if he did that she might never let him see
inside the cupboard. He kept quiet even when, during dinner, they both
heard the gate in the fence being rattled. After all, it had been a
little he had seen - not a zombie.

"What's that?" he asked innocently.

"Just eat your dinner, Josh," she said, getting up.

Then she disappeared for a couple of minutes and Josh imagined she'd
gone back to the bay window. Before she returned, the rattling had
turned into a banging, which Josh could hear, even from the back
room.

"What is it?" he asked nervously.

"It's nothing," she said. "Put your plate in the sink, Josh. You can
finish it later."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to show you what's in the cupboard under the stairs
now, Josh. That's why."

He stood up and slid his plate through the hatch between the kitchen
and dining room. She cleared his place mat and drink coaster from the
table. There was now no evidence he'd even been sitting there with
her.

"Why now?" he wondered. "And why are you doing that?"

"Why not now? Don't you want to see what's in the cupboard under the
stairs anymore, Josh?"

"I don't know anymore," he told her.

Now he had the opportunity to find out, Josh wasn't so sure he wanted
to. He got the sudden impression from the urgency in her voice that
whatever was in the cupboard under the stairs, it wasn't worth knowing
about.

"Well, you've been asking me for years," she said.

"I've changed my mind."

Just then the banging on the gate suddenly stopped. There was silence,
but only for a moment. Then he banging returned, only it was louder and
it was nearer. Someone was hammering on their front door.

"Quickly," she said. "Come with me."

Josh took her hand, thinking she wouldn't be showing him to the
cupboard after all. By the time he realised she was, her grip on him
was too tight.

"I don't want to know! I don't want to know!" he protested as she
dragged him in front of the cupboard door.

"Do be quiet, Josh," she said calmly.

When they came in sight of the front door, the knocking intensified.
Josh could see formless dark shapes moving behind the frosted glass. He
struggled on the end of his mother's arm. With the other hand she
unlocked the cupboard door.

She paused before opening it and he stopped fighting her.

"What's in there?" he whispered.

"There's nothing in there, Josh," she maintained.

Then she opened the door. She hadn't been lying to him all these years.
The cupboard under the stairs was empty.

"Get in the cupboard, Josh," she said, giving him a gentle push.

"Why?" he cried, pushing back.

"Because it's you they've come for this time."

Josh got into the cupboard. She had never lied to him before, he just
hadn't believed it. He believed her now. The last thing she did before
closing him in was smile. That was the only thing that stopped him from
bursting into tears.

"You've got to be quiet in there, Josh. They'll be looking for you.
Don't let them find you. I've gotta stop the zombies getting in,
Josh."

That was the last thing she ever said to him, as she locked him
in.

Josh crouched quietly in the darkness for a long time. The cupboard was
cold and smelly, and it was so dusty he could even taste the dust on
his tongue. He was shivering - or trembling - and he needed to sneeze,
but he didn't dare make a sound. The door muffled sounds from outside.
There were more bangs, voices and shouts, but they all sounded a long
way away.

When it went quiet, Josh pressed his ear against the cupboard door.
There was still one voice. It was a deep voice and it was speaking
right outside the cupboard. He couldn't hear what it was saying, but he
knew it wasn't his mother. It he peered through the gap between the
door and the wall, he could see a dark shape - just like those he had
seen outside.

He was most surprised when that dark shape turned and knocked on the
door. He knew it was his door - he had felt the vibration through his
ear. He backed away, not even daring to breathe. There came a second
knock, but whoever it was didn't wait for a reply before they unlocked
the door this time.

"Hi there," said a voice.

Josh squinted. He had been in the cupboard too long. His eyes were not
used to daylight.

"I'm Mr Price," it continued.

Mr Price didn't look like a zombie, Josh thought - but then he
remembered his mother had never actually described what they look
like.

"I'm with the police," he said. "Do you want to come out of there,
Josh?"

He wasn't acting like a zombie either, Josh realised. Zombies just
attacked you. They didn't smile at you, or talk to you, or ask you
questions nicely.

"Where's my mum?" he asked.

"We're looking after her, Josh," said Mr Price. "She's not feeling very
well at the moment. Maybe if you come out you can see her."

Josh didn't know whether to trust this man, but he didn't see any
alternative. He couldn't stay in the cupboard until his mother
returned, because he had this mounting fear that she might not. He
stood up. Mr Price smiled.

"It's okay, Josh," he said. "Come on out. You can trust me."

Josh came out of the cupboard slowly. Mr Price smiled again, then put
an arm around Josh's shoulders. He guided Josh toward the front door,
which was open, but the front door was as far as Josh could go.

"It's okay, Josh," said Mr Price once more.

"I'm not allowed outside," Josh told him plainly.

"We know, Josh," he said. "But it'll be okay."

Josh believed him, and stepped out into the fresh air. It was warm and
the sun was shining brightly in a cloudless sky. The garden was full of
uniformed strangers, but Josh hardly noticed. The gate was open.