Elim wasn’t sure what he’d done to upset Tain in such a way. He always did his best to stay out of his way and be quiet like a good child. He didn’t want to be bad, he wanted to be good.
A spider crawled in front of him, barely visible in the dark. It was larger than other ones he’d seen, larger than the one that the boys at school had forced him to eat. Did it have furry legs? Would it bite him? What if it bit him and no one knew and found him when it was too late?
He shrunk down against the wall of the closet and hoped the spider wouldn’t notice him. Maybe if he was quiet enough, it would go back where it came from.
In his heart, Elim knew he wasn’t a good child. Good children weren’t locked in closets. Even if he didn’t know what he did, he did something, and he deserved it. If he was a good child, he wouldn’t be placed in a closet with spiders.
The four walls rose far above of him, as did the latch on the door. If he squinted enough, he was almost able to see a glint of light from the very top of the door. The world still existed outside of the closet, no matter how small it appeared to be.
Off in the distance, he could hear Mila speaking, but he couldn’t make out the words. Maybe she was asking Tain to let him out? She never had before, but maybe there was a part of her that cared enough to do it this time, she had to care, she was supposed to.
But perhaps he would simply remain in the closet.