The book had been sitting on the shelf for years, but today I decided to open it… When I took it off the shelf there was a layer of dust on the spine. As a bookie this made me cringe. I didn’t think I would enjoy reading this book, but it was a gift from my great-grandmother and now that she had just passed it just felt appropriate to grab that specific book. It was almost like the book was speaking to me. I know that sounds crazy, but that is honestly how I felt.

I sat down on my bed to start reading. As I opened my eyes I realized that this book was special. This book was the last thing my great grandmother gave to me before she passed which means that this book is my last tie to her. The urge to start the book grew as I realized this, but something about me didn’t want to open it. I almost just wanted to hug it forever and never let go, because it felt as if I was almost hugging her in a way.

“Izzie?” I heard out of the corner of my ear, but I’m too focused on my book to actually process that my mom was walking into my room. You would think that if my great-grandmother just died my mom would be very supportive of my journey back to happiness. No. My mother is one of the most mosterest people I have ever met. She doesn't care about anyone but herself.  “Izzie, get up!” 

“Huh, oh, yeah.” That was not very convincing Izzie.

“Yeah, right. Well whenever you decide to get back to your real world, instead of the one your stupid dumb brain choses in books, I need you to cook dinner.” As of my great-grandmother's funeral, my mothers hand was broken after she had a spiteful emotion and went psycho and in causing a scene also broke her hand. That means that I , the eldest daughter of this house, must cook all of the food for all five of us. Five. It’s me, my mom, my older brother, my little sister, and my little brother. No dad. Actually none of the four dads. All four kids are all from different guys. 

My older brother, Liam, is everyone's favorite. He has light blonde hair that is subtly curly with blue eyes, and just as fate would have it he is the quarterback on the football team, and as the cherry on top he already has a full ride to his dream college for football. He is the oldest, a senior. Then there is me, not much to say. I’m basically the opposite of my older brother. I’m a junior. My little sister, Olvia, is a sophomore. She is in theater, and already knows exactly what college she wants to go to in order to get her dream of broadway. She has light blonde hair that is naturally pin straight with deep ocean blue eyes. My little brother, Noah, is a freshman and is basically the worst out of all of us. He has nothing he enjoys doing. He mainly just sits in his bed.

After dinner I went back up to my room and went straight to the book. There was something off about this book, but I couldn’t tell just quite what it was. I soon realized what it was when I opened the book. Something fell out of the book. A thin small piece of paper. On the paper it read ‘watch out for the closet’ in cursive handwriting that was smeared. The handwriting was definitely my great-grandmothers, but I had no idea why she would write that. I didn’t think much of it, because my grandmother kind of went crazy at the end so I assumed it was something that she dreamt about or something. The number one rule in this house is don’t assume anything. That’s what we had to live by. Don’t assume you're eating dinner. Don’t assume you're going to college. Don’t assume the heat will turn on tonight. Don’t assume anything, because there’s a good chance it won’t happen. In this case, assuming led to things happening. Very bad things will happen. 

It was pitch black dark. It was silent. Flames. I saw flames. Through the creaks of the door. The door started to crack open. Slowly. The more I opened the door the more an image started to appear. A young girl. On fire. Her body is in flames. My body is in shock. Unable to move. She opens her mouth as if to scream, but no noise comes out. She stops and water rolls down her cheek. A tear rolls down her cheek. A vibrant blue tear rolled down her red hot cheek. She started to be more blue then red until she wasn’t on fire anymore. She soon started to seem like she was drowning. My closet doors slammed shut and everything went back to black and quiet. 

“Izzie, what is going on in your room?” my mom screams from her room

I wasn’t quite sure what to say, so I stayed silent hoping she would assume I’m asleep. Never assume anything in this house. She burst through the door and looked around. “Why is it so hot in here?” I hadn’t realized how hot it was, but she was right. I was burning up sweating. “What is this?” She walks over to my closet door.

“STOP!” I scream. She looks over at me and doesn’t say anything. I started to stumble, but didn’t have the words to explain to her why I even remotely raised my voice to her. She continued to open the closet door anyway.

“What is this?” I didn’t know what to say, because I didn’t know what she was talking about. She turned around and looked at me. I think she could tell that I didn’t know what in the world was going on because she didn’t come over to my bed and strangle me. She turned back around and turned the closet light on. There was water on the ground. 

“Uh. There must be something wrong, probably a leak. No wonder you were spooked, you have probably been listening to creepy sounds all night.”

“Yeah.” That is the only word I could think of, the only word I could formulate out of my mouth, the only word that would come out of my mouth.

My mom walked out of my room and shut the door. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

The next day I went to the public library and found the list of everyone in the city who had died from fire or water in a closet. Thanks to Google's advanced search engine, I quickly found what I was looking for. The girl in the closet was my great-grandmother. She had almost died after lighting herself on fire and then her mother threw water on her. Don’t you love family reunions, because I do. My family reunion was the one that happened last night in my closet while an image of my grandmother at my age burning and then she drowned. I think it by far tops off the cake. 

That night I slept in my closet with the doors shut and locked. I wasn’t going to leave until me and my great-grandmother settled this. As soon as I felt it get a little bit more hot in the room I immediately knew that she was in there. She appeared in front of me sitting down just as I was. 

“Hello Izzie, I assume you know who I am. Although no one is allowed to be in this house, I suppose that is why you're sleeping in your closet with your doors locked. Am I right?”

“Um, yeah. That’s right.” I stuttered, “Sorry, I have never talked to a ghost before.”

“That’s okay, neither have I.” She sounded like she was trying to make a joke, but I couldn’t take a ghost seriously or funny. “Well, I guess I will get straight to the point. I’m here because I have unfinished business. That unfinished business is you and your siblings and your mother.”

“What about us?”

“I know that your mother isn’t the most reliable person to ever walk the planet.” there is a slight pause, a crack in her voice as if she is still here. “I want you to know that from now on it’s up to you and anytime you need anything you can talk to me through the book. It seems as if there are words, but there aren't. All you have to do is write how you feel and it will turn them into words on a page, after you will see words appear under it. Those words are me. It will appear as dialogue, or as a conversation. This family has a troubled past and now that I can’t be here to protect everyone you need to know, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be here with you every step of the way. Okay?” 

“Okay. I just don’t understand. What skeletons do we have in our closet?” I little giggle slips out of this serious situation as a joke about skeletons in the closet as I am sitting talking to a ghost in my closet.  

“There is too much to say tonight. I just want you to know that no matter what skeletons out of that closet come your way, you can face them, okay?”

“Okay, I understand.” I did understand. This was my family to protect now.