The party invitation read “Come and help celebrate Emma Tyler‘s 11th birthday on February 28th, 1993 at 2 o’clock in the afternoon at 13 Wendigo Street!”


As the date approached, Emma’s parents were double checking the door to the hidden closet to be sure that it would stay locked on the day of the party. No one could know of the mass secret the family had been keeping for over a decade. This was the first time several younger children would be over at a time, and desperate measures had to be taken to ensure that nothing would go wrong.

*

The first knock sounded from the grand wooden door, a steady pat pat pat from the enclosed fist of an excited child. Mrs. Tyler called for Emma so she could welcome her first guests. Emma jumped at the sound of her Mom calling her, she had been snooping through old, dust-gathering boxes, and found some interesting things. But, the object that struck her curiosity the most was the old, battered birth certificate, with the same date of birth as her, and the name “Riley” fading away instead of her own.


Within the span of an hour the kitchen was swarming with overjoyed children. The kids' voices must have been heard from upstairs, a few dull thuds came from the closet floor, the ceiling of the kitchen pantry. Emma’s father rushed up there in a hurry. The thuds ceased to nothing, and the upstairs quiet took place once again.


The party progressed smoothly and without unwanted interruption from the mystery upstairs. Until Emma begged her parents to bring her friends up to see her room. They allowed her, with the nerves kicking in, what if she had showed them the closet? What if it came out of the closet? Would the kids tell their parents? What would the parents think? Emma is only young, as is the thing in the closet, they would think it was an illusion, or a trick, it couldn't be real. The thuds picked back up again as Emma and her friends darted upstairs. They became heavier and heavier and more repetitive the longer Emma remained in her room with her friends.


Back upstairs, Emma kept an eye on the door, unsure of what was in there to begin with. Her parents only told white lies to perhaps keep her curiosity to a minimum. But why was it such a big deal? What could possibly be kept behind a door that was so secretive and discreet? Emma's couldn't take it anymore, she made her way to the massive, thick wooden door, the only thing preventing her from opening it being the missing iron key that is usually kept on the post of the opposing wall. Where had it gone? The key was never kept anywhere except for that post. None of her friends had taken it, they were all empty-handed and flabbergasted by her rather interesting room- shelves covered with bags of salt, jars of holy water, thick leather-bound books in Latin, and faded symbols of a circle surrounding a five-point star.


As one of the kids reached for a smaller jar of holy water, they slipped, taking the glass jar with them. The jar fell to the floor with a crash, spilling all of the blessed water over the faded symbol on the wooden floor. The symbol was corrupted, no longer complete, with the slight space missing. The crash sounded to the kitchen, the parents faces went pale as both of their hearts stopped, dashing up the stairs to Emma's room. But it was too late.


Emma turned and faced the lock door, rattling coming from the other side. The key rose up from a shadow, pushing itself into the lock, and unlocking the door. The jars began to rattle, salt falling with a crash, walls and ceiling cracked- breaking the other smaller symbols that were fading away. Emma's parents burst through the room as the heavy locked door swung open, slamming into the wall, dust filling the air. Emma's parents grabbed all of the children, pushing them to the door and shouting at them to run out. Emma was on her way out when an incredible force pushed her back into her room. No escaping. The dust cleared and Emma could see for the very first time what had been kept behind the door for years.


A small figure emerged: dirty, furious, and... familiar looking? The figure looked almost exactly like Emma, except shorter and thinner and filthier. The figures eyes had been closed until it faced Emma and her parents. It opened its eyes; pitch black.


"Riley..." Emma's mother gasped quietly. Riley? Who was Riley? And then, it all made sense- human sounds from a locked closet in her room; a second birth certificate Emma had found while snooping through old boxes with the name "Riley" plastered on it rather than her own with the same birthday as hers; her parents concerned and panicked facial expressions when Emma had asked to have friends over, or asking about the closet. It all made sense. Riley was Emma's twin sister; but why had she been kept here all along?


"Who...wants...to...play?" Riley slowly asked in a menacing tone. Before they could scream, Riley opened her fist, eyes locked on the Tylers, and clamped her hand shut, making a fist, her parents and Emma grabbing at their throats trying to breathe- but it was too late- they fell to the floor in motionless heaps, before Riley released her hand.


*

A newspaper header read: FAMILY FOUND DEAD IN BEDROOM, 11 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER THE MURDERER. 11 years ago yesterday, the twins of Betty and Samuel Tyler were brought into the world, but the smaller twin, Riley, had something strange about her. The family quickly realized this after her and her sister had been baptized; Riley would cry as soon as she was brought into the church, and made a blood-curdling scream when the Holy Water was poured on her head. Her parents figured out that she had been possessed by a demon. The family locked her up in the closet hidden away in the room of the older twin, Emma. Yesterday, Holy Water had been spilled on a Devil’s Trap that had been keeping Riley quiet for years. She broke out from the locked door, killing her parents and sister before passing out. She is being held in a juvenile prison under the protection of Devil’s Trap and a salt circle. Police are investigating as to how she killed her family and how she was possessed.