My Playmate

A child's imagination is truly infinite. Thoughts flow through a child's mind quickly, making anything seem real. Some things, such as the boiler in the basement, frighten children enough to scare them off of the area in question. As these children grow up, their fears simply leave them; abandoning them. This, however, is not the case for myself.

I was two at the time, at least, this is what my parents told me. It's very vague in my head, as you know, your mind forgets things as time goes on. Anyway, my parents told me when I was a child I used to be terribly afraid of the basement and attic. As I learned how to walk, I would never leave to go up or down to the attic or basement. I wouldn't even leave the living room to go outside.

At night, they said they would watch over me. They told me I had night fits; flipping around in my bed and crying. I would awaken silently and sit up without even breathing. But as I got older, the symptoms seemed to go away.

This is the point I remember completely. I turned eight years old (I'm eighteen now, if it even matters), and I remember being in my room all alone, playing by myself. I used those awesome G.I Joe toys and made them fight. It was cooler in my head, at least. I had a huge imagination.

I was still afraid of the basement and attic. Whenever I went near them I heard...well, voices. They spoke to me; "Amy! Come up here and play!" or "Amy! Come down here and play!" they would say. I would run and tell my parents, but naturally when they investigated, it was nothing. Nothing spoke to them.

It was midnight that the first terrifying moment happened. I was sleeping, when suddenly, I woke up to whispers. These whispers...they had no meaning. Just mumbles and grumbles. I turned to the hallway where my door remained open and saw a dark, black shadow. "Amy?" it said, seemingly inquisitively.

"Go Away!" I shouted to it. The whispers stopped and everything grew silent. This same thing occured nearly every night. It got to the point where I anticipated it happening. I planned on calling for my parents, and when I did, they never came. These instances became worse on my head to the point that my parents took me to a therapist every Friday.

It was one night, right next to my tenth birthday, that something new happened. Already, at eight and nine years old, I was faced with insomnia and near insanity (as my therapist called it). I planned on talking to it, following what it wanted with me. The same thing happened, "Amy?" it asked.

"What?" I asked it. "What do you want from me?"

It vanished, but the whispers still remained. I stood from my bed, following it through the hallway. It was so cold, I remember. Every hair on my body stood up as I got closer to the apparition. The whispers got louder and louder as I progressed. I reached the stairway to the basement. The door was open, and I saw it waiting for me.

I took a step down. This was terrifying at most, as this would be the fourth time I'd ever even been down there. I walked down, holding my breath. At the bottom, it asked me, "Can we play?"

"No!" I replied. "You need to leave me alone!"

It simply turned and stared at me. "Haven't you always wanted a playmate?" I heard it say. It was louder and clearer than before. This time, I was truly scared of the spirit.

"No," I said, standing firm. It fell quiet. The whispers stopped, and I fell over.

My parents found me the next morning, asleep in the basement. They wondered why I went down there, and off all times, at night. I told them my story but they didn't believe me. We went on with my birthday, and that night, the spirit returned. It continued doing this until I turned twelve, causing my insomnia to continue driving me crazy.

During the daytime I would see things. Crazy things. I would see dolls moving, people walking in my house, and my parents simply dying when they're not even in the room. My parents decided to pull me out of school and home school me. I would be able to sleep during the day and school at night with them. It was at this time that the spirit stopped coming. On Saturday nights and Sunday nights the spirit would return, but vanish after I told it to go away.

One night, after I'd turned thirteen, my parents were downstairs teaching me my Science lesson. The apparition appeared behind my mother's portable chalk board. Mom asked me what was wrong, and I simply pointed. She turned and screamed.

It was that night that we moved out of that house. Nothing truly happened after this. We lived a fulfilling life up until I turned sixteen.

In our new house, my parents' room was next to mine, so I couldn't make much noise without attracting them. It was midnight when the spirit appeared. Only this time, it was angry. The whispers returned. It said, "Play with me."

"No!" I screamed, ducking under my covers. The whispers grew louder. When I came out, my father was standing in the doorway, looking at me. He said nothing. I told him to make the noises go away, and he still just stood there.

Suddenly, a gash appeared on his left cheek. It penetrated his eyeball. As he bled slightly, he fell to his knees, knocking over some things I had on a desk next to him. He fell sideways, knocking everything over. My mother ran by, screaming and worried. "Honey! What's going on?"

"Mom!" I screamed. The whispers suddenly stopped. My mother stopped and looked at me. She walked into my room, menacingly. I jumped out of my bed and slid past her. She simply turned around and looking into my eyes. She shrieks and walks quicker towards me, scaring me half to death. I run down our stairs nearby to our front door. I try to open it, but it won't even budge.

She walks down the stairs, and midway, closes her eyes. She tumbles down, smashing into the ground right in front of me. I look back up, and there the spirit was again. It stares down at me, tilting its head. I screamed, running into the living room area. There on our kitchen table awaiting me was a dollhouse.

"Play with me."

Today, I sit here writing this in order to tell you an important message: Avoid 9129 Delmin Street. To my knowledge, this spirit still remains there today. I heard that it once killed a child who agreed to play with it. What we her name...?

I think it was something like...

Amy.