Childish Imagination

Living as children, we can all agree that our minds were wacky. We had fears over the smallest things such as thunder and the boogie man. Growing up we lose fears that we had as children because we finally get a sense of reality. This does not excuse things we see with our own eyes. When we see something as kids that we find frightening, it sticks in our brains for as long as we live. Sometimes childhood ruins your whole perception of reality, my closet has ruined my life.

While living as a 10-year-old, my parents had high expectations for me. I was expected to be a 5-star Basketball player with Division 1 offers by the time I reached my Junior year in High School. People obviously see this as impossible, but by having loving and believing parents, they made me believe in myself until my greatest fears came to life.

The gymnasium was empty today mostly because of the rain and no kid wanted to walk to practice in the rain, they weren’t as dedicated to Basketball as I was. As powerful as my dedication was, my fear of thunder has gotten to me and made me shrivel up and start bawling. It got so bad that my coach called my parents and they had to come pick me up. They were very disappointed in me that I let thunder disrupt me from playing Basketball. This wasn’t the first time this happened, and they were very annoyed at how they must keep picking me up because I was too much of a “pussy” to deal with Thunder. I went to hide in my closet when I got home because I had this weird idea that closet doors can shield me from the lightning.

I was scared not only because of the thunder and lightning, but also the dark. I can never be in a dark room without a night-light. I get up to grab my light when I see this light coming from underneath a door. I’ve never seen this in my closet before, as a 10-year-old I assume this was a bathroom in my room that I’ve never known about. I crack open the door and get a tiny glimpse of what to see before I’m stopped from my moms’ voice as she calls me to come eat dinner.

I go to the dining room and sit down at the table with both my mom and dad. As we’re eating, I ask them if they have a bathroom if their room. They reply with “yes, the master bedroom is the only room in the house with a bathroom”. I felt confused and I told them that there was a bathroom in my room also, they didn’t believe me. After dinner I went to show them where it was, I bring them to my closet to show them where it was, but the door wasn’t there. They sit me down and explain to me that children like me have a sense of wonder and see things that aren’t there. I swear to this day I remember seeing this door in my closet and I kept telling them and telling them. They told me to calm down, they reassured me that nothing was there, and I believed them for a bit.

Around 9:00 PM, that was my bedtime. My parents tell me to go brush my teeth and get ready for bed. My mother reads me a small bedtime story and makes sure to turn on my night-light before turning the lights off. As my mom leaves my room, she shuts the door. As I roll over to my side, I see that my closet is open, my mom always forgets to close my closet and it almost became a daily thing. I get up to go close my closet door and then I see the door again. I was very angry and kept telling myself it’s not real. I shut the closet door, then go to sleep.

As I wake up and look in the mirror, I realize how sick I am. I start the day by looking at myself and just look at how other people see me. I do the occasional tasks in the morning such as brushing my teeth, combing my hair, and spraying cologne. Mornings are the worst for me, but we still use this time to start the day good. This day did not start good, my day started terrible and I just wanted to sleep.

My parents let me stay home because I threw up, so I ended up going back to sleep. My parents had to go run errands so when I woke up, I didn’t see them. It was very cloudy outside and looked like it was going to rain. This was the worse for me as my parents were gone and I was alone in the dark while it was about to thunder. At this point there was so much light coming from my closet that the light caught my attention when I was looking the other way. This pissed me off so much because my parents had assured me this was not real, so I went into my closet and the light was shining so bright I had to close my eyes. The closer I got to the door the brighter the light got. I turned the knob and opened the door; the light went away, and I opened my eyes. I was shocked.

The room inside this door looked exactly like my room except different. I can’t explain why it’s different, but this feels different. I felt very frightened that this pathway brought me to the same place I was. I go to the bathroom, I freeze. Not by what was in there but what was not in there. My reflection is not showing. I instantly run out never to return to that door. I never told anybody because if my parents won’t even see the door, they won’t believe what I have to say. You’re probably wondering why I’m writing this since no one will believe me. Early this morning I go to the bathroom and my reflection was not there. This was not reality, once I went through the door, I never came out.