A Friend Who Thought I Was One of Them

When I was four years old me and my family moved to a quiet little house in Michigan.

I quickly became adjusted to life in colder winters and cloudy days, unlike my days in Florida, where I was born. Our new house was bigger than our last one and it had more land. I thought I had become the luckiest girl in the world.

Then I met a girl. I saw her two months after we had moved into the new house. I was playing with my dolls under the covers of my bed when I heard a voice say, "Can I play, too?" I took my head out from under the covers to see who it was and I saw a girl.

She looked perfectly normal, if you don't count her old style that might have come from the 1800's. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail and she had tan skin with giant, innocent looking brown eyes. She had what had seemed like a maid's dress, with a black, poofy dress with a white apron over it. Her shoes were black with buttons on them.

I asked who she was and she said her name was Mary-Anne. She told me this was her room and one day she woke up with giant, scary looking flames around her room. She somehow fell asleep again, and the next morning her parents were not there, nor was her sisters. She said she was waiting for them to come back.

I felt sorry for her, so I handed her a doll and we played. Then I talked to her about my life. She said she was six years old. I thought that my mom would love to hear about this girl. After all, if she loved me, why couldn't she love my friend?

I started to talk about Mary-Anne all the time. She seemed nice and she had a sweet voice that sounded like a quiet, cute whisper. I had come to think of her as my sister. This was great, I had thought. I now had a sister, since I was an only child at the time.

I started to tell my mother how much fun Mary-Anne was and how nice she was. My mother might have thought I was having a imaginary friend because she only laughed. But then things got serious.

I started forcing my mother to make meals for Mary-Anne and to let her go to the park with us and such. I would ask Mary-Anne about her family and her life and she had said she did not know what a park was.

I showed her to the door but when I stepped outside Mary-Anne would stop and give me the evil eye, then turn and stomp away. I had no clue why, but now I think I know. Mary-Anne was not allowed to go past the door, and I think she was angry at me for leaving her like this.

Mary-Anne may have seemed nice, but she was violent when she was angry. When I came back and went to my room Mary-Anne grabbed me neck and pushed me against the wall and screamed, "You left me! You left me! You left me like my Momma and Poppa did!" When that happened, I just slunk away from my room.

But on this particular day, I had told Mary-Anne I would have to go to school. Mary-Anne knew what this was and she knew I would be gone for part of the day. She yelled at me and scolded me and told me she would hurt me if I left her once again.

I tried to explain I could not miss out on my education, but Mary-Anne would not hear it. When I left for school, all I could think about was not to face Mary-Anne so that I would not get hurt.

I had been gone for at least six hours when I came home, and Mary-Anne was furious. "You left me longer than you ever had before! I can't be your friend if you keep doing this!" And with that, she grabbed my hair so hard a chunk of my brown hair fell off. I screamed and then I thwacked her head.

Mary-Anne screamed and then glared at me with evil eyes. "How dare you!" She said. She grabbed my hand so hard it hurt. Her long fingernails dug into my wrist and I cried in pain. She pulled me to the bathroom and ran the water in the tub. When it was full she dunked my head inside and would not let me out.

I gargled the water and gasped for air. My mother then came and saw me with my head in the water, desperate for air. She had not seen Mary-Anne, and she thought I was trying to kill myself.

She pulled me out, defeating the six year old power that Mary-Anne had. "There is much to live for, Jenisse! Don't be doing that again!" She scolded. I knew I was too young to try to commit suicide, so I thought it was silly that my mother would think that.

When I went to bed Mary-Anne was waiting for me. "I'm sorry. I got carried away. I'm sorry." She had said. I now feared her. I knew her anger would get out of control if I said I did not forgive her, so I said I forgave her. But truly, I wanted to run to my mother and cry.

With that, Mary-Anne said it was time for bed and she disappeared in the walls. I tucked myself into bed, thinking of the horrors my 'friend' had decided to do.

I now did not want to live in my home anymore. With that, I fell asleep.

I was woken up in the middle of the night with a shake on my arm. "Come on, Jenisse, let's play!" Mary-Anne whined. "I don't want to play, now. I want to sleep." I confirmed. Mary-Anne glared at me.

"We will play NOW. GET UP!" She demanded. With that, I pushed her out of my way and went to my mother's room. I heard Mary-Anne scream in fury and scurry after me.

I looked back. I saw Mary-Anne's true face, bloody and burnt from fire. I knew now that she was a ghost, and she was dead. That scary thing that was around her bed- it was fire.

It all came together and then I ran faster, trying to get to my mother's room. I made it and  Mary-Anne's bloody face stared at me, and then she yelled, "I'll get you!" And with that, she disappeared.

I told my mother all that had happened and my mother thought It was a nightmare. But it was too realistic to be a dream. I never saw Mary-Anne again. Maybe she crossed over and found her family or maybe she could not see me anymore, for she had revealed her true self and now I could no longer see her.

But I was happy that I never saw her again.

Sent in by Jenisse