I’ve been thinking long and hard, and I finally decided to speak up about something pretty creepy and a bit disturbing that I had once experienced. I work at a small kindergarten in my hometown. It’s a small building with unpainted brick walls on the outside. The play area is pretty small, and everything is wooden, except the jungle gym, which is metal and modern. There’s also a medium sized sandpit near the swing set and on the far side of the backyard there is a small wooden doll house, but no one is allowed anywhere near there. I know the reason why, but that’s a story for another time.

This happened about 6 months ago, around the time I first started working there. It was my second week, when a new toddler was enrolled. Let’s call him Sammy(to protect his real identity). Seeing as how he was 4, but way too quiet and introverted, he was put in my class, along with the 2 and 3 year olds. He would always sit and draw quietly, never as noisy or naughty as the other kids in the kindergarten. At first, he would always draw a cute house or nature scene when I allowed them to free draw anything they liked. I always spent extra time with him, seeing as how he refused to play with the other children. One day I asked my class to draw either their friends or their pets, so that their picture could be put on the wall. As I walked around the table to check on their progress, I noticed Sammy’s drawing. It looked a bit peculiar, almost like a large worm or something. When I praised him on his nice pet drawing, he nearly shouted that it wasn’t a pet, but that it was his friend. I just wrote it off as him having an imaginary friend, and left it at that.

It was nearly a week later before I got curious about it again. Sammy had come to school a bit later, and his mom seemed tired, and maybe even a bit agitated or jumpy. Sammy was limping, but I first thought that he maybe fell at home. At lunch/nap time, I sat down next to Sammy and asked him about his leg, and if he had fallen at home. His answer kind off freaked me out. He told me that his friend had bit him. I chuckled and told him that I was sure his imaginary friend couldn’t bite him, but he immediately got upset and angry at me for laughing. I was definitively getting a bit freaked out about this, but I said nothing. The days and Sammy seemed to become more and more distant, barely wanting to draw anymore. He also seemed to get more band aids every day.

When I finally decided to ask his mom about the imaginary friend, she seemed to get upset and denied that Sammy had one, and I was forced to drop the subject. The next day, Sammy seemed quite depressed, so I asked him to play with the other kids to which he replied that he can’t. According to him, his “imaginary” friend didn’t want him to. After playtime, I got him to draw some more. I had asked him to draw his friend again, but this time, instead of a creepy large worm, he drew a large, creepy cocoon. When I asked him, Sammy claimed that it was still the same imaginary friend. This is when I really started to become worried and a little scared.

For a week after that, Sammy seemed to be fine, not having as many band aids on him anymore. Then, the day before his disappearance, he told me that he’ll be going with his “friend” and that he won’t be coming to school anymore. Neither Sammy nor his mother ever came back to the Kindergarten again. Till this day, I still wonder what exactly his not so imaginary friend was.