The earliest I can remember seeing him was when I was about 5 or 6, it’s just a flashbulb memory but it’s very clear; my mom is walking me into daycare and as I walk beside her I stop to look at a car and standing just past the car and in a field was my imaginary friend. He was wearing a clown outfit that seemed to be two sizes too big around a frail frame. His face was sunken like he had never seen food in his life. He wore this white face makeup with big red circles around his eyes and a thick black outline around his mouth. His smile was abnormally large, like it was too big for his face, and despite looking disheveled his teeth were as white as his face.
From that moment on I never went anywhere without. I named him Bilow and I always remember he would break something and when my parents inevitably discovered it, I would tell them that Bilow did it but when I would look at him, he would be gone and nowhere to be found. Whenever he would talk that damn smile would stay on his face and he’d talk in a gravelly voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard he also whispered when he talked. Our favorite game was hide and seek but whenever I would be seeker I could never find him so I eventually gave up and went to go do something else.
As I grew older and entered the 4th grade he appeared less and less, then one day he never showed up. When I was thinking about Bilow a week ago I remember it was a game of hide and seek when I last saw him. This drew my attention because I am a grown ass man now and bought the house from my parents when they moved away. I had nothing better to do with my time at that moment, so I went looking for him. I never expected to find anything. I spent my whole afternoon looking for him and practically turned my house upside down looking for him. I gave up after a few hours because the game was about to come on and I was not about to miss the game so I could look for an imaginary friend.
As I was watching the game I looked just past the TV and down the hallway to see a familiar white face duck behind the wall. Now before I continue I will admit that what I did next was a bit of an over reaction but I don’t regret it, I went into my basement, unlocked the gun safe and grabbed my handgun. I walked back upstairs and started searching the rooms with my weapon drawn. I eventually came to my office at the end of the hall and found it empty. I relaxed when I saw it was empty and was in the process of rationalizing what it was that I saw when I turned around and saw his emaciated, pale hand slither out of sight. I once more raised my weapon and walked out of the room facing down the hallway and saw that the attic ladder was down. Either this is a new development or I didn’t notice before. I walked up to it and peered in.
I was squinting trying to get my eyes to adjust when I saw that damn smile and wide eyes starting dead into my soul. I aimed my weapon and shot three times. The sound echoed through my home and into the street. I climbed up the ladder and looked into the attic to see nothing. Just like before when something was broken because of him, he was nowhere to be found. I called the cops and reported an intruder. They arrived and searched my house to determine there were no signs of forced entry, all the windows and doors were locked, the home security system didn’t read that any door was open since I came home the other day. They also found no blood, or body. One of the officers pointed me to a roofing company that could fix the two holes in my roof. I asked them if they were sure that there were two holes, and they assured me.
My only thought at this time is about the location of the third bullet. I contacted the roofing company and they sent someone out to my house to temporarily fix the hole while I waited for that part of my roof to be redone. The next weekend I was sitting on my couch just lost in my own thoughts when I heard the unmistakable sound of metal on wood, the sound came from the attic. I walked over to it and opened it to see a bullet drop down to the floor, I picked it up and looked at it, it had definitely hit something, my guess was it hit Bilow. I then heard that all to familiar voice;
“Don’t stop looking”
It rang and reverberated in my head like it was some amazing truth. I climbed up the ladder and looked around the attic, it was a small platform for storage but then it was insulation. At the far side of the attic was a standing wardrobe. I walked across one of the wood beams to prevent falling through my ceiling. When I made it up to it I opened it to see that smiling face staring back at me.
“I found you” I said with a shaky breath
“My turn” the words haunted me to my core.
I jumped out of the attic and ran for the door, it was jammed, the damn thing was old and the only way to open it was from the outside. I then ran for the sliding glass door at the back, that door was also jammed, this didn’t make sense because I had it replaced last month. I tried throwing a chair through it but it just bounced right off. I tried everything, the windows, the basement door, the garage. I was coming back up from the basement when I heard the sound of him coming down from the attic. I ran for the small crawl space beneath the stairs. I was always too scared to go down there as a kid for fear of being bitten by a spider. I didn’t care right now, all that mattered was to get away from that thing. I crawled into it and got as far back as I could. I heard him search every room individually, flip beds, check cabinets, and break stuff. Nothing mattered to him now, all he wanted was to find me. When he came down the stairs into the basement I heard him search the garage, and the downstairs bathroom before heading back upstairs.
I’ve now been down here for hours and he is still searching, my phone is about dead and the only thing I can hope for now is for him to give up, or someone to come looking for me. If your child has an imaginary friend that looks like a disheveled clown, tell them never to play hide and seek with them again or if they do, make sure to finish it because he is one vengeful motherfucker.