“Timmy are you there?” “Timmy” I yelled while looking around. He always showed up at this little window in Mr. Graham’s house. I told my mom about Timmy and she said Mr. Graham has no children or grandchildren so it was my imagination. I waited for a little longer with no sign of Timmy, with a new sadness I began to head home. “Shaun!” “Shaun, wait!” I quickly turned to see Timmy in the window, I rushed over and pushed my hands through the bars on the window. “Timmy you scared me!” I exclaimed while pulling him into the only hug I could manage with the bars keeping us apart for an imaginary friend he sure was warm. “I brought you a present” and with a huge smile I pulled out the Pokémon cards I had bought just for him, “open it and let’s see what you got”
Timmy quickly tore into the pack and pulled out his cards, “Shaun look!” He held up a Bulbasaur card, his favorite Pokémon. “We can play together anytime, I know my Charizard will win” “We’ll have to see the underdog will always surprise you” I sat down in front of the window pulling out my own cards before we began to play, I knew Timmy couldn’t leave. I had been coming to see him for months, and he told me he isn’t allowed to leave. After asking my mom about it one night she sat me down, “Shaun imaginary friends are only allowed to go in the places they have spawned.” I could tell she was trying to rack her brain to make up something, “mom it’s okay. Timmy explained it to me” With a relieved look she kissed me goodnight and headed to her room. I can’t wait until we get to play tomorrow.
Summer seemed to fly by and before I knew it school was starting tomorrow. “I hate school, the kids are always mean.” “Who would want to be mean to you Shaun, I think you’re the coolest person I know” I couldn’t help but smile, “the kids say my mom had me out of sin. My dad was married to another woman and was seeing my mom as well. Adults are weird.” Timmy agreed and with that we began to talk about other things. I didn’t bring it up, but I easily noticed the black eye Timmy had, and the cast that wasn’t there before.
Once school started it was hard to see Timmy as much, and our endless days together slowly dwindled. My step-dad was walking me home from school when I heard sirens, unsure of what had happened we both ran down the street, I saw a bunch of police officers outside of Mr. Graham’s house. “Timmy!” I yelled before rushing onto the scene, it was chaotic and police tape outlined his house, I began to weave through officers trying to make my way to his window. It wasn’t until I was grabbed by a police officer I stopped, “let me go. Stop. Let me go see him” I yelled while struggling in her grasp. “Hey sweetie, slow down please, we can’t let you go in there.” The look on her face turned my blood cold, what is going on.
“Shaun there you are! Don’t run away from me like that” he pulled me to him, “I’m so sorry officer he slipped away from me” “Dad stop, Timmy is in there he needs me” “Shaun now is no..” “sorry to interrupt sir, what did you just say?” She asked while looking at me, “Timmy he’s my imaginary friend, and he lives in the window.” Why did she look so pale? I watched as she pulled my step-dad aside, and after chatting he too seemed to pale, “hey Shaun we’re going to follow her down to the station, she has a few questions about Timmy.”
“I’m not leaving until I know he’s okay.” I stood defiant against the adults, “hey Timmy is just fine we had to take him to the doctor to make sure he’s feeling okay” “The doctor? Mom said Imaginary friends never get sick or hurt, and that’s why he’ll always be there with me.” She bent down to my level and looked me in the eyes. “Don’t worry Shaun this is a special doctor, he only takes in imaginary friends” I finally relaxed and followed my step-dad back to the car. After the short drive we arrived at the police station. They asked me a lot of strange questions and I answered them all, it wasn’t until the last question came up that I felt weird.
“Okay Shaun last question, you’ve done a great job. Enjoying your Coke?” I nodded happy I was able to drink soda before dinner. “Shaun did Mr. Graham ever make you feel uncomfortable?” I shook my head no, “did he ever try to touch you?” My eyes got big “what no he would never do that. He always gave me sweets and would pay me to do yard work for extra cash.” The officer nodded before taking notes, “alright well that’s all for now, you can go and join your step-dad” She started to get up, “wait what about Timmy? No one has told me where he is or if he’s feeling better. I have a new set of cards for him, he told me his birthday is next week he’s turning 10!” I was smiling excited to get a chance to eat some cake. Along with the fact we would finally be the same age.
Even with the happy news I saw the sad look on her face, “okay Shaun we’ll figure out a way for you to give him his present.” She gave me a smile, but I saw the tears forming in her eyes as she ushered me into the waiting area. My step-dad jumped up and pulled me into a warm hug, I could feel the wetness on my head, he’s way too happy giving hugs I thought. Once we got home my mom pulled me into another hug, she was crying too. I thought I did something grand by going to the police department and they were proud, that night we had my favorite spaghetti bake for dinner and with a now full belly I decided to try and find what hospital Timmy was at. My parents had a child lock on my iPad, but they didn’t know I knew the passcode to my step-dads work computer.
I had no idea where Timmy was staying, but I knew the police had made a big deal of the situation. So I typed in our city name and went to the news page. Wow so much happens in this town, it wasn’t until I saw a picture of Mr. Graham that I stopped. A lot of the wording I didn’t understand, and then I saw Timmy. He was smiling with different people, he looked happier than ever. Hmm who are these people? The bigger words were a little hard for me to understand.
The next day I was outside making Timmy’s birthday card when a car pulled up to Mr. Graham’s house, he stepped out of the back as a police car pulled up behind the other car. I wish I could be as cool as him, getting a police escort meant you were an important person. He smiled and waved before calling out to me “hey Shaun, how have you been?” I stood up and started to walk closer to him, “I’m doing good I just got a new set of cards, my favor..” was all I got out before my mom was standing in front of me pulling me against her back. Where did she even come from?
“Don’t you ever talk to my son again.” She yelled, I had never heard her speak to anyone so cold. ‘’ She turned and pulled me after her, “Shaun honey Mr. Graham has been a bad man, we can’t talk to him anymore, okay?” I nodded my head still not fully understanding what he did. “When can I see Timmy?” I asked once again. Every time I asked, my mom would cry and leave the room, and my step-dad would make an excuse and change the subject. Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on. I knew I had to convince them I was old enough to go. “I read the news article, but I don’t understand the big words.” My mom gasped and began to cry even harder, I knew what to do. I quickly got up and hugged her, I knew this would show her I’m a big boy, I’m a grown up.
That night they sat down across from me while I colored in bed, “Shaun we need to talk to you about Timmy.” I could tell she had been crying, my step-dad took her hand and with a deep breath I finally learned what the big words meant. That night I cried and yelled, how could he do that to me? Mr. Graham needs to pay. No, I thought he will pay. He took Timmy from his home, his family, and from me. If only I had tried harder, how could I not know he was real. I began to blame myself, and I knew that I couldn’t just let him get away with this.
I waited until my parents fell asleep before putting my plan into action, I filled water balloons with the red paint that had been in the garage. They didn’t tell me yet, but after I saw them cleaning up the spare bedroom I knew something was going on, so after digging through the trash I found the test. I couldn’t wait until I was a big brother. I think that’s one of the reasons I knew I had to do something, before I left I made sure I had my backpack holding something important. As I stood in front of Mr. Graham’s house I felt the hairs on my neck raise, in the moonlight the house was even creepier. It wasn’t until I had thrown the 3rd balloon that the lights clicked on, and there he was staring at me from the front porch.
“Shaun what are you doing, do you know what time it is?!” He yelled from the porch, I put on my bravest tone. “I do know the time, but..but..child killers don’t deserve to sleep.” I finally stuttered out, the last part was the hardest. I saw a smirk appear on his face, what a sicko. “I see, so your parents finally grew some balls did they now?” he began to laugh, what a creep. “Shaun the thing is, they weren’t there. Would you like to hear the whole story from me?” What’s wrong with this guy, although my curiosity peaked.
He turned to head back inside, but held the door open for me, “Shaun are coming or not?” Everything inside me screamed to turn back. I couldn’t, I had to know what happened to Timmy. I slowly ascended the steps and walked through the front door, he closed it behind us and headed towards what I assumed was the living room. “Make yourself at home, can I get you a drink?” I shook my head no. He came back with what I assumed was an adult drink, my step-dad drank the same thing before acting silly.
“Well I guess I can’t put this off any longer.” He moved in his chair to face me, I was afraid of what was to come next. But I had to be strong, Timmy deserved more than what he got. “So Shaun I heard you thought Timmy was imaginary, how do you feel now?” I thought for a moment “I feel like he didn’t deserve what you did. Why would you hurt him?” The last part was a struggle to get out, I angrily wiped away the tears that began to fall. “Well the thing is I have urges, and I have tried to get help. I knew living across the street from you would cause problems.” My throat was dry, I realized how alone we truly were. “So when I saw Timmy arguing with what I assumed to be his siblings at the park I took advantage of the situation.
It wasn’t until he threw a tantrum and took off that I was able to convince him to come with me. He said he hated his family and never got to do what he wanted.” He stopped for a moment getting a drink, “I thought just by keeping him here the urges would go away but they didn’t. I’m ashamed of the things I did, but they couldn’t be helped” The anger began to rise throughout my body, “why are you even free? You’re a sick murdering pedophile” my mom used what happened as a way to teach me the big words I didn’t understand. “You’re a horrible man, you’re worse than any monster I have read about in books.” He began to laugh, I hated him. “Well Shaun once you’re older you’ll understand, they have no evidence it was me that hurt him. He was in my house but that’s all, so I’m a free man until proven otherwise.” He tapped his finger against the bottle before continuing, “want to see something?”
Fear began to creep into my senses, but before I realized it I was nodding yes. He came back within moments, placing a VCR machine on the ground and hooking it up. He pushed in an unmarked tape and the video began. At first I could only see darkness but then a light clicked on and I saw Timmy. “Please no, let me go!” His begging broke my heart, “I’m sorry I wish I could but you don’t want me to hurt Shaun do you?” I watched him shake his head no I saw Mr. Graham come into view holding some sort of stick, it wasn’t until Mr. Graham held him down and began to pull his pants down that I knew what was about to happen. The screaming caused me to jump up and run towards the door. Before I could make it into the hallway Mr. Graham grabbed me by my arm and pulled me back, using his weight to hold me down.
“Shaun you’re going to miss the best part” I struggled against him but he outweighed me and was able to easily hold me down while using the remote to skip ahead. I watched as Timmy laid in a ball, blood now running down his legs. I cried as Mr. Graham proceeded to beat him and finally the worst part had come. The video had cut out now showing a downwards view of Timmy’s beaten and bloody body on the floor next to a bathtub. I struggled against Mr. Graham and tried to fight my way out, “Look Shaun time for Timmy’s bath.” I watched in horror as he placed Timmy in the bath, and held his head under the water. Timmy fought his attacker but was unable to bring his head back above the water, and at that moment the rage and anger that filled my body gave me super strength even if for a few seconds.
After wiggling my way out of his grasp, I reached into my bag and pulled out my secret. POP POP POP. With my ears now ringing I began to shake, causing me to now drop the smoking gun. I took one last look at Mr. Graham, watching as he choked on his own blood the three holes in his chest showed the cause of his choking. I turned as if on auto pilot and walked out onto the porch at this point people began to trickle out of their house hearing the gunshots. I saw as they began to gasp and run back inside, within 10 minutes the police had arrived and as I sat in the back of the ambulance I saw my mom and step-dad frantically running around. After they spotted me I was pulled into a hug, “Shaun what happened?” The tears began to fall as she held me, quickly spotting the blood that coated my face and shirt. A police officer pulled them aside and explained everything.
Things seemed to fly by, after finding the tape they quickly charged the now deceased Mr. Graham with murder and I was quickly released. Not only was I a minor, but I was the reason they had found the truth; along with the fact Mr. Graham held me against my will when I had tried to leave. Finally the day had come, as I walked up to the casket I began to cry, I held his hand in mine. “Timmy I got him, I got the bad guy. He’ll never hurt anyone again.” I couldn’t stop the shaking that had enveloped both of my hands, I reached into my pocket and pulled out his present. In the pack of cards I found a rare card, containing his favorite Pokémon. I slipped it under his hand, “I can’t wait to play you again, but until that day comes Bulbasaur will keep you company.”