Allie (1)

This story takes place when I was just a newlywed (about 10 years ago). A family emergency had forced my husband and I to move from California to Texas. Because of such short notice we moved in with my brother-in-law his wife and their two kids. They had a four year old daughter Allie and a newborn son named James.

I immediately formed a strong bond with Allie. I don't want to say that she was neglected but more attention was placed on James and Allie was often left out. She was a very lonely and sad child when I met her. I would often see her playing by her self and talking to an invisible friend which she named Greta. As I began spending more time with her strange things began to happen around the house.

Let me first start by explaining who was in the house when these things would happen. They would only happen when my husband and his brother were at work. So this meant only Allie, her mom, James and I were in the house at this time.

It began with just seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. Whenever I was playing with Allie in the living room, I could see the shadow of a person standing to the left of me. Of course whenever I would turn around to see what it was, nothing would be there. Also whenever I was with Allie in the house I would get the distinct feeling I was being watched. I began to get extremely bothered by this but it never seemed to bother Allie so I thought maybe I was over-reacting.

As soon as my husband got home, all the feelings of being watched subsided and Allie seemed to get bothered by his presence there. She would just sulk around the house and not let anyone not even me get close to her. One night as I was drifting off to sleep I began to hear the soft murmurs of a conversation drift into my bedroom. Since our room was next to Allie's I assumed she was talking in her sleep. I tried my hardest to ignore her but my curiosity got the best of me. I tried to listen as hard as I could to what was being said without actually getting out of bed and eavesdropping. But all I could make out was the muffled sounds of someone talking. I then noticed the light coming from Allies room. The digital clock next to our bed read 11:49 (yes I remember the exact time). What in the world could be keeping a four year old up at this hour I thought, so I got out of bed and made my way into Allie's room. That's where I found her still up. I asked Allie what she was doing still up and who she was talking to. She smiled and only said "Greta likes it when I play with her at night, so she wakes me up." A shiver ran down my spine. "You were talking to Greta just now?" I asked. She nodded and smiled. All the hairs in the back of my head stood up. "Tell Greta you can play with her tomorrow and to let you go to sleep" I said as I slowly began making my way out her room Allie stopped me by saying. "I can't play with Greta tomorrow she gets mad when I play with you. She does not like being ignored" "Go to sleep" I said. As I walked out of her room I nearly fainted. That was just the beginning of what was to come. The next morning I decided to have a serious conversation with Janet (Allie's mom) about Allie. I asked her if Allie made up stories often about Greta her imaginary friend. Janet looked puzzled and said that Allie did not have an imaginary friend. (I really don't think Janet could remember if Allie did) Needless to say that conversation ended up nowhere.

I found it difficult to question Allie about Greta. It only seemed to agitate her and she never gave me a straight answer. Meanwhile the feelings of being watched persisted Along with a few other incidents. The T.V. never seemed to stay on one channel while Allie was watching it. While I would freak out Allie would just laugh. Whenever I would pass by Allie's room I would get the feeling that someone was in there, even though upon closer inspection no one was there. On a few occasions I would hear footsteps in her room when I knew for a fact that she was not there.

One of the freakiest incidents happened near Halloween. I had bought a glow-in-the dark nail polish for Allie, but before I could even give it to her it disappeared. Within seconds of leaving it on the counter for Allie it disappeared. I tried my hardest to find it but gave up and decided to buy her a new nail-polish tomorrow. It is important to know that I never mentioned that I had bought a nail-polish for Allie to anyone, and also Allie was not in the house when this took place. Anyways on to the incident, it was near midnight again when I heard Allie speaking to her self. Allie's bedroom light was on but this time as soon as I got up to check on Allie the bedroom light turned off. Determined to see what was happening with Allie I entered her room. A chill ran down my spine, I got the feeling of someone else being in the room with Allie. Allie was in her bed pretending to be asleep (I could tell because she was fake snoring). "Allie I heard you talking what are you doing still up?" I asked. Allie did not answer me right away. But when I sternly said Allie, she replied "Greta was just showing me a present she got for me." As she lifted her hands up from under her covers, I saw that her finger nails were glowing. "Where did you get that?" I said I was astonished that she had somehow found the nail-polish more than anything. "Greta gave it to me." Allie said. Somehow this bothered the heck out of me. "I am sick of hearing about Greta. Greta does not exists tell me the truth how did you get the nail polish!" Before Allie could answer I felt breathing on the back of my neck. It was ice cold and it made me get goose bumps all over. I was frozen with fear. Allie was now almost crying, "You made Greta mad" she said. Someone was behind me but I did not want to turn around. Then I distinctly heard the voice of a female whisper into my ears "LEAVE". I did not have to be told twice, I ran out of Allie's room so fast I nearly tripped over my own feet.

When I got to my room I was distraught. The next morning I told my husband everything that was happening with Allie and he listened but did not try to come up with an explanation. He remained quiet and said that we were moving out soon. I felt guilty leaving Allie alone with Greta, so I told my brother-in-law what was happening with Allie. As soon as I mentioned the name Greta his face went pale. He said "Greta was the previous owner's wife, but she died a few years ago. How could Allie know about Greta?" So I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Pay more attention to your child because I if you don't someone else will."