I surprisingly had a good night sleep last night. No dreams or anything strange, which was unusual considering my last couple days with this strange leather-bound book. I figured today would be the day I begin digging around to see if I could find out more about this book. I get up, get dressed and find there’s a text message on my phone from Talone, "At my parents, I’m OK, will see you soon."  I sigh to myself in a bit of relief since he’s at his parent’s place but also it’s a sigh of worry. Why would he go to his parent’s place? Either he’s not telling me everything, or Mr. Swani was really up his butt about rent. Whatever the case may be, my next stop was the library.

I walk to the library and say hello to Ms. Lindolla and she greets me back. “Back again for another book?” She says jokingly.

“Not this time,” I say. “Doing a bit of research on something I got.”

“Oh? Turning into Sherlock Holmes, are we?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I say laughing at myself. “See you around.”

I have no idea what I’m looking for so I start grabbing books about the paracosm phenomenon, imaginary friends, Chinese character language, and folklore. Anything that could have any relevance to this book. I park myself at a table with my pile of my books and begin pouring over the pages. I start with the paracosm phenomenon that Talone mentioned since that seems to make the most sense with this situation. Some key things I wrote down were:

1) The concept of paracosm was first explained by a researcher, Robert Silvey for BBC.

2) Paracosm was created in 1976 by Ben Vincent.

3) Child development psychologist, Marjorie Taylor, explained paracosm as a part of study of imaginary friends.

4) Delmont Morrison and Shirley Morrison have mentioned in their book, 'Memories of Loss and Dreams of Perfection' that Paracosm becomes a functional way of understanding for people who have suffered the death of a loved one, or have experienced any other tragedy.

After I wrote down the last part, I have the thought, “Thank goodness the last point doesn’t apply to me.” I’ve always had an active imagination and I’ve always had an imaginary friend; well, as far back as I can remember. I never thought anything of it because I thought it was completely normal. That, and I had someone else around to play with and talk to.

I compile good notes regarding Paracosms, so I turn my attention to the subject of imaginary friends. I found an article about Marjorie Taylor’s study on imaginary friends from the Science Friday article and I though to myself, “Score!” Maybe this connection would help me connect a few dots.

In her research, I found that imaginary friends are more common than people think. Up to two-thirds of children have them, typically between the ages of 3 and 8 (although there are accounts of teenagers who retain them from childhood or who first develop them as teens).

“Well, mine is still around every now and then to this day, so I wonder what category I fall under?” I chuckle at the thought. An interesting thing I noted down was that there’s no definitive data on how imaginary friends move on or into these imaginary worlds, paracosms, yet it is believed the two are connected psychologically.

I have a good foundation at least for what I’m now dealing with, but yet I don’t at the same time. I start going through books about the Chinese language and mythology. I’m ultimately trying to figure out why Chinese characters would be in a book about, apparently, my imagination. As I’m going through the Chinese language, my phone dings with a message from Talone, "CALL ME." In my head, panic bells are ringing, I calmly rise from my table and head to Ms. Lindolla.

“Hey, Ms. Lindolla?”

“Oh yes dear?” She lifts her head from a reference book.

“I have to step out for a moment, can I leave my books at the table? I’ll be right back.”

“Ok, you remember the rules.” She says. “If you’re not back in an hour, they go back on the shelf.”

“I remember. Thank you.” I say as I make my increasingly hasty exit outside. I go stand outside near the bike rack and give Talone a call. It rings for a while and I end up getting his voicemail. I hang up and call again and I still get his voicemail. I call one more time and get his voicemail again so I leave a message.

“Talone, you texted me to call you and now I can’t reach you. What is going on? Call me back!”

I put my phone away as my mind is riddled with worry. I was so distracted that I didn’t hear anyone coming up from behind me.

“Excuse me, miss?” The sudden voice causes me to jolt in surprise. I turn around to see a man at the bike rack. “Sorry miss, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He says as I apologize for my scare. “I was just wondering if you could move so I could get my bike out.”

“Sure thing, I was heading back in the library anyway. Have a good day.” I say waving goodbye. He grabs his bike and responds back “You too.”

I head back into the library and I can’t even focus on my research anymore. I’m just so worried about Talone. I then pack up my notes and start putting the books away. I noted the titles so I can easily find them later if I need to. As I’m heading out, Ms. Lindolla calls out to me.

“Amy, oh wait.”

“Yes?” I stop just before I’m about to head out the door.

“I have a note for you. Some gentleman left it for me to give you.”

“Did they say who they were?”

“They didn’t say. He said he couldn’t stay and was in a hurry, but told me it was important to give this to you.” I literally have an eyebrow raised at this point. I hesitantly take the note and thank her for giving it to me.

I make my way home and practically collapse on my bed. I’m so mentally and physically drained for some reason. I am worried about Talone since he hasn’t called me back yet, but I didn’t do too much so I’m confused as to why I’m so tired. I decide to take out the note from Ms. Lindolla to see what is says. As I read, I can feel my mind just stop as it says:

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I am watching you, Amy …

What? How do they know who I am? I am seriously terrified. So terrified that I call Talone again praying he will answer his phone. My prayers are answered when I hear his voice, “Hello?”

“Talone! Oh my god, I’m freaking out, dude!” I say in a panic.

“I’m sorry, who is this?” I almost drop my phone and take a deep breath.

“Is this Talone I’m speaking with?”

“Yeah, who is this?” I’m stunned. I’m almost on the verge of tears. Why is he acting like this?

“This … this is Amy. Don’t you remember me?” Silence. “Talone, you were over at my place just a couple days ago.” Again, silence. “You just sent me a message this morning saying you were Ok and that you were at your parents place.” Tears threaten to overflow my eyes and I can’t keep them back.

“Talone, I think someone is following me. I got this strange note and –” My sentence was interrupted.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are but I would recommend calling the police if someone is following you.” He continues. “I’m sorry I can’t help you but please don’t call this number again. Good bye.” Click, and the phone goes silent. I slump on my bed and just sob until I can’t sob anymore. I’m so scared, I have no idea what is happening.

I absentmindedly go to my closet where I have the book hidden away. I hold it in my arms and just start talking as if I’m doing a paranormal investigation where I’m talking to a ghost. I don’t know why I’m doing this but I’m so desperate for answers, I’m willing to try anything. Even if it means talking to a mysterious book.

“Why me?” Silence.

“What is happening to me?” Silence.

“Who is following me?” Silence.

“Where did you come from? Where did this book come from?” I hear a breath on my ear and I can hear a voice, “You.” I drop the book and run out of my apartment. I run out of the apartment building. I run and run and run until I collapse on a bench in the town park to catch my breath. I am terrified, confused, worried, and upset. Anything a human being could possibly feel, I was feeling. I hang my head and struggle with what to do. I can’t talk to my friends; they would just think I’m crazy. I can’t call the police. What am I supposed to tell the police? “Hey I think someone is following me but I have no idea who it is?” Yeah, I don’t think that would go over too well. I can’t tell my parents because if someone is following me, I don’t want them to get hurt or rush into anything where they would get hurt. I would never forgive myself if something had happened to them.

“Shadow, where are you?” I hear a crack from behind me and a jogger on the path with a woman had broken a couple twigs. I look around and I don’t see anyone suspicious or out of place. Then a thought comes to mind and I speak it aloud. “I need to leave.” Leave? Why would I leave? Where would I go? Then I remember there’s a house out in the forest outside of town I could go. It still had running water and electricity so I could stay there for a bit. Talone and I used to go there to ‘rough it’ every now and then, he would call it luxury camping. Tears threaten to fall again at the memory and I quickly wipe them away. I need to get myself together and go back to my apartment. I take one last look around me and see no one is around, so I get up from the bench and quickly make my way back home.

As I enter back into the apartment building, I see Mr. Swani coming towards me and he looks ticked. His voice matched his mood, “AMY! GET OVER HERE!” As if I wasn’t already scared enough. It’s a Wednesday afternoon so Mr. Swani was always in his office on these days to go over his usual finances.

“Coming.” I say with a slight quiver in my voice as I make my way over to his office.

“I’m sorry to shout, but I’ve had enough of that snake slithering away on his rent.” His Brooklyn accent was very strong whenever he was mad. “I’ve already called the authorities since he owes me but I have no idea where he went. Do you have any idea?”

I thought it was strange that Mr. Swani still remembered Talone like I do, but now was not the time to let my mind wander about the ‘what ifs’.

“I’m … not sure.” I say with my head down. What am I supposed to tell him? “Hi, my best friend all of a sudden doesn’t remember me and completely blew me off when I tried to call him so I have no idea what has happened?”

“Amy, you hiding him in your apartment again?” I hid Talone one time and now Mr. Swani jumps to the conclusion every time. “No, I can assure you he’s not there. You can go in and see for yourself.”

“Nah, you’ve been a good tenant so I believe you. It just ticks me off how that snake has now gone on the run.” He continues. “Listen, I need to know where he went. If you hear anything, please let me know. Alright?”

“Will do, sir.”

“Sir?” Mr. Swani raises an eyebrow. “You’re not one to always call me by ‘sir’?”

“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind.”

“You doin Ok?” His tone calms down a little bit as he leans forward from his desk. Everyone must see him as this hard guy that’s always yelling at people, but honestly, he’s a very nice and understanding person … and really enjoys his coffee in the mornings.

“I honestly don’t know at this point.” I say with a little chuckle. “I will let you know, though, that I will be leaving for a few days so if I hear anything, I’ll ring you up.”

“Alright, I’ll look after your place. You take care of yourself.” With that, I see myself out and make a bee-line to my apartment. I pack up my suitcase with clothes and food and grab the book from my closet. I take a quick look through the pages and don’t see anything new or anything gone. I tuck it away in my suitcase, out of sight, and make my way out to my car. I send a message to my parents saying me and some friends are going on a camping trip and will be back in a couple days. I love camping and make frequent trips to a camp ground on the outskirts of town so I know this would be something to tell them. They both respond with their message of love and for me to stay safe. My heart wrenches a bit with these messages. I wish so badly I could tell them what’s happening but how can I tell them what’s going on when I don’t even know myself. I need to do this alone for their safety.

Driving down the roads in the clustered traffic was oddly soothing. It helped me feel a sense of normalcy before I found the book, before I realized Shadow was real, before everything. Usual traffic lights, usual people yelling out their cars about being cut off, and kids laughing while playing in the sidewalks. Again, it was oddly soothing.

As the city buildings faded to trees and shrubs, I took the rough road to the lone house in a clearing by the lake a couple miles out. As the house came into view, I took a deep breath and parked my car behind the house so that no one could see it. I didn’t notice anyone following me, so I grabbed my suitcase and unlocked the door with the key under the mat. The door made an eerie creek as it opened up with cob webs and spiders everywhere. Obviously, we haven’t been out here in a long while, so there will be some cleaning up to do. I lock the door behind me and test the sink. The water takes a bit but soon pours from the faucet, plus the lights still work with the blubs still in tack.

I take some time to clean off the cob webs and escort any spiders out the windows before I feel comfortable to just sit on the couch. It’s very quiet as I sat in my loneliness, listening to birds chirping with the soft sound of the waves on the shoreline of the lake. It helps calm my mind a bit before I go to my suitcase and take out the book. Going through its pages, I still see the panes from before with nothing added or removed. I return to the couch, lean back, close my eyes, and say, “Ok Shadow, I’m all alone now. Tell me what to do.” All I get in response is the chirping of birds from outside and the soft waves of the lake crashing on the shore. I decide to lie down and close my eyes for a bit to see if maybe something will happen in time. At least I could get some sleep to calm myself and look at this situation with a clear head. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I wake up, but I’ve got to do something.

I wake up to the sound of breaking twigs outside and think it’s that person who sent me the note. As I lean up from the couch, I notice a mist-like fog has rolled in and the book is gone. I immediately rise up and search the house but find no sign of the book. Thinking someone took it, I slowly make my way to the door and find it’s unlocked.

“I know I locked this door and took the key with me.” I whisper to myself as I feel the key in my jean pocket. I muster my courage and open the door to see the forest covered in this mist-like fog. It smells oddly of my favorite grape jolly rancher candy as I step outside into the mist. I stop in my tracks when I turn the corner of the house and see the lake is gone. The lake is just … gone. It’s just trees and a small clearing beyond the tree line.