"So, where are we heading?" I ask. "To Simon and Jane Marion's home. They say some strange things have been happening with their daughter, Maria. Says she had an..imaginary friend." Dean says. "You don't believe that." I state. I shake my head. "The father claims a boy who was shoving Maria started choking. Thing is, the kid was at least 2-3 feet away." he says. "Nobody could have done that to him." I say. "Not anything normal." he says as we reach the home.
We get out and knock on the door. A woman answers it. "Oh, you must be the two men from the Department!" she says sweetly. We nod. "Yeah. Is Maria here?" I ask. She nods and steps to the side. "Yes. Right this way." she says as we follow her to the purple painted door. We then heard a commotion coming from inside. "Stop it, Ethan! It's your fault we're in trouble in the first place!" We heard a little girl say. Jane knocked on the door. "Maria, honey. Is everything alright?" she asks.
Everything went silent. The door creaked open where only a pair of green eyes could be seen. "Hey, sweetie. This is the two men from the Department we talked about, remember?" she asks softly. She nodded, looking at us. "Would you like to talk in the kitchen?" I ask her. She nodded and fully opened the door. She had long, black hair and light green eyes. She wore pink pajamas and held a teddy bear in her hand.
"I guess." she says as she walks out of the room and sits at the table. "I'll be in the laundry room for a while." Jane says as we nod. She quickly exits and we look at Maria. "So, your parents say you have an imaginary friend, is that right?" I ask. She nods. "His name is Ethan." she says. "Is Ethan someone who passed away?" Dean asks. She shakes her head. "Has he been with you for a long time?"I ask. She nods once again. "Since you were born?" Dean presses. She nods slightly.
"Is he here with us right now?" Dean asks, looking around. She nods. "Can you... tell him to do something?" I ask. She nods and closes her eyes. The chair next to Dean suddenly fell back. Dean jumped in shock as Maria opened her eyes. "Did you see that?" he asks me. I nod. I turn to Maria. "You tell him what to do... and he does it?" I ask. She shakes her head. "No, nobody controls Ethan. He's like a lion in a cage. He doesn't want to be here, it's not my fault. I want him gone too. He can't leave." she says as Dean and I share a glance.
"Can you draw Ethan for us, Maria?" Dean asks. She nods as I get a piece of paper and a crayon. She quickly drew a picture and sat back. "Can we see?" I ask. She nods as I pick it up. It had a stick figure to represent her and there was a cord connecting her to a dark mass. "So, this thing is connected to you with some sort of cord, a bond." I say.
"We're tied together. He can't go away." she says. A man walked through the door. "Gentlemen. Maria." he says. "Hey, daddy." she says. Jane came back into the room with a bag. "Mommy?" she asks. She walks over to Maria and puts a hand on her shoulder. " We're being moved to another military base and your father and I think it's best if you stayed here with the Department, okay?" she says. Maria backs away. "Of course, we''ll visit you if we have some free time and maybe when you get better, you can come live with us at our new home." Simon says as Maria clutched her bear close.
They began to walk out the door when Simon started to choke. "Simon, oh my God, he's choking!" Jane yells as she grabbed him. I grabbed Maria by the shoulders. "Maria, you have to stop! Stop it!" I yell. She stared at me with blank eyes. "Maria, please." I beg. Simon then stopped choking. "She's evil! You're a monster, a freak!" he yells, running out. I saw the hurt and anger fill her eyes. "Maria.." Jane says as she follows her husband.
She began to cry lightly. "Why did they leave me?" she asks. Dean bent down to her level. "They did that because they're stupid, alright? They had a very special daughter and they made a dumb decision to leave because they are afraid of what they don't understand." Dean says softly. She turns to us. "You two aren't with the Department, are you?" she questions. We shake our heads. "No, we're called hunters. We hunt and take care of evil beings." Dean says as Maria's eyes widen and she runs to her room, the door slamming behind her. Dean tried to open the door. "Maria, open up! C'mon, we're not gonna hurt you!" Dean yelled.
"No! Leave me alone!" she yells back as the mirror behind us smashed. We both jump and look behind us. I raise my hands up in surrender. "Okay, Ethan. We'll leave. Maria, Dean and I will be in the living room until you decide to come out, alright?" I say. There was no response as we went up the hall.