SIX

Phoebe opened her eyes and looked around. It was still dark out. The clock next to her bed read three twenty seven. She sat up in bed and looked around. Something had awakened her. She didn't know what it was. Her eyes were only now beginning to adjust.

"I didn't mean to startle you," said a voice across the room.

Phoebe reached over and turned the light on next to her bed. As it did she saw the young boy she had seen only the day before sitting in a chair in the corner. He sat smiling at her.

"Well, at least you didn't vanish this time," said Phoebe. "Oh, this is great. Now I'm talking to myself."

"No, you aren't," said the boy. "I'm as real as you are. I was just surprised that you could see me, that's all. I wasn't sure what I should do about it."

"Who are you?" Phoebe asked. "What kind of demon are you?"

"Demon?" laughed the boy. "I'm no demon. Far from it. I was just passing through and decided to see how you were doing. I always wonder how those I've helped turn out. It's so rare that I get to talk with them as adults."

"What are you talking about?" Phoebe asked. "If you aren't a demon, what are you?"

"I'm a Pookah," said the boy.

"A what?" Phoebe asked.

"A Pookah," said the boy. "Sort of a companion, so to speak. And like I said, I've come back to see how you've been doing."

"Come back?" Phoebe questioned. "You've been here before?"

"Yes," said the boy. "You told your sisters I seemed familiar to you. There's a very good reason for that. You know who I am. You've just forgotten. But it's still there. In your memory."

Phoebe looked at the boy intensely. He was right. She did know him. It seemed like a long time ago. It was the same boy but he somehow seemed different. Suddenly Phoebe remembered where it was she had seen him before.

"Harvey?" she questioned, looking at him.

"I knew you'd remember," said Harvey. "It has been a very long time. Twenty years or so."

"But you can't be," said Phoebe. "Harvey was an imaginary friend I had when I was like four or five."

"About five," said Harvey. "I stayed around about a year and a half. Quite like for a Pookah, actually."

"So you're real?" Phoebe asked. "I'm not imagining you?"

"Not at all," said Harvey. "Let me try to explain. A Pookah is a spirit companion of sorts. We are drawn to mostly children. Children who are lonely and need someone. We do little else except spend time with the child and make them less lonely."

"Lonely children?" Phoebe asked. "Is that why you came to me?"

"Yes," said Harvey. "Your sisters had each other. They were always closer to each other than to you. Your grandmother did all she could. But she was busy with the house and raising the three of you. And then again she was protecting you."

"From demons and warlocks," said Phoebe.

"Yes," said Harvey. "She did the best she could but there was a lot for her to do. She didn't have the time necessary to do everything you needed done. So I came to keep you company as long as you needed me."

"You only deal with children?" Phoebe asked.

"Usually," said Harvey. "On some rare occasions an adult will need our services. Those are very rare. But it does happen. I had the opportunity to help one such adult quite some years ago. One Elwood P. Dowd. A very nice older gentleman that most people considered a bit odd. He was quite lonely and I spent many years with him as his companion."

"A bit odd?" Phoebe questioned.

"Yes," said Harvey. "In fact, to him I was a six foot white rabbit."

"A six foot white rabbit?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes," said Harvey. "A Pookah appears to their companion in whatever form is most comfortable to them. To Elwood, a six foot white rabbit was most comfortable to him."

"And the way you look now?" Phoebe asked.

"When you were five," said Harvey, "and I came to you, this was the form that was most comfortable to you. I appear this way now because it's the way you remember me."

"So, what are you doing here now?" Phoebe asked.

"It's quite simple," said Harvey. "I was passing through and I wanted to see how you turned out. When I was here before I had no idea you were going to be a Charmed One. I knew you were a witch but I never imagined who you were going to be."

"So you're not imaginary," said Phoebe. "You're not just my imagination. You actually do exist."

"Yes, I do," said Harvey. "Just as real as you are. But the particular nature of my existence only allows me to appear to people who need me."

"This is great," said Phoebe. "I have to get Prue and Piper. They can finally see that I'm not imagining you. That you are real."

"It won't do any good," said Harvey. "They can neither see nor hear me. Neither can Leo. To them, I don't exist."

"But I can see and hear you," said Phoebe. "How come I can see and hear you but no one else can?"

"Because," said Harvey, "your special power allows you to see things that aren't really there."

Phoebe just stared at Harvey in disbelief.