“Come on, aren’t you a little too old to have an imaginary friend?”

Marcus snickered, in an attempt to make me feel ashamed.

“I guess…” I nodded.

“You’re 11 now. How about you get outa that room of yours and make some real friends, ones who don’t have scaly skin and frocked tongues.”

I stopped in my tracks. He turned around and gave me a confused smile. I looked him in the eyes.

“Uhm… I never told you what he looks like.”

This made his smile falter and his eyes widened a little.

“Haha, I’m your older brother. I remember stuff like that!”

“Marcus the last time we actually talked was before you went off to college. That was like 4 years ago. I’ll ask you one more time, how do you know what he looks like?”

Marcus’s face got red. His stance was stiff.

“Because he was my friend once too.”

Marcus was my stepdad’s son and favorite for as long as I could remember. He was also a stranger since I was 7 when he left for college.

He never called home, let alone talk to me. In his eyes, I was a nobody. He came back from college like nothing had changed. It took me a few days to actually talk to him but I was glad to have my brother back. That’s when we went on a walk, he mentioned my imaginary friend. At that moment, I thought back to something my mother had told me earlier that week while my dad was picking up Marcus.

“Be careful what you talk about around Marcus. He’s dangerous.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“What?”

“Trust me.”

I was certain I never mentioned my imaginary friend in the entire conversation. As our walk to the park continued, I tried to forget about it but I just… couldn’t.

I needed to get more information from mom.