B̶l̶u̶e̶w̶i̶n̶E̶

Tony

Lisa was a single mother. She loved her 8 year old son Kai. Unfortunately, Lisa lost her husband Daniel in a car accident, when Kai was 4 years old. Kai loved his father so much, he was even closer to his father than he was with her. A real daddy's boy. So, one day Lisa noticed, that Kai was talking to an 'imaginary friend'. "Tony, Tony, Tony!", Kai used to say, while playing alone with his toys. Lisa thought, that maybe this was the way Kai handled the lost of his father, so she just played along. Now, Kai was 8 years old and Tony was still with him. Lisa got worried that her son might have developed some mental-illness, because she never told him what really happened to his dad. She just couldn't get the courage to tell him that he is gone forever... Not even after all these years. Maybe she herself wants to deny that her beloved husband was not with them any longer. So, she decided to bring Kai to a Psychiatrist and test him. But the Psychiatrist was 100% sure that Kai was completely fine. Then Lisa thought, that maybe Kai was lonely at school or got bullied... But to her surprise, one day Kai came home with 3 schoolmates. "Kai told us, we should meet his friend Tony.", one of his friends said. "Go play upstairs with your friends, Kai!", she said and smiled, because she felt a bit of relief. That feeling didn't last long 'tho... 15 minutes after they went up, the 3 kids came running down the stairs, screaming out of their lungs and face filled with fears. Lisa tried to catch one of them to ask what happened, but the kids just sprinted out of the door. Lisa ran upstairs, already fearing the worst, but arriving at Kai's door, she just saw her son looking at his big wardrobe. "What happened?". Kai replied," They are scared of Tony. Now, he is upset and went back to the wardrobe." Lisa got mad, she had enough, "Kai! Tony is not real. Your friends left you, because you started talking by yourself again! You scared them! You scare me! Please! Tony is not real!". Kai began to cry and ran down to the garden, where he sat on the swing his father built for him. After some minutes, Lisa felt sorry and guilty and looked out to see Kai. To her surprise he was on the swing laughing and talking with Tony again. This made her angry  and called for Kai. He came back inside and looked at his mother's red face. "Kai! For the last time. Stop that! There is no Tony!". "But Mom, he is real!". "Enough already! You stay here and I dare you not to talk to Tony anymore or you will be grounded for 4 weeks!", Lisa yelled. While she was preparing food, Lisa noticed how silent the house was. She decided to leave the kitchen to check for Kai. He sat on the big chair, but turned around peaking out of the window. "Kai. Are you okay?". "Why haven't you told me? Why haven't you told me that dad died when I was 4 years old? He died of a car accident on the way to the next town to get my medicine, because I was sick.", Kai said with tears in his eyes. "Who told you that? I didn't tell you, because you would blame yourself... But your dad did it because your fever was high. The next town's pharmacy-store was still open and was about to close. Your dad rushed to that store, because the pharmacy-stores at our town were already closed. He rushed even tho' I told him not to. It was rainy and the streets were slippery. The next thing I know, police knocked on the door and told me your dad is dead. They gave me the medicine, that they found in his car. He loved you so much Kai, even when he died he still kept his promise and brought that medicine you needed.", Lisa started to cry. "Tony told me that already and he said that dad is in heaven now. Look, Tony is playing on the swing.". Lisa looked outside and her sadness was washed away by fear... The swing was moving on it's own, as if someone was sitting on it and swang... But the sit/swing was empty. "K..K..Kai? How exactly does Tony look like?". "He is the same age as me, blonde, has one eye and he lost his right arm. He used to live here years ago.", Kai replied. Then the swing stopped swinging...

"S..s..son, where did Tony go? S.. s..son?".

"Look behind you, Mom. Tony wants you to see him.", Kai smiled at his mother.....