ALL IN THE HEAD 1

DAISY DARCY

It is easy to dismiss extraordinary stories told by children as being something of fantasy or something that comes out of an overactive imagination, even when a child insists on what they are telling is of something real. It happens to us all at some time or another, a child in our life will either tell us a story or tell us of something so unrealistic that it can only make sense to the child telling the story.

There are times that a child is so sure of what they experience that the experience can be passed off as being something else. When a child speaks of a friend that no one else can see then it is assumed that this friend must be imaginary but what if the friend is not imaginary? What if an invisible friend is actually real and all that is needed to prove such a thing is time?

When Leigh Darcy first noticed that her daughter seemed to have an imaginary friend, Daisy was just four years old. Daisy's imaginary friend, as it was noticed, only seemed to come to the little girl on weekends and only if the weather so happened to be nice as the interaction between Daisy and her friend only ever occurred down near the end of the back garden of the home to which she and her mum lived.

'Hey honey' mum spoke one particular Saturday when Daisy came in from having been playing outside. 'Who is your friend?'

'Her name is Emma, and she is really nice. She is four just like me.'

'Oh, that is really is nice' mum saw no harm in Daisy having an imaginary friend though she still was a little curious.

'Emma lives here too and with her mum, just like us.'

'Oh really? How come you guys never play together inside?'

'I don't know. We only see each other past the steps outside. When we come back in, she disappears.'

'How odd ...?' mum spoke out loud as well as thinking.

Daisy's speech and vocabulary is excellent for a four-year-old, so mum really is happy enough to let her daughter's imagination show itself, happy enough that is until Daisy is six years old. Emma still comes to play out in the back yard and Daisy still insists that Emma lives here too but when on one Saturday in particular Daisy goes missing from the back yard, mum can't help but believe there is something more to what is going on, though she only really considers this once the initial panic from discovering her daughter's disappearance calms somewhat.

A further two years pass before mum moves away. Daisy's disappearance has become a cold case. The back garden is so cordoned off that there is no way Daisy could have left without coming back in and through the house, so mum is one hundred percent sure Daisy never came back inside.

There is the thought of what Daisy once said. When mum asked as to how come Daisy and Emma never played inside, Daisy answered that Emma disappears before she can come into the house. Is there some sort of invisible barrier that prevents mum from seeing her daughter? That thought just sounds crazy to her but how else can the disappearance be explained?

The house Leigh and Daisy Darcy lived in was sold to a young couple who went on to have a daughter two years after they moved in, a daughter they would name Emma. During the pregnancy mother and father's relationship began to fall apart and it came to an end when their daughter turned six months old though dad remained in Emma's life.

When Emma turned four years of age, she appeared to have started a friendship, an imaginary friendship with a girl the same age as her, with a girl named ... Daisy. Emma's friendship with Daisy only ever occurred out in the back yard and only on weekends. Emma's explanation for this is that whenever they were to come inside Daisy always disappeared, always disappeared that is until one day when Emma was six years old, she came inside from the back yard in the company of another girl, a girl by the name of Daisy Darcy.

An investigation began. Daisy Darcy no matter the fact that she is only six years old has been missing for ten years. Mum could not believe her daughter had been discovered alive and everyone involved found difficulty in finding an answer as to why she had not aged a day.

No matter what answers could be found or speculated it is safe to say that both daughters and both mothers are to become friends for life from here on in. So, if a child were to tell you she or he has a friend, a friend no one else can see, will you believe the child when they say that the friend is real?