"Dad?" my 5 year old son would call out to me. "Do I have a baby brother?"
I always snickered at the thought. "No son, you don't have a baby brother."
"Are you suuure I don't?" he'd question.
"Yes. I'm sure."
Elias, my son, would ask me this question frequently. My wife would always insist that he's hinting for us to have another child. "One little menace is enough for now!" I'd protest.
One morning was different from the rest though. Elias didn't ask me the question. Strange. So, I decided to bring it up myself.
"Elias, aren't you going to ask me if you have a baby brother?" I'd joke.
He looked up at me with a confusion in his face, "Dad you said I didn't though, right?"
I laughed out loud. "Of course you don't. Not yet at least. Why do you want to know so bad anyways, buddy?"
Elias reverted his attention towards his breakfast of waffles. "Because Dad, if I don't have a baby brother, then I dunno who it is coming into my room at night to play."
"Wh-what?" I stuttered, placing my coffee mug onto the table and pushing the morning paper aside.
"Yeah!" Elias shouted excitedly. "He's a lot of fun, but I don't like how he always comes at night, cus I am sometimes too tired to play."
"Who... A little boy comes into your room?" I questioned. Either my kid has a great imagination or...
"Yeah. A little boy. Littler than me!" he replied. "But... he kinda looks like me. That's why I thinked he was my baby brother, Dad! He crawls out from under the bed at night to play."
"What...What do you two play?" I asked, deciding to go along with it. "Is he a boy from the neighborhood?"
"Nah, he isn't from the neighborhood," Elias confirmed. "We play lots of things. But I don't like when he asks me to go under the bed. Its dark under there and smells funny. But Dad, it only smells funny under there when he's there with me."
I suddenly stood up and marched towards the stairs. "Dad? Dad!" Elias called after me.
Upon entering his toy-littered bedroom, I did notice a slight odor. All I can say is that whatever it was smelt festered. I searched under the bed, but nothing, or no one, was to be found. Just for safe measure, I checked the closet as well.
Nothing.
Kids really do have powerful imaginations. It's something I admire much. No matter how bored a child may be, he or she will always find a way to entertain themselves through their imaginations, fabricating pretend worlds, objects, and people. But later that same night at around 11:45PM, I could almost swear that I heard my son giggling in his room.
And his giggle wasn't the only I heard.