Imaginary Friend - Stephen Chbosky Page 0,152

epidemic and the rise in violent crime. He looked out through the window and saw deer running down the road. He took a quick breath. Something was here. Something evil. He turned his magnifying glass around and adjusted his bifocals. His eyes were dry and tired, but he had to decipher David’s handwriting. He had to get to the truth.

June 12th

The soldier is worried about me. I am pushing myself too hard. I am bleeding too much. He says that people on the real side aren’t supposed to have this much power, so I need to slow down. But I can’t. I was walking into school, and I touched Mrs. Henderson’s arm. My brain cooked, and my nose bled. I knew everything about her in 2 seconds. But it was more than the things that happened to her. I knew the things she was going to do someday. I knew she would stab her husband. I could see it over and over again. They were older people, and they were in the kitchen, and the hissing lady made her grab the knife and stab him in the throat. I screamed, and Mrs. Henderson asked what was wrong. I lied because if I told her the truth, she would have put me in a nut house.

Ambrose stopped reading. He knew that name. Henderson. He couldn’t place it. Where did he know the name Henderson? It took him a moment to finally turn to the television, where Sally Wiggins read the local news.

“…the ongoing investigation of Mrs. Beatrice Henderson, who stabbed her husband in the kitchen. She worked at Mill Grove Elementary School as a librarian…”

The hair rose on the old man’s arms. Ambrose turned quickly. He thought he felt someone watching him. But the parlor was empty. He turned back around. He turned the page. The voice was trying to lull him to sleep again. He fought it off and read.

June 15th

I couldn’t sleep last night because my mind works too hard. I was so restless, I got up and started reading the encyclopedia. I started with the A volume at 10:30 p.m. By 5:30 the next morning, I finished Z. The scariest part was knowing the mistakes the men who wrote the encyclopedia made. It’s funny when people don’t realize knowledge does not end in a particular year. People thought the sun revolved around the Earth and that the Earth was flat. There was a time before Jesus that people thought Zeus was God. Men were killed for thinking otherwise. They didn’t know the hissing lady was there making them afraid of new knowledge. They didn’t know that she’s always been there making them hate other people for trivial things.

“…sad news out of the Middle East tonight as four Christian missionaries were attacked trying to deliver much-needed food and supplies to the refugees…”

June 17th

The nose bleeds will not stop. My mother keeps taking me to doctors, but none of them know what’s wrong with me. The soldier and I are trying to figure out a way to tell Ambrose the truth that will make him believe me. I need his help. I need him to fight her if I fail. But he never believes me. He thinks I am talking to myself when I am talking to the soldier. He thinks I am insane.

Ambrose took off his glasses and rubbed his burning eyes. He suddenly felt sleepy, but he slapped himself across the face like he did in the army during guard duty. Nothing was going to stop him from reading this. He felt as if the world depended on it.

June 21st

I don’t really know where I am anymore. I don’t know what’s real or what’s imaginary, but we can’t wait any longer. The hissing lady is everywhere disguised as the flu. We have to complete the training now before she takes over the tree house. I asked the soldier why the hissing lady wanted it so much, and he explained what it is doing to me. The power that she wants for herself. It was so simple. It explained everything I was going through. I wanted to tell Ambrose what was really happening to me, but I couldn’t have him call me crazy again. So, I waited until he was asleep, and I got into bed with him. I whispered really quietly in his ear just in case the hissing lady was listening.

“Ambrose. I have to tell you something.”

“What?” he said asleep.

“I have to tell you what the tree