The Devil Within - Personal Experience by Madison

"When I was a little girl, around 6 or 7, I used to have an imaginary friend. But then again, who didn't? After a few months, my mom started asking me if I was able to see something, or someone, so I told her the truth. No. Well, a couple of weeks later, I really did start talking to an actual person, who seemed alright at first....but whatever it was, tortured me and my mom for years.

It started one day after I came home from school. I went upstairs to my room to do my reading homework and I noticed that my bed looked as if someone had been in it recently. I made my bed that morning, so I figured my mom must have come in and taken a nap or sat on my bed or something. So I thought nothing of it, and got out my book and started to read. Well, about 15-20 minutes later, my mom came racing into my room, and started asking me all sorts of questions like, "what happened?!" and, "are you all right?!" At first I had absolutely NO idea what she was talking about, so I said I was fine, and she left.

The second she walked out of my room, I heard a low growl rising from the hallway, and slowly moving ever so slightly, was a tall shadow, that for some odd reason, absolutely terrified me. I raced across my room, slamming my door in the process (I got yelled at later for it) and hopped into my bed, staring at the door with my pillow across my chest, as if throwing something at the shadow figure would scare it off. After a few minutes that seemed like forever, I slowly opened my door to see a large non-human footprint in the carpet... right outside my door. I freaked, and slammed the door shut again, this time, locking it.

I never thought anything else about it until the next day, when something was missing from my room, my favorite teddy bear. I had just come in from the backyard, when I saw something tall and very dark slide from my doorway. Me being a kid, I thought that maybe my mom was in my room again, so I ran into my room thinking I'd see her there putting away my clothes.... but the only thing I saw was an entirely dark room.... even though it was sunny and warm outside. But the moment I stepped through my door, chills went down my spine, and I slowly backed towards the door. Out of nowhere, the door slammed shut in an unnaturally fast way. I screamed.

A month after that incident, my mom moved us to a new house. To this day, I won't go into a room alone without a light on first."