# One of my imaginary friends wasn't so imaginary

An episode of [CreepsMcPasta Creepypasta Radio](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1492008134), 23 Jun 2024, 30 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/60481986/one_of_my_imaginary_friends_wasn_t_so_imaginary.mp3

CREEPYPASTA STORY►by Saturdead: / big_softy Creepypastas are the campfire tales of the internet. Horror stories spread through Reddit r/nosleep, forums and blogs, rather than word of mouth. Whether you believe these scary stories to be true or not is left to your own discretion and imagination. LISTEN TO CREEPYPASTAS ON THE GO- SPOTIFY► https://open.spotify.com/show/7l0iRPd... iTUNES► https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... SUGGESTED CREEPYPASTA PLAYLISTS- ►"Good Places to Start"- • "I wasn't careful enough on the deep ... ►"Personal Favourites"- • "I sold my soul for a used dishwasher... ►"Written by me"- • "I've been Blind my Whole Life" Creep... ►"Long Stories"- • Long Stories FOLLOW ME ON- ►Twitter: / creeps_mcpasta ►Instagram: / creepsmcpasta ►Twitch: / creepsmcpasta ►Facebook: / creepsmcpasta CREEPYPASTA MUSIC/ SFX- ►http://bit.ly/Audionic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/Myuusic ♪ ►http://bit.ly/incompt ♪ ►http://bit.ly/EpidemicM ♪ This creepypasta is for entertainment purposes only

## Transcript

[0:02] I had a rough time as a kid. I suffered from both hem and
[0:06] geodmas and spotty hair loss, two conditions that would go away the closer I
[0:12] got to my teenage years. But for those first few years, I was
[0:17] a social prior. I looked strange, which was enough to draw unwanted attention.
[0:24] Some kids thought I had a kind of mange what others just didn't like
[0:28] to look at me. My parents didn't make it easier for me, forcing
[0:33] me to bring various creams that I had to apply during school hours. I
[0:39] ended up trying to make my own fun. I made my own friends in
[0:43] my head, and I played a lot of board games on my own.
[0:48] My parents were going through a divorce and both swore off having any more children,
[0:53] so I ended up as an only child. Most of my made up
[0:58] friends were just the plaything. I could tell it was all just for fun
[1:03] and that they weren't real. I didn't see them or hear them. I
[1:07] made up little stories in my head, trying to imagine what they would do
[1:11] if they were there. I could get really into it. I had this
[1:17] one imaginary friend who always tried to cheat in games, so when I played
[1:21] with him at the table. I'd move the pieces in a way he would
[1:25] and thus cheat. Another friend was obsessed with lemonade, so I always brought
[1:30] an extra glass for him. When I was seven years old, there was
[1:38] a new friend. This one was different. I could really see him.
[1:46] I knew he was just as fake as the rest of them, as he
[1:49] only appeared when I was alone and playing. But he was strange. I
[1:56] hadn't imagined him for a specific purpose. I didn't come up with a name
[2:00] for him. I don't know anything about him. Even if I would pretend
[2:05] not to know the cheetah and the lemonade enthusiast to try of conversation, this
[2:09] one was a genuine mystery. He was scary. He looked like a person,
[2:17] but sort of stretched at least seven feet tall, pale, flaking gray
[2:24] skin. He was super thin and had this sort of hanging face, like
[2:30] his skin was slouching. It reminded me of a wet towel hanging off a
[2:36] rack. And his eyes, well, they were empty. There was nothing
[2:43] there. He was super quiet and rarely moved. I'd usually forget he was
[2:51] even there unless he made his little sound, a sort of teeth chatter.
[2:58] It was like a tick, sometimes a single click. Other times he'd just
[3:02] stand there, chattering excitedly, clack clack clack. At first, I just
[3:10] asked him to go away. He didn't talk, and he didn't answer my
[3:15] questions. No matter what I played, he refused to participate or even acknowledge
[3:21] me. He just wanted to be there. Most of the time, he
[3:28] was a nuisance. He'd scare me. I'd wake up to that noise of
[3:32] chattering teeth at night, or he did click right next to my ear when
[3:37] I played my board games. Over time, it went from scary to frustrating.
[3:45] He was just being a bother. But there was a time in middle
[3:50] school that changed the way I viewed him. There was a new kid in
[3:53] school. It was an infamous bully, let's call him Ian. He'd been
[4:00] moved from another school where it had been a menace. No one really knew
[4:03] what to do with him, so they just sort of moved him around,
[4:08] and now it was our turn to deal with him, and of course I
[4:14] was a clear target. Ian started calling me scabs, and it kind of
[4:18] caught on. The sick dog of the class now had a name that others
[4:24] clung to, and it wasn't a good one, but it didn't end there.
[4:30] One day after school, he took things too far, spurred on my
[4:34] cheers and laughter from my classmates. I was beaten, bloody. While I
[4:40] was beaten, the others went inside to get some scissors. They were gonna
[4:44] cut my mangy hair. When it was just me and Ian, I heard
[4:51] that teeth chattering noise again. I could see the strange figure in the background.
[4:59] My first thought was that he was there to mock me too, but
[5:03] to my surprise, it had other plans. It leaned in, unhinged its
[5:12] massive jaw, and took a bite out of Ian's ear, tearing it in
[5:17] half. There was instant pandemonium. Ian turned around, not looking at me,
[5:26] but straight at his assailant. He could see him too, blood and
[5:34] screams panic. Ian scrambled like a scared dog, dripping over his own legs
[5:41] to get away. The others came running back to but as they saw what
[5:46] had happened, they'd all had a collective gasp. Seeing them step back was
[5:51] empowering. They turned and ran, screaming and pointing. They hadn't seen what
[5:58] Ian and I had. They thought I'd done it. He took it.
[6:02] He took it into here. The kids ran away. They ran like their
[6:06] heads were on fire. I sat there for a moment, my body pulsing
[6:14] with bruises and shock. The strange creature approached me. His teeth had stopped
[6:19] chattering, replaced with chewing, slowly savoring a meal. For all the hell
[6:29] it had given me, this was grotesque. My adrenaline had spiked, and
[6:36] I just said the first thing that came to mind. Maybe he didn't really
[6:41] want to hurt me, Maybe it was there for some other reason. Either
[6:46] way, I said what I said. You're just a big softy, aren't
[6:50] you. I sniffled, You're a big softy. Big softy. It wheezed
[7:00] back. He was less of a voice and more of a throbbing wind.
[7:08] His lips didn't move, Big softy, it continued, Um, yeah you
[7:18] are. I nodded, that's you. It leaned in close, inspecting me.
[7:26] He didn't breathe name, It hissed free. I stared into those hollow
[7:39] sockets, waiting for something to happen, a smile, a breath, anything,
[7:46] but no. I blinked, and big softy it was no longer there.
[7:56] Sometimes violence solves things. While that brawl didn't, make me popular.
[8:03] It stopped kids from teasing me. Classmates began using my regular name again.
[8:09] Sure there was still whispers and the occasional side eye, but that was still
[8:13] an immense improvement. No one spoke about that fight though. I didn't want
[8:18] to get in trouble for the ear, and he didn't want to get in
[8:22] trouble for bullying me, so he kept it to ourselves and never spoke of
[8:26] it again. He and seemed fine with sitting quietly and not talking to any
[8:33] one about it. He'd changed, and Big Softy well, he sort of
[8:41] disappeared. It's like he'd done his job and went on his merry way.
[8:46] For a couple of years that followed, I thought he just might have been
[8:50] a figment of my imagination. Maybe I was the one who really bitty and
[8:56] and this whole thing was just a way to cope with that trauma. It
[9:00] had to be something of the sort. Imaginary friends don't affect the real world.
[9:05] Then again, giving him a name, even a nickname, seemed to
[9:11] have encouraged him was something worse. Most of my afflictions cleared up in high
[9:20] school and have found a solid group of like minded youths over time. All
[9:26] little dream friends faded from memory. The one who cheated, the one who
[9:30] loved lemonade, a hundred others who I can't even remember, the way they
[9:35] looked, the way they sounded, the names and quirks. They all went
[9:39] away. A Big Softy stayed at my mind realer than any of them.
[9:48] The hollow eyes, the chattering teeth. It was strange how the most horrifying
[9:52] of all my imaginary friends turned out to be the one who stuck around the
[9:56] longest. But time passed. High school turned to college, college turned to
[10:03] work, and by the time I was twenty seven I had a pretty cozy
[10:09] life going. But even then, despite not having seen or heard that childhood
[10:13] friend of mine, Big Softy still drifted in my dreams every now and then.
[10:22] I wish I could end this story here. It'd just be a strange
[10:24] anecdote about something that happened to me as a kid. Sadly that's not the
[10:31] case. What began as an unusual charter of curiosity turned into a waking nightmare.
[10:41] Back in twenty nineteen, and I was in a pretty good place.
[10:45] I was six months into a promotion that added a flat fifteen percent of my
[10:48] salary, and I was finally getting back into dating after a messy break up
[10:54] a couple of months earlier. Nothing serious, but it felt good to shake
[10:58] off the cobwebs. I was coming home from a long day of overtime and
[11:03] had to stop for gas, nothing I hadn't done a hundred times before.
[11:09] I got myself a slim gym and told the long haired man behind the counter
[11:11] that I wanted thirty on pumpt two. I handed over my card and checked
[11:16] my phone for a moment, clack teeth turning around nothing. I could feel
[11:31] my pulse spiking for no apparent reason. I became hyper aware of my surroundings.
[11:37] You have had light and the faint whiff of gasoline. That one noise
[11:41] brought me straight back to middle school. It sent this cold spike straight into
[11:46] my head, as if I could picture that hollowed out face in front of
[11:50] me. I snapped out of it with a beat from the cash register.
[11:56] I thanked the cashier and headed for the door. Just before I left,
[12:01] I turned back around to them, Excuse me, but did you hear something
[12:05] strange just now? No, can't say I did, Sorry, did you
[12:11] click your tongue or something? Can't say I did, sir, I nodded,
[12:18] Of course they didn't. The same sensation came back to me on four
[12:22] different occasions, once when I was closing the blinds in my bedroom, once
[12:28] when getting the mail at work, another time when stuck in traffic, and
[12:33] once when I was about to answer a phone call. I ended up missing
[12:37] it. It was such a strange reminder. Did it come out of nowhere?
[12:45] And now it was starting to become a daily annoyance for the life of
[12:50] me. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. There wasn't really
[12:54] a direction. It was just like in my head. He was there everywhere,
[13:01] nowhere and inside clack, and yet Big Softy was yet to be seen.
[13:13] I was having trouble focusing on work. I couldn't push my intrusive thoughts
[13:16] out, and I ended up doing some digging on social media, looking up
[13:22] old acquaintances from work, Folks I hadn't seen or heard from in years.
[13:28] Some had started families, Others had moved far away from work or studies.
[13:33] There were a handful of them still left in Minnesota. One face stood out
[13:39] to me, though, Ian turns out he was still around. The moment
[13:48] I got home from work, I went straight to my computer. I looked
[13:52] up Ian on some of the more common social media sites. The man had
[13:58] no privacy settings. Most of it was just nonsense. Pictures of him having
[14:03] beers for the boys, a couple of nice cars, group pictures of random
[14:07] people with generic nicknames. This was a man that wanted to express nothing more
[14:13] than being hashtag Friday blessed. But looking a little closer, there are a
[14:20] few cracks in the facade. For example, there are a couple more recent
[14:26] comments he'd made to a few friends of his. God doesn't just send angels
[14:31] to protect you, he said in one post. Sometimes he sends demons that
[14:35] test you. Looking a bit closer revealed a lot more pain that was freadily
[14:41] apparent. Ian was taking medication for schizophrenia. He was overcoming a drinking problem.
[14:48] He seemed to constantly be bouncing between complete disregard for others and hysterical with
[14:52] regret for his actions. He could be fighting for forgiveness in one post and
[14:58] bragging about stealing from work in the next. The man was a mess,
[15:03] a complete mess, and that half missing ear of his didn't do him any
[15:09] favors. No matter how many tattoos he put on his neck to divert the
[15:13] attention, but one particular post caught my attention. He was discussing lifestyle challenges
[15:20] with a local youth pastor, an old acquaintance we had in common, and
[15:26] they were at a disagreement. Ian spat out, I don't deny my godamn
[15:31] problems. I know what they look like, I know their names. I
[15:35] see their teeth, see their teeth. Ah fhethermore, no one seemed to
[15:43] have seen him for a while. For all intents and purposes, Ian had
[15:48] sort of fallen off the face of the earth, leaving behind one last cryptic
[15:52] post. It's getting too real. The post said it's too close, and
[16:00] with that he posted nothing more. I checked the dates my notes and made
[16:07] some deductions. The final post of this was written the same day I first
[16:12] started hearing the teeth chattering noise. Again. That couldn't be a coincidence.
[16:19] It just couldn't. I didn't find out anything else about him, and the
[16:26] sound of teeth chattering with horrible timing, was getting worse. Once I had
[16:32] to pull over in traffic to stop my heart from racing, I could have
[16:36] sworn I saw that hollowed out face in my rear view mirror. I was
[16:40] so frustrated that I smacked my hands on my dashboard so hard I got a
[16:44] bruise. By the time I got home, I was nervous and stressed.
[16:49] I threw off my jacket, stormed into the kitchen and cracked open a coke.
[16:55] I slammed the door shut so hard I knocked one of the fridge magnets
[16:59] on to the floor. A little blue sunflower who came with a place leaning
[17:06] back against the fridge, my heart skipped a beat. Big Softy was right
[17:14] there, just a few feet away, looking right at me. Clack clack.
[17:23] I dropped my can of coke as it hit the floor, I blinked.
[17:27] In the next moment, I was alone again, clutching my chest.
[17:34] I picked the can up, wiped up the spill with a couple of paper
[17:37] towels, try my best to calm down. This was getting out of hand.
[17:45] I hadn't regained my composure before there was another sound and knock on the
[17:48] door. It surprised me. I wasn't expecting company. I lumbered over to
[17:56] the door, flustered and shaky. I put my hand and on the handle,
[18:02] then stopped. Maybe there was a reason I'd seen that thing. Maybe
[18:07] it wasn't just psychosis. What if it meant something? Could it'd have something
[18:14] to do with whoever or whatever was on the other side of the door.
[18:18] I can shoot you through the door, A mofled voice said, Open.
[18:25] I froze, one hand on the door handle, another hand on my phone.
[18:30] I was stuck. I couldn't make myself move. I won't ask again
[18:37] Open. I didn't know what to say. I turned the handle and carefully
[18:42] stepped back. Ian he looked like he'd gone through hell to get here,
[18:51] on washed hair, on kempt beard, and a shiny new handgun pointed at
[18:55] me. His hands were shaking. He wasn't kidding around. His fingers trembled.
[19:03] He was trying to pull the trigger. Ian I said reflexively, you
[19:08] what do you? Shut up? He spat, just shut up. He
[19:14] raised the handgun, staring me down. The sound of his own name shock
[19:18] him. It has to end, I can't. His aim faltered. He
[19:25] looked away. A second later, he pushed me back and entered my apartment,
[19:30] closing the door behind him. He led me into the kitchen. There
[19:36] was still wet paper towels on the floor from my spilled drink. Sit down,
[19:41] he said, pointing to a chair. Keep your hands on the table.
[19:47] I did as he said. There was a sudden quiet between us,
[19:51] as if he hadn't planned this far. There was a clear uncertainty to his
[19:56] actions, which just made it worse. And tell what he'd do next.
[20:02] I need you to to make it stop, he said. It has to
[20:07] stop, It has to I just can't. Don't tell me you can't.
[20:11] You raised this gun, stepping closer. My whole body felt cooler. His
[20:15] blood rushed to my arms and legs. Don't you tell me that, he
[20:19] repeated. Now make it stop. Before I got a chance to say,
[20:26] you'll do anything, he sat down across from me. Gun still pointed in
[20:32] my direction. One wrong move, a twitch, anything, and it'd be
[20:38] over. I almost forgot to breathe. I know it's yours. It's been
[20:45] yours for always, he continued, scratching his hair. But it's too much,
[20:52] it's gone too far. So okay, I tried to click my thoughts.
[20:59] You're talking about him with the teeth. Don't act like you don't know
[21:03] its name, he groaned. Don't you dare? We looked at one another
[21:10] and said it in unison, big Softy. The moment we said it,
[21:18] I could see him emerging from the shadows in the back of the kitchen.
[21:23] I try my best, not a gasp, will look his way. He's
[21:27] in my head every night. I hear him all the time. Ian continued,
[21:33] that damn click clacking right in my ear, sometimes in my face,
[21:41] like he wants to take a bite. I'm not controlling that, I said,
[21:47] carefully, picking my words. I haven't seen him in decades. You
[21:52] even know how bad you missed up, he said, squinting with disbelief.
[21:56] You named it. They saw. They need to go off. They need
[22:02] a name, They need to be made real. And he raised this gun,
[22:07] growing more determined by the second you made him real. Removed this time
[22:15] to the bathroom. I didn't have any saying the matter, having a gun
[22:21] pointed straight at me. Somewhere off in the background, I could see the
[22:26] vague shape of big Softy moving soundlessly from one room to another. I can't
[22:33] control it, I said, I have nothing to I don't care, but
[22:38] this is pointless. There's nothing I don't care. If you go away,
[22:42] his name goes away. You don't know that. I was pushed through the
[22:48] bathroom door and to the back of my shower. I tripped, coming down
[22:52] hard on my tailbone. The ceramic tiles felt icy cold against my sweaty palms,
[22:57] and I could smell a bit of chlorine from the cleaning supplies. He
[23:03] raised his gun and this was it, Big Softy, I said, that's
[23:10] that's all I did. I called it a goddamn nickname. I don't deserve
[23:14] to die for that. He's resolved, faltered. He scratched his head again,
[23:19] groaning, but more so. I could see Big Softy just outside the
[23:25] room. Was he getting closer? Big Softy? I said again, my
[23:32] eyes darting to the door. I was a scared kid. It just slipped
[23:36] out. Don't you dare put this on me? He said, don't you
[23:41] dare? I observed the creature he was approaching. Every time I said it's
[23:48] name, it got a little closer, looking ian dead in the eye.
[23:53] I took a deep breath. This was it, Big Softy, I said,
[24:00] Big Softy, Big Softy, What the hell? I kept repeating it
[24:04] over and over and over. He might do something, he might not.
[24:10] Either way, I had to try. But by the sixth time I said
[24:15] it, that enormous, looming creature was inches behind Ian, but more so,
[24:22] he was changing, not by a lot, but enough for me to
[24:26] notice he was smiling. Ian raised his gun at me and pulled the trigger
[24:37] at the same time I said the name for a seventh and final time.
[24:45] The shot went wild as an unhinged jaw came down on Ian's shoulder. There
[24:51] was a scream, a spurt of blood on the bathroom mirror, a flailing
[24:55] arm hitting the light switch, turning a gruesome scene into a shadow far at
[25:00] her, impossibly thin hands wrapping around a throat, twisting his neck like a
[25:06] toothpaste cap, crunching, ripping, chewing, teeth, teeth teeth, clack,
[25:14] clack clack, laughter, other worldly, ethereal laughter. I have no
[25:23] idea how long it went on. Ian didn't even have time to beg the
[25:30] handgun clattered to the ground. It was just me and this thing, alone
[25:37] in a dark bathroom. I couldn't speak. I just curled up into a
[25:42] ball and tried my best to ignore the viscera running into the train next to
[25:48] me. There was a slight creaking sound as old knees bent a hot breath
[25:55] in my face. Big Softy could breathe. It seemed nice name. It
[26:04] said. The voice was different, real, tangible. I could hear vibrations
[26:12] in his throat. This was no longer a figment of my imagination. Going
[26:22] it continued aye, I could hear something getting dragged out of the apartment.
[26:30] I heard doors open and close, and god knows how long I realized I
[26:36] was sitting there, shaking like a dry leaf in the wind. My stomach
[26:41] turned at the idea of turning on the light, but I had to.
[26:45] I got up and reached for the light switch, almost tripping on the handgun
[26:51] and something slippery clinging to it fingers. I flipped the switch and I broke.
[27:03] I won't go into detail of what I saw. Most of the body
[27:07] was gone, not all of it, but most of it. It was
[27:11] a blood trail leading into the hallway, then disappearing just as it reached the
[27:17] front door. I'd brought that thing into the world. I'd named it,
[27:22] i'd reinforced it, i'd believed it called out to it. I'd made it
[27:29] real. All it had to do was answer. You can't unlearn something,
[27:40] And even if I could, I think it's too late. I think Big
[27:44] Softy got just enough of what he needed to become something else. Entirely.
[27:49] He took a life, and now he's got one of his own. Maybe
[27:55] you still have some kind of connection. I don't know. I'd think we
[28:00] do where else he might have just killed me too, right then and there.
[28:04] Then again, there's no way to tell. I've obsessed over this for
[28:11] years, looking through articles about mentions of Ian. There were no search parties,
[28:17] no one came looking. Even the people who missed him were reluctant to
[28:21] work with the police, and with his history of schizophrenia, there was a
[28:26] higher likelihood of him just doing something he shouldn't. But I knew better.
[28:33] Ian hadn't been schizophrenic. Big Softy had just stuck to him and just tortured
[28:40] him for god knows how long decade. Looking back at it, I think
[28:48] that was the plan all along, to drive Ian to a point where he
[28:52] would try to kill me. But it's in their final moments that a person
[28:57] gets truly desperate, and that's what I felt on that floor, desperation.
[29:04] I reached out to whoever would answer, and I couldn't fathom the consequences.
[29:11] He's out there right now. He probably looks like us, walks like us,
[29:17] and sounds like us. But wherever he is, and whatever he does,
[29:22] I don't want a part of it. I don't know what to say.
[29:29] But if you meet a strangely tall man he does that thing with his
[29:33] teeth, just no that there might be more to him, a lot more.
[29:41] He's more than just a big softy

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