The Girl and the Voice

Once, there was a Girl. A normal Girl, in a normal town, going to a normal school, living a normal life. Her parents were not the nicest parents, and took little care of her, leaving her to take care of herself; nor were they the richest: she had few toys, simple clothes. But she was happy. She was always happy.

But there was something else watching over the Girl. Something definitely not normal…


There came a time when the girl was lonely. At home, she always played by herself, forming imaginary friends to talk to. But at school, everyone had real friend, while she sat by herself, alone. She had always been shy, and didn’t like to talk to other people, but soon she decided that she wanted real friends too.

But when she tried to approach the kids, her shyness took hold of her, and she stumbled over her words. Then, to make matters worse, she stumbled over her own feet too. The kids laughed at her, and made fun of her, and she ran off, sure that she’d ruined any chance of making friends.

Of course, if she’d stayed and continued to talk to the kids, maybe things would’ve gone differently. But she went home from school that day with no more friends than before. And she went to sleep sure that she’d always be alone.

But as she began to fall asleep, a Voice began to whisper…

This girl wants friends; is that so bad?
But their mean words have made her sad
She deserves happiness and it shall be hers
By the power of this ancient curse…

That night, the kids dreamed. They all dreamed that they were going on adventures with the Girl. They went on dangerous adventures, and they came too close to danger many times. But the Girl was there for them, and that they were there for her. And the next day at school, they all came and apologized for making fun of her. And when she went home from school that day, she waved goodbye to her new friends.


There came a time when the Girl was bullied. A boy at school began to pick on her, flicking things at her, leaving sand in her chair and in her locker ‘accidentally’ knocking her down as she walked by. The bully was smart, and never got caught; and his friends were always there with him, laughing at her. She wanted to tell the teachers, but she was cared that they’d just say she was weak, that she needed to stand up for herself. She couldn’t stand up against the bully.

That night, as she lay in bed, she thought of all the things the bully had done. She thought about telling her parents, but she knew what they’d say: her dad would tell her that she was weak if she let other people pick on her, and her mom would probably forget what she was talking about before she could even finish. So she kept her frustration to herself. As she fell asleep, however, a Voice began to whisper…

This lowly human has caused enough pain
He has earned my unending disdain
She deserves happiness and it shall be hers
By the power of this ancient curse…

That night, the bully dreamed. He dreamed that he was small, and the Girl was big. And she pushed him down, she laughed at him, she took all of his stuff. The bully ran home, but the Girl was there too, taking all of his toys and breaking them. He went to his friends for help, but they just laughed at him. Who’s small now? They said.

The bully woke up, terrified. And when he saw the Girl at school that day, he felt that same sense of fear. An apology note was found on her desk, unsigned; the bully never spoke to the Girl and never bothered her again.


There came a time when the Girl began to feel love. A boy had caught her attention. He was amazing, he was the whole world to her. And finally, she found the courage to ask him out.

But then came the reveal: he already had a girlfriend. And he didn’t feel the same way about the Girl that she did about him. She did not take this well, and that night, she cried herself to sleep. But as she drifted off to sleep, a Voice began to whisper…

This girl has felt the pain of rejection
She lays here crying tears of dejection
She deserves happiness, and it shall be hers
By the power of this ancient curse…

That night, the boy dreamed. He dreamed of seeing his girlfriend, and he was happy; until she turned into a monster and began to attack him. Her hands turned to claws that scratched him; her teeth to fangs that tried to bite him; she sprouted a tail that allowed her to grab him, thorns that tried to poke him, wings that allowed her to chase him. But her voice stayed the same, taunting him, laughing at his attempts to defend himself, to reason with her, to beg her to stop.

After hours of being attacked, he made it away from her for a moment and hid. And he cried, he cried like a little kid. But then, there was someone there comforting him, her arm across his shoulders, holding him.

It was the Girl.

It was at this point that the boy woke up. But the memory of the dream stayed with him, and while he would normally have just recognized it as a dream, the curse is more powerful than that. And that day at school, when he saw the Girl, he began to feel a strange sense of comfort. And when he saw his girlfriend, he felt a sense of fear that he’d never felt before around her.

But he pushed those emotions aside. He reminded himself that it was only a dream, that it wasn’t real. And he continued on as normal, though sometimes when he saw his girlfriend’s face, his heart would speed up for a moment.

That night, the dream returned again. This time, though, when he tried to hide from the monster that was his girlfriend, she found him again. But the Girl was there to protect him, to fend off the monster. The monster fled, and he woke up.

It took four nights of dreaming, but he finally broke. He broke up with his girlfriend, saying some harsh things in the process, calling her a monster. In his mind, she was a monster; when he looked at her, he saw the monster from his dreams. Soon after he broke up with her, he began to date the Girl.

His former girlfriend was devastated, left sad and heartbroken. But there was no Voice to help her.


Thanks to the Voice, the Girl lived a happy life, never aware of her unseen protector. But even a happy life can be cut short. It happened suddenly. One moment she was walking home from her boyfriend’s house. Suddenly, a loud sound peirced the air, followed by another, and then came the pain, and the falling as she collapsed to the ground. She cried out for help, but no one who would care could hear her, no one who could hear her cared. Even if they did, it wouldn’t have mattered; the wound was fatal.
But the Voice heard. And as she began to fade away, she heard the voice of her invisible protector for the first time.

Death is cruel, death is unfair
This girl should be happy, but death doesn’t care
A dying body, soon for the tomb
A newborn baby, fresh from the womb
No one will know that their minds have been switched
No one will know that the baby’s bewitched.

The Girl’s body was buried soon after. The Girl herself lived on, though, born anew, to new parents, a new home, a new life. She enjoyed her new life, and all the lives after that.

The Voice made sure of that.


~W12~
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In what context did you write this?

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Sleep is overrated

This is creepy, but pretty good! Now, if I have a dream tonight with a girl in it…

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Not sure what you mean?
If you mean why I wrote it
It was just because I just came up with it

Eh, I didn’t know if there was a specific thing you were aiming for that would help me to understand this better. I felt that the story relied too much on Deus Ex Machina while the main character just sorta lets life happen to her. It’s like she isn’t an active participant in her own life.

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Well then, this is well written, and by all means worthy of being published. It’s eerie, but it’s also…well it feels like it’s take out of the fairytales of old, this is something you’d find in the works of Anderson and Brother’s Grimm. I applaud you. Do continue. Cause this is bringing the concept of the imaginary friend to it’s conclusion in a way that makes a person think about how much they’d actually want a friend like that. It’s interesting, and I think this tale will be in my thoughts for some time.

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That’s certainly fair. I would say that the story is less about the girl and more about the voice, with the girl simply being there to provide situations for the voice to deal with. Generic situations we all deal with, like love, friendship, bullies, but instead of the girl having to deal with them herself and overcome them, someone else steps in, resolving the situation in ways the girl herself might not even like, if she knew about it. I suppose that’s what I was going for.

fun fact: I came up with the original idea for this story right before going to bed, and then dreamed about it that night.

Huh, I hadn’t thought about the voice as an imaginary friend, but that definitely makes sense.

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