I was five when my dad died.
Thats when Hungy came into my life.
He was my best friend.
Kyle Thompson
I was trying to find a way to cope when I created Hungy.
I was never close with my dad.
He and my mom divorced shortly after I was born.
He moved to Oregon, and I only saw him a few times a year.
I dont know a ton about him.
Hungy kind of looked like a human thumb wrapped in a colored band-aide.
Kyle Thompson
I think he may have been created in my brain off of that horribleBananas In Pajamasshow.
It was his first word.
I dont know if I would describe Hungy as nice, but he was protective of me.
That started to change when my dad died.
It suddenly seemed like Hungy was never not around.
Thats when people started to get hurt.
It first happened to my friend Devin.
It was all in good fun, but Hungy must have been confused.
I can still see the image clear as day.
Devins little six-year-old body flying through the air under the summer sun.
The kid must have been 10-feet in the air.
It sure as hell sounded like he got that high when he landed.
I helped Devin down to his house where he went off to the hospital to fix a broken arm.
I scolded Hungy that night in my room.
He seemed to understand.
He nodded his head and slunk back in the closet.
I didnt see him for a few days.
Hungy was more sheepish when he came back, but he was still a perpetual presence.
I would still hear him fumbling around in the closet, or under the bed.
The second attack came at night.
My friend Bryan was the target and I never figured out why.
Maybe Hungy just snapped.
I woke up to the worst screams I have ever heard in my life shrieking out of Bryan.
kindly, Bryan pleaded with me, thinking it was me who was terrorizing him.
The horrible feeling that whatever injury Bryan was about to suffer washed over me.
Hungy dropped Bryan in an instant.
It was not a good move.
I watched Bryan plummet nearly 10 feet right at my bedpost.
My lights went out.
I woke up in my room seeing stars.
He was shaken up as well, but okay, and didnt want to say anything to our parents.
He didnt think they would believe us.
I agreed with Bryan.
We let it go.
I shook off the hit and moved on.
I started to see Hungy less and less.
We never spoke about it.
We didnt need to.
The last image I have of Hungy was through my bedroom window.
I was coming in from playing in my backyard and walked by my open window.
I saw Hungy hunched over on the foot of my bed, staring down at the carpet.
The look and feeling of the situation genuinely hurt my heart, but I had to keep ignoring him.
I was getting too old and mature for an imaginary friend, let alone an unpredictably violent one.
Seeing even a monster cry can take its toll.
Our move to Northern California came suddenly, but at a perfect time.
The move to Sacramento went smooth.
I didnt have a great life in Bakersfield.
It eventually became clear that I left Hungy back in the adolescence of my Bakersfield life.
I always left the closet door open in case he showed up and wanted to say hi.
I stayed in Sacramento through my twenty-ninth birthday.
My life was still wake-shower-work-eat-work-eat-sleep, just in a different location and a different bland one-bedroom apartment.
Nothing got weird until I left Bakersfield for a couple of days.
The conversation was pretty stale until Katie asked a question that made zero sense to me.
So, did you ever actually read my emails, or did you just never respond to them?
I sent you them right after we broke up.
I wasnt sure if they crossed the line.
I still had no idea what she was talking about and then a lightbulb went off in my head.
What email did you send them to?
My Yahoo or my Gmail?
Shit, Im sure I sent them to your Yahoo.
Thats what you always used.
That was right around when I switched emails.
This information made Katie squirm in her seat.
What were they about?
Its probably best if you just find them and read them.
You still have that Yahoo password?
Katie declined to really answer any of the 10 follow-up questions I volleyed at her right after that question.
I found the emails from Katie buried underneath about a million Groupon and TravelZoo emails.
It was three emails sent over the course of one night, in the midnight hour.
It started as soon as we started dating.
I started getting these really weird/scary calls usually in the middle of the night.
I would pick up the phone, the call would be an unknown number.
I would just hear heavy breathing.
It would go on for as long as I let it.
This went on for about a week.
I didnt say anything to you.
I didnt want to freak you out.
We had just started dating.
I thought it might be a crazy ex or something.
Then it started to get scary.
The calls wouldnt stop.
If I didnt answer, I would get a 10 minute voicemail of breathing.
The breathing was better than the talking that came next though.
The police traced the calls to a house in Bakersfield where an elderly couple lived.
They swore up and down they werent making the calls.
Maybe someone found a way to use their line?
We grew apart for a little bit.
But it got worse when it came back.
I started to feel like I was being watched, followed around my place.
I heard footsteps outside in the hallway of my apartment building all the time.
I heard rustling in the bushes outside my bedroom window.
I would notice things moved, or missing in my apartment.
It seemed to be worse when you were around.
I let it go until the day at the gym.
The shadows and a jacket hood covered most of his face.
It didnt seem like he knew English, but he got words out and they were pretty clear.
Stay away from you.
Dont talk to you.
Get the fuck out of your life…NOW!
He walked away once I agreed disappearing into the darkness.
Im sorry, but I just wanted to tell you about it now and hope you are okay.
Then the apologies came from Katie.
Im so sorry I didnt tell you sooner, or in the right way.
I hope you are okay.
I really have loved our time together.
I am good with grabbing drinks or dinner and talking about it.
Katie
*
Youre probably wondering why I dont just call you.
Well, in an anger bout, I deleted your number and now dont have it.
I might just stop by sometime.
kindly dont be alarmed.
The calls started again btw.
Theyre worse than they used to be.
Its just a man yelling over and over again STAY, FUCK, AWAY, JAY.
I told the cops again.
I hope you are safe.
I wont bother you with anymore emails.
Just wanted you to know.
I didnt bother talking anymore to Katie about the emails.
She had already let me down and I figured there wasnt much more that I could do.
Had Hungy been menacing anyone who ever got close to me without me knowing it?
Maybe Hungy was not my little secret?
There I was living by myself down the road from Hungy ground zero.
I thought about fleeing back to Sacramento and staying with friends, but I couldnt afford it.
I thought about calling up my other ex-girlfriends and asking them if the same thing happened.
The fact I had almost no family or close friends to rely on in my life became horribly apparent.
But Hungy had yet to physically appear in my life.
Hungy came in the night just when I was starting to think he might never show.
I said, half-asleep.
The door opened slowly.
I still couldnt see anything.
The door opened all the way.
It took me a few seconds to fully realize what I was looking at was Hungy.
Why are you still here?
Hungy looked up at me with glassy eyes for the slightest of moments.
Then he slammed the closet door shut.
The sleepless nights had taken a toll on me at that point.
Keeping my eyes open was a chore.
I fell back asleep.
I felt something was wrong before I even opened my eyes.
It was painfully cold even though I fell asleep to a warm September, Bakersfield night.
My eyes stung when I opened them.
It felt like shampoo had trickled into them, but that couldnt have been the case.
I quickly discovered the true cause in a few seconds.
There was a misty red haze floating at me in the darkness that surrounded me.
I pushed the haze away and saw a site which stung my eyes even more.
Around me were cave walls.
Tightly-coiled and wrinkled, the walls looked like the layered shell of an oyster.
I felt the cold radiate off of the walls.
There didnt appear to be any kind of exit.
The walls went all the way down to the floor with no opening across my 360-degree view.
I was trapped in the snow globe of scaly blue walls.
A noise interrupted the escape plan that was forming in my head Hungys powerful, but clumsy voice.
You forgot me, Hungy planted the thought in my brain.
I looked around the room for Hungy.
No site of him, but another sight began to form in a far corner.
I watched a long, thin shape begin to materialize about 30 feet away.
It was almost too dark to see, but its opaque white skin made it easier to spot.
Baby Hungy looked at me with wet eyes from across the room.
We locked eyes for a moment and then he ran to me.
I started to backpedal.
I didnt want that thing anywhere near me, but I had nowhere to go.
Baby Hungy got to me in just a few moments.
I closed my eyes and pushed my back into the spongy wall.
I large drop of moisture fell on my nose and forced my eyes open.
I created him and abandoned him.
I did what I had to do.
You were hurting people.
Hungys face took on a look of confusion.
I dont think he even really knew what hurt, or pain, meant or felt.
What youre feeling now…you did that to people, with your actions, I explained.
Hungy shook his head.
But you did, I started in again.
I helped, Hungy finally spoke and cut me off.
I shook my head.
I know you tried, but you gotta let me go.
Im sorry, but I cant do this.
I looked around the room.
It rested there hard for a few moments and the room started to dim into complete darkness.
Im always here, Hungy muttered once everything went completely dark.
I woke up in my bed.
That was not a dream.
Hungy had somehow pulled me into my own head where he lived and breath all alone every goddamn day.
I felt for him, but I couldnt take it.
I got up in the cold of the dark morning and walked over to the closet.
I slammed it shut and then went back to bed.
Hungy went into hiding again after that night.
New Job and raise.
Move to beautiful Monterey for an even better job with my wife to be closer to her family.
But nothing could ever be perfect for me.
My moms psyche reached an all-time low shortly after I found out my wife was pregnant.
She separated from her third husband.
I had a friend check in on her to check that she was alive.
My moms apartment was a nightmare.
I could barely get in through the front door, it was so cluttered with junk.
I went to my mom to wake up her.
Gave her a quick shake.
She stirred and looked at me with dead eyes.
Whyd you let this happen?
The word dribbled out of my moms cracked lips.
My mom reached out to me and caught my nose with her hand for a second.
Then it was gone.
I was back in her living room with the smell of cat litter and ammonia stinging my nose.
You let him in, my mom mumbled.
I knew I had to do something, and I had an idea of what.
I put my hand on my moms head and closed my eyes.
The faces of the people I saw were familiar.
The entire room seemed to sting.
I felt my skin burn like I was laying out on a beach right along the equator.
They were hard to keep open as I searched for two people my mom, and Hungy.
No one in the space seemed to notice me.
They were either pacing around aimlessly, or locked into deep conversations with each other.
Another constant was neither my mom, or Hungy, were anywhere to be seen.
But they were there.
I found that out when I felt myself get lifted off my feet by the back of my neck.
I came down on the soft ground right next to Hungy.
I myself felt crippled.
All I could do was stare into Hungys dying eyes.
I watched the life drain from Hungys eyes.
He told me his story again with his mind.
But Hungy grew tired and aged once he found his way to my mom.
The fear, anxiety, and chaos that was always swirling around her mind quickly wore him out.
Instead, my presence in my moms mind was the strength she needed to finally extinguish him.
All the other figures of my moms life stayed in the space..
I ran over to my mom.
I hugged her on the ground and shut my eyes tight.
The scent of dried-out cat shit greeted me when I came back to my moms apartment.
Never thought I would be relieved to waft in that putrid smell.
The first thing I saw were my moms eyes fluttering with life for the first time in years.
It has been a long time now with no Hungy, but hes always a fear that remains.
Not necessarily Hungy specifically, but the idea of an imaginary friend.
You see, something troublesome happened after I got my mom back on the right track.
In the box was a journal that spanned from my moms childhood until just recently.
I skimmed through it until I found talk about someone named Yukon.
Turns out my mom had her own imaginary friend who was a lot like Hungy.
Now the thought of passing on a volatile imaginary friend to my son never leaves my mind.
Maybe hes safe since he was grown in my wifes womb?
Either way, I cant shake that dreaded thought whenever I look into my young sons eyes.
I guess Ill have to wait and see.
