At first, I didn’t think much of it.
Just a crayon-colored cutout of a smiling boy in a blue cap and tie—your average kindergarten craft. My daughter, Liora, named him “Timothy.” She said he was her special friend from school. I smiled, told her he was cute, and didn’t think twice.
But then… Timothy started showing up in places I didn’t put him.
On the kitchen table when we hadn’t been in there. Propped up on my pillow after I’d made the bed. One morning, I even found him stuck to the fridge door with a magnet—Liora swore she hadn’t touched him.
I figured it was just five-year-old antics. Maybe she was playing around and forgot. Kids do that.
Then, about a week in, Liora said something that made my stomach flip.
We were sitting at the dinner table, just the two of us, when she looked up from her plate with wide, serious eyes.
“Mom, Timothy says he doesn’t like it when you’re sad.”
I paused, my fork halfway to my mouth. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but something in her tone made my heart beat a little faster.
“Timothy said that?” I asked, keeping my voice light.
She nodded, her little brow furrowed in thought. “He says that when you cry, it makes him sad, too. He wants you to smile more.”
I set my fork down, carefully, trying not to let my sudden unease show. I glanced around the room, as if expecting to see the little drawing of Timothy somewhere close by, staring back at me.
“Where is Timothy now?” I asked, my voice quiet.
Liora’s eyes shifted toward the living room, where her toys were scattered across the floor. “He’s in the corner by the window,” she said matter-of-factly.
I felt a chill creep up my spine. There was no way I had left him there, no way. But I didn’t want to scare her, so I smiled and nodded.
“That’s nice, honey. I’m sure Timothy just wants to make sure you’re happy.”
But as I got up to clear the dishes later, my thoughts kept drifting back to her words. Why was she so insistent on talking about Timothy? And why did she act as though he was real? It wasn’t like her to imagine things this vividly.
The next day, I picked Liora up from school and noticed something odd. She was sitting at the very edge of the car seat, staring out the window with a strange, faraway expression on her face. She hadn’t said much all day, just quietly playing with her toys when we got home.
“Hey, sweetheart, how was school today?” I asked as I started the car.
She didn’t answer right away, her eyes lost in thought. Then, slowly, she said, “Timothy says I’m going to be a big sister.”
My heart froze in my chest. A big sister? I wasn’t pregnant. I hadn’t even thought about having another child. Was she hearing things? Or was this just more of her playful imagination?
“Liora, sweetie,” I said, trying to sound casual, “what do you mean by that?”
“He told me,” she said quietly, “that he’s going to help me take care of the baby. I’m going to be a good sister. And he’s going to help.”
A wave of unease washed over me. There was something off about this, something that didn’t sit right. I glanced over at Liora, trying to gauge whether she was joking, but her face was serious. She was waiting for me to say something.
But I didn’t know what to say. How could I respond to something like that? I tried to shrug it off, but the idea of Timothy saying these things—things that weren’t normal for a five-year-old to talk about—kept bothering me.
That night, after Liora had gone to bed, I went into the living room and started searching for the drawing again. It had become a routine by now—whenever Liora wasn’t around, I checked the house to make sure Timothy wasn’t there, quietly waiting.
Sure enough, the drawing was lying face up on the living room coffee table. I took a deep breath and examined it again. The little boy was drawn with careful strokes—more meticulous than the typical scribbles of a child. The blue cap, the tie, the wide grin on his face—it seemed too real, too… alive.
I reached out to touch the paper, my fingers trembling slightly. And then it happened. A soft, almost imperceptible whisper filled the room.
“Hello, there,” the voice said.
I froze, my hand hovering over the drawing. The voice was light, almost playful, and yet it sent a wave of fear running through me. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t.
I pulled my hand back, my heart pounding in my chest. My mind raced, trying to find a logical explanation. Was it a sound from the TV? From outside? But no—everything was silent, except for the steady beating of my own heart.
“Timothy?” I whispered, my voice catching in my throat.
There was no reply, only a shiver of air across my skin. I stood up quickly, leaving the drawing on the table, and went to check on Liora. She was fast asleep, curled up under her blankets, looking peaceful.
I took a deep breath and told myself I was overreacting. I was just tired, stressed. I hadn’t been feeling great lately, and I had been under a lot of pressure at work. Maybe I had imagined the voice, or maybe it was some sort of odd sleep deprivation.
The next morning, Liora was cheerful as usual, bouncing around the house in her pajamas. But as I walked into the kitchen, I froze.
There, propped up on the counter, was the drawing of Timothy again. But this time, there was something different about it. The smile on his face looked… wider, as if it were stretching unnaturally, too wide for the paper. His eyes, once just simple dots, now seemed to glimmer with an eerie, knowing look.
Liora walked into the kitchen, noticing the drawing instantly. She smiled, then glanced up at me. “Timothy says he’s happy you’re here, Mom. He likes when you smile.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what was happening. But deep down, I knew one thing—I had to find out where this was going, because the idea of something controlling my daughter, or influencing her in ways I couldn’t see, terrified me.
That afternoon, I decided to take action. I called my sister, who had been more than a little skeptical of Timothy from the start. She came over, and we went through every inch of the house, looking for any clue that could explain how the drawing kept showing up. We checked the attic, the basement, under the couch cushions—nothing.
And then, I found it. A small, tucked-away drawer in the back of Liora’s closet. I had never seen it before, and it seemed out of place. My heart skipped as I opened it, and what I found inside was even more unsettling.
There were more drawings. Dozens of them. And in each one, Timothy looked more and more lifelike, more real. I flipped through them, my hands trembling, and then—there it was. A drawing of a baby in a crib, surrounded by a glowing light. And Timothy was standing beside it, holding out his hand, smiling that same wide smile.
Suddenly, everything clicked. Timothy wasn’t just some imaginary friend. He wasn’t even just a drawing. He was something more—something that was trying to tell me something, something I wasn’t ready to hear.
The twist? A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. A baby was on the way. And the drawings? They stopped appearing, just like that. Timothy never came back.
It was as if he had fulfilled his purpose. And now, I had no doubt in my mind—he had been watching over Liora, guiding her through this strange moment in our lives.
Life, sometimes, doesn’t make sense. Sometimes, things happen that can’t be explained. But what I learned from Timothy—what I learned from this whole experience—is that sometimes, we’re not as alone as we think. Sometimes, help comes in unexpected forms, from places we least expect.
I don’t know what Timothy truly was, but I do know that he made us feel safe, protected in a way that words couldn’t express. And for that, I’ll always be thankful.
If you’ve ever experienced something unexplainable, remember this: sometimes, it’s not about finding the answer, but about trusting that there is a greater purpose behind the mystery.
Please share this with someone who might need a reminder that life is full of surprises, and that sometimes, the most unexpected things are the ones that protect us the most.
