Crash! Clang! Thud! “Oh it feels so good to get my old bones out of that stuffed closet,” says Skooter as he falls out of Levi’s closet. Levi is a 14 year old, about to start high school. Skooter walks over and sees the alarm clock on his nightstand, 1:00pm. “Huh. Where’s Levi?” he ponders to himself.  “No teenage boy should be out of bed before 3pm! I must go find him!”
Skooter wanders down the hall and down a flight of stairs, “What a lovely home. Too bad there are no pictures on the walls,” he muses.  He gets to the lower level and finds Levi on the couch watching TV.
“AHH!!” gasps Levi.
“Who...what...are you?” stutters Levi.
“ Hi! You must be Levi. I assume since you look young and are already a bundle of fun! I’m Skooter a skeleton! You can call me Skoot for short though! I live in your closet, it’s not very fun in there, so I decided come out a stretch for a couple days.”
“Uhhh…ok,” Levi manages to squeak out still in disbelief with what he is seeing.
Shaking his head, Levi sighs and calmly but hesitantly states, “I think calling you Skooter will be just fine.”
To himself he mutters, “This can’t be real.”
“Oh, I’m as real as you are, silly! Man those other skeletons were right about you; you are super funny!”
“Other?”
“Oh yeah, there are a few of us in there that you’ve probably forgotten about. I just got there a couple of weeks ago, so I’m the new kid. Like you’re going to be on your first day of school!”
“Don’t remind me.”
“School can be fun!”
“Oh, as if you’d know. You have no idea,” shoots back Levi sarcastically.
  “Wait!”
“What now?” sighs Levi annoyingly plopping back on the couch.
“I have an idea! I could come with you to school. That’d be double the fun!”
At this point Levi was both puzzled and annoyed at the fact he was talking to a skeleton. “No. Please no. I’ll be fine.”
“Suit yourself, Honey Bear.”
“Please never call me that again.”
“ Are we going to do anything fun today?” said Skooter excitedly.
“Probably not,” said Levi boredly.
“But… But why?”
“I start school tomorrow and I want one more day to sit on the couch, eat, and do nothing.”
“Okay! Well, I’ll sit with you. I find TV to be very exciting! Like how do these colors just appear on the screen to make entertainment?”
Levi was done with this annoying skeleton. “Maybe if I just ignore him he’ll go away and return to the closet,” he thought to himself. Ignoring Skooter became a bigger task than Levi wanted on his last day of freedom. All day and all night, questions, questions, questions, and following him around like a pesky little brother. Skooter clearly didn’t understand personal space; he couldn’t be more than 4 feet away from Levi without insisting to get closer.
The next morning Levi had to get up bright and early, 6:00am the clock read. Levi went through his normal school morning routine, hit the snooze button a couple of times and neglect the idea of getting up, take a shower, get dressed, and attempt to do something with the hair for the first day at least. He hadn’t seen Skooter all morning and he was relieved. “Please don’t be downstairs. Please don’t be downstairs,” he whispered to himself. As he walked down the stairs he saw his dad had made him waffles and eggs, with his lunch packed in a brown paper bag.
“It’s your first day of school, I thought I’d make this morning a little more special,” said his dad.
“Thanks, Dad!”
Still no sight of Skooter. He only lived 5 minutes away from school. As he was walking to school he heard some rustling in the bushes. “It must just be a bunny,” he thought. Then it happened again, and again. He stopped to look and POP!
“Good morning, Levi! Are you ready for your first day of school?” screamed Skooter.
“What are you doing here? Go home! I told you I’d be fine today,” Levi said with tempered frustration.
“Home is boring. I’d rather hang with you. I want this to be the best day ever!”
“I’ll have the best day ever if you ‘skoot’ away and go home!”
Skooter laughed. “I see what you did there!” And just like that Skooter was gone.
Levi had an average first day of school. Get the schedule, find the classrooms, get the syllabus, try to meet people. He knew a few kids from middle school so that helped make him feel less small in a big pond of fish.
He got home around 3:30, plopped on the couch, and turned on the TV. When he sat up during a commercial he saw Skooter running down the stairs screaming, “You’re home! How was your day? Did you make friends? Are your teachers nice? Any juicy gossip?”
All Levi could do was plant his face into a pillow. “Not now, Skooter. Please, I’ve had a long day.”
“But.. but.. I want to know all about it!”
“We’ll talk at dinner, my dad is going to be just as interested as you are.”
Dinner rolled around at about 6:30pm. Levi’s dad picked up pizza on his way home from work. The two sat on the couch and watched a football game, and only during the commercials his dad would ask him about his day. All Levi would tell him was that it was fine, average first day. Skooter had disappeared the entire time Levi was with his dad. But just as the 4th quarter started Skooter ran down the stairs as if he’d been waiting for the right moment.
“Now can we talk about it!”
Levi ignored him until the next commercial. “I met a couple teachers and they seemed cool. Also there are tryouts for football I might go to.”
“That's my boy!” said his father. “You should go for it.”
“I think I will. There is a lot of prep beforehand though. Practices, workouts, and then tryouts. That's kinda a lot,” Levi said.
“It’s all to help you. You’ll get the hang of it, and if you need help let me know,” said his father proudly.
“Oh my goodness I’m so proud you’re going for the team! You’ll be the star Pennyback!” said Skooter
“Uh. It’s quarterback,” said Levi annoyed.
“What about quarterback? Is that what you want?” said his father.
“Oh, no. I really have no idea what I want. I just want to be on the team.” In that moment Levi realized that his dad had never acknowledged Skooter. No one else can see Skooter but him. Levi turned to Skooter and stared him down then turning away thinking, “Maybe if I don’t think about him he’ll go away.” He refocused his attention to the TV. After a few minutes he did a quick look over his shoulder and Skooter was gone. Whew. Then just as he really began to relax, poof! Skooter was back.
“What is this? Why are they throwing a thing at each other? That looks like it hurts. Why do you want to do this?”
Levi tried everything in his power to ignore him but he couldn’t. “Yes, I want to do this. That is called a ball. And the SPORT is called football.”
“Oooh okay, I get it now.”
“Sure you do”
The next morning it was the same routine, just include Skooter getting in the way of everything. When Levi went downstairs his dad had left his lunch, the milk, cereal, and bowl out on the counter with a note next to it that said, “Have fun today! There's a football interest meeting after school in the gym.” Levi took the note and put it in his backpack. He quickly scarfed down some cereal and walked out the door.
“Wait! You forgot your lunch!” screamed Skooter.
“Right. Thanks,” said Levi.
“I’m coming to school with you to make sure you don’t forget anything throughout your day.”
“No, you stay home. It’s too early in the morning to deal with this. Just stay home.”
“Fine,” Skooter said in an obviously annoyed tone.
Levi got to school and as he sat in his boring math class he looked through the little window in the door and saw Skooter’s face or skull pressed up against the glass. He looked away and thought, “No one can see him. Forget about him, forget about him, let it go and he’ll go away.” Levi looked back up and boom! There Skooter was sitting at the teacher's desk. Levi tried to refocus on what the teacher was writing on the board. Thankfully a minute later the bell rang. Levi ran out of the classroom. For the rest of the day he was walking on eggshells trying to make sure Skooter wouldn’t come around. He remembered the meeting after school and went straight there. The meeting only lasted about an hour with just some general facts about the team, warnings about the sport, blah blah blah. Levi got home without an incident, and no Skooter. Until he got one foot in the door.
“Hi! Did you like my surprise? I wanted to surprise you! How was the sports ball meeting? Are you still going to do it?”
“Skooter. Never do that again. I told you not to come to school with me.”
“But it was so much fun!”
“Maybe for you!”
Right before Skooter could reply, Levi’s dad walked in. Levi ran upstairs and threw his stuff on his bed, and ran back down, “The game’s about to start, dad.”
There was another game on and they sat together and ate take-out pasta. He told his dad about the meeting and how he was not interested anymore.
“What happened? Why aren’t you interested anymore? You seemed really into it,” asked his father.
“I don’t know dad. I’ve got a lot on my mind. I think I’m just going to focus on school for my freshman year.”
“Alright,” said his dad with some perplexion.
Day after day Skooter seemed to be following Levi more and more. Showing up in every class, walking with him in the hallway, asking him the most bizarre questions, and telling him how everything was so fun.
A breaking point came, and Levi couldn’t take it anymore; he snapped. He had just gotten home from one of his finals and fell on the couch and Skooter did his routine check-in with a zillion questions and way too much energy.
“Please, Skooter. Not today.”
“What’s got you being all blue, little buddy?”
“Stop. I don’t want to talk right now.”
“No! Talking about your problems is a good thing. You can tell me everything! Are you okay? Please tell me! I’ll do anything to make you feel better!”
“You know what’d make me feel better?” Levi said angrily.
“You name it, pal?”
“I would really feel great if you’d leave. Forever, and never come back. I can’t take it anymore. The constant questions and following me around! It’s like you’re trying to become my mom! You’ll never be her! No one will ever be her,” he said while trying to hold back tears.
For the first time, Skooter talked calmly and quietly with seriousness, “I will never go away. I can’t go away. Levi, I am your mom. I’m the memory of your mom leaving. The thought of me runs through your mind all day and that's why I follow you around everywhere. I ask the everyday questions you wish your mom were here to ask. I’m around for the moments you wish your mom were here. If you want me to leave, well then stop thinking about me.”
Levi burst into tears and ran upstairs. He layed in bed and sobbed all night. He didn’t eat dinner, study for his final the next day, or even brush his teeth. Levi’s dad tried everything to get him to talk or leave his bed, but Levi wouldn’t budge. All his dad could do was leave a slice of cold pizza on his night stand for when he was ready.
The next morning Levi ignored his alarm completely. His dad came in a dragged him out of bed.  Still in the clothes from the day before his dad drove him to school. Levi had Skooter but didn’t give it a thought.
Levi’s dad left work early to pick him up from school. “You don’t have to tell me. I know what's wrong. I knew this would happen eventually”
“Mom. Dad, where is mom?”
With a sigh he replied, “We’ll talk things over at dinner. For now just try your best to focus on studying for your last final.”
When they got home Levi walked up the stairs to his room. He took a shower and changed before he noticed Skooter at the bottom of the stairs. Levi just looked at him with no emotion as Skooter began to walk up the stairs. Levi turned away to walk in his room and closed the door. He studied for about an hour before going downstairs for dinner.
“Leftovers okay?” asked his dad.
“I guess.”
They sat down and his dad finally brought up the topic of Levi’s mom. “She left. I don’t know where she is, or why she left. I need you to do one thing for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t hold it in. Don’t hide it from your friends or teachers if they ask. It’ll only be harder to get through if you don’t be honest about it.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Levi, please. Trust me.”
Levi got through the rest of his finals, holidays, and school year doing just what his dad told him. Eventually the pain became less, and as his pain lessened he started seeing less of Skooter. And the more he opened up, the more people opened up to him.
Levi realized that everyone has something that they don’t want to share. Everyone has a skeleton or two from their past. It’s an individual decision to let them haunt our daily lives, too afraid to face them; or to open-up, overcome, and live without fear of what is in the closet.