She still haunts me to this day

My name is Jack. I was always a very imaginative kid. Now that I think about it was more of a bad thing than a good. I spent many night's unable to sleep because I was too busy imagining what could be under my bed or in my closet, you know that kind of thing. typical child fears.
well, of course I had an imaginary friend too or at least I thought that's what she was. Her name was Lily or I called her that anyway, she was 5 years old, just like me back then. She had beautiful Blonde hair and innocent blue eyes. She always wore a white dress when I saw her.
The night I met her I'd woken up because I could hear very quiet tapping.when I first saw her I thought she was an angel, she scared me though looming over my bed at such a late hour.
She didn't say anything just looked at me like I had to do something before she could move. I held my hand out and smiled and she took my hand then crawled under my duvet and held me.
We both then fell asleep and every morning I'd wake up and she'd be gone. This went on for nearly a year, every night I'd wake up at around half two to the slight noise of tapping and she'd be stood there watching me.
As always I would smile, offer my hand and she'd crawl into bed with me. Never saying a thing, apart from sighing happily.
I can remember it being Tuesday. We went through the usual routine but this time she spoke. ''I'm scared'' she mumbled barely audible, I just looked at her waiting for her to continue but she didn't. And well I must have fallen asleep because, like always I woke up alone and cold.
After that I didn't see her for three days, after months of seeing her this was unusual. I never told my parents about her but they noticed I got quite down when she didn't appear.
After the third night of her not visiting before I fell into the depth of sleep I can remember muttering out the name ''Lily'' before it all went dark.
This time when I woke up I could hear loud banging and then she was shaking me violently, it was earlier than usual as I noted when I saw the bright red numbers flashing on my alarm clock as I opened my eyes.''She's here'' I heard still half dazed, ''Please wake up! Let me in!'' I heard Lily now shouting.
I shot up quickly and I did something strange I grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her straight up and onto my bed. Being a child I never gave much thought as how I could feel and touch Lily. Honestly I should have known.
As I looked into her eyes I asked who was here, and why she was so scared. All she did was meekly raise a hand and pointed in the direction of my bedroom corner.
As Lily had reminded me of an Angel. The other little girl sat in my room was far from that.She was stood in the darkest corner of my room everything about her was black apart from her horrible pale skin that was covered in some kind of dark stuff, that I really couldn't make out what it was. I knew why Lily had been scared, The girl just seemed to radiate dark energy, she was grinning and I think I could hear her giggling a little.
I hid under the duvet with Lily and must have fallen asleep because surely enough when I woke up the next morning they were both gone.
Worried I looked around for any trace that last night had ever happened, the only thing that was different was my window. I lived on the first floor you see and my parents were always very paranoid that someone might come in through my window if I left it open over night, even though nearly the whole house had hedging around it separating us fromour neighbours houses but I didn't care about it so every night they would come in and close it after I'd fallen asleep.
well anyway my window was open, so I closed it shut and forgot about it the very next second. That night I was scared, what if Lily didn't come back? and If she did what if she brought the other thing with her. Either way I didn't know how or why I saw Lily in the first place so I decided there was nothing I could do about it and gave in and went to bed.
This time it was later than usual, quite late actually. I didn't hear anything until around four am, being so accustomed to hearing her every night I always expected her. It was as if I was half asleep until she showed up and only then with her could I sleep properly. The noise I heard this time though was scratching. I noticed the noise being different but didn't think it meant anything.
I was quite tired by now I just held a hand out expecting Lily to grab it and hold me like she always does.Instead I heard giggling and realised my mistake.
It was too late though she'd taken hold of my hand and roughly pulled me from the bed with far too much force for a little child to have.
It happened fast so fast, the thing was on top of me grinning ever so eerily. She pulled out a knife. It was so sharp as she sliced the palm of my hand with it.
I was surprised at how little a cut it made compared to the pain.I saw Lily running over to where I was. ''Anna No!'' She Shouted.As she started pulling the hair of who I assumed was Anna and managed to wrestle her off me, covering Lily's beautiful dress in that dark stuff she had all over her.
Then I heard the door to my parents bedroom opening as my mom ran down the hall and into my room, just before I saw Anna drag my precious Lily out of my window and into the night.
Ignoring my mother's shrill's of panic, I ran over to the window and saw nothing. I just started crying and my mother took me into there room where I slept that night. After closing the window.
I told them it had been a nightmare, but something that scared me a little was the fact that my mother had heard Lily's shouts, if she was my imaginary how could my mom have heard her.Anyway I shrugged it off and said it must have been some kind of animal. I didn't even know if any of my neighbours had pets my parents never spoke to them much but she believed it.
All I wanted that night was my Lily to wake me up as she normally did and to hold me, she was better than any teddy I had. Unfortunately though she didn't come.
She didn't visit me the day either after. I was at a loss the only time she'd not slept with me in weeks was the three days she disappeared before that thing came with her.

The next morning when I woke up my parents were in my room, my dad he was putting a lock on the window.''I'm so sorry Jack I didn't know'' my mother stuttered out when I looked at her.
They then sat me down and explained what had been happening. As I said before my house is surrounded by hedging, what I didn't know was there was a smaller house behind ours that waslived in by a single father and what turned out to be my Lily.
She had been real and she had been sneaking through a gap in the hedging every night after her dad got home from work and abused her.
My parent's noticed the gap weeks prior and absent mindedly just thought it was an animal. They didn't put the camera's in until I had my supposed nightmare and they got worried an animal might have been coming in our backyard and might harm me.
They took me downstairs. As they showed me what was on the recordings I couldn't believe what I was seeing.My heart sunk, I could see myself sleepwalking and letting her in as she lightly and ever so gently tapped at my window, I flashed my usual smile, she took my hand and climbed into my room.

She'd been real and there with me all that time, she was so close and I never knew. I started crying, I just couldn't stop I'd spent the last year of my life thinking I had no friends apart from one I made up.
If I'd known she was real maybe I could have helped. Maybe I could have stopped it.
Her father was an alcoholic, they say he was the one that killed her.
She was found the morning after she'd been dragged by that thing out of my room. She was in her bed, with Anna's knife shoved in right where her heart would be.
They arrested her father straight away, My dad said how he could hear the mad man screaming about how it wasn't him and how he didn't know how it had happened. I knew though. Lily told me herself. I spent the whole night crying trying to sleep until I heard the familiar tapping, this time on the inside of my window. Lily was stood there she was different though. I knew what the dark stuff was now, and I could still see the knife Anna had cut me with sticking out of Lily's chest. She was still as beautiful as ever but now her eyes were black and she gave off the same negative energy as Anna had. She spoke clearly when she said this. ''I'm sorry Jack, Please, Never open your window again at night. She'll get you unless you're not alone''I never saw Lily again. I saw Anna though. I always see Anna. She still haunts me to this day, she'll always be outside my window at night waiting for me. I nailed all the windows shut in every house I bought or stayed in from then on. I know she was the one who got my parents after I'd moved out. After all my paranoia when I moved out they were happy to be able to remove all the locks from the windows. I never thought she'd go after them.The police rang me the next morning saying my parents had been murdered at home in their beds. I've spent my life in isolation since then. I know how this is going to end though. I've known she wouldn't stop until she has me too. I still have the scar on my hand from that little cut she gave me. I've decided tonight Anna will feel how much it hurts to have a knife shoved through her chest.