I always thought my cousin was a little weird, but I never suspected

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I always thought my cousin was a little weird, but I never suspected the truth until this summer. We've hung out since we were kids, reading comics, playing NES and SNES games, watching old sci-fi shows.

A lot of weird things happened, too. Maybe it was just a kid's active imagination, but my stories with her are always asked about for a "tales from the dark side" taste to an evening.

I always called her Smidgen, because she was such a tiny little thing, which pissed her off because she hated cute nicknames. After a while, it got shortened to Smidge, and it just stuck. Now everyone calls her that.

One of my earliest memories with Smidge involves an elementary school Halloween party. Smidge was a little older than me, even though looking at her you'd never be able to tell, but our school was so small the party contained all kids K-12 in the school's gymnasium.

It was after the "Halloween parade" which just entailed us walking around the school in our costumes, and it was a great time. Cupcakes, candy, games, my friends, and Smidge.

Now, here comes the slightly embarrassing part. Our school was (uncharacteristically) pretty old. It had been an asylum back in the day, and it had been considered too expensive to just trash. So, with some reworking done to the place, it became a school.

Now, as you can imagine, there were all sorts of horror stories about the place. And one of them was about the boys bathroom on the first floor. No one knows just why, but occasionally, the lights will flicker, brighten, and then pop. And then, you can feel someone grabbing you, your ankle or wrist, in the dark. One kid got so scared he passed out.

Of course, this scared the shit out of me, but I wasn't about to admit it to my friends, even if I only was in kindergarten. Smidge, who never laughed at me or judged me, was he only person I trusted. So, with just a glance, she seemed to guess my dilemma and hopped out of her seat, taking my hand, and walked me to the bathroom.