Do Ghosts Sleep?

The story of my three (invisible) friends

The fireman, the hunter, and Katerina were present in our bedroom ever since I remember myself. I previously published some information about them in the form of a poem (“The Bedroom Ghosts”), but I wanted to share some more details since last night I dreamt of my childhood bedroom.

My brother (who was almost 11 years older than me) was the first one who ever saw them in the room. He was maybe three or four and neither my sister or I were born yet. He always found it strange that the three friends would only be contained inside the room. I thought that was strange too. Sometimes I would see Katerina, the little girl, looking at the hallway. I think she looked sad.

My sister, who is 3.5 years older than me, was the most vocal of the three of us about the existence of our invisible friends. She once told us that the fireman comes and goes through the closet on the left. I had seen him disappear in there, but I thought he was just going to sleep.

The fireman was a tall guy, with dark brown hair. His eyes were grey. His face was dirty with smoke and sometimes he would cough. The hunter was a man in his early 50s, a bit shorter than the fireman. He had a hunting gun and a knife on his belt. He wore a hat that created some sort of shadow on his face.

Katerina was probably around 8 or 9 years old. Sometimes she would appear with a polka dot dress. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and she liked to dance around. She liked all the songs but her favorite tune to dance to was “Lambada”.

Once I asked her where does she go to sleep. She showed me the closet. I told her that I check inside there when they disappear, but no one is there. She said that this is how they leave. However, behind the closet wall was the dinning room. So, I asked if they go in the dinning room too. She said that they don’t.

When my brother moved permanently to Athens, I was just 7. The fireman and the hunter spent more time with my sister and me at night. They would just stand in the corner and make sure we were alright. Without my brother’s presence to protect us against our mother’s anger, they have taken on the role.

Katerina re-appeared five or six months later. I asked her if she could go check on my brother. One day, Katerina told us that they would leave. We asked “where to?” and she smiled. I remember crying and trying to hug all three of them. Of course, there was nothing to hug.

She pointed at my Narnia book. I asked her if they were going to “Aslan’s country” and she nodded. If you’re not familiar with the stories of Narnia, Aslan’s country is the equivalent of the afterlife, a way of existence that is a union with the source. That made me happy, because I knew that just like in the books where the children eventually make it to Aslan’s country, I would also meet my three friends again.

Through all the discussions I’ve had with my sister about our three friends, we still find it weird how we never got a solid backstory on the hunter or the fireman. Katerina had told us that once she had a family and while she was wandering alone, she found the hunter and the fireman who were the only ones like her who could see her.

My sister remembers more details about the hunter. She says that sometimes he would whistle a happy tune. She also says that when I was a toddler, Katerina had told her that the hunter hides his face because it’s scary. According to my sister, our brother had heard the fireman’s voice only once and it was very raspy.

If all three of them were created through my brother’s imagination initially, why didn’t he make the two men more talkative or have a backstory on them too? And, if the three of us somehow sustained what his imagination created, why didn’t we add more to their characters?

Of course these questions are not a way to prove that our three invisible friends were actual ghosts or something else.

After we stopped seeing them, I would often try to reach them through my thoughts. When my friend Renata passed away, I attempted to call out to my three friends to help Renata go where she needed to go. When my brother passed away two years later, I was sure that one night I saw the hunter sitting next to me on the bed while the fireman and Katerina stood in the corner. But it may have just been my way of looking for soothing. Whatever it was though, it worked.

Whatever our three friends were, I am grateful that they existed in our lives. If I could find them again somehow, I would just thank them for the good times we had. I think they helped my siblings and me bond in a strong way.

Nowadays, my sister and I rarely talk about our childhood. We only talk about it if a fun memory somehow comes up. But, when we talk about our three invisible friends, we also process the painful memories a bit. Which is another reason why I’m thankful.

Whether they were actual ghosts or something my brother’s imagination created and we kept playing along, they were great help and comfort in times of fear, pain, and loss.