Vili 2022

She showed up one day on the playground during recess; none of us in my class had ever seen her before. So when I asked her what her name was, she replied, "Vili." She was intent on exploring the jungle gym and the slide as if it were the first time she'd ever seen one. It sort of seemed like she was studying it, trying to determine its use. We all wanted to engage her in conversation, but she ignored us. She couldn't be bothered. She wasn't a school student, and on more than one occasion, our teacher or someone from the principal's office had to escort her off the campus grounds. A couple days later, she was back again, wearing play clothes from home, not school clothing like we all wore. This time, she had one of the jump ropes from the equipment shed. Vili skipped around the entire basketball court going from one basketball rim to the other, back and forth. She'd stop intermittently to examine the jump rope in detail, and then Vili would go back to skipping. This went on for a couple of weeks, and it finally got to the point where CPS services were called. They secreted themselves inside a portable classroom along with the school principal.

A couple of police officers watched from an unmarked car. Like clockwork, Vili appeared across the street from the playground, where she crossed and immediately made her way to the mini-running track. Seeing no real purpose in it, she went to the monkey bars and began climbing and swinging and pulling herself across. The CPS people came out of the portal classroom and, joining the police officers, deftly made their way to the playground. Vili saw them coming but paid them no mind and continued to play. When the CPS workers got close enough, they let out a horrified gasp and recoiled from Vili. "Oh my god," one of them exclaimed. "It can't be Vili; it can't be!"

"What do you mean?" The principal was confused. "This is the girl I've been telling you about!"

"Is something wrong?" The first officer asked.

"We didn't know it was this girl, this Vili," they held on to one another; the CPS workers wept openly and were simultaneously horrified. "This girl died; her parents abused her for years and ended up killing her."

Vili stopped playing and slowly turned toward the adults, "This is not Vili," she assured them. "It's just her corpse; I'm borrowing it. I'll give it back once I'm done."