Have you heard of the Cinnamon challenge?
I bet some of you have. Or at least a version of it. The version most people are familiar with is this trend from a long time ago where you eat a spoonful of raw cinnamon powder and swallow it. Apparently, the rough powder causes immediate coughing and wheezing. It’s almost guaranteed that you can’t keep it down.
The real challenge is actually kind of dangerous.
It was on New Years day this year that my family asked me if I wanted to try it for myself. It sounds stupid but you can’t imagine how excited I was to try it. I didn’t really know what the challenge was at first. I looked it up on my phone as soon as my dad brought it up to me.
One thing you should know, before I finish telling you what happened, is that I’m the youngest child in my family. I have two older brothers and a really mean older sister. You would think that I would get attention from our parents since I’m the youngest, but it’s the opposite. I always feel that I’m being left out of things, either because I’m too young or everyone else is busy. It kind of sucks. That’s why I was so excited when they all thought it would be fun to film me try the Cinnamon challenge.
We set up the DSLR camera in the living room where the whole family could see my reaction. Even my grandparents were there. Everyone was in really high spirits and laughing and telling jokes. I should have seen it coming but I was clueless. Why would they all of sudden want to play and hang out with me doing this weird challenge that I had never heard of?
After my dad finished setting up the camera, he pulled out a handkerchief. He told me that I had to blindfold myself and they were going to spin me around five times before they did the challenge. I told him that I think he was mistaken. I didn’t need to be blindfolded for the cinnamon challenge. I also mentioned to him that it might be good to have some water or something nearby in case I choke.
He laughed in a way that was really sus. I was too excited though; I just wasn’t paying close enough attention to what was happening. That is when he explained that this is a bit different than that cinnamon challenge online. This is more of a ritual.
“It’s the cinnamon challenge of Invisibility!”, he said to me.
I wanted to look it up on my phone, but it was still in the kitchen and I didn’t want to make my parents upset. Like if I questioned them too much they would just say “You know what Ronan, just forget it. You’re no fun, we’ll do it with your brothers”.
Even though I was kind of scared, my dad blindfolded me and then slowly turned me in a circle that he said was counterclockwise. Everyone counted louder with each number until they almost shouted “FIVE”.
Then someone blew some cinnamon powder in my face. It wasn’t a lot but I could tell what it was. It immediately made me sneeze.
Then I heard gasps in the room. I ripped off the blindfold and everyone’s expressions were full of fear. My mom’s face looked so sad, and she yelled at my dad to stop it, that this wasn’t funny. She was yelling my name out…
“Ronan! Stop this right now, come out here this instant! This is not funny!”
I tried to run up to her and I told her that I was there. I looked down and I could see my arms and my body. My shirt still had a slight stain from the cake we had for dessert at dinner. I definitely wasn’t invisible to myself, but everyone’s expressions were so horrifying. They looked around wildly and my mom said that she thought she could hear something but it was soo far away.
I ran up to my dad and screamed at him to look at me. His eyes were looking in my general direction, but it was like they couldn’t focus on me. His head was in the direction of my voice, but his eyes shifted quickly back and forth, sweeping over me entirely.
I grabbed his pant leg and pulled down sharply. He then kind of gasped in shock.
“Oh shit. I think I feel something. Ronan, are you there? Listen, if you’re by my leg, just stand still, I’m going to see if I can see you through my phone’s camera.”
So he leaned down and took out his phone. He took a selfie while he was kneeling down right beside me but with the rear facing camera so I couldn’t see a preview of it. Then he turned the screen over to look at the picture.
It was just a picture of him kneeling down without me!!!!
I screamed and looked around. I saw my older brother Will smiling slightly and ran up to him and screamed for him to look at me. I didn’t want to live my life invisible! I already felt invisible in my family and this would be a nightmare if I had to live the rest of life like this.
Will though was not quite acting like everybody else. It’s like he was trying not to laugh.
“I know you can see me WILL, PLEASE LOOK AT ME. I’M REALLY SCARED!!!”, I shouted at him. I then scratched myself on my arm for some reason in front of him. I think I was trying to shock him into acknowledging me.
He coughed several times forcefully and then his face went blank and he resumed looking worried.
He told my parents that this was too sad for him and he needed to step out. He would try to find help somewhere.
Will stepped out and I wanted to follow him but when I looked back everyone else was still trying to look around for me. My mom called my name again and wiped her eyes. I couldn’t see any tears, but her eyes were a little red. She was covering her mouth with her hand.
This is when I saw my sister’s friend Jackie. She was sitting alone on the couch on the other side of the living room. Unlike everyone else, Jackie was staring right into my eyes.
“Hey kiddo”, she said.
I ran up to her and I asked whether she could see me.
“Yeah, I can totally see you. How are you doing?”
“Why can’t anybody else see me???”, I asked her.
“They can totally see you. They are being assholes and filming a prank on you. They are awful people”, she said.
I looked back at my family and shouted that I know that they can see me but they didn’t react.
“Why are they still acting like this? You just revealed the prank. It’s not funny anymore…”
“Because they really can’t see me”, she said.
I tried to think back a few weeks. My sister and Jackie used to carpool to school together. They are both seniors in high school and Jackie used to come by almost every other day until a few weeks ago. Jackie’s mom had been by our house a few times since then and one time I remember seeing her crying and upset.
“Listen, Ronan. You need to know something about your sister. She is not a good person. We went out partying several weeks ago and your sister and I were going to meet up with some boys. At least I thought we were. Instead, we went to cross the bridge over the river that heads directly into the next town. She pulled over on that bridge and said that she thought she had a flat tire. She got out first and I followed after her.”
It took Jackie a few seconds to continue. I looked back at my family and they were still fully pretending not to see me although I could start to see smiles on some of their faces.
“I was standing next to the railing and that’s when I felt her push me. I hit the water that was hundreds of feet below the bridge. That was it. I think she was jealous over a guy that was interested in me. I was so stupid…. Ronan, listen to me. You have to be careful around her. She is dangerous and I hate to tell you this. She doesn’t like you very much. Be careful around her.”
I couldn’t tell what I was supposed to do after Jackie said this. Was this also part of the prank? I asked her why they couldn’t see her and she said she thought it was probably Inattentional Blindness. Maybe they couldn’t see what was staring them in the face.
I ran to my room screaming and eventually my dad ran after me. He was laughing but looked a little concerned. He FINALLY looked at me and told me it was a prank and apologized. Everybody else eventually came to my room and admitted the prank and apologized. It was such a huge relief.
Jackie though did not come to my room with everyone else. I eventually asked my mom about it. Her face got really serious, and she asked me what I was talking about. I told her what Jackie told me and my mom’s face darkened in a scary way and she said…
“That’s not funny at all, Ronan. Did your brother put you up to this?”
I tried to tell her what happened, but she wouldn’t hear it. I looked it up on my phone and I could see posts online and on my sister’s socials with vigils for Jackie praying for her safe return. I’m starting to think that the interaction that I had with Jackie was real. What should I do??? Did I see a ghost or was this a part of the prank? My sister is still driving me to school in the mornings and I don’t what to do….
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