Comfort for My Corporeal Friend

It's difficult, being invisible to those you love. D'you know what I mean?

Or how about the feeling of not being needed? Of knowing that your best friend has other places to be, better things to do, and more interesting people to interact with than you?

If you know what I'm talking about, I sympathize from the bottom of my heart. Though, if you don't know, I'll admit I'm a bit jealous.

Anyways, I'm rambling. Let me tell you a bit about myself.

I'm not real. You see, it's kinda complicated. I'm a part of Sophie's mind. A fantasy. An imaginary friend, I suppose you might call me. Sophie created me when she was four years old.

My name is Milo. I have red hair and blue eyes. That's because those are her two favorite colors. She made me a tall, handsome adult because she wanted me to look like a Prince Charming out of her favorite book (did I mention she loves to read?). Pretty neat, huh? I mean, I'm luckier than Sophie's brother's imaginary friend, Flame, which he says is a toothless fire monster with floppy ears.

Or...was, I should say. Flame's not around anymore. Levi grew up.

And, eventually, Sophie grew up too.

I'm going to tell you how that happened. Thanks for listening this little monologue, it really does mean a lot to me, knowing you're there. You wouldn't believe how lonely it can get, just waiting for that day when you finally fizzle out of existence.

I mean, I had a beginning, out there in that field of flowers when Sophie gave me a face and a name. Can't I have an end, too?

"No, Milo, that's not right," Sophie had said on that warm September evening when she was six. Her tiny curls bounced as she threw her head back and laughed. "Silly. You're supposed to jump on the cracks, not over them."

I bent down and patted Sophie's head. "Of course I was. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, silly! Just do it. It's Levi's turn when you're done."

I stood and did as she said, jumping on each crack in the sidewalk. When I reach the other side I turned and beamed at her and her brother. "Okay, now it's his turn. Come on, Levi!"

Levi couldn't see or hear me, of course. I was just a part of Sophie's imagination.

Sophie nudged her brother. "Hey! Milo said it's your turn."

"Okay." Levi, with his auburn hair and eyes the same golden-amber hue as his sister's, leaped onto the first crack. "Come on, Flame," he said turning back to smirk at his imaginary friend. Even I couldn't see Flame, of course, because he was just a figment of Levi's imagination.

And, giving what I'd known at the time from Levi about Flame and his...violent personality, I didn't care to see him.