Imaginary

Prologue

The cold air sweeps through her room, the wind outside shaking the house, rattling the the shutters on the window. She sits there in a plain white room on her plain white bed, lightly decorated with pale pink flowers. The grey dress she wears falls gently above her ankles, though it looks like a blanket as she curls into a tight ball in the corner of the bed. Her short hair bearing creeps up and over her shoulders. In the crevice of her mind a thought forms, about what life would be like outside, away from her silent room, away from the creaking house and the dead garden. Most importantly away from her family, her mother gone after the separation, Her brother along with her, and her father drowning himself in debt. But it's a cold world, full of hardship, pain and deceitful dreams... and that's exactly where I come in. In the back corner of your mind, I'm there. When hardship is all that can be seen, I'm there to comfort, but do not forsake me.
"A friend..." she said, looking up with a smile. "..a friend to share my miserable days with." With those words i was brought into life and made an unspoken contract. In the shadow of the room I stood, dark and pixelated, I had not yet been designed. As she thought of the ideal friend, I was formed. "Tall" she thought, my shadow elongated. "Pale" my skin gained color. "A dress like mine, but light and cheery" a white dress melted on me starting at the top dripping down to my ankles, a bow at my hip. Until all that remained was my face. Her thoughts went blank, she has not seen another girl since she had last gone to school, 2 years ago. She tried to remember her mother. Though she couldn't recall the details of her face, she could imagine her basic features. A small dainty nose, lips pink as a rose. But she could not remember her mother's eyes, all she could remember was the hate and the cold stares. "Grey," she thought. "Like the sky, like my dress, like my mother." With that I was complete. I step out of the shadows to see her lift her head, revealing a pale face like my own. Her expression deathly afraid yet intrigued. I put on my best smile for her, to warm her spirits. "Hello, Jacie, dear." I say in a light, smooth tone, almost a whisper. I can tell it brought a shiver down her spine. She smiles a bit, obviously relived. "Azel" she whispers, "like an angel"... So that's my name... Azel
I slowly put out my arm, my hand in a fist. I twist my hand and open it so my palm is facing upwards. "Shall we go outside?" I say. She cheerfully jumps up, a terrible creak escapes her bed and she almost hits her head on the ceiling. "Yes, yes, yes!" she cheers. Running out of the terrible, old house, I notice the white paint on the walls are chipped, the wooden pillars termite stricken and her father passed out on the couch. I loath him, unshaven, unclean, oblivious to anyone, looking careless and clueless especially to his daughter. I will take his place and he will be forgotten. With that we do go outside and for the first time she can remember the sky is blue, the grass is a bright green, littered with fresh dew and the scarlet poppies are in bloom. Rolling. The first 30 feet of the yard is flat, then it dips almost to a cliff, but doesn't break. I look to the house behind us and The house itself almost seemed to morph into the side of the mountain. It's breathtaking. At that moment my left eye turned blue and I could sense how happy she was. Such a simple act and a simple day could bring this small child so much joy.
Blue like the water, blue like the sky, blue like my eye.