Short Stories

~3~

I'm not ready to leave. Pierce needs me. I need him. I've known him since he was six and now it seems he doesn't need me anymore. Where would I go?

What will happen? Pierce has an older brother he's probably eighteen by now but he was my best friend when he was little. He has his own apartment and he's in college. Will Pierce leave me just like how his brother left? I'm real, right?

"Hey Pierce! Do you wanna play?" He stared at me with an odd expression. "Playing is for little kids. Mom said I shouldn't talk to you anymore because ten are double digits. That means it's time to stop being little. Bye, I have to do homework."

Ten? Does age really matter? I don't wanna say goodbye. I looked down at my hands and it seems to be fading away. Will I find another person before it's too late?

All these questions but it seems like there's no answers. Once I fade away will I forget everything that I've seen and experienced? A long time ago I always wondered why adults couldn't see me, some did, but it's very rare. I need to find someone who can see me. Who can believe in me for as long as possible but it's a rare chance.

Long ago I found out that I couldn't leave Pierce's house, I can only go where he goes. I once tried to find someone else when Pierce's brother, Niklaus left, but it turns out I'm connected to this family. I was once friends with Pierce's mother and I was also a friend of Pierce's grandfather. I've been with this family as long as I can remember but I can't seem to let go, I got attached. Pierce has no cousins so he's my last person, this is my dead end.

I always knew this day would come but I'm not ready. Maybe I could convince Pierce that even older kids have imaginary friends. Every hour, every minute, every second I start to disappear into nothing, but the dust. Is this how I'll leave? Feeling nothing but loneliness and emptiness.

Maybe if I tell Pierce my situation he would give pity and still talk to me. Or maybe not. Why bother to try? I keep trying and trying. Every time a child gets older I start to struggle.

Should I just stop? This scenario always seems to come and hit me. I always have a way of saving myself but I'm tired. Tired of running and running. Tired of trying to find my safe haven.

I'm tired. He's gonna grow and I can't stop it, he's the last child, but I can't control the bloodline. I can't control if I can stay or fade. Just yesterday he told me it was time to say goodbye and today is the day I will say it. For the first time I'm giving up, I'm saying goodbye.

I saw Pierce and ran up to him "Goodbye, Pierce." I said in a faint whisper but loud enough for him to hear. I closed my eyes and braced myself for what will come soon. Maybe nothing will come soon, maybe I'll just fade into the duct, my appearance and my personality will probably be forgotten by every child and adult I've ever met. Everything was starting to vanish.

I looked into the eyes of the child who gave up on me, the child who decided to throw me away, the child who gave away his imagination for reality, and I now just seemed to notice...this child was no longer a child. I closed my eyes and for some reason I couldn't feel pain. "Pain makes you human." I'm just an imaginative figure and that's all I'll ever be. I opened my eyes and my vision was blurred by my tears.

I then faded into the darkness where there was nothing but fear, and death, but no pain. I was nothing but a family's imaginative figure. There was no such thing as reality in my dictionary. I faded into nothing but the dirty, disgusting, duct. Goodbye.
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I opened my eyes and looked around. The light was burning my eyes, I looked down and I saw something I never thought I would see. I'm wrapped in a blanket and I have a body that I couldn't see through, I use to look like a ghost. There was a woman cradling me back and forth in her arms. Pierce's mother.

Where am I? I then saw Pierce running up to me "Hi! Is this her mom?!" She then smiled and nodded. "Come up here. You can carry her. Pierce this is your baby sister, Katerina."

Baby sister? What is going on? Pierce's father then came in "Niklaus is on his way right now. He was just telling me how college is, over the phone." How long have I been gone?

Everyone still looked the same, except Pierce's mother stomach didn't look big anymore. "Darling isn't she just beautiful? I hope her personality is just as beautiful as her appearance."

"Mom? Is a personality like a soul?"

"Well darling a soul is like a spiritual part of a human being and a personality is someone's characteristic or qualities. I don't really think they're the same."

A soul? Is that what I was? A soul that was lost in this world? Is this why I was connected with this family? I always wanted answers to my questions but I never got them, maybe I never will.

"Where would I go? What will happen?" Some of my questions have been answered but this whole situation has left me with more. That's the mystery of life. My questions won't always be answered and I'll just have to wait and see what the future will be like.

I closed my eyes again. All of a sudden I started to cry. I felt pain for the first time. I don't know why I'm crying, screaming, in pain, my head started to hurt, and I was slowly losing my memory of being the imaginary friend. "Shhh darling, don't cry."
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A couple hours later, Katerina looked across the room seeing a figure and she started giggling. Her father said. "Oh no Kat I hope you don't go through the imaginary friend phase."

"We've all been there dad."

"I understand that Niklaus, but I don't want her to get to attached to an imaginary figure. She should focus on reality."

"That's the thing dad, we all had imaginary friends because we wanted to leave reality. Leave the judgement, stress, and drama of reality. Why do you think I had an imaginary friend since I was 11? It was just like Neverland and we didn't wanna escape it."

Maybe this is why everyone daydreams. To escape reality. Just like having an imaginative friend.