My Dear Friend, my imagination

Him

"We'll always be best friends, right?" Jake asked as he lifted the toy airplane into the air.

"Of course!" I nearly snapped back. How could we not be? I was a creation of his imagination after all so I would always be with him, right? Wrong.

The first day I met Jake was quite possibly the best day of my life. I was lost, in a very dark place when I heard his voice, as if he was talking to himself but it was describing my looks to every fine detail. When I emerged from the dark place, I saw him for the first time. Scrawny, lanky and heavily addicted to model airplanes, we became the best of friends. Everyday, after school, we raced upstairs to his car themed bedroom and played until dinner. I never had a dull moment while with him.

Everyday was like a sleepover. He would go up to his parents hesitantly and ask if his friend "Beryl" could stay for dinner every night and like clockwork, his mother would nod her head as if brushing off his question. Then he'd race up the stairs to fetch me from my bedroom which was actually a spot on the floor of his closet.

"Mom said you can stay for dinner!" he would yell in a high pitched voice filled with excitement and we'd be off, racing down the stairs and to our placed seats at the table.

Little did I know that within a few short years, at that very dinner table, the most heartbreaking thing between us would happen.

"Jake, sweetie. You're almost 7 years old now. Your father and I think maybe it is time for Beryl to go home now." Jake's mother urged while looking over at his father one fateful evening at the dinner table. Her eyes hid pain and his fathers eyes pierced through Jake's innocent gaze as if they were enemies.

"No I don't think so. He's my best friend" Jake said cheerfully.

"He does not exist, Jake. Get over it and send him home." His father nearly yelled across the table. Jake only nodded as tears filled his eyes and he looked up at me while I sat in my chair.

I gave a weak smile and walked upstairs to my bedroom. I could feel my heart, or what I think is my heart tear into two pieces. Yelling filled the house as I sat down on my blanket that had been given to me 3 years ago and I covered my ears in an attempt to escape the frightening noises. Jake and I would usually sit on his bed during times like this and would tell each other stories of how we dream of flying in an airplane. Or better yet, owning our own.

Suddenly, Jake came running up the stairs in tears. His face was red and snot was beginning to run from his nose as he slammed the door and slid down onto his bum. He gasped in a pattern of sobs and groans and tilted his head back as he exposed a bruising eye.

"Jake are you okay?!" I gasped and crawled over to him."Jake?! Answer me!"

"You are not allowed here anymore!" He screamed as he shoved me off. "Just leave! Go away and don't come back!"

I looked up at him in a daze.

"W-what do you mean? Jake? You said....you said we'd always be friends, right?"

He glared at me and started sobbing again. I could see his cold hand cover his black eye and he curled up into the corner of his bedroom. 

"Jake! Listen to me! You're not alone anymore. I am here." I cried in fear of loosing him but he turned away and faced the wall.

For years after that event, many nights were spent with me comforting him. His condition began to get worse after everyone in the house went to sleep. He began to cry every night into his pillow. I'd try to hug him and tell him it's going to be okay but he'd ignore me. No matter how hard I tried to give him someone to hug, or take the razor blade away, I couldn't touch him. It was as if I did not exist anymore but I was still there with him. He knew that. But what he did not know was that I was slowly going back to my hellish world he saved me from. I was caught in a web of feelings and because he decided to abandoned his web of lies and face the truth, I was caught. Suffocating from the pain I was causing and experiencing, I decided to try one last time to help him as best as I could

I've spent many sleepless nights with him and many nights by myself worrying about where he was. He is now 17 and been hospitalized 4 times due to attempted suicide. There was nothing that I could do stop him from taking the pills. I was supposed to be his childhood friend. I am supposed to protect him however I felt as if I failed him.

The emptiness I felt in my chest when his mother had told him I do not exist had grown into much more than just a feeling. My best friend was hurting himself due to things that could've been prevented and I had to spent a majority of my life watching, helplessly as he struggled to survive.  Day by day, when he left the house, he put on this "mask" of happiness. I saw it everyday. I hated it because I knew he was hurting deep inside and he faked through it. Everyday, at the bottom of the stairs as he left for school, I would wave and he would smile slightly. Just enough for me to catch it and have a feeling of hope but it was soon shattered as he would come home with bags under his eyes, slouched shoulders, and the look of pain written all over his face.

Tonight was a different sort of night. Tonight, his father was piss drunk and complaining about how last nights game was a complete failure and so on. His mother however, was standing in the kitchen with tears rolling down her cheeks. Her now frail body looked as though it was gathering up all the strength it could muster like one of the video game characters I saw in Jake's video game he was playing.

Suddenly, I heard Jake fall from upstairs. The crashing was loud yet his parents did not even flinch. I ran up the stairs while nearly tripping on my own feet.

"Jake! Jake!" I cried as I saw him laying on his bedroom floor with a bottle of pills scattered around him.

"Dammit Jake. Wake up! Please!" I screamed as I fell to my knees beside him and picked him up only this time, I could really hold him. His body was hot, nearly burning. Sweat was starting to bead across his forehead and his breathing was becoming heavy as if a weight had been placed on his chest.

"Jake" I whispered. I knew now why he had done this. I've seen the same cycle every night. His father, his mother, they don't care. I mean, they have to at least a little but they took no action this time and I knew, as someone who is a figment of his imagination, that he was doing this with an intention. He wanted to die. 

"My Jake" I cradled him closer and closed my eyes until I felt his cold hand against my cheek.

"Don't......stay.  Take me home" His voice trembled with the fear of the unknown.

I felt him grow limp in my arms and saw that I too, was fading. He fell right through my arms as they faded back into my own world.  

I opened my eyes as sobs left my chest in am attempt to breath.

"Beryl. We're finally together" Jake said with his back to me. He looked much stronger, much happier His faced beamed with color, unlike the pale skin he had on earth.

"Jake.....why?" I hesitated to ask.

"For the truth. You exist Beryl. You really do. I saw you everyday. I had to ignore you everyday even though you tried so hard to help me. I was scared I was just crazy and imagining things but tonight, when I heard you rush up the stairs and hold me in your arms, I knew I wasn't crazy."

I stopped myself from telling him that I really did not exist. I held it deep in my chest and it hurt. To lie to him was to tell him his death was for the truth. To tell the truth was to tell him that his death meant nothing. So I decided to lie. The first time in my life I have ever lied and it felt horrible but it was for him. 

My dear friend had come back to me and this time, we'll have a lot more time to be together.

Authors Note: I really suck at one shots so I figured I'd give it a try. Also this is kind of a test story to see if I actually like the idea of my work being on Wattpad....

Hope you enjoyed ^^