The One Who Was Never There (Smosh FanFic)

[Chapter 6] These Stories

-Kalel's POV-

Ian was driving me back to my place, the one I used to share with Anthony. The entire ride, I was crying my eyes out. Mascara ran down my cheeks and stained my hands. Ian kept glancing over at me concernedly.

Ian cleared his throat and said, "I'm really sorry Anthony's been acting so weird lately."

"It's not your fault," I muttered through the gasps of air, "It's his stupid-ass fault. And I don't care what he says - you, me, and all of these people have always been there for him. It was he who wasn't there for us." Ian kind of just looked out at the gloomy road ahead of us, not saying anything. I shook my head, "Hey, you've known him longer than I have, when would you say he started seeing this imaginary friend of his?"

Ian shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really know. From what he's told me, she's been there for him since he was a baby."

I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed, "He needs an intervention or something. It's not right of him to have an imaginary friend."

"I don't think an intervention would do any good, Kalel," Ian retorted with a chuckle as sneaked a quick glance over at me, "This is how he's always kind of been. I think he's just been under a lot of stress lately. And I kind of feel bad about how harsh we've been to him about the whole imaginary friend thing."

"Harsh? Ian, he's fucking twenty-five years old. No twenty-five year old who's about to get married has a fucking imaginary friend."

"Maybe she's not imaginary," He told me.

I shot him a look of disbelief, "Are you telling me you're siding with him?"

"I wouldn't say I'm not siding with him. But I've been thinking about it," He tried to defend himself, "And maybe she's not an imaginary friend after all."

"Now you're calling it a she?" I scoffed, "Great..."

"Well, she might not be an imaginary friend. But what if she's a ghost?" He proposed.

"A ghost?" I repeated, "Ghosts don't exist."

"How do you know that?" He retorted, slowing down at a red light and looking over at me, "I mean, he tells me she pops up at the most random times and the most random places. No one else can see her. And then he tells me these stories she's told him, and I know him, and he wouldn't make up these types of stories."

I scoffed, "You're sounding just as crazy as he is!"

"Why don't we give him a break, Kalel? He wouldn't keep this gig up if it was just an imaginary friend." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Come on, he's your fiance for crying out loud. You've looked over it this far, why not look over it now?"

"Because he's willing to kill himself for this...this thing. I can't marry someone who could take their life any day just because of this voice in his head making him do stupid things!"

He rolled his eyes and returned his attention forward, to where the red light now turned green. "Kalel, all I'm saying is..."

"I don't care," I cut him off coldly, "Just drop me off at my house and then we're done."

! ! ! PRESENT ! ! ! -Anthony's POV-

I sat outside the hospital on one of the cold benches. I was shivering like crazy. That's when I looked over and saw Aria sitting next to me. She had a sad look in her eyes. I only saw that looked once before, and that was when she was telling one of her stories.

! ! ! PAST ! ! ! -Anthony's POV-

I was sitting on my bed, trying to study for a test I had for 10th grade Biology when Aria appeared in the corner of my room. "Hey there," She greeted as she made her way over to my bed and sat down on the edge, "What are you doing?"

I chuckled, setting the textbook, workbook, and pencil to my side, "Just trying to cram before the huge test I have tomorrow."

She smirked, "Want me to tell you a story?"

"Anything would be better than this," I retorted, "So, sure, go for it."

She heaved a sigh, "Well there's so much to tell...how can I choose?"

"What about your family? You haven't told me much about them."

Her eyes widened and the corner of her lips curled down, "My family?"

"Yeah...you know, your brother, sister, mom, dad..."

She seemed to stare off into space for the longest time before repeating, "My family?" I nodded my head yes. She heaved a sigh and pulled her knees into her chest, "I don't really like thinking about them very much."

"Why?"

"Because I ran away from them," She answered softly, "My parents were pretty high end. Lived in a large house, didn't have a care or worry."

"What's so bad about that?" I asked her.

"Like I said, they didn't have a care. So they didn't even think about their kids, which were just my brother and I. I met Drew at school, we fell in love, or so I thought..."

She always said that whenever she mentioned this Drew guy and how they were together. She always seem to add that "Or so I thought..." to the end.

"Anyways," Aria continued, "One day, Drew had this crazy idea that we get married and run away together. Live happily together forever," She shook her head, "I said absolutely, I loved him and wanted to be with him for the rest of my life, or so I thought..."

There she goes again with the "Or so I thought..."

"So he took me away from my family. He wouldn't let me call them, wouldn't let me write them, wouldn't even let me pass by my old house." I watched as a sad expression crossed her face. "He isolated me so he could kill me. That was his plan all along..." Before I could give any feedback, she rose to her feet, "Please excuse me, Anthony." And with that, she walked to the door and disappeared.

! ! ! PRESENT ! ! ! -Anthony's POV-

"Is everything okay, Aria?" I inquired, moving closer to her, though that just made me colder. She shook her head no. "What happened?"

She gulped, "He didn't make it."

"Well isn't that a good thing?" I asked, though it came out in the wrong way and she gave me a look like I was crazy, "I mean, now you can be with him, right?"

She shook her head no, "You don't get it, Anthony. You can only see me because I got a pass to come back to the real world. I don't think he did...yet, that is. And anyways," She added, "I don't love him anymore. Sure, I still care about him, but..." She slipped her cold, not-really-there hand under mine and interlocked our fingers, "I've fallen in love with someone else. And I think I'm finally ready to do what we planned."