Short Stories

Faded

A/N: So this story actually had a prompt! I wish I could site where it's from, but I just found it on Pinterest and took a screenshot.

Prompt:

"You are a kid's imaginary friend. He's growing up. You're fading away."

-

I stuck around longer than most. Dustin was always a quiet kid. It was second grade before he really started talking to people.

It was good, y'know? He looked so happy at recess when he took part in their games. Games that weren't one-sided.

Halfway through second grade, I started to fade.

It was a bit scary, at first. Dustin hadn't called me to play for two whole days. So before bed, as he was coloring, I nudged the green crayon off the table.

Dustin leaned over in his chair to find it on the hardwood floor.

When he sat back up, he came nose to nose with my bright orange fuzzy face.

He broke out in a grin. "Van!"

Dustin never told me why he named me 'Van'. Maybe it was because you could crawl into my belly and go anywhere in the universe. Plus, my belly had sliding doors, like the van his parents used to drive around before getting an electric car.

I smiled back, showing off my rainbow colored teeth. "Hi Dustin! I was just wondering how you were doing! We haven't talked for a while!"

Dustin nodded, absentmindedly drawing squares in a dark purple. "Oh, it's been great! I met this girl, and she's really good at drawing! We're gonna compare art tomorrow at lunch, and-"

He kept going on and on, talking about all his new friends, and the fun they had. But I wasn't really listening. I felt something I hadn't felt since that time Dustin had to go to the hospital for a broken finger. I felt... sad.

I was an imaginary friend. We were made up by children to make them happy, to keep them entertained. But Dustin could just as easily have continued drawing if I wasn't there. My orange-and-black-striped tail was drooping on the floor instead of perking up like it normally did.

Dustin had stopped talking, and he began to focus on coloring once more.

I sighed, then walked through the living room wall and out into the yard. The moon illuminated the grass and toys strewn about, and chalk art of Dustin and me holding hands could be seen in the pearl glow.

I sighed again, leaping up onto the roof.

And there I sat, staring at the moon.

I thought back to the good old days, when Dustin would lean over and whisper in my ear, or I would take him to the planet 'Orgalorg', and we would fight with the rebels against the evil emperor Anti-Van, my evil twin. I missed when Dustin would call me to discuss the important matter of the toilet paper in the bathroom, and how it should always roll off a certain way. I missed when I stayed up late with him, talking about the stars, singing songs, and planning to open a company together that sold 'Puppy in a Jar: Simply open for cuddles and smooches!' He had always loved animals.

I smiled, it was bittersweet. I knew what was coming. We would never open our company.

Suddenly, I felt a tug.

I appeared at the side of Dustin's bed. The overhead light was off, and the nightlight gave off an array of star-shaped speckles on the ceiling and walls.

Dustin was hiding under the covers. His parents had tucked him in about ten minutes ago. And, as he did every night, he called for me.

"It's okay," I curled up at the end of the bed, my body was too big to fit on the bed itself. "No monsters are going to get you while I'm around!"