Imaginary Friend

It stands by your side breathing down your neck sending shivers up and down your spine. Arms wrapped around your waist, it’s no wonder you can’t go to sleep at night. You’re never alone, never at peace. You can nod your empty little head, but it will never leave. You remember it, don’t you? You use to play with it, you even gave it a name. Was it Adam, Crystal, Derek . . . Bob? Don’t you remember? Why don’t you remember? It played with you, it made you laugh . . . it has become something you’ve forgotten. You were three years old when you first created it. Mother and father played along with you, they even gave it a special place in the dining table. Oh, how you loved to play with it, but you see, you were very mean to it. You would always blame it for all the things you were at fault for. Do you remember staying up late at night sharing your secrets with it and making them swear on their lives they won’t tell a soul? Do you realize how lonely it feels, how it desperately craves your attention? It scratches at your door, it scratches at your window, begging you to remember. It wants you to come out and play. Oh, won’t you come out and play. Don’t be so mean, don’t be so heartless. Don’t deny it in front of your new found friends. It was, after all, your first best friend. Your friends mock you when you turn your head around at the slightest noise . . . if only they knew the sleepless nights you had to endure. The nights in which you would stay awake listening to that giggle you use to love, to that voice. You want it to stop, you beg for it to go away, but it stays. It curls up right next to you in bed and crawls under your covers. You close your eyes and hope it's a dream. Now, you hear a scratching at your window. Those little hands you use to hold when you were scared are now the ones that cause you immense fear. It wants you to come out and play. It wants to play a special game. It wants you to remember. It wants you to remember what Peter Pan would always say, “Never say goodbye because saying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” Believe your real friends when they say it doesn't exist. Believe me when I say it's not real, it's not here at this very moment waiting to play.