imaginary friend

“Mother!” I screamed when I saw my mother looking for me across the road. I felt contended to reunite with her after five years of staying abroad. I felt so happy to finally see her at the airport that I could feel tears form in my eyes. I found myself running across the road towards my mother who was screaming my name, calling me towards her opened arms ready to embrace me. I was so into the moment that I never noticed the bus

driver honking with all his might, unable to press the brakes of the bus approaching at full speed, and when I finally saw it, everything went black.

I woke up with a pain in my head. I raised my arm, with a lot of effort, to reach for my head. I tried to stand up from where I was lying but I felt weak. With all my might I raised my head to have a look of my surrounding, only to see darkness. I moved my hand on the floor to feel it. The floor felt soft as if I was lying on a carpet. My head was still throbbing as I wondered where I was. I tried to remember what had happened, and all the memories came flashing back. What if, I am dead! Am I really dead? I could remember my mother screaming, the sirens blaring, some policemen inquiring a bus driver. Am I in heaven? Where is God then? And why is heaven so dark? Oh no, what if this is hell… As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed the roof, if you can call it a roof. It was folded, with the creases clearly visible, and looked almost as if it was a cloth. If only there was some light, I could see it clearly. As if on cue, the roof disappeared. It really just vanished, exposing me to an outburst of light. I immediately closed my eyes to avoid being blinded by it. I could hear voices now…was that giggling? I opened my eyes and saw a small girl, about five or six years old, laughing and giggling at me. But wait, why am I her size! I am as tall as her, or rather short, although I still had my past body. I was supposedly lying under a ‘house’ made from blankets a while ago. I looked at the girl who was giggling at me. She suddenly took my hand and started leading me somewhere. “Who are you?” I asked her, but she did not reply. I wonder if she can hear me.

She led me to another room, probably hers, and instructed me to sit down on a table kept in the middle. It would have been really small for my previous body, but right now it was just the right size. I sat down and the girl seated herself in the chair in front of me. I was too dumbfounded by whatever was going on so I let the kid do

whatever she was doing. I looked around the table and saw some stuffed toys lying on the remaining chairs. The girl then produced some tea cups and a teapot and kept it in the centre. The teapot was rather cute, it was made of plastic and was painted white with adorable drawings of cats on it. The teacups too were plastic and were painted white, although they did not have anything drawn. The girl handed a teacup to each one of her toys and then to me. “What should I do of this?” I asked, rather confused. The girl still did not reply. She was busy doing something in the teapot.

When she was done, she kept it back and said, “Welcome to the first ever Lara’s tea party! Here we have some tea, biscuits, cakes, muffins and cupcakes,” said the girl whose name was probably Lara, with some giggles in between. “I invite Shawn the bunny,” she said looking at her toy which looked like a rabbit, “Beom the bear,” she said while looking at her teddy bear, “and Kelly, my best friend!” she said looking at me. “Kelly? Last I checked, my name was something else,” I said looking at Lara who was giving me a toothy smile. “Kelly, would you like some tea?” she asked while looking at me again. “But I am not Kelly-” I started, but she cut me off by picking up the teapot and tilting it over my tea cup to pour absolutely nothing into it. She then looked at me again and smiled. “Would you like some sugar?” she

asked me again. I sat there with my mouth wide open trying to understand what exactly was going on. Lara proceeded to put fake sugar in my cup and then gave me some fake biscuits. She then did the same with all her animals, although Shawn the bunny did not prefer to have sugar in his tea. He was also quite picky with his biscuits. Lara then began to sip her “tea” while humming some nursery rhymes.

After some while, an elder woman, probably in her forties, appeared at the door. “Lara, sweetie it is time for your bed,” said the woman, who probably was Lara’s mother. “But I am playing with Kelly, mother!” cried Lara, who was obviously having the time of her life while ago. Lara gave a sad look to her mother, asking for some time more. A man, maybe Lara’s father, appeared next to the mother. “What is the problem here?” he said with a kind smile. “Lara wanted to play with her imaginary friend, I mean Kelly, but it is her bedtime,” explained her mother. It then dawned upon me. I am Kelly, Kelly is Lara’s imaginary friend, means I am Lara’s imaginary friend? My eyes went wide at this thought of mine. Suddenly everything made sense to me. Meanwhile, Lara’s parents had convinced her that she could go to bed with Kelly and play tomorrow.

I stayed with Lara for a few more years. It was fun with her, and reminded me of my childhood when I was alive. I used to have a childhood friend too, whom I had forgotten about. I hope Lara does not forget about me, like I had forgotten my imaginary friend. As Lara grew up, she stopped playing with me, and I thought I’ll disappear. However, when Lara was ten, she got a huge surprise, that she now had a little brother! Both Lara and me were so happy to hear that. So, when Lara outgrew me, I stayed with her little brother and accompanied him. I’ll always be thankful to the duo, because all the time I had missed on in my life, they gave me those years before I disappeared forever.