fading | Teen Ink

fading

May 16, 2017
By jazzthetic BRONZE, Edinboro, Pennsylvania
jazzthetic BRONZE, Edinboro, Pennsylvania
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I was so pretty. Every part of me was nothing but bright colors. It's like a rainbow fell right out of the sky. He made me like that... Who you might ask? Kevin. I was his friend - his imaginary friend. I loved Kevin so much. Kevin gave me everything. He made me beautiful. He made me a god. But all good things must come to an end, right?
You must be confused. Let me tell you what happened.
When I was "born," the first thing I saw was Kevin. His eyes were so bright and he looked shocked. Why was he shocked? what was I?? Then he started to laugh.
"Hahaha! You're so beautiful!"
Beautiful? I looked down at my paws and saw a very bright shade of green. As I looked up again, I noticed that there was a mirror on his wall where I could somehow see my reflection. The first word I ever spoke was "woahhhh!" There were so many colors! I was looking at a full rainbow! And were those... butterfly wings? And a fish tail?? What was I?? Almost as if the kid could read my thoughts, he said, "Your name will be Cosmie and you will be my BEST FRIEND FOREVER!" Cosmie? What is a Cosmie?? But my thoughts were brought to a halt when I felt him hug me. It all swirled in my head; my name is Cosmie and I am his... best friend. I hugged him back.
"What's your name?" I asked him.
"My name is Kevin!!" he shouted.
"Kevin is a nice name," I said.
"I know," he said back. I started to laugh. So did Kevin. Soon, we were both laughing. He picked me up and we spun around his room. We were both spinning and laughing until he tripped on the cord that was plugged into his lamp. CRASH! All of us fell down: me, Kevin, and the lamp. The lightbulb broke into what seemed to be a million little shards which flew all over the floor. We were both still and silent. Then, footsteps. The door flung open and a woman came in. She had black hair just like Kevin and she looked a little pale and underweight.
"Kevin, what happened??"
Kevin looked up at the lady in fear. "M-me and Cosmie were… and then the lamp fell over and… and…"
She stopped him mid-sentence. "Who is Cosmie?" she asked, frowning. He pointed to where I was. She looked at me and her face darkened. She looked sad.
"Get out of your room while I clean up all the glass from this lightbulb," she said quietly. Kevin silently obliged and walked out to his living room. I followed him.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"My mom," he said.
"I don't think she likes me," I whispered. I didn't realize that I was, in fact, imaginary until a bit later on.

Later that evening after Kevin fell asleep, Kevin’s mom and dad were talking down the hall from his room. I peeked my head around Kevin’s door to eavesdrop. I could only hear bits of their conversation, but it was enough to get a slightly clearer picture of my existence.
"...just has a very big imagination."
"I know but...stunting his social skills..."
"...just an imaginary friend...will grow out of it..."
So, that's what I was. Imaginary. I wasn't real. And if I heard them right, he’d “grow out of" me. He'd leave me soon. I asked Kevin about it the next day and he said that he could never, ever leave me, no matter what his parents said. He promised me. He told me we would always be together. And I believed him.  Of course I did, because he was my Kevin and I was his Cosmie.

Over time though, just as his parents had said that first night, that promise began to break. Too soon, he turned 16 years old. I was at his birthday party and I was so excited to celebrate with him. I wanted to wish him a happy birthday, so I tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't turn around.

"Helloooo? Kevin? Happy birthday Kevin!" I flew around so I was in front of his face. He looked up at the place where I was standing but, he didn’t see me. I was RIGHT THERE and he didn’t see me. Then he walked away. For over a year, I tried to get him to see me again, but it never worked. So one day I just... gave up. I walked to this same spot of grass that I’m sitting on right now. This where we hung out. This is where we made up stories and visited amazing places.  This was our spot.

But I’m not colorful anymore. I’m not a god. I’m not beautiful. My fur is matted and my wings have tears in them. My fish tail has dried up. I’m going to die soon. I was made to be an imaginary friend, Kevin’s imaginary friend. But without Kevin, I have nobody. And that means that I am nobody. There is nothing left for me to exist for. As I fade away in our spot remembering all the amazing things we did together, I’m glad I got to tell my story one last time. The story of a friend.
 


The author's comments:

I'm a seveth-grade homeschooler and I love fantasy reading and writing.  One of my hobbies is creating characters and imagining how the world might look to them.  As a child,I had imaginary friends, so when asked to write a short story inspired by one of my characters, I thought that it would be interesting to explore the point of view of an imaginary friend.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.