“”Charles, buddy!” Friend greeted him, pulling him into a tight hug. Charles had felt less and less of those lately, and it was good to have that warm fuzzy feeling in his chest once again, even if it was from his definitely imaginary friend. “Hiya Friend! How’s it going?” Charles asked, squeezing Friend. His real life friends said hugging was lame. They also said having an imaginary friend was lame. So, Charles needed to convince Friend to go away so he could finally fit in. The boys at school would finally let him play soccer in the field at recess! “Same as always... AWESOMESAUCE!” Friend exclaimed, messing up the hair on Charles’ head before pulling back and looking excited. “Wanna play hide and seek? Or tag? Or space monster? Or maybe the floor is lava?!” Charles only sighed in return, and shifted his eyes to the floor. Friends face dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. “Charles? What’s wrong buddy?” Charles bit his lip. He knew he had to tell Friend to leave, but Friend only ever brought good times and warm fuzzies! “Nothing. Well, something. But you have to pinky promise not to get mad.” Friend’s pinky was poking out in front of his face before he even finished his sentence. “Whatever you want pal. I pinky promise. What’s up?” Charles sunk to the floor to sit in a pretzel shape, and Friend followed. “My friends at school think having an imaginary friend is lame. If you stay around, they’ll never let me play soccer with them!” Friend, who had been intently listening the entire time, looked as if he had just realized something. “I get it, Charles. I understand. That’s what happens to imaginary friends. You grow up, and don’t need us anymore. You make friends, and leave us behind. But, what you guys don’t understand is that we suffer too.” Friend reached behind himself to pull out his tail. Or, rather, what was left of his tail. It was fading away, like Marty’s family did in Back to the Future! Charles gasped, and reached out to touch it, but could not feel anything. “We fade away once you’ve forgotten us. Never to play again.” Tears welled up in Charles’ eyes. “No! That can’t happen! You’re my best friend, Friend!” Friend had a melancholy look resting upon his features. His rather vibrant colour scheme that covered his body seemed to be dulling slowly. His long, bunny-like ears drooped. “You’re my best friend too, pal,” Friend sighed. “Sadly, the only way for us to stay friends is for you to convince others that I am real. I know you don’t want to do that.” Charles suddenly jumped up, grabbing Friend’s arm while he did to pull him up with him. “Wha-“ Friend started, but Charles interrupted, with a determined look on his face. “You mean a whole lot to me, Friend. Even more than those stupid boys at school! I’m gonna help you out, and we can be friends forever!” A humongous smile spread across Friend’s face. “Really? You’d do that for me? You’re the best buddy I could have ever asked for.””
This was based on a prompt from https://thewritersacademy.co.uk/ that said “A child’s imaginary friend needs to convince the boy he’s real so he doesn’t disappear.” My story didn’t quite follow the prompt to a tee, but I think it got the point across! I really wanted to get the feeling of childhood across and how much you cared for your imaginary friend. Thanks for reading!
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