Imaginary Friends

Question

For this challenge, write about a person whose imaginary friend has stayed with them into their teen years (or even into adulthood). Details are up to you and the possibilities are endless.

Is the imaginary friend a known animal, a monster, a made up being, a person? Do other people (parents, school friends, workmates, etc.) know about the existence of this friend? Does your character know that their friend is actually a figment of their imagination? Are they trying to chase the imaginary friend away, or do they want this friend to remain with them as long as possible? You decide!

To change it up, you could also try writing from the perspective of the imaginary friend. That could be interesting as well.

Word Count for Prose: No minimum. Maximum = 500 words.

Word Count for Poetry: No minimum. Maximum = 12 lines.

I will judge this challenge in two weeks, on September 3. If no one or only one person has responded by that day, I will lengthen the deadline.

Questions, Concerns or Thoughts?: Comment or send me a personal message.

****EDIT: New judgment day = September 10. If there is still only the one response on that day, brokenglasspanda will win.****

Comments

Less than one week remaining, guys!

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I have part of a story, but I'm lacking inspiration on how to finish it. It's probably over the word limit already and I still don't have an ending, which means some major editing is due. If I don't do anything with it, I might just post what I have for comments, maybe someone else will have an idea.

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Definitely post for feedback. I'm interested in reading it. =)

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Well, brokenglasspanda, you win by default! Congratulations! To be honest, I really loved your work and it likely would have one even with some competition. =) Great job and keep writing!

Answer 1

Sarah

"Sarah, you've gotta go," says Maura, pushing me into her closet.

I cross my arms. "Why?"

"I can hear Mom coming up the stairs! Please," she begs.

Rolling my eyes, I step into the closet. "Thanks!" I hear her whisper as she shuts the closet door. I peek through the cracks of the door, trying to hear Maura's conversation with her mother.

Maura is sitting on her bed in a relaxed position, pretending to draw something in her notebook, when her mother walks in. "Hey sweetie," she says gently, taking a seat on the end of her bed. "Have you been talking to Sarah recently?"

She shakes her head. "I haven't seen her since you told her to leave."

"That's good," her mother replies. "I'm sorry, honey, but you're fifteen years old. You had to get rid of your imaginary friend sometime."

She slams her notebook shut. "Sarah is not imaginary! I saw her. I hung out with her, in person. She's real." She sighs. "But she's not here anymore. I miss her, Mom."

Her mother nods, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead and silently leaving the room. Maura swiftly springs across the room and opens the closet to let me out.

“I thought you said your mom believed you.”

“She did. But now she thinks you don’t live here anymore.”

I exhale slowly, taking a seat on her bed. “So what are we going to do? You can’t keep me hidden in your room forever.”

“I know, I know. For now, though, I’m gonna have to. Mom is really suspicious. She must  think you’re horrible or something. Why else would she want you to leave so badly?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.”

In case this hasn’t made sense to you, I’m Maura’s imaginary friend Sarah. And although I act I am around her, I know I’m not real. Maura is schizophrenic. I know she is, because I was there when her mother talked to her therapist about it. That’s the one great thing about being imaginary—you can snoop in on conversations and not get caught.

Of course, there are a few bad things too. I can’t move inanimate objects. I can’t open doors, pick up things—I’m pretty much useless, other than spying on people.

Anyway, Maura is schizophrenic. Since I didn’t know what that meant, I listened to her therapist explain it. “She has imaginary friends that will most likely follow her into adulthood. She sees and hears things that aren’t there.”

After hearing this, I knew that I wasn’t real. I have to stay with Maura for a while, though. I know leaving will only make her better, but what else can I do? I’ll disappear as soon as she doesn’t want or need me anymore… And I know it’s selfish, but would you really want to live the rest of forever with nothing?

Comments

brokenglasspanda, this is excellent! I really enjoyed reading this story, especially when Sarah is talking about spying on Maura's mother. I liked the sentence that says, "That’s the one great thing about being imaginary—you can snoop in on conversations and not get caught." It added something that I've never thought of before. I really liked that you chose to write from Sarah's point of view. It definitely makes it more interesting to the reader.
I'm rambling now, oops! =)

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@workingoutaname, thank you so much! :D

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You are quite welcome! =)

Answer 2

Now that the voting is over, here is my work in progress. I didn't do a wordcount, but as you can see it's quite long already and with no real plot yet. The first seven paragraphs were written last year and I took them out of the original story and was trying to fit them into a new one. When I started I thought it would be easy because the characters were so easy to work with. But right now, I've given up on making it work. If you want, you can have some fun with editing/finishing it. So, here it is:

Untitled and unfinished

 

Two young girls were walking in the forest. They didn't go too deep, or so they thought. The truth is, they were so distracted by their conversation that they didn't notice how far they'd gone.

 

One of the girls was wearing a leather jacket, which would have looked weird in this weather, but it didn't. What looked much more weird was the other girl, dressed in a black T-shirt and short khaki pants, that seemed to be having a rather colorful argument with... well, to be honest, herself.

 

"No, Tokio Hotel is the worst band ever!" she kept screaming into the empty space next to her as she walked "Oh, no, don't you talk about Alicia Keys to me!" She shook her head "What? Well if that's how you really feel, then I'm not talking to you anymore!" The girl in the T-shirt turned around from wherever she was facing before and crossed her arms. She had stopped walking, but still wasn't aware how deep she was in the forest

 

The girl sighed "Yes, I accept your apology. I'm sorry I yelled at you." She turned around again and hugged the other girl. It must have been a very strange sight, her curving her arms around the air in front of her with her eyes half closed. She leaned away from the hug and looked around. Suddenly, she was aware of all the tall trees around her."Oh my god, Irene, where are we?"

 

She began to pace nervously around, not sure which way to go. She thought she knew where she came from, but she was turning so much, it was impossible to be certain. 

 

Suddenly, she fell to her knees and lifted her hands to the sides of her head. A white flash passed before her eyes and then a vision of a young freckled boy and some girls standing above him. One of them had something in her hand and she was laughing at him. Niki screamed and fainted.

 

She opened her eyes and Irene was standing over her, making sure she was okay. "Looks like you had another one of your visions," the red-haired girl in the leather jacket said. "Yes, it was... so strange." She put one of her arms on her temple and used the other one to lift herself up. "It was so strong, I haven't had one /that/ strong in months." Her head throbbed. Well, at least she had Irene to help her out. Her hand was on her forehead when Irene moved to her side to help her walk and that's when she saw him. He looked exactly like the boy in her vision, only he was grown up now. 

 

The visions usually happened when she met new people. Sometimes she would see their past, sometimes their future. In both cases, it would be an event with a strong emotional outline. 

 

The future visions were rare and always something from the near future. When all the choices leading to that one future were made, they produced a consequesnce Nicole could foretell. She could interfere with that future and sometimes did, like saving the life of a girl that carelessly stepped into the street. Sometimes, she didn't understand enough to prevent it. Sometimes it did not need preventing at all.

 

The visions of the past were more frequent. Since she was very young she would see things about people that they didn't want her to know. But, that wasn't what impacted her most. It was the fact that, not knowing any better, she told people about the visions and that she could see the past and future. Her parents tried to convince her to stop making things up, but when it became clear she truly believed what she was saying, they had her placed into a mental institution.

 

She spent eight years of her life there. Feeling alone, betrayed and abandoned, and not just on the day they left her, but every single day since, Niki quickly got worse. That's when Irene showed up. 

 

Irene was her guardian and her best friend. She looked out for her. It was Irene that finally convinced the doctors Nicole was well enough to go home. To this day, Irene has stayed as Niki's companion, protecting her from harm, from others, but mostly from herself.

 

"Excuse me, are you alright?" the man with red hair said. "You looked like you fainted. Do you want some water?" He was approaching her quickly and Irene almost growled. 

 

"No, thank you, I'm fine," the girl replied. With Irene's help she sat up and tilted her head at the man. 

Comments

hmm, I like this a lot Spots. It definitely has some impressive potential.
I kept getting confused about Irene, though. Once in a while it was like you switched points of view from being outside the scene to inside the scene when you mentioned Niki hugging air or talking to herself and then in the next part Irene existed again. But I think the point of the story is to be confusing and so it didn't bother me too much.
It certainly left me intrigued and wanting to know more about Niki and Irene both, and especially about Niki's visions. I also want to know more about her time in the institution and how Irene convinced the doctors when she doesn't really exist.
This is really good so far. I'm not sure I know where to take it. Maybe for now just giving more information about the girls and this man that has just shown up would be a good place to go until you know the plot and can weave it in later.

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The man that showed up is irrelevant. I don't know anything about him yet (I changed it from the original story, because that was complicated).
As for Niki and Irene, I'll try and explain that a bit more. Irene is real to Niki, even though she is aware that Irene doesn't truly exist and that others can't see or hear her, she is completely real inside her mind and when they are alone Niki acts as if Irene is completely real. In truth, the Irene character is a part of Niki, something like a split personality, at least in its origins. She is, in a way, her protective side, her inner voice. She can't directly control her body, but she can act through Nicole as her advisor and that, even though it was Niki who convinced the doctors she was fine, Irene was the one who was the "brains" behind it. It's her job to look out for Nicole and that's what she was doing.
Basically, Irene and Niki are the same person, but they are each holding claim over a part of Niki's mind and inside her mind they behave like two separate individuals.
It's a complicated character that was developed over months of roleplay and the details that explain her came up in different situations. It's hard to really incorporate that into a single short story. I tried and, as you can see, I didn't do much and that's why I gave up. I don't think that I can just tell Nicole's story and that's why I was introducing this second character, to help define her through her actions. I just couldn't come up with anything interesting.
If you're really interested in the original story, I can tell you through PMs, but it's way too long to be included in this one. I think this one is a lost cause.
Thanks for your input though.

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O.o  cool! That sounds so awesome, and this totally makes more sense now. I'm definitely interested in the original story. I love the idea of Niki being like a "split personality". You're right though, that's way too much to fit in a short story.