A Friend Lost

I heard her talking at dinner last night.

"No, Mom, I don't have my imaginary friend anymore. I'm not a little kid."

My heart shattered. "Maybe I'm having a dream," I murmured.

I tried to talk to her today. "Hello, Ginger! Hi! Can you... Can you see me?" But I was just a lonely, betrayed friend. A used toy, thrown in the dump.

Like most imaginary friends, I was crushed.

But as Imagine a Friend always says, I will get assigned a new friend soon. I had a week to get over it. Ginger was my first friend, though, and I couldn't just let her go like that.

The next day, I tried again. This time I tried to wake her up. "Ginger... Come on! Get up! It's me, your friend... It's me..."

She snored. I backed away. What had I ever done to her? To make my only friend ignore me?

At dinner, I creeped up on her and grabbed her shoulders. "Ginger! I got you! Haha...Right?"

Once again, another attempt failed. Only four more days left until I got assigned a new friend.

The next day, I waited until she went outside to be alone. This was her routine. She used to always ask me to go with her... But not this time.

I creeped out with her and sat down next to her in the grass. "Hi," I said quietly.

Ginger did not even look up from her daisy chain.

"We used to make those." I tried again.

Ginger muttered out loud, "I miss her sometimes..."

"Who?" I asked, my heart pounding. "Who do you miss?"

She sighed. "Oh, my imaginary friend. We used to have so much fun together. But then my friends teased me, and... Well, I guess I just gave up on her." Ginger looked up, surprised. "Who asked that?"

"It's me!" I exclaimed. "Me, your imaginary friend! I'm still here! Please, please see me!"

Ginger sighed again. "Probably just the wind. Or some stupid voice in my head."

Stupid? Me? My heart, already broken, divided into fourths.

Three days later, the Head Imaginary Friend came and gathered up me and my stuff. She looked very much like a librarian, with her tight bun and small glasses. She gave me a form. "Your new friend is downstairs," she said. "I believe it is Ginger's little sister, Cornelia."

I smiled sadly. "Oh. Thanks." I took my stuff from her and went to see Cornelia. She was two, a perfect age for imaginary friends.

When I entered her room, I found I had a plastic phone in my hands. Cornelia was talking into an identical one. "Hi? Hi?"

"Hello, Cornelia," I said warmly into the phone.

She took the phone off of her ear and glanced at me. "Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm your new best friend," I said, and embraced my friend in a big hug.