Leilani's Imaginary Friend

     The door slammed with such great force that it shook the walls. I stood awkwardly in the corner, my eyes wide with shock at the scene that just unfolded, as I watch the Kyrii who slammed the door spring herself onto her bed and begin to bawl into her comforter.

     Slowly but surely, I made my way over to the bed and looked down at the young girl.

     Underneath me was Leilani the Kyrii. She was covered in messy, slightly greasy green fur, her large brown eyes looking up at me, puffy and tear-stained. She grabbed me by my neck and pulled me into a large hug, crying her eyes out on my shoulders and babbling everything that had happened to me. I had been with her the whole day, but I didn't dare attempt to stop her.

     You see, I am no ordinary Starry Acara. My name is Roseanne, and I am Leilani's imaginary friend.

     I wasn't always her imaginary friend. In fact, I was created when many would consider her much too old for an imaginary friend, but of course I never judged her for it. I had lost count of how many days I spent with her, but I still had the gist of them well memorized. I would follow her to school, defend her against bullies to no other avail than her slightest happiness, then follow her home, be locked up in her room with her, and allow her to cry it all out.

     But recently, something new and unusual was added to the mix. For the past couple of weeks, Leilani had been failing all of her exams, and her parent's weren't too happy about it. Nearly every conversation they had erupted in a loud argument. During these quarrels, Leilani always got so invested that she would forget to have me join in, so I was forced to stand on the sidelines and watch, tonight being just another example of such.

     After hours of crying with barely any words on my part, Leilani fell asleep sometime rather late at night. Being that her imagination would soon be busied with the images in her dreams, this was the one time I was free to wonder to my own content.

     I leaped through the wall in a ghostly manner, fell down a story, then landed quite softly on the untrimmed lawn. I made my way out into the dirt streets and eventually found myself browsing the windows of the closed stores of Neopia Central.

     "Psst, hey, hey, kid."

     I spun around, my eyes catching a shadowy figure standing behind the Money Tree.

     "Yeah, yeah, you kid, come on!"

     Being that I was only an figment of Leilani's imagination, therefore making it impossible for me to be harmed, I began to walk towards the figure. My pace was slowed, however, as I realised that he shouldn't be able to see me.

     "How... how can you see me?" I squeaked.

     "What? Huh? Ain't you ever seen 'nother imaginary friend before?" The figure asked, its voice high and energized with what was apparently great surprise.

     "Uhm... n-no," I squeaked again, beginning to back up with nervousness. I had spent my entire short life following Leilani through a high school; of course I had never met another imaginary friend!

     "Oh dear, oh dear, what horrible shame!"

     The creature stepped out from his hiding spot, revealing himself to be a yellow Ixi. He was wearing a giant hood that was covered in bells and bright colors. He was carrying at least five worn bags filled with what appeared to be oddly-shaped bottles.

     "Not only must you already carry the burden of being an imaginary friend, but you are also trapped without the knowledge of any other fellow imaginary beings?!" he squawked. "You poor, poor, poor thing!" he squawked. "Welp, you haven't met any other imaginary friends, then you must have absolutely no idea who I am?"

     I shook my head timidly.

     "Oh dear, oh dear, what great shame! Well, you are to be pitied no longer, my dear, as the solution to your problem has finally come!"

     "M-my p-p-problem?" I asked, my voice shaking much wilder now.

     "Why yes, why yes, your horrible predicament! You, my friend, are an imaginary friend. A truly insufferable fate, as I have learned from experience. The dealing with tantrums, agreeing to every word, playing any game they please... you practically have no control over yourself! That's why I invented my 'Real Pet Potion'! You may be thinking, 'If you hate being an imaginary friend so much, then why don't you just take the potion?'. Well, you see, my dear, I am of very humble and generous heart, so instead of hogging my potion to myself, I escaped from my creator, and now travel Neopia and hand them out to any unfortunate imaginary friends I find!"

     I stood right where I was staring straight at him, dumbstruck with all this information. It was such a wild story; a potion that could turn imaginary friends into real Neopets. This had to be a scam; a joke... a figment of her own imagination?

     But, wait, if this were all of figment of her own imagination, then did this mean she actually wanted to be freed? Of course not, she loved Leilani... right?

     Before she could think any more of the matter, the Ixi had practically pressed the bottle to her face.

     "Go on, take it!"

     I couldn't help but take a minute to stare at the potion in awe. The bottle had a wide bottom with a long, twisted, swirling top, free of a cork to keep the potion inside. The potion itself was the most amazing part, though; it was the color of an early morning Spring sky, with streams of white sparkles swirling through it like birds gliding on the evening winds.

     The harder I stared into the amazing concoction, the more I noticed something... a resemblance in the potion. As I looked harder, the details came into place... It was Leilani! I saw her face, her fur clean and tied back in a small black bow. As a late night wind came by to rustle my fur, I could hear her voice; it was far in the distance, but I still heard it......"You're the greatest friend I ever had."......

     I still have very little idea of what happened next. All I know for certain is that there a hot and rumbling feeling rising through me like a furious large bird, and after some rush of movement I found the bottle ­crushed beneath me in a mess of glass shards and a growing puddle of blues and white sparks.

     "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" the Ixi screeched. "THIS ISN'T WHAT'S SUPPOSED TO - HEY, GET BACK HERE!!!"

     I believe he yelled several things after that, but I could barely hear them, as the wind was now slashing past my ears, blowing my short fur about in all directions as I rushed across the path, dirt streaming behind me, my breath growing shorter with each second. Finally, after what felt like hours, I found myself at the small pink house. It was broken down and not too pretty, but I had called it home for some time now.

     After a short yes nostalgic trek across the uncut grass, I found myself sitting underneath the window I recognised as my entrance to Leilani's bedroom. With a small push off the ground, I found myself floating like a ghost up and through the window. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief as my paws came to rest on the worn, familiar purple carpet. I quickly tip-toed my way over to the bed.

     I looked down, and had to keep myself from squealing with delight. After such a horrible fright out there, seeing Leilani safe and sound was an extremely comfortable sleep. And so, with great relish I cuddled up to the floor next to her bed, and with one last sigh of relief as I begun to mull over the memories of the day, I felt fast asleep.

The End