Gumdrop, the Imaginary Friend
Hello, my name is Mr. Gumdrop. I am not a normal person; honestly I'm not even a person. I am an imaginary friend for my best friend, Jeremy. When I was first starting out as his imaginary friend, he was 2 year old, but now he is 6. Not many 6-year-olds have imaginary friends, so I will be going away soon. As soon as he realizes I'm not real, I vanish for the rest of his life.
You don’t know how attached you can get to someone. I know everything about Jeremy; I know he doesn't like anything vanilla, he doesn't like hanging out with girls at school, he is a smart kid, he is a nice person, he is the perfect child. He is the kid every imaginary friend would want to have. But he has more friends, and I know for a fact that they stopped believing a long time ago. I knew their imaginary friends and they vanished years ago.
I'm being very cautious about the whole situation, but something happened that I can’t stop; he was talking to me and one of the boys said, “Who are you talking to?” And of course he said, “My imaginary friend.” And you know what happened from there? He told Jeremy I wasn’t real, and we only see them because we are that desperate for friends. Jeremy tried reaching for me, and his hand went right through me. He tried to grab me, but nothing happened.
It was the same night since the incident. Jeremy sat in his room staring at me. He asked me if I was real, but I can’t say yes or no; it’s the imaginary friend’s code. So I just sat there and looked at him. My legs started fading away, and he only had to say, “I knew it, but I was so dumb to think you were actually real.” Then my whole body was fading, but I wasn’t gone yet. He still had hope that I was real. But the more curious he got, he will ask his parents, then I’m gone for sure.
Jeremy did that exact thing, he asked his parents if I was real. And their answer was obvious, “No, honey, he's not real, but it’s okay; it’s time to forget him.” And as soon as he processed those words, he ran up to his room. Once he got up there, he packed me a suitcase with all the things he got me, and I took the luggage and looked at him. He said, “I want to have hope that you are real, but I know it's not true,” and I was speechless. The only thing I could say was, “Goodbye, Jeremy.” He said, “Thanks for all the good memories; goodbye, Mr. Gumdrop.”
Everything went black for a second, then I was with a new kid. Do we just get passed around? But then I realized I was still in the same home. Once I saw the kid and the parent, my heart filled with joy. My new best friend was my last kid’s son. The boy just said to me, “You were my daddy’s imaginary friend, right?” Before I could answer, Jeremy said, “Yes, son, Mr. Gumdrop was my friend, and to this day I still believe in him. Jeremy saw my suitcase and smiled. My life is going to be great! And I say, “Never forget your closet friends.”
By Breanna