Pretend friend (standard:Psychological fiction, 2074 words)
Author: Lev821	Added: Aug 25 2007	Views/Reads: 4277/2451	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Children often have imaginary friends, but some just stay around in adulthood and never go away.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

absolutely alone, and recently he had had the idea that maybe certain 
pills or tablets could cure that part of his mind causing the 
projection of Ivor, so decided he would confide in his doctor so he 
could give him the correct prescription. Ivor didn't like that. Didn't 
like the fact that somebody would know about him, so decided to loudly 
protest down Patrick's ear as he sat in the waiting room. ‘What are you 
doing? You really don't want to be doing this'. This caused Patrick to 
shout aloud, like an embarrassing drunkard sometimes seen on a bus, or 
walking down a busy street. Shouting though, was not enough to make 
Ivor go away, as when the boiling point of anger is reached, there is 
only one place for it to go, the violent route. Patrick grabbed a 
teenage girl's mobile phone from her hand and threw it at Ivor with an 
ear-piercing scream of ‘Go away'. Of course, the phone passed through 
Ivor and smashed into the wall, and Patrick ran from the doctor's, not 
because of any consequences from the waiting room, but to get away from 
Ivor. He ran as he had never ran before, and stopped after around two 
miles in a supermarket car-park to regain his breath. When he looked 
up, who else should be standing there, smiling down at him? 

Ivor either didn't care about the effect he was having on Patrick, or he
genuinely couldn't see it, rather like a smiling teddy bear or doll 
that retains its smile after literally being thrashed and beaten. No 
longer was he the cheerful little boy, riding a talking horse across 
the meadow. Now he emulated Patrick in his own way, dressing like him, 
sometimes behaving like him, and sometimes seeming as though he was 
nothing like Patrick. No longer could he be called an acquaintance, or 
confidant. He couldn't truly be called an enemy, either. Irritant was 
more akin to the effect Ivor was having on him. A brain irritant, or 
malfunction that caused Ivor's constant projection, his personality 
perhaps emerging through the subconscious that is responsible for 
dreams. Patrick often wondered how it was he had never gone away, why 
he remained constantly around him, sending him slowly in a into a 
depressed psychosis, unbalancing his state of mind. 

Prior to him coming down to the beach, he had attended an interview at a
building society for a financial consultant, sat under the gaze of four 
executives. He found it quite intimidating, and matters were not helped 
by Ivor pacing around behind the men. When he decided to speak as 
another question was being asked, Patrick couldn't make out what the 
interviewer was saying, and told Ivor to be quiet. A split second after 
he had said it, he realised he had said it aloud, and the man asking 
the question looked shocked. Obviously he'd never been spoken to like 
that before, and consequently responded with a shocked silence. After 
they had looked at each other in surprise, they looked back towards 
Patrick and saw an empty chair, and the door slowly closing. 

“Can't you just leave me alone,” Patrick said, looking at Ivor who was
still standing further out into the water. Ivor said nothing, but stood 
looking back at Ivor with his hands on his hips, as though 
contemplating what to say. He then began to wade towards Patrick and 
stopped before him. “I can see I've been quite annoying sometimes. I 
can understand that. However, I will admit that I am afraid. Well, 
actually I'm terrified. I don't want you to forget me. I'm fearful that 
you will. I will die if you forget me. That is why I am always in your 
vision. I will risk you forgetting me for a few minutes though. I shall 
recompense you with something I know you've never forgotten”. Ivor then 
walked past Patrick, towards the sand dunes. He turned to speak, but 
Ivor had gone, and for the first time since he was five, he felt alone. 
It seemed as if nobody was around for many miles, and the feeling of 
isolation on the beach felt good. He looked all around him, and knew 
then that he truly was alone. He savoured the moment, believing Ivor's 
return to be imminent, but it wasn't. For around five minutes, he 
walked along the beach, wallowing in the sensation he'd missed. As he 
looked out across the calm ocean, something over to his left caught his 
eye. The water was being disturbed, and Patrick watched as head and 
shoulders appeared. Before the whole person emerged, Patrick saw that 
it was Ivor, and the feeling of isolation simply vanished. Ivor walked 
to the shore, and Patrick saw that behind him, more of the water was 
being disturbed, and he watched with incredulity as many horses and 
pigs emerged, no longer confined to the pages of the children's book, 
and no longer in cartoon form, but as real as imaginary animals can be. 
Ten of each came to the shore, followed by two other individuals, 
dressed in strange garb, as though they were on their way to a fancy 
dress party. 

“Didn't forget me, did you?” said Ivor, stating the obvious as he
approached him. 

“Remember the book where you first found me? Well here's the other
characters in it. We have the author to thank for making this possible, 
for bringing us off the page and into your mind. I don't know much 
about her, only that she only wrote one book, was into alchemy and 
pagan rituals, and disappeared somewhere in South America after the 
book had been published. You had a rare copy, as I understand that it 
was soon withdrawn after publication, I'm not sure why”. I can guess, 
thought Patrick. Ivor nodded. 

“Yes, I'm sure you can”. Ivor gestured to the other men who were
standing amongst the animals. 

“This is Roland the cave inhabitant,”. He wore a distinctive caveman's
outfit, and resembled a typical Neanderthal. Exactly as a cartoon 
caveman should look in the real, physical world. Rather like an actor 
playing the role. 

“And this is Floyd the tree dweller”. He wore a green outfit, his
posture resembling that of a gibbon, or orang-utan. His skin was pale 
and tinged green, his eyes and mouth, frog-like, yet distinctly human. 
“You remember us from the book don't you?” said Ivor. “ Remember our 
adventures? Well I brought them all back to be your friends. We can all 
have adventures together”. It then hit Patrick, that these were going 
to be exactly like Ivor. Pretend friends who would never leave his 
vision, who would be around him constantly, twenty-four-seven. “Hello 
Patrick, pleased to meet you”. He saw that it was the nearest horse 
that spoke. It was then that he burst into laughter, and this caused 
all the others to do the same. 

Patrick didn't know what he was laughing for. Was it because of an
acceptance by him that he had all these friends? Or because he knew he 
had finally gone mad. Not even he knew that. 


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