I’m trying out the Writing Prompts subreddit and thought I’d share my posts here! Click the link to see other writing based on the same prompt.
Prompt: Children have such interesting and fascinating sounding imaginary friends, because they have a hard time explaining the gods they are seeing and communicating with.
Link to original post on /r/WritingPrompts
I buried my face in the pillow, my tears smearing across the fabric. I sobbed into it, muffling my voice as much as possible. Otherwise dad would hear me and yell at me to be quiet. When there were no more tears to shed, I curled up in a ball on the bed.
I looked up and was startled to see Elizabeth kneeling on the floor beside me, smiling warmly. I gave her that name, because she never spoke to me. There was no way to know what her real name was, so I gave her my favorite name, my grandmother’s name. My silent friend was a great listener and always made me feel better when I told her about my problems. No one else could see her though, not even my mom.
Elizabeth frowned and held her hands to her heart, as if telling me she was sorry I was crying. She tilted her head and reached forward to catch a tear on my face. It felt like butterfly wings.
“It was my dad again.”, I whispered. “He hit me really hard. This time it was for accidentally dropping his favorite mug when I was doing the dishes. It smashed into a million pieces and…” I sobbed again and grabbed my pillow to stifle the sound. The image of his hand swinging at my face brought on a fresh wave of tears.
Elizabeth touched my cheek and I immediately felt calm. She gestured for me to go on.
“He hits my mom too, you know. Yesterday he hit her for his soup being too cold. She had given it to him while he was watching TV, and he just forgot about it. It wasn’t even her fault. I feel like it’s gotten worse lately, ever since my mom tried to stand up to him a few weeks ago. I wish he would just go away.”
Her frown deepened and grew serious, and she raised her eyebrow.
“I mean it! I want him to go away and never come back.”
She nodded her head. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but I assumed she just understood how I was feeling. She smiled again and it was infectious, making me feel like everything would be alright. I smiled too, and relaxed into my pillow. She stayed with me while I fell asleep. I loved it when she did that, I hated to be alone.
The next morning, my dad was gone. Disappeared without a trace. We even asked the police to look for him, but no one ever saw him again. Life was a lot easier after that. I also never saw Elizabeth again. Perhaps I just grew out of needing imaginary friends.