All tears shed by a smile

One imaginary friend

One imaginary friend

In the middle of September, life appears. A candle gives light, bright and warm. Next to a grave, the wax melts along with sad flowers. A little girl sits behind the graves stone, with a doll in her hand with happy flowers. The white suits brought the flowers, so the grave wouldn’t be empty. One petal falls into the girls lap. They took him away, far away, and put this stone here. Worthless. He never existed for the adults, for the blind people. He always gave hugs and stories to the young girl. When they all saw him, it was too late. Now she is blind. A leaf falls and dies. She always loved the hugs, soft as a cloud, happy as sunshine. Now everyone needs a hug. Maybe not the happy ones. And maybe not as warm. Maybe because he is gone.
She was 6 when she met him. The colors started getting brighter, the birds sang happier songs. She never knew she needed him, till that day by the lake. A new reflection appeared in the water, the ducks swam away and two bright eyes filled the darkness. One more soul, one more imaginary friend. They had fun together till the white suits appeared. Mom and Dad called them. They told her she was special, talking to strange voices in her head. Friend came but the girl was the only one that could see him. He smiled, she laughed, then ran away. The white suits came again trying to talk to her. Mom told her that they came here to help her. They were wasting their time. She never needed anyone. Dad named the suits soul doctors, that came here to fix her. She wasn’t like the car in the garage, she didn’t have wheels that had to be fixed. For 4 years, the suits visited from time to time, but he started to disappear. Her imaginary friend.
Then he was gone. She cried, a lot and wanted to remember him. So she asked the suits to build a grave.
She bought flowers. Dead people have more flowers. Regret is stronger than gratitude. Bigger than love. She sat by the grave for hours. The wind blew her fluffy long hair. Then she felt a hug. It was from the grass, the sky.   Maybe she wanted a hug, one of the happy ones. Maybe she laughed. Maybe she was happy because she knew he was never there, but he wasn’t dead either.