Just my imagination

10

Avery nervously tapped her spoon against the lunch table. She didn't know whether telling Michael would benefit him or hurt him.
"Aves you okay?" Michael asked rubbing her back. "Yeah I'm fine." She said with a smile and Michael returned it.

"Well I'm going to the bathroom I'll be back." Michael said.

Avery waited until Michael was clear out of the lunch room before she spoke. "Evelyn is back." She blurted out.
"Yeah, I figured Michael can't just get over an imaginary friend he's had for most of his life just like that." Maya shrugged.
"No it's more than that, Maya." Avery explained everything, her family business, what Evelyn was, everything. Maya looked shocked, she didn't really know how to process everything. "I'm finding all of this hard to believe." Maya said.
"You have to believe me." Avery said, it almost sounded like a plea for help. Which it sort of was, she had no idea what to do. Avery quickly took out one of her Mom's old journals and showed her everything in it.
"So is there anything in here that tells us how to get rid of her?" Maya asked.

"Yes and no. There's thousands of ways. But she's too strong for 90% of them to work." Avery sighed. She hurried and shoved the journal back in her back pack when she saw Michael coming back.

"Okay guys, is there something wrong you both look like you just saw ghosts or something."

"I saw something alright." Maya said and Avery hit her leg under the table. "No we are fine, just a little girl gossip that's all." Maya said.

Michael playfully rolled his eyes. "Well I'll leave you to your girl gossip, I have to go see my counselor anyways. See ya." Michael waved bye as he got all of his things and got up.

"Well what hasn't worked so far, if you've tried anything. Narrow the list down."

"So, Caleb says holy water doesn't work. So that probably also rules out silver blades. But we haven't tried an exorcism. And Caleb is looking for one of my moms old journals, he's sure there's something in it."

"Okay, then we do it after school, exorcism." Maya said. She had no idea how this whole thing worked but she was pretty sure that would.

Avery shook her head no. "There's a bunch of other shit that goes into that. She'd need a pretty damn powerful exorcism to even weaken her. But I'll figure something out." Avery sighed.

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Michael sat on his bed listening to his music. He was living as normal as a life as someone with dead parents could. All of the bills were paid directly from whatever was in his parents bank accounts. It could last him at least a few years if he was careful with what he used. It was quite a few times people from his parents jobs would come to see where they'd went, he either lied and said they were on vacation or didn't answer at all. Some nights he could swear he could hear them in his sleep. It was like the house haunted him. Most of the time he would just sneak through Maya's window which she purposely left unlocked for him and slept on this small couch she had in the corner of her room. Maya thought Michael was just lonely with his parents constantly being gone and all.

"Did you not miss me at all?" Michael automatically knew who it was.

"Your lack of presence was enjoyable, I'll say that much." Michael opened his eyes and lifted his head off the bed.

"You look different. I don't like it." Michael muttered as he lied down and closed his eyes again.

"I had to get a host. Because you didn't support me, you didn't want me around." Her voice cracked.

Michael didn't reply. He wasn't going to lie, he was learning how to cope and enjoy life without her. She caused more problems for him than problems she fixed.

"Why did you abandon me?" Evelyn said.

Michael still didn't reply.

"I'm getting weak because of you, and you don't even care!" Evelyn's temper tantrum caused the light bulbs in Michaels room to blow out from the energy."

"Doesn't look like you're that weak to me." Michael sighed as he sat up. "Now I have to go replace all the light bulbs.

Evelyn closed the door before Michael could get to it. "It doesn't take much to break a few damn light bulbs. That's about all I can do now." She cried.

"And maybe that's what's best for everyone." Michael said. "Leave." He said pointing to the door, unsure if he wanted her to leave or now.
"I have a host now, you can't tell me what to do." She said. "I'm here to benefit you."

Michael was starting to feel hopeless but he couldn't let her know how he felt, but Evelyn could tell by the look on his face. She thrived off the thought of being back in control.

"You bring nothing but pain to everyone I know and love." Michael said with tears welling in his eyes.

Evelyn sat next to Michael and brought him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her as he sobbed.

"It's okay Michael. You don't need them. You have me." She said in a soothing voice. He pushed her away and walked away from the bed where she was. "No, that's not what I want! I want friends, I want people besides you to care about me. What about that do you not understand."

"Michael, people you get too close to hurt you. They always leave you and that how it will always be."

"It's that way because of you! People think I'm a weird freak all because of you." Michael yelled in frustration.

"It's because I love you, don't you understand that."

"No, you don't love me. If you loved me you wouldn't kill people. If you love me you'd just leave me alone and never come back." He said.

"Do you even love me anymore?" Evelyn replied ignoring everything he's said.

"No, I don't." Michael hissed harshly. "You fucked up my life, you made me miserable. You shouldn't love people that cause you nothing but pain." Michael said.

Evelyn flared in anger, how dare he? She gave him her all and he acted as if it was nothing.

"It's okay Michael. You'll learn to love me soon enough. Because soon you'll have nothing else but me."