The Story About How My Imaginary Friend Died

Chapter Thirty-Six - The Last Chapter

We stepped out of the car at Tim and Katja's place. Sally was still with us, and I think Katja had understood that something was going on, too.

We were about to walk off to our own car when Tim and Katja's mom said, "Do you want to stay for a late dinner?"

I startled, and I didn't think that I was the only one.

I heard Sally let out an "Oooh, shit," in the silence, and I nearly cracked up.

Mom was about to deny, but then Adam stepped in. "That sounds very nice, I would really like that."

And that was how we wounded up in the kitchen thirty minutes later, while mom was actually cooperating with Tim and Katja's mother.

I'd never thought I'd get to see that.

"Sally is here," I told Katja as we sat in the living room.

Katja choked. "What? I thought she left?"
"She is leaving tonight," I said.

Katja looked at me before leaping off the couch and pulling me into a hug.

"I won't do the 'I'm sorry' bullshit, but just... know that I care, okay?"

I nodded.

"I approve." Sally's voice sounded through my head.

"Sally approved," I said out loud as Adam called that dinner was ready.

I might have thought that having a dinner with both my parents and Tim and Katja's would be an uncomfortable experience, but something had happened - I wasn't sure what - and it wasn't an unpleasant experience.

Sally stood in the corner of the room.

I said goodbye to the twins after that, and they told me that their mom and dad didn't say anything negative about the movie project, and they took it like they approved.

There were many more things in store for us.

I was quiet the drive home. I pretended to be asleep, but I couldn't have been.

Not when I had to spend these last moments with my imaginary friend.

I stood on our porch half an hour later, the clock had just passed twelve, and Sally was on her way out.

I didn't know why I bothered to stand outside in the cold darkness and say good bye to Sally when I could've been inside my warm and comfortable home, but there was something about farewells... in a way, she was leaving me... my home...

She needed to leave home, and the way to do that was out of the front doors, and out into the cold night.

"I can tell you think you aren't ready for this..." Sally said.

"But you are, since I was never intended to stay here forever."

I shook my head. "I will never be ready..."
She chuckled. "I guess you're right about that."

"I was never real."

"Stop it right there! You are real, Sally, how many times do I have to say it? You are real, just not actual."

"You need to relax on that," she said, "and what I mean is that I was never meant to stick aound forever. I have to leave now, but I trust that you'll be okay, and I'll never fully leave you."

I felt a tear trickle down my face.

"It's okay to cry," Sally said, "but promise me that you won't let it keep you from living your life."

I shook my head. "I won't." I promised.

"Then I will leave now," she said.

I swallowed. "Bye Sally."
"Bye Emma."

And with that, she didn't fade... she vanished with a 'pop.'

And I could feel she was never coming back again.

, And that was the story about how my imaginary friend died.

Not that she was alive in the first place.

I suppose I was lucky to have such a vivid fragment of my imagination.

THE END