Imaginary Friend

He sat in the basement of his home at noon, drawing. Mikey, his older brother, had gone out with his parents to get groceries, so he was home alone. It didn't bother him, though. He was used to this. At least, he had been used to it, because now he was never alone. Not completely...

"Max..."

"What is it?", He said out loud, not even surprised anymore by the voice.

"Can you draw something for me?" When he heard this he glanced up, curiously.

"I guess so... What do you want me to draw?", He asked, going through the stacks of drawings of vampires and other monsters, trying to find a blank sheet.

"Draw what you think I look like, you know, the first thing that comes to mind..." Max grabbed a sheet, and stared at the blank paper, confused. The voice had never asked anything of him, he didn't even know its name. He was going to tell his parents about it, but never got the courage to. It was simply a voice that would speak to him when he was alone, that was all. That was normal, right? Either way, he decided to do as the voice asked. He drew the body of an average sized man, about five foot and ten inches, with slightly long black hair atop his head, his hair messy and in his face. He gave him soft, gentle eyes, and a smile. He dressed him in a red t-shirt and jeans, with converse. When he had finished, he held it up and pinned it to a board.

He was surprised at how long it had taken him to imagine a medium for the voice he only heard when he was alone. He'd been hearing it for about a month now, and this was the only real "breakthrough" he had. He sighed as he leaned back and waited for a response, for which he did not receive. The door to his room opened, and his mom walked in.

"We're back now, how about you come upstairs with us? It must be lonely just sitting in the basement by yourself...", She stated with a concerned glance. He noticed she was looking straight at the drawing he had just put up.

"I haven't seen this one before... What's it off?"

"Oh, um, it's just a drawing I made for a friend", He said, standing up and trying to walk out. But, his mom wasn't finished, and grabbed his forearm to prevent him from leaving.

"Wait, tell me about this friend! What's their name? Have you finally went out to go get some people to talk to?", She rambled on and on. He sighed and tried to get her to calm down.

"Mom, it's not like that... He's an imaginary friend, I guess." She stopped talking at all, and stared at him.

"Really? Honey, I think you're a little too old to have imaginary friends...", She stated quietly, and looked at him with a slight frown. He sighed and pulled away, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"What's he like?", She asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't know, all I've got is a voice and that drawing", He said without looking back, and walked upstairs. His mom watched, worried, and soon headed upstairs.

____________________________________________________________________________________

It had been about three days since his mom found out about the voice, and here he was, sitting in a lobby while waiting to see a doctor. His mom had told the whole family, and made an appointment with a psychiatrist without his consent. She didn't even tell him until the day of the appointment. And no matter how many times he told her that he was fine, she persisted.

"I just want to make sure you have someone to talk to about this", She had stated simply.

"Sure, it's not the fact that you think I'm going crazy", He muttered quietly, making sure she couldn't hear. They sat in silence for the longest time, when a door opened.