Made Up Friends

A familiar, white taxi was parked in front of Walli's Bar. It was my dad. He looked at me through the passenger seat window, with raised eyebrows, making sure it was his son he was looking at, before gesturing me to get in.

I was actually relieved to be out of the messy nature of Killeaney's tight community, and felt glad to be in the air conditioned, spacious Toyota. Even though the car was a small fraction the size of the pub, it felt bigger and much more breathable.

"Happy birthday, Nick."

"Thanks, dad."

We drove in silence for the next three minutes, only interrupted by the e-cigarette smoke, coming from his mouth every now and then, and filling the car with the smell of mint.

"How much did you have?"

"Two."

"Litres? Shots? Gallons? Glasses? Bottl-"

"Pints."

I stopped him a little too abruptly. I could feel his eyes looking at me, before he returned to driving. We didn't say a word for the remainder of the ten minute trip.

The only source of light in my room was my computer screen. It was one of those awkward moments when it came to my head that my eyes were sore, and I should probably turn on my bedside lamp.

It was hardly a bed. A king sized mattress thrown on the ground, with bedsheets over it. That mattress could be a metaphor for the state the rest of my room was in. A lot of clothes on the floor, laundry hasn't been done for days. Empty yoghurt tubs and tons of fruit peels on my desk, attracting fruit flies, that I occasionally had to swat away from my monitor. There was little furniture, aside the large wardrobe, and a second desk at the other end of the room. The desk, both it's drawers and a compartment, we're full of unused stuff and school books.

The white walls had some posters on. Posters weren't really my thing, but any that I got my hands on, I'd usually hang up. It was a cry for breaking the monotony of my room. My eyes stopped at the My Little Pony poster for a few seconds, making me recall the events of the day that just passed, and made me think about James and the mayor. I quickly shook those thoughts off.

Two dusty guitars stood in the room's shadowy corner. Untouched in months, which made me feel very guilty. It was always that one day when I was telling myself I'd practice, but that day always turned into a tomorrow.

Half closed bathroom doors loomed at the back of my room, emanating darkness. I had the luxury of having a private bathroom. In the bathroom, more mess and an Ikea bag, serving as a garbage disposal.

The entire composition was accented by a ceiling wall. It reduced the size of my room, by taking a forty five degree angle about a metre from the floor, and reaching the ceiling, allowing a Velux window to bring daylight inside, during early hours. That wasn't possible due to the late time darkness, topped off with violent rain.

My daydreaming was interrupted by a loud Facebook message I heard through my headphones. It was Annie. Talking to her helped me forget about how terrible my day went, and focus on the positives, even if there was very little.

Hey, won't you be eighteen in eleven minutes?

Her message made me smirk. It was indeed 10:49, and I was born exactly at eleven o'clock, on sixteenth of November, in the year of two thousand. My fingers quickly ran across the keyboard.

Yep. Not very excited about this
Also I'm surprised you remembered the exact time lmao

I watched the three digital dots bounce for a few seconds before getting a text back.

Haha yeah
Well happy birthday
I'm gonna go to sleep
Love you x

I said goodbye and closed the Facebook tab. My brain was trying to decide if I should reopen it, and send Annie a paragraph telling her how texts like that, and heart emojis, really started to bother me. Even if I felt warm on the inside, especially after having two dreams about her in a single day, they just reminded me of how devastated I was due to not being with her anymore.

My eyes were closing however, so I decided to call it a day. My computer turned off, making the room eerily quiet. My hands rested on top of a fuzzy body, I made my head fall back, sighing, and sinking into my armchair. I should really get those ceiling leaks checked out, now that I looked at them, being a responsible adult and all.

It hit me, that the surface beneath my hands was soft and furry. I didn't take any action at first, thinking that it was one of my dogs that sneaked into my room and got onto my lap when I didn't see, and I forgot about them laying there. I patted the warm creature, sighing one more time.

I blinked my eyes a few times, and slapped myself mentally. If I didn't want to sleep on the armchair again, I had to get up and do my sleeping routine. Sleeping in the uniform on a school day didn't sound like a very attractive option.

It was then when I first laid my eyes on her. In my lap, slept a small, blue pegasus. She was curled up in a ball, her belly facing away from me. Her prismatic mane dangled down the armchair. Her tail rested on top of my knee.

Her ear twitched, and she raised her little head mininally, to let out a long, tired yawn. She stretched her forelegs at the same time, straightening them, I watched as they shook in place. My heart started beating very fast. I thought she was going to wake up, but she only let out a couple of gibberish words, giving me a sample of her voice, making me believe that it was in fact her, Rainbow Dash, that suddenly appeared in my very own lap.

I spent the next ten minutes staring at the site in front of me, trying to figure out how those events were even possible.

Oh my god. I just got an imaginary friend.

Why?

"I'm not even a child anymore." I whispered to myself. I raised my hand slowly and brought it to her ear, curiously. It twitched away when I made the slightest contact with it. "I'm an adult. This shouldn't be." I scratched my chin, running my fingers across the three day old beard.

Was this even how the whole ordeal worked? Like, it's supposed to be an ordinary pony, or a dog, or some mystical creature that appears, but one of the main characters of a known tv show? How!?

I slowly and gently reached under the body of the frail pony at my lap. I lifted her, mainly concerned about her head staying in the same position, as to not wake her up. She was incredibly light, even though she was only slightly bigger than my larger dog, she must have weighed at least twice as little. I carefully positioned her on the bed, bending my body from the armchair at an awkward angle. She murmured some sleepy words under her nose, tiredly flicked her tail, and went back to breathing deeply and regularly.

There I was, in the middle of my room, a confused being, a fresh teenage adult, that only got more problems dropped on him. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't even know what to think anymore.

I turned around, finding it hard to take my eyes off of the fuzzy anomaly on top of my mattress. In the bathroom, I changed into my pajamas, impatiently washed my teeth and face, before returning to the room. I swear I heard movement just seconds ago...

Rainbow Dash was under my blanket, laying on her side, facing away from the wall, similarly to how a human would sleep. Her chest still raised itself and lowered at the same pace, so she must have changed position in her sleep.

I awkwardly walked onto the bed on all fours. I had to move the blanket away from the mattress' side, in order not to wake the pony up with movement. I considered running downstairs to get my dad, or just simply waking her up, but I decided not to act on impulse, and wait until morning before anything happened.

I laid myself on the mattress, the back of her fuzzy blue head facing me, with strands of rainbow hair flowing down to the pillows. I slowly began to relax.

I reached out to get the light, a little too aggressively. She smacked her lips a few times, and then made movement with her body, her entire back rested on my chest, as she returned to sleep. I could feel her warmth, and tips of her wings touching my chest, and I was too scared to move away.

There I was, for the next thirty minutes, trying my best to fall asleep, with a fuzzy, blue creature, leaning into my chest. Her mane smelled like rainy winds, as I drifted away.