Today’s short story challenge is from an image I found on Google. I got an idea and ran with it, I hope you enjoy!

The Forgotten Friend

It’s a strange feeling. A state of limbo, somewhere between existing and not.

But that’s the life I was born into, an everlasting uncertainty, no promise of tomorrow, just the errant thought of a young boy.

It started when he was three. Like most young boys he loved cars, had hundreds of them stacked away in the house. Though the majority were in his room, tidied away in to toy boxes, it wasn’t unusual to find them in unexpected places. One of his favourite hiding places was between the sofa cushions, waiting for an unsuspecting bottom to sit on them.

There was no denying, Tommy loved his cars.

The Christmas after he turned three, I was born. Hidden in the pile of presents waiting for him when he woke up, was a race car driver. His racewear was made from the finest leather, rows of neat hand stitching at the seams. His helmet was a glossy black, shining in a way that was only achieved when something was really new. His gloves sat snug on his fingers, almost rubbery to touch but a key element in the completion of his outfit.

Now don’t go getting the wrong impression, I was not that doll. However, my existence required the idea of that doll, the imagination of a little boy and the sheer will to live.

Mr Racer soon became Tony the Speedy. Unbeatable, highly skilled and competitive and the very best friend of one Tommy Michaels. He played with the doll at an given opportunity, sat with him at meal times and hugged him close at bedtime. Tony and Tommy became quite the dynamic duo and as such, Tony became ‘real’.

A child imagination is a wonderful thing and a powerful tool. In their minds they can create the most magical of beings, fear the scariest of monsters and befriends those that don’t exist. When Tommy believed in the friendship that Tony gave him, I emerged. An exact replica, invisible to all but him. But real. I was so real.

Soon, there was no doll that occupied the chair next to Tommy at the dinner table. I sat in the unoccupied chair, I was served my own dinner and his parents spoke to me. When it came to playtime, we whizzed around his room, making our own car noises, becoming champion racers. At bedtime, although there was no room in the bed for two of us, I lay on the floor and kept him company until he fell asleep.

We had a good deal, Tommy and I.

Over the years, things changed a little. Instead of the racewear, I got upgraded to astronaut, after that an explorer, I even spent some time as a swashbuckling pirate. Our games changed and our dreams grew together. But we were still best buddies. Even when he played with the other boys and girls in his school, he made sure to include me and his friends accepted me as part of their group. Only one or two could see me though, the ones that truly believed.

Nothing lasts forever though and the older Tommy grew, the less he remembered Tony the racer. The old doll that was once a prized possession was shoved to the bottom of a box, long forgotten. And the real Tony? He went along with the toy. With no one left to believe in me, I was dying.

The last time I saw him, Tommy was gone. In his place was Tom. Tom who was thinking about the pretty girl in his class, the chances of his football team winning the league and the prospect of his future after school.

My friend was gone.

It’s a strange feeling. Almost a state of limbo. The feeling of knowing you exist and yet having no one to believe in you.

Until next time,

Lisa x