Not every child has an imaginary friend. Often times imaginary friends are born out of some level of necessity, to fill a gap. It doesn’t mean the child was abused, it might just mean the child was creative enough to make something to achieve a certain want.

I’m one of those imaginary friends. I’m not a ghost or a spirit, not a manifestation of an angel or a demon, but the figment of a child’s imagination.

I have no limits and I go unseen, and one day I shall fade into nothing more than a memory.

You’d think I wouldn’t have control over myself, but to be honest, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

You see, imaginary friends aren’t just made to fill something a child lacks, but to protect.

When the child does not actively think about you, you are still there, fighting off little sprouts of poison. Some imaginary friends don’t have to do that, some on occasion, and others... well, let’s just say imaginary friends don’t always succeed.

The darkness born in a child’s mind, either from trauma or genetics, is what we fight off when no one is looking, it’s what we help to distract the child from. We are there for the child when no one else is, we are there when they have no one to turn to. We might be physically capable of anything in the eyes of a child, but far from emotional and psychologically everything. We are a cushion, a shield, something to reflect and evolve in the eyes of a child as they traverse a world not in their favor. We don’t do anything more than stand beside the child to hold their hand and keep them entertained.

Not every child has an imaginary friend, and for those children I pity.

But we are all different, some don’t need imaginary friends, others aren’t capable of having imaginary friends, and some aren’t allowed to have imaginary friends.

They all have their baggage, but imaginary friends are always trying to be there for them.

Someday they’ll grow up and remember us as nothing but childish hallucinations, and with that think something is wrong with their own children, telling them not to have an imaginary friend.

Imaginary friends are either born out of creativity or loneliness or some combination of the two. If it’s the later that means you can’t stimulate a child enough, and that’s your fault. And if it’s the first one, I beg of you to let them grow their creativity. Too often parents will destroy a child’s mind for the sake of conformity, and then a whole plethora of terrible things come swinging in that I and no imaginary friend is capable of handling on our own.

So, that brings me to my question for you: Why do you think I exist?

Was I born of creativity? Boredom? Trauma? Take your pick. At this stage in my existence it doesn’t mater, it all blends together under the eye of ignorance. You might think you know better, but that’s you. There’s still seven billion other people and too many of them want to stay unaware.