Okay, my first fanfic! Praise me! Just kidding. I'd love to have reviews, especially ones that include constructive criticism. I wanna know how to write better, so tell me how!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
The imaginary friend looked up from what she was doing to read the clock. Ami will be getting out of school right about now. Lynn smiled. Her best friend would be home in a few hours. She returned to her latest project; a scrapbook of all the memorable times she and Ami had shared. When they had put makeup on Dad while he was napping on the couch, played dress up with Mom's good clothes and jewelry then spilled cherry kool-aid on them, made tents with blankets all over the house, buried treasure in the backyard(only to dig it up again two days later)...Some pictures made her wince from remembering the repercussions of their actions, but most made her laugh out loud. She was so caught up in reminiscing that she failed to hear the front door open.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Lynn jumped with surprise. "Ami! What're you doin' home so early? Are we gonna do somethin', or are you just here to pick up somethin' and leave again?"
"Yeah, I'm here to pick up somethin',"
Lynn's face fell a little.
"So get in the car."
Smiling from ear to ear, the little imaginary friend did her best to contain a squeal of joy. "Really? Where're we goin'?"
Ami didn't answer. Instead, she went through the door and back outside. Lynn chased after her.
"Is it a surprise?" she asked.
"Mmhmm," the girl answered.
"Ooh, surprised are great!" Lynn chattered excitedly. "We haven't done anything like this in forever!"
The two got in the little slightly-banged-up dark-green car. Ami had bought it from her cousin's used car lot. After a few minutes of looking out the window, Lynn broke the silence.
"So...How was school today?" she asked. "Andrea give you any grief?"
"Nope."
"Scott talk to you?"
"Yep."
"Well?"
"Nothin' important."
More silence. Lynn didn't have a clue as to why her creator was acting like this. Usually, Ami was talkative and couldn't wait to spill the latest goings-on of her day.
"You all right?"
"M'fine."
"You don't seem like it..."
"M'fine." Ami repeated.
Lynn decided to shrug it off, hoping that her friend would return to her normal self once they got to wherever they were going. She turned the radio on, then grinned as she recognized the song playing.
"Hey, remember when we made a music video of us dancing to this song with your Dad's camera?"
The girl smiled a little. "Yeah," she said quietly.
Ami pulled over and parked next to the sidewalk. The first thing Lynn saw was the big, black gate, then the huge Victorian house behind it. It looked kind of familiar...
"Where are we?" she asked as they got of the car and walked through the metal gates.
Ami didn't reply. Then Lynn remembered.
"Oh, this's that foster home for imaginary friends I saw an advertisement for. What're we doing here? Are we gonna get a friend for your little cousin, Tammy? 'Cause I know her birthday is comin' up soon...Or are we here to visit someone, or volunteer?"
Ami shook her head and gave her a strange look. "No, we're not here to adopt, visit or volunteer."
"Then why? I can't figure it..." Then Lynn stopped and stared at her, mortified. Ami, seeing that she finally understood, stopped too, and started to turn back.
"You're not...Leaving me here, are you?" Lynn choked out.
The girl took a deep breath. "I am."
The imaginary friend's head swam, and she felt dizzy and sick. Her entire world seemed to come crashing down.
"Why?" she croaked in disbelief.
"Well..." came the hesitant answer, "I'm seventeen now. Most kids would've given up their friends years ago. When I'm not at school or with friends, I've got a job. I'll be going to college in a few years, and like you said, we rarely do anything together anymore..."
"I don't care!" Lynn cried. "You don't have to leave me here, we can still be friends! Please don't leave me!"
Ami started for her car.
Tears burning her eyes Lynn ran after her, angry now. "You can't just throw me out like some dumb toy you've gotten tired of!" she yelled, voice cracking. "Just because I was imagined doesn't mean I'm any less real than you are! I have feelings, Ami, I care. I love you! I can get hurt, just like you're hurting me now!" she sobbed.
Ami climbed into her car, shut the door and began rolling the window up. "I'm sorry," she said, and started the car.
"'Sorry' doesn't cut it!" Lynn shouted, tears streaming freely down her face. She pounded her fists on the door. "'Sorry' doesn't make things better!"
Ami turned and looked ahead, then stepped on the gas pedal and pulled away.
"Doesn't eleven years mean anything to you?" Lynn screamed as the only friend she had ever had sped away, leaving her in the middle of the road.
She stood there for a moment, watching the road swallow up the only life she had known. Lynn looked over at the house beyond the now-open gate, wiped her eyes and sniffed. It seemed even bigger now, more frightening. She didn't want to go in there. But as much as she wanted to go home, that just wasn't going to happen. Ami's driving away had ensured that. She was faced with a choice: live at this foster home, or live on the streets. Hardly a choice to her. She hated the feeling of not having a say in her future. She trudged slowly, miserably, towards the house that had once looked colorful and friendly, but now seemed dark and looming. Shuffling her feet, the abandoned friend looked at her surroundings. The tree she saw brought back a memory of when she and Ami climbed the tree in their front yard to prove to the neighbor boys that girls could be just as tough as boys. They had both sprained their ankles when they jumped down, and Ami's mother took them to the hospital, worried that they had broken something.
Lynn looked down at the cement and remembered when she and Ami were running on the driveway. Ami tripped and knocked out her two front teeth; her first baby teeth she had lost.
Her gaze wandered to the flowers that instantly reminded her of when they had planted a bunch of flowers for Ami's mom on her birthday. It was a sweet gesture that had gone awry after they found out she was allergic to them.
Lynn and Ami had gone through so much together and created so many memories...She wanted to hold on to every one. She wondered, tears filling her eyes again, how her friend could so easily forget them. Why did life have to be like this? Why was it so unfair?
By now she had gotten to the top of the stairs and was standing in front of the double doors. She knew that by going through those doors, she would totally leave her old life, the one she loved, and start a new one, into the unknown. The thought scared her, and she felt a deep longing for something, anything familiar, but there was nothing else she could do.
Steeling herself, Lynn slowly reached up...
And knocked on the door...
Of that big, Victorian house.