Filling the Void

By Sorewahimitsudes

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Duh. It's called "fan" fiction, right? Means, I like it, but I am not the owner or creator. There.

Author Note: Ahh I have been gone too long. And since I've been gone, I've noticed that my writing style was pretty bad before. So I'm fixing this story up. Everything redone. Don't worry, same story, the rewrites won't take that long. I am so sorry about my absense and abandonment of this story, please forgive me!

I could never understand him. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying. I wanted to understand him. I really did. I wanted to know why he was the way he was. Why did he always have to be so mean to me? Why did he have to be so strange? Why did he have to be so... disconnected? He was always off in his own little world. He didn't have any real friends at all. There was that stuffed tiger though...

Hobbes, he called it. A very odd name for a stuffed toy. He took it everywhere when we were younger, ever since he "caught it". It was his best friend. I think he even believed it was alive. He and Hobbes had their own little club. They called it G.R.O.S.S. I forget what it stood for exactly, but it wasn't a great acronym. I think the last "S" stood for "girlS." Anyway, he and Hobbes would sit in their treehouse every day, planning how they would torture me.

I was the only kid in the neighborhood that he associated with. I was six years old, new to the neighborhood, and very lonely. I had hoped to have at least one friend. It never really worked out though. He was constantly tormenting me. Throwing water balloons at me; snowballs in winter; making fun of me, grossing me out at lunchtime, anything he could to scare me away. I think he was nice to me once. One day, I was walking down the street when I saw something. It was Hobbes. He was a bit torn up, and looked as though a dog had been chewing on him, but despite the dampness I picked him up and took him home. I had always wondered what was so fun about this stupid stuffed tiger, so I decided to have him play tea party with my dolls and me; I figured I could return it later. So, right in the middle of my tea party, Calvin comes along, "Hey Susie..." All of a sudden he's hugging me and saying "OHTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!" I guess he was happy that I had found Hobbes. I pretended that I didn't know it was his tiger so he wouldn't get mad at me for not returning it to him, I didn't want to ruin the moment.

Calvin and Hobbes. They were a team, and I was always the odd one out, no matter how hard I tried to get him to like me.

One day, something happened. We were in the fourth grade. It was a beautiful March day. I was all set, ready for whatever he had in store for me that day; a disgusting story about his lunch, a barrage of spitballs, whatever. I was ready. But Calvin never came. I assumed he was just sick, and at the end of the day I got his homework from our teacher, Mr. Screwtape, and went to his house. I never would have expected what happened there.

I knocked on the door, and Calvin's mother answered. She had dark circles around her eyes and looked exhausted and worried about something. She seemed more edgy than usual, but when she saw me her expression changed. She was happy to see me. Now, this wasn't unusual. Calvin's mother had always liked me; I was like the daughter she never had and wished Calvin had been. But instead of just happiness, the look was of relief.

"Oh Susie! Thank God you're here!" She said and pulled me inside.

"I came to give Calvin his homework." I told her.

"Yes, yes, Susie," She said urgently, ignoring what I had said, "I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" I wondered. My stomach did a flip and my heart sunk.

"Something is wrong with Calvin." She told me, "I need you to go upstairs and see if you can find out what it is and try to help him feel better. He..." she paused, "Well... He will listen to you."

"Um... Ok." I headed up the stairs, with no clue at all about what was going on or what I was going to do. I looked around and found Calvin's room (I hadn't seen Calvin's room before but it was easily recognizable, with signs that read "Calvin's Room, All Trespassers Will Be Eaten" and "Beware of Tiger" on the door.). The door was closed, but unlocked. I slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, and it creaked as I did so. "Calvin?" I said in a voice no louder than a whisper. The room was very dim; lit only by cracks of light shining through the nearly completely shut curtains.

"Susie?" Calvin squeaked. He was sitting on the floor by his closet, staring at his tiger, who lay on the bed. His eyes were red, and his face was tearstained. "Go away." He sniffled loudly and cupped his face in his hands.

I had never seen Calvin cry before, and the sight of it frightened me even more. Something had to be seriously wrong. I was certainly not going to just leave him. I knelt down beside him, and placed a shaky, but hopefully comforting, hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Calvin?" I asked softly.

He smacked my hand away and remained silent, emitting stifled sobs every few seconds, like he had the hiccups.

I was not about to give up so easily, "Calvin, something is wrong. Please tell me. I'm not gonna make fun of you or anything. I just want to help."

He looked up at me. I'll never forget that look. He looked... drained, like his soul had been sucked out of him. His eyes were puffy and red and dark circles were starting to form around them, I think he had been crying all day. Also, I sensed something different about him... a sort of loneliness. Calvin took a long shuddery breath and whispered, "There's something wrong with Hobbes."

I blinked. The tiger? All this over the tiger? What on earth could be wrong with a stuffed animal? But something told me I needed to take this seriously. After all, to Calvin, Hobbes wasn't just a toy. Hobbes was his only and best friend in the world. "What's wrong with Hobbes?" I asked Calvin, choosing my words carefully.

"He isn't talking to me. He's just laying there... Like a stuffed animal or something. Like he's not real. Like he's... dead." Calvin's eyes filled up again, "I think Hobbes is dead."

Hobbes was... dead? How could a stuffed animal be dead? I looked up at the tiger on the bed. Well... he wasn't moving. Wait, what was I thinking? He never moved. He was never alive anyway! Did Calvin truly believe that Hobbes was real?

I suddenly found my self in an embrace. Calvin was hugging me and sobbing openly. It was heartbreaking, it really was. I wanted to cry too, but I couldn't. I had to help Calvin. It wouldn't do him any good if I was crying too. I hugged him back and tightly as I could for a long time, rocking him gently, trying to soothe him. Despite the overwhelming sadness, it felt kind of good. I liked that Calvin trusted me. I wouldn't admit it, but I liked him hugging me too. I sort of wished he would be more open with me like this on a regular basis, that he would show his feelings to me more.

Calvin let go, almost hesitantly, as if he didn't want to or was unsure of it, and he stared back up at Hobbes. "What do I do?" he wondered aloud.

"If Hobbes is..." I hesitated for a moment, "...Dead... Should we bury him? Or something?" I wasn't too sure what people did when their toys/imaginary friends "died." That was all I could think of.

He got a pensive look on his face for a moment. Then he sighed, "No," he said, "Do you think you could take him?" I blinked. Me? Take Hobbes? "Take him to my house?"

"Yes. I don't want him anymore." Calvin sounded distant and detached. There was no emotion in his voice.

"Ok..."

We put Hobbes in a big cardboard box, and I took him home that afternoon, after giving a big hug to Calvin, who lacked the energy to protest.

I thought everything was going to be alright after that. Maybe Calvin and I would be friends finally. But by the next week, Calvin was sent away to live with his uncle Max. I didn't see him again until five years later....