"Matthew Hamming's new movie, Esmond Schrimshaw: Hippo Wrestler, just came out and I was wondering if you'd be interested in coming along with me to see it?"

"If you're buying, then of course, child," came the playful reply over the phone. Jessica knew that Sammi not only got free tickets, but could have a friend along with her who would also get in free.

"Alright, Jess, I'll be there in ten."

"Ready in five, Samantha dear," Jessica told her (Sammi had never told her that Samantha wasn't her full name, that her name was just plain, boring old Sammi).

Sammi hadn't been fond of Prison for Dogs, but Matthew had been very nice to her after her monologue, so it seemed like she should see his movie. Besides, what excuse would she have for not having seen it when she inevitably talked to him again? Besides, it would help her to see a movie this afternoon because that would keep her occupied and stop her from thinking about the prom tonight and how she didn't have a date and that she would therefore have to attend all by herself. If Pyro had been around, she might have just stayed in and watched television with him, but he was still MIA and it was just too pathetic to stay home sulking alone on prom night.

Since the movie didn't seem like it was going to be very good, Sammi had decided it would be a good idea to have some company along.

Sammi got in her jalopy and drove to the highrise where Jessica Talon lived. It was the first time Sammi had actually been to Jessica's home. Even though she was waiting outside, Sammi had her first doubts. The place seemed darker than the buildings around it. And Sammi got a long time to look at it, because Jessica was not as quick as promised. In fact, Sammi waited for over an hour before finally giving up and driving away. She'd missed most of the movie by then, and just watching the end was a little unfulfilling because it didn't really make any sense without the set up.

Worse, when she exited the theater, Sammi found she had a text from Jessica, who said the outing had been a terrible idea and if this was Sammi's idea of fun then she should just attend the theater alone in future. Sammi was confused and hurt. Jessica hadn't even come, and Sammi had gone alone in the end.

She tried to call, but Jessica was mysteriously busy all of a sudden. Sammi didn't have time to try and argue with her, because it was time now to go home and hurriedly dress for prom, then wait for the limo to arrive and take her to the school. Sammi wanted to look her best. After all, her crush was there, and she happened to know that he was currently unattached. Maybe tonight was her night.

Once she was all gussied up, Sammi felt that it would have been nice to chat with Pyro. He probably would have complimented her hairstyle or something. Instead, she was stuck talking to Kyo.

"How do I look?" she did a little twirl before the bird.

"Broken hearts and fire go hand in hand," Kyo replied, then angrily added, "Raccoons playing in the trash. Bad," he chortled to himself and shook his beak, "Bad."

Raccoons had a habit of knocking over the trash outside the window, and Kyo didn't like them. He would often shout at them from his perch to go away (mimicking how Sammi told Pyro to go away) and also told them they were very naughty (along with other, more colorful words).

Before Sammi could respond, the limo honked its horn and she was rushing out the door.

The prom was an unmitigated disaster.

Sammi hadn't noticed when she'd been gussying up just what a horrible thing she'd done with her eyeshadow. She caught sight of herself in the mirror near the entrance and was horrified. She looked like some freakish clown from the future. Before she could duck into the bathroom and fix it, someone started laughing at her.

Infuriated, she turned on them, "Mind your own business!"

"Go back to the big top!" they taunted, "I hear they're hiring freaks!"

Next thing she knew, she was in a knock-down-drag-out fight with a perfect stranger.

The dress she'd picked out stood up to it somehow, but unfortunately so did the makeup. There was nothing she could do about it. Swallowing her pride, hoping her crush would take pity on her, Sammi approached and asked if she could have a dance with him. He didn't even reject her, he just acted like she wasn't even there! Offended, Sammi got angry with him. It was her second fight of the evening.

At the end of night, over the sound of her protests, Sammi's picture was taken and she was handed a copy of it already printed out and neatly framed. The bruises didn't show, but now this one makeup mistake was documented for all of time. She wanted to get rid of the picture, but did she really want to throw away the only tangible evidence that she had been brave enough to attend prom in the first place?

Heartsick and miserable, Sammi called a taxi and went home.

"Sul sul!" Kyo greeted her, then announced, "Chensasheru," whereupon he began to sing.

Sammi walked past him without a word. She just wanted to go to bed, and try to forget this day ever happened. That night, she dreamed again of going on a date, this time with her crush. At the end of the date in her dream, she threw a drink in his face and mocked him for his good sense of humor.

The next morning, she was still angry and wanted to skip school. She had no mother, nobody could stop her. She could stay home and work on her understanding of chemistry all day and nobody could do a thing about it. Because she wanted to, it was exactly what she did.

While she was angrily working on developing a new potion (preferably a terrible one she could later throw at her crush), Sammi noticed Pyro stroll in through the front door. She ignored him. She didn't know where he'd been, and right now she just didn't care either, she didn't want to talk to him.

When she stopped for a bathroom break, Pyro attempted to engage her in conversation, but she blew him off and resumed her work until she finally produced a sparkling orange liquid. She didn't know what it was, but she decided that it was worth keeping anyway.

Seeing her pause in her work, Pyro immediately moved forward to talk to her.

"There was a fog up in the hills this morning," he began.

Angry, no longer wanting him for a friend, Sammi said, "I don't care about the fog, Pyro. And I don't care whether or not you liked it. In fact, I'm sick of you, and everything about you!"

Pyro announced (for the millionth time) that he was leaving. That did it.

"If you want to leave so much, then you should just go!" she threw the beaker of orange liquid at him, and then took a shocked step back as a change began that she had not expected.

Pyro seemed momentarily alarmed, but then more fascinated as sparkles began to dance in the air around him, and then purple smoke rushed in a swirl around him. Pyro looked at Sammi, and waved. Then he disappeared in the plume of smoke and popping sparkle bubbles.

In awe, Sammi saw that her imaginary friend, that ugly doll her mother had so hated... was no longer imaginary... and no longer ugly either. He had brilliant eyes of blue, a sort of comical dust-mop of purple hair with deep red tips. His soft skin was a just a little bit darker than hers. He was... human. It was amazing, of course, but Sammi was in no mood to be amazed.

"Now," she said, "you can leave."

And then -because she wanted to- she went to Smuggler's Cove and swam in the ocean. Somehow she didn't enjoy it as much as before. As she was jogging home after her swim, Sammi suddenly realized that she was no longer a child, or even a teenager, and that night at prom was the last time she would ever have to see the inside of a school. When she got home, she realized something else. Pyro had taken her advice, and now he was gone.

There is nothing preordained about the life of an Imaginary Friend. Once, not even all that long ago, Sammi had wanted with all her heart for Pyro to be a living entity with whom she could converse and play tag. There is magic in the heart and will, and it was this unrecognized power within Sammi herself that had brought life to Pyro. But because such forces are at work in granting a wish, it is no easy thing to undo. Just because Sammi no longer wanted Pyro, it did not mean he no longer wanted her or that he would simply stop existing just because she told him to go away.

Just because a thing springs from one's imagination, it does not make that thing unreal or false. Once given life, Pyro had wants and dreams and needs of his own, just like any person. Only by taking the final step to setting him free was Sammi finally rid of him.

This time he was gone for real.

But what was she to do now? Even her graduation ceremony didn't clear it up for her. She was somehow valedictorian, and also received the ribbon for most likely to have a big family. But who was she to have a family with? Her teenage crush was clearly never to be realized, and she had just gotten rid of the one man who knew her the best by ordering him out of her life. She decided to ask the Orb of Answers, but it refused to tell her anything about her job or any potential true love she might find, or if she would be rich.

What it did do was advise her to become a vampire.