Pick your friends wisely

I was an imaginative kid, and I think most of you were too. We treat imagination as a whimsical strength in our society; dreamers push technological advancements and cultural changes. It’s an abstract flow of thought that people don’t take literally, more as an inspiration.

Well, here’s a literal thought for you. In this world, imaginary friends are real. They form physical manifestations from thoughts—your thoughts—and, just like that, you’ve created something from nothing. Everyone can see it, interact with it, experience it, because it's really right there in front of you.

They are creatures not bound by our laws of science, physics and biology. Maybe your imaginary friend is a giant, flying, purple tiger. You could ride it to school! Maybe it's a cat with a fish tail. You could take it to the beach! How cute. And maybe it's a black shape that hides in your closet and gnashes its teeth.

Children from ages 3-10 can create imaginary friends, and all manner of person can see them. The friend sustains its life from the child; they do not eat unless the child specifically gives them the ability and desire to do so. The constant abundance of imagination and creativity of the 'host' child keeps the friend moving and existing. Friends only die when the child looses interest in them, and really, it's not so much as 'dying' as it is 'fading'. Up until the so called 'fade', the child is the friend's entire world. They support their child and care for them, like an animated teddy bear. They sleep and play and entertain, and when it's time for the child to grow up, they walk into oblivion with only a 'good-bye, thank you for it all'. Maybe they wave a little. Tears roll, hiccups come, and that's the end.

Usually.

What if the 'friend' didn't want to die? What if the 'friend' got jealous of the child's other people? Friends, family, teachers? It would assert itself, throw tantrums, scream and rip hair. A giant purple tiger loses its charm when it's all fangs and claws.

What if the child created the 'friend' accidentally?

We experience nightmares just as frequently as dreams. What if, in those few seconds when we wake up in the dark with limbs tangled in the blankets, wondering why the light is so far away and what's hiding in that space between our bodies and the floor, we create something alive. Alive, angry and hungry- the made-flesh version of our nightmares. What do you call imaginary 'friends' that want to gobble you up, spirit and all, because that's how you 'dreamed' it to life?

How could society function if parents were sitting on edge every night, waiting for their kids to create monsters? Maybe pharmacists would create a new drug to stop dreams, ending the nightmares but killing the inspiration for everything else in the process.

What about sadistic children? What if Ted Bundy, the serial killer who, at the age of 3, placed knives around his sleeping aunt just to see what would happen, lived in this universe? Suddenly things look a whole lot less like Clifford the Big Red Dog and a lot more like Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

But, children are resourceful. If they could create something by imagining it, they can use that imagination to stop it. Children can construct jails, holding containers, leashes, whatever they think of. They could even create another imaginary friend, a fresh one that doesn't have the ideals to rebel, to fight the sour one. A hero to combat the villain.