My "friends"

Okay, so I've already mentioned Liam. I thought I might say a bit about more of the imaginary friends my mind has collected over the years.

Since you already know a bit about him, I think it would be best to start with Liam. As you (should) already know, I met Liam when he was just a baby badger, abandoned at the edge of the playground. When I took him home I asked my parents if I could keep him. My Mum flat out said no, but I managed to change her mind with the combined power of nagging and blackmail. Yeah. Not my finest moment, but at least I gained a friend. Such a cute friend too! He spends most of his time in the garden nowadays, eating and ... other things. He's made a bit of a mess of the trees, but it doesn't bother Mum and Dad, since they can't see it, and it doesn't harm the trees either. By some miracle, my parents have managed to dodge his latrine. The close calls are quite amusing to watch, though.

I take him inside at night. He's got a pile of blankets in the airing cupboard that he sleeps on. Sometimes if I forget to change them he drags them out himself and tries to put them in the basket. But I'm losing my train of thought, or speech, or text, or whatever. I'll introduce the rest of my "friends" in a minute.

I'd just like to point this out first: over the years, my hallucinations have changed quite a lot. Every now and then one of them will disappear, or a new one might arrive. (This post will describe the personalities that are currently resting in my brain, and are subject to change as time passes.)

One of my longest-lasting friends is a boy named Pete. Strangely enough, Pete has aged mentally, but not physically. He's had the body of a six-year old since I met him, but as time's past he's matured at the same rate I have. Although he's one of my oldest friends, we have several differences. For one, he likes pop music (and hates that I don't let him keep up with the charts), whereas I am rather more - shall we say unorthodox? - in my own tastes. For another, he hates reading (I don't even know if he bothered to learn). But we have a shared history, and he isn't picky about what films he watches, so he's a good companion.

Somebody who doesn't make such a good companion is (I'm almost embarrassed to admit this) Brainy Smurf. Luckily he doesn't hang about a lot. Usually he just pops up if I'm not feeling particularly happy about something, most often with a snarky tone and a self-important statement. He's been around for about three years now, ever since I caught an episode of The Smurfs on the telly. I didn't regret watching the episode (it was a good episode), but then Brainy started showing up. At least I'm not the only one who finds him irritating, though. Whenever he says anything he is greeted with a chorus of "Shut up, Brainiac!" from whoever's around at the time.

Another one who drops in occasionally is Susan. Susan is almost like an alter-ego of mine. She lives within my head, and sometimes decides to step into the world. Most of the time it's only her voice though. She's the same age as me, and she shares most of my interests. Where we differ is our perceptions of the world. Susan is generally pessimistic about society, and people in general. If she were ever to gain proper form then she would probably end up being a suicide bomber or something - just so she could take people with her. Surprisingly though, she often points out the beauty of the natural world to me. I remember a time we were walking through a forest and she rushed over to look at ants crawling over a log. I never would have noticed them if it weren't for her.

- I've just realised that this post is very long, so I'll try and wrap it up.

Susan started out as just a pessimistic voice in my head, possibly resulting from my experience of people (and dragging me into depression), but since then she has developed a personality and a face. I think that, possibly, she grows more substantial as my outlook brightens, reflecting our separation.

There are a few others, but these are the main ones. And since I've started college I've become busier (this took me almost week to write). I find it funny that, while I've been writing this post, I've begun the process of making some real friends. More about that later, though.

Ciao!