Simon says
Once more, young nine-year old Mickey woke up to the furious arguments of his parents. They were constantly fighting each other over the smallest most insignificant little things. He was tired. He was a very smart little boy and knew perfectly he had nothing to do with those arguments; he wouldn't blame it all on himself like other kids would. But he felt he could find a solution to their problem... to his problem. It was then, on a heavy-aired saturday morning, lying in bed alone, with the lights off and the door closed, feeling safe behind the shield of doubt (because he was awake, but nobody knew about it; it was as if he was invisible: he was there, but nobody could see him or bother him) that he realized they didn't fight that much when he had friends coming over, when they were in the presence of company. Mickey had the good luck of being charismatic and he decided that each day he would have one of his best friends over for the whole day and for the night. Then, they'd wake up and go to school together.
For a week, it worked. Mickey was happy and spending more time with his friends. But the parents started worrying about the little boys and wouldn't let them go everytime. On those days, there was fighting again. Mickey decided to expand. He would invite not only his best friends, but almost everyone he knew. Of course, most wouldn't stay the night, so there was some fighting in the morning. However, by week three, his parents started to worry about him and the frecuency of this invitations. That lead to the amazing fact that some mornings they didn't argue, but had breakfast calmedly, talking about what could be wrong with his son, sometimes even diverting from the subject and laughing.
But although Mickey was very friendly, and everyone who got invited to his house had a great time, people were starting to refuse his invitations, and anyway Mickey had gotten tired of having to host for someone every single day. He stopped the invitations and tried to think of a new solution. For a couple of days, he couldn't, and the arguments came back. He had to hurry before all his work became worthless. And so, another desperate morning lead him to the perfect solution. He didn't have to invite a friend over, he could just make him up.
So, he would say he had somebody over, but never show him or her to his parents. He claimed to be embarrased by their parents' concern and that they would mock him over his parents showing up and asking if everything was alright or if they needed something. They believed him, since they had already seen so many friends coming over for the last two months, but their concern over his kid grew. This concern lead to even fewer arguments, and ultimately, to the stealthy mission of finding out what Mickey was hiding. They concluded Mickey had an invisible friend. And then, their concern reached a huge maximum.
Six years later, the arguments had almost totally disappeared. Only the inevitable ones remained, because couples always fight. Michael realized it didn't take him so much effort to imagine his friend anymore. It was as if he really existed. The family got tired of therapy after almost a year and they told them that this imaginary friend would go away eventually, when he grew up. It didn't. Little Simon still was nine years old and every day he was feeling more and more like a person, like a member of the family. He had his own plate on the table, and everything. Michael had stopped demanding this kind of things when he was eleven, but his parents'd rather not disturb the fantasy in case Michael felt the need of defending or stregthening it. But, anyway, they didn't care. Simon had, in a way, brought joy to the family. They had calmed and happy dinners, they shared a lot of time together; they had become a real family. Michael's parents would not fight again like they used to in their whole lives, thanks to Simon.
When Michael had to go to college, he was scared and confused. He didn't know what he'd do for the rest of his life. He tried to push those thoughts aside and went to law school. He tried to lie to himself and hide the fact that he didn't like it. He was doing very good, he had lost of friends, but he hated feeling he would never do anything he'd like. He was very good at convincing people and arguing the cases, but he didn't enjoy it. He wanted to do something else with his life, but he didn't have the courage to change. Simon was the one who convinced him to do the right thing. He had the fortune of having someone who knew him even better than himself. He would drop out of law school, no matter how much of a fool he'd feel and no matter what they'd think of him, and he would study to be a comic book writer or a normal book writer. The worst part was that he wouldn't have a college degree, which apparently made him worthless. He was willing to prove them wrong.
Thanks to Simon, he became a succesful story teller in almost all formats. He had written comic books, graphic novels, small theatrical plays, a televised animated series and the script for a fairly good movie. His parents were proud and finally could stop worrying, and felt liberated. He was good at it because he had talent for finding solutions to problems and so created stories starting off with a problem and following up with an elaborate solution. But, on the other side, Simon had made his loving life almost impossible. He hadn't had many girlfriends because most of them fled to the mention of an invisible friend. He was angry that they wouldn't overlook such an insignificant detail. After all, he had much to offer. It was a problem he was failing to find a solution for. He tried to hide the fact that he had an invisible friend, but sooner or later he felt the need to share him, or to reveal his secret. He felt he shouldn't lie to them or that they weren't worth having to hide it from them. Of course, he could just get over his invisible friend. But that thought didn't cross his mind twice. Simon wasn't just an illussion, he was a person. To erase or forget about him was to kill him.
And then he met Lily. He realized then that the problem was not his imaginary friend, but the fact that he hadn't found the right person, until that moment. Lily didn't care about Simon and could see beyond that. She told him that for their sake, they kept him a secret from everyone else. Michael was already doing this. As happy as he was about Simon, he didn't tell anyone about his existance, because they'd think he was mad.
Lily was great. Michael enjoyed every single minute they shared together. She not only tolerated Simon, but asked about him. Once, during breakfast, she asked him to draw a picture of him, so she could see how he looked like and so she could imagine him too. Michael had never thought about drawing him and, using the skills he had learn to make comics and animated series, he did it almost perfectly. That gave him the idea of making him a character in his comic book series. That way, he could tell the whole world about him without telling them he was his imaginary friend.
In their late twenties, Michael and Lily decided to have children. They tried for two months, but they didn't succeed. They didn't care. They tried further, but then they had to face the fact that they had some kind of problem. They took fertility tests. Michael was afraid. He thought Lily would leave him and he would never have a girlfriend again since he was sterile and had an invisible friend. Simon comforted him and convinced him of the opposite. In the end, he wasn't infertile; Lily was. They embraced the possibility of adopting with arms wide open, but the burocracy of it was exhausting. It was getting on their nerves. And then, the arguments started. They had been warned about the fact that the process of adoption could tear them appart, but they felt so strong about their relationship they didn't give it a second thought.
Michael laid on his bed without being able to sleep. He wished so much for them to have children. He was hating everything about his life now. Lily moved beside him. She wasn't able to sleep neither. She might have been thinking the same as him. They were desiring it with all their hearts. They wanted children. They loved each other.
Then, they heard something. Lily got up of bed and got scared. Michael said he'd go and find out where the noise came from, and tried to calm her down. It wasn't the safest neighbourhood, so both of them had good reasons to be afraid. The noise was coming from the bathroom. The light was on. Michael's heart was beating furiously in his chest. He grabbed a stick to hit whoever had broken in. He looked inside and was stopped in his tracks. The toilet was flushed and it alarmed Lily, who went to the bathroom.
-Look, I did it on my own- he said.
-S... Simon?- asked Michael-. H... How?
-I don't know. You created me. You created me from pieces of personality of your friends when you were nine years old and then later you kept making me real. I didn't tell you anything because I wasn't sure, but I could feel you were making me real. I still existed when you were asleep instead of disappearing of this world with your consciousness and reappearing again when you woke up, like before. And I guess now, with the help of Lily's imagination, you both brought me to full existance... Daddy.
Then Lily arrived and recognised him at once from Michael's drawings.
-Simon? Michael, what is going on here?
-Mum, dad- said Simon and ran to their legs, holding one from each one of them in each one of his arms.
-We are parents- said Michael and hugged Simon back.
It took some time to adjust, but luckily it was a short time. They ignored the weirdness of it all because they were so very happy. To the rest of the world, they had finally managed to adopt a child. Simon was a blessing. He was nine years old but had a more advanced mind, since he had accompanied Michael for so long. He had an extended vocabulary and a vast knowledge for his age. However, as far as maturity goes, he must have been around only thirteen in his mind, because he hadn't experienced life directly. Michael couldn't believe how lucky he was to have Simon, and Lily felt the same with Michael. They all grew to be a happy and healthy family. Sometimes, they were worried that Simon lacked something human and wouldn't always fit in, but they seemed to have built him perfectly. He even had teenager fits and a full emotionally messy adolescence, which targeted the wickedness of his origin, of his birth. Luckily, Michael and Lily could solve the crisis very efficiently, without the help of a therapist, who they were forced to do without since they couldn't reveal the truth; therapists would think they were all mad. Simon was, in every aspect of the word, a person.
