Chapter 1

You know that feeling when you wake up and don't remember where you are?  I was feeling exactly that, except, I had never been in this place.  That's the only thing I can call it, a place.  There was nothing I could really distinguish.  It was all one mass, somehow, all one dull brown, undulating mass.  It almost looked like strokes of paint, a paint-stroke world.

Although I felt quite alone in this place, there were people everywhere, sitting, standing, wandering silently.  There were no groups of people:  They seemed like they didn't even know there was another living thing near them.  

"Love, where are we?" I whispered.  Love's what I call my girl.  It's her middle name, honestly.

There was no reply.  I spun around.  For the first time in sixteen years, I was completely and utterly alone.

Love, my girl, no longer needed me.

I fell to my knees and cried.  For a long time, that's all I did.

I'm imaginary.  I'm what is known as an imaginary friend.  Contrary to media, imaginaries are quite serious.  One imaginary to a child.  It is their child, their imaginary.  No exceptions.  There's a special connection between his or her imaginary.  Such a connection cannot be recreated and only broken under extreme and rare conditions.  

My name is Aemy.  My girl, Love, is perhaps the most perfect child for an imaginary.  I am not just saying that.  I promise I'm not.  She has always had an amazing imagination.  She talks to herself when she's really talking to me.  She's always had a thirst for adventure.  She will always be a child at heart.  The last time I saw her she was sixteen.  Most children stop having imaginaries before their tenth birthday.  Not my girl.  In fact, the last time I saw Love, she had lost faith in Santa Clause.  She is an amazing girl to believe in Santa until she was sixteen.  That's part of why I love her, why I love my Love.

I was always there, in some form.  She changed my image often:  I rarely stayed the same.  Love had made me look like everything from Native American cartoon princesses to wolverines.  The one I've had the longest was the image of a curious little princess from a book.  I have jaggedly cut shoulder length black hair, large green eyes, and pale, ivory skin.  Sometimes, I would be dressed in rags, others, in fine archaic silks, of course, depending on what Love decided or felt like.  I'm about ten, maybe twelve.  Well, I look ten or twelve.  Imaginaries don't really count birthdays.  We are not defined by an age.  We're imaginary.  When does a thought really begin?  Or are thoughts stolen and remolded clay sculptures?  An idea truly doesn't have a beginning or an end.  It just changes.  

That's my favorite appearance, though.  I always see myself as that green eyed girl.  Love sees me most as that green eyed girl.

I finished crying and just watched the other imaginaries for a while.  I was numb.  I had never felt so…alone.  I really, truly had never been alone before.  There was always Love.  What was I supposed to do?  I was waiting for something to happen.  Love was always having me in some wonderful adventure.  Except, Love's not with me anymore.

I stood and began to walk.  Nothing was going to happen unless I made it happen.  So, I started off, looking for something to do, someway to begin an adventure worthy of Love's imagination.

At last, after wandering through countless unfamiliar imaginers, I saw someone I knew.  It was a pretty little fairy with sunset wings.  I dashed to her desperately and hugged her tightly.

"Amber, I'm so glad to see you!" I cried.

"Caitlin?" she whispered.  "Is that you?"

"No, silly, it's--"

"It's time for a tea party, Caitlin,"Amber said, oblivious to my attempts to speak to her.  "All of your toys will be there."  She took my hand and led me to a few steps to the left.  "You'll be the guest of honor.  Everyone will adore you, Caitlin."

"Amber, it's me, Aemy,"I tried to tell her.

"Just sit, Caitlin, and make small talk.  No one will notice.  They don't listen anyway."

"Amber, stop talking like that."  Amber had never acted like this before.  She was usually very cheerful and down to earth, and now she was…oblivious to everything that had nothing to do with her own little mental world.  

"Don't be afraid."  Amber hadn't spoken then.  I turned to see a small boy, only about seven, behind me. He had blonde hair in a mess, curling just above his ears, and blue eyes that were more serious than a seven year old's should ever be.

"What's wrong with her?"I whispered, trying to make sense of all of this.

"Shock, denial, insanity.  Nothing new."  He was very matter of fact.

I looked back at Amber who was talking to something that clearly was not there.  "Who are you?" I asked the boy.

He smiled sadly.  "I'm afraid I've forgotten."

I frowned at him.  "How can you forget who you are?"

He chuckled.  "It doesn't really matter here."  He turned to leave.

"Wait!  What is this place?" I asked as I followed him.  I couldn't stay with Amber anymore.  She brought up too many memories, and her fate scared me a little.  

"It's the place where nothing has a place.  It's the Realm of Nothing."

"It's so sad here."

"It is, isn't it?"  He stopped and looked at me.  "You're new, aren't you?"

I nodded.

He cocked his head like a curious puppy.  "There is something weird about you."

"Oh?"  I blinked.  "Weird good or weird bad?"

He shook his head.  "Just different.  Do you remember your name?"

I was surprised again.  "Yes, I'm Aemy.  A-e-m-y, not A-m-y."

"That's pretty."  He pulled an ornate quill from a pocket, and he placed it in my hand.  "Write it on yourself.  Your name is so important.  Anywhere that you can see it will do."

I obeyed, scrawling my name up my left fore arm.  I've never realized how beautiful my name is.  I quite liked it in that writing that was a little bit more ornate than I usually saw my name.  I didn't write with quills.  My girl is an American and didn't know where to get a quill and ink, let alone how to use one.

The boy cocked his head again.  "Why did you put your name there?"

I looked at the letters.  "I'm right handed.  I couldn't write it on my other arm."

"There's something familiar about that."  His eyes were glued to my arm.  

"Okay."  I gave back the pen.  I moved my arm and noticed that the ink changed colors at different angles.  There were all colors of the rainbow.  It was pretty and made me smile.  I looked around and realized that there was no source of light.  There was light, no source.  I shuddered.  No sun.  Not good.  I couldn't say why not, but it just felt wrong.

"Aemy."

"Hm?"

"I think you need to help us?"

"Us?  Help who?  And help you do what?"  I was still disturbed by the fact that there was no sun.  I must've looked silly with my face twisted up at the sky of the paint stroke world.  

He pulled a large, bronze skeleton key from a ribbon around his neck.  "This has a place.  No one knows where or to what.  I just know that it will return the Realm to glory."

I smiled.  Finally, something to do.  I was afraid that I would be stuck wandering aimlessly.  "I'll take care of it," I grinned.

The boy studied me.  "You're weird."

"Thanks, I guess."  I smiled at him.  Even though he was a strange little boy, I liked him.  

He put the ribbon around my neck gingerly and almost reverently.  "Keep track of it.  If it ever falls out of your hands, all hope to find our lost glory is lost."

I nodded and tried to decide which direction I should start walking in.

"Aemy."

"Hm?" 

"If you would, could you find my name, too?"  I looked down at him.  He suddenly seemed like the small child he looked.

I smiled comfortingly,"my pleasure."

A wandering cloud of darkness engulfed him for a moment.  When it cleared, he was gone.

Reviews

[Jack Isaac]

[first impression] wow! --what an interesting angle! First line is great; invites the reader, keeps attention going, stays interesting. Gets a lot more interesting when you make the connection as to what an "imaginary" is. Nice mix of narration and dialogue. A few technical issues that I will over later on. Also, do you study Greek Mythology?

[StoryTailor]

I think this is a really cool idea.
It certainly caught my interest after only a few paragraphs.
I liked the scene that they were put in-- I kinda wished you could have described it more though-- the scenery I mean. ^^"
Other than that-- the dialogue flowed, the story plot (so far) is interesting. And even though you haven't really gotten your characters or plot developed I feel like it'll be really interesting.
Definitely something that I'll keep an eye on!