Only Figments

The day they met she stood paralyzed, but his smile appeared while her lips only quivered. She breathed too deep and quick when she had all the air in the world. It has come to the day, they meet.

“Lucy,” he spoke first with his thick accent clinging to every letter. She had no intentions to even move, her simpleton mind still processing. “Lucy, are you okay?” He noticed the tears filming over her eyes, she was retreating, she didn’t know it would be like this. This huge leap, this stranger she knew everything about. Best friends for nearly four years, he was nothing more than imaginary, before today. He saw it now, what she did when she could not comprehend the world, all those times she disappeared without a word, it was this, and he knew he had to stop her before she locked herself up once again. She would be gone within herself and no one would know when she would come back. With the most gentle care he bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist, no matter how many times she had claimed she was big or fat, she was still small in his arms and she was still fragile. When he lifted her, her eyes popped. It was true she was terrified of being lifted. She held fast onto him, her feet helplessly dangling only a couple inches from the ground, but she was torn from her trance. She just wanted to survive this small gesture, which relieved him.

“Jake,” she whispered with the most fragile voice, “I’m afraid.”

He understood, not the fear of being lifted but of his presence, of their presence. He understood because he was afraid too, they were only figments to each other, until now.