Emma ran down the sidewalk towards her best friend Cora’s house. Her and Emma had been best friends for as long as she could remember, probably their entire lives. 12 years is a long time!
As Cora came around the corner she saw Emma standing at the end of her driveway with a couple of girls Cora didn’t recognize. The each had their bikes with them and they were huddled in a tight cluster. Cora stopped running when she saw the girls with Emma. She felt a pang of jealousy as she slowly walked towards them. Emma was her friend, but suddenly she felt like the outsider.
“Hi Emma,” she said, trying to grab her attention away from the girls.
“We should grab slushies,” one of the girls said. She had her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and she had both glasses and freckles. Instantly, Cora hated her. Both her and Emma had always wanted glasses and freckles. It was so unfair. “I got my allowance this morning,” she said, “And I’m dying to spend it.”
“Sure,” the other girl said. She was tall and towered above the other two.
Emma looked sad. “No thanks. You guys go ahead.” She start to pull away from the group. Finally, she would have Emma to herself.
“No way! What’s wrong?” the girl with freckles asked, pulling her back by the elbow.
Emma scuffed her toe against the pavement. “It’s just, I don’t have money.” She said.
The girls laughed. “That’s okay,” the girl freckles said. “I’ll pay for yours and you can pay me back when you get your allowance.”
Emma shrunk further away. “I don’t get an allowance,” she whispered.
Neither did Cora. They didn’t need an allowance. They had always had fun for free.
“That’s okay,” said the tall girl. “I’ll just pay for it. You have to come!”
Emma perked up. “Really?” she asked breaking into a huge grin.
“Wait,” Cora said, as the girls hopped on their bikes. “Can I come?”
They acted like they couldn’t hear her and hopped on their bikes and speed away.
Cora’s eyes welled up with tears. She let her bike drop to the pavement on the driveway and sank down into the grass. It wasn’t fair. She was so busy feeling sorry for herself that she didn’t notice old Mrs. Decker walking down the sidewalk towards her with another lady.
Cora quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand so they wouldn’t know she’d been crying. She didn’t need to worry, however; they didn’t seem to know she was there.
“It is so nice to see Emma with some friends for a change,” Mrs. Decker said.
Cora glared at her. What was she talking about? Her and Emma had been inseparable for years.
“Oh, I know! When I think back on when her mother died. The poor dear didn’t talk to anyone for an entire year. I thought she was going to be a mute!”
“But even when she did start talking again, all she ever talked about was Cora, Cora, Cora.”
Well, of course she did. They were best friends after all.
“Who’s Cora?” the second lady asked.
“Her imaginary friend. I’d invite her over for dessert every now and then, and wouldn’t you know I always had to set out two pieces of cake. Of course, Emma would eat them both.”
Imaginary? What a load of crap! And Emma was doing her a favour! Cora didn’t like those nasty cakes so Emma would eat it for her so they wouldn’t her Mrs. Decker’s feelings. But, now Cora didn’t care a bit about her feelings. How dare she call her imaginary!
* * *
The above story I wrote from a prompt I found on the instagram page: _writing.prompts.re
“You’ve been with your best friend for as long as you can remember Earlier in her life, she used to be a very lonely kid, but recently she’s slowly begun to become popular. Others would talk to her, but often ignore you. One day, to your shock, you finally realize that you’re actually just her imaginary friend”
I’ve always enjoyed stories where things aren’t what they seemed at first.
Scrambled Narratives 