The Imaginary Friend

Chapter 1
Chapter 1

The quadcopter drone buzzed the tree canopy like an eagle hunting for prey. Aaron sat cross-legged on the forest floor, hunched over his controller, as high definition video streamed to his screen from the drone’s on-board camera. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just curious about what lurked way up there.

It was the solitude that stung him. He fancied himself a creator and tinkerer, talents which, a few years ago, made him one of the most popular boys in school. His high water mark came when he won a statewide robotics competition. But as his classmates got older, his hobbies were no longer considered cool, and he found himself dismissed and sidelined as a geeky weirdo.

He tried seeking out kindred spirits, and did chance upon a local drone racing club. But he saw little point in flying round and round a car park. More an explorer at heart, he felt a deep desire to push at the boundaries of his world, ever searching for a way to escape.

To that end, he modified his drones to extend their range and power, swopping over startled boaters far from the shoreline, and soaring above quilted clouds towards scarlet sunsets. And today, after reading about strange life forms at the crowns of giant coastal redwoods, he had decided to take a look for himself.

Piloting thru the leafy canopy turned out to be much harder than he expected. Without warning, there was a loud thwack, and the lights cut out on his controller. Cursing, he sprang to his feet and ran a safe distance from the tree, craning his head upwards to watch out for falling debris.

Much to his surprise, his drone floated down like a leaf on the breeze. There appeared to be something clinging to it. Dashing forward, he dropped to his knees and stared.

A tiny pixie was perched on the central drum, nestled between the rotors. Not much larger than a hummingbird, she was barefoot, disheveled and shrouded in a tattered green gown.

“Urm… hello?” he said.

“Were you trying to kill me with this infernal contraption?”

“No, no! I was just exploring. I’m really, really sorry.”

She studied him for a long while, eyes glinting.

“Why are you wasting your time here? Shouldn’t you be making more of an effort to ask her out?”

Aaron blushed. He had been infatuated with one of his classmates, but wasn’t able muster the courage to approach her. Ashley was thin and pale but sort of ethereally lovely, with deep black eyes and a lacquered brown ponytail. The other girls had warned him she was a little loony, but he dismissed that as simple jealousy over her looks. She did seem to be a bit of a loner, and on a few occasions, he had spied her talking to herself.

“How did you know…”

“Look, kid. Would you like some help?”

She traced a series of glowing runes in the air, spinning and weaving them until they coalesced into a silver trinity ring, which she handed to him.

“Put that on.”

“What does it do?”

“Grants you two wishes. Anything you want. But after you make your first wish, you have wait at least 100 days before making the second.”

She vanished, leaving him standing alone in the woods. He rubbed the ring with a mixture of disbelief and excitement. As bottled-up emotions raged through his body, he impulsively made his first wish.

The ground beneath opened up and swallowed him whole. Hurtling and screaming thru a fathomless, inky void, he lost consciousness as the darkness engulfed him.