Tommy

         Mary went through her box of keepsakes. This was the day that she was going to clean her attic. And she had to do it before she went to the Christmas party tonight with her friends. They had decided to get together at Shannon’s house and celebrate the holiday season before life got busy with sparkling apple juice, music, games and laughter. Mary shook her head and chuckled at her friends. They could get really crazy at times. As she went through a trunk of memories, she came upon the letter, the letter that had changed her life forever. She sat down and opened the yellowed envelope.  Looking at the words, Mary started to remember everything as if she had just been there in that stage of her life.

        Mary laughed as she sat talking to Tommy. Tommy had been her friend since childhood. He always there as her father beat her mother, as her father beat her. He was never around and when he was, he was abusive. He was mean, and took everything they had and left them. It was just her and her mom. Then one day when her father came home and got drunk and started beating her mother, he didn’t stop. He always stopped after a while. But he didn’t stop this time, Mary watched as her mother looked her in the eyes and smiled through each blow. Then she closed her eyes and stopped breathing. Mary shook her head looked at Tommy.

     “What’s wrong Mary?”                                                                    

     “Nothing Tommy, please, I want to hear the rest of your story…”

       The phone rang and Mary jumped up. “Hello?”

      “Hi, Mary, it’s Shannon. What are you up to?”

      “Oh, I’m just cleaning the attic. I was going through the trunk Shannon, and I found the letter.”

       Shannon heaved a sigh. She remembered how her friend had suffered all those years ago. “Hey remember how you would talk to Tommy and throw a fit when I denied he was there? That was funny huh.” Shannon chuckled, and listened as Mary laughed.

   “Yea that was funny wasn’t it? I was a little crazy back then.” Mary laughed as Shannon said,

   “Not any more crazy than the rest of us honey.” Shannon paused before continuing, “You’re still coming tonight right?”

  “Of course, I have been looking forward to this all week!”

   “Good. I’ll catch you later then…bye.” Shannon waited for the click of her phone before she hung up. Shannon leaned back in her chair and lost herself in thought.

     Shannon watched through the window of the mental institution as Mary sat on the edge of her bed with her head tilted to one side as if she was leaning on someone’s shoulder. She was talking and looked happy. It was Tommy. Mary had imagined him when she was young. He had been an imaginary friend, an older brother to look after her in a lonely cold world. She felt safe with this pictured relationship. As she got older he became more of a reality to her. She would hallucinate him being there. And now she couldn’t tell that he was only a figment of her imagination and not really there. She lost her grip on reality and he became her reality. She was stroking her hand back and forth in mid-air, as she laughed about something. People laughed as they walked by. She was so lost that it was comical to watch. She was everyone’s personal entertainment. Shannon slipped the letter under the door and walked away.

   Mary watched as a letter flew to her feet from under the door.

  “What’s that?” asked Tommy.

  “It looks like a letter.” Mary opened it and began to read it. She laughed. “It’s a story.”

 “What is the story about Mary?”

 “It’s about a man, and he thinks that this girl is a real. But she’s only in his head. But he thinks she’s actually there. It’s really funny. Listen to this, ‘Ben was crossing the street with Amber, when a truck came speeding toward them, Ben watched in horror as it headed toward Amber. He ran and jumped in front of the truck and rolled just in time out of the way, as the truck came rushing by. “Are you ok Amber?” Ben asked. He watched as she shook her head.’ Mary laughed, and then they just continue walking as everyone watches this, isn’t that funny Tommy."

  “Mary.”

  Mary looked up. With a sharp intake of breath, she understood the meaning of the letter. “Is this me?” There was no answer from Tommy. She kept talking to him, but he was gone. “No….this….no…it’s not true, right Tommy?” But there was no answer.

    Shannon shook her head and came back to the present. After that letter, Mary changed. She no longer talked to Tommy, and she got herself into counseling and worked out her issues. Eventually she was released from the mental institute and attended Shannon’s church and came to Christ. She was a new person. She was back, and now they looked back and laughed about, and praised God for the change that he had done in her. Shannon smiled and got her house ready for tonight.

   Mary shook her head and giggled. It was funny to her now, but it had seemed so real to her at the time. And she couldn’t conceive that Tommy wasn’t real. She was thankful now that he wasn’t. Mary finished cleaning her house and got ready for the party. At exactly 4:30pm, she got in her car and drove the fifteen minutes to Shannon’s house. She always came early to just catch up with her real best friend before the others arrived. Marry parked her car and went and knocked on the door.

    Shannon opened her door and greeted her friend with open arms, “Mary! Come in and warm yourself by the fire.”

   “Thanks Shannon, I brought some sparkling apple juice for you.” Mary handed it to Shannon.

   “Thank you Mary, that was thoughtful of you.” Shannon set it down on the table and turned back to Mary who stood there smiling at her. “What?”

   “Thanks for everything Shannon. Thanks for being there-for being real. Thanks for being my Tommy.” Mary laughed.

   Shannon wrapped her arms round Mary. “You welcome Mary.”

  Later that evening as Rita was telling jokes, Mary watched with a smile on her face as her friends laughed, once again shaking her head at their craziness. She said a prayer of thanks to the Lord for her real friends and laughed at Rita’s facial expressions.