I Will Always Be Your Friend . . . Always

Submission for IronAge Media's prompt "The Companion." Image from IronAge Media.

Hello friend.

You might have noticed me hanging around lately. You have? Were you pretending not to? Well, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I’m your best friend. The only one who really and truly understands you. I’ll always be your best friend. Always!

No one else can see me or hear me except for you. Even if they are right next to me, they’ll never know. Isn’t that exciting? You aren’t insane, don't stress about that.

Let’s have some fun. I know lots of fun stuff for us to do. Plenty of things you never thought you could do. But with my help, you’ll be doing them with no trouble at all. And if you are any good at them, no one will know it was you.

You’re worried? Don’t be. Everything is going to be fine, trust me. You know you can’t trust anyone else. But you can trust me. I’ll always listen, and I’ll always care.

Now, for our fun! First, I need you to get me some things. ‘What are they,’ you say? Well, if you had let me continue instead of interrupting, I would have been able to tell you. We’ll need some gasoline. Yes, lots of gasoline! Then we’ll need some matches. Good, big matches! While we’re at it, we’ll want knives. Lots and lots of knives! They’re fun!

What’s this? You aren’t sure? You don’t like the sound of this? Don’t worry, it’ll be fun, and you won’t get into any trouble. The knives aren’t for tonight anyway. We may never use them. But it is good to have something fun like that on hand.

Where can we get these things? Ah, yes, I’ve got it! You know that old lady a few houses down from you? Yes, that’s the one. She has all we need in her garage. You needn’t worry about it, I’ve already checked. You don’t need to hurt her, and besides, she has never been particularly kind to you, has she? She’ll come to no harm. It’ll be fine.

Go. I’ll wait.

. . .

You’re back? You got the stuff? Good. Is the old lady okay? You just knocked her down a little, but she’s fine? Good, good. She hasn’t been the nicest of neighbors, anyway. She deserved it.

Let me look. Yes, everything we need is here. Now, you know that old pizza place? The one that almost closed last year? That’s the one. Didn’t one of the employees insult you before they got fired? And you hate that place? Good, that’s just what we need.

There is something you should know. Someday I may disappear and never show up again, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be your friend or that I don’t like you anymore. It’ll just mean someone else needs me like you do. I will always be your friend, always.

Now, here is what you are going to do tonight . . .

The End,
God bless

So, what do you think it is? Is the person addressed crazy, or is this “friend” real? Or, is it something else?