Wishing for a Friend

The day Hide was imagined, he crawled out of a desk drawer, his towering form looking down at a wide eyed and ecstatic boy who took his hand and led the way to his backyard for an adventure.

Hide had grown comfortable with the suit his ward had imagined him in, the black butler attire with a matching top hat accenting his candy red hair. He hadn't understood the need for the eye patch, but his boy seemed to be amused by it, so Hide never complained.

For years the two were fearless pirates and explorers, had swam through the stars and danced across fields of butterflies. They held extravagant tea parties, inviting only the highest in society, including the magnificent Mrs. Kitty and Mr. Bear and Hide always had a seat at the dinner table. Each night while the boy lay in bed, he would stare, enraptured with Hide, who stood regal and elegant in the room's corner, telling fantastic stories of faraway lands they should venture to the next day.

Hide had never had a better imagining.

Then one day, the boy left the home and Hide was told to remain behind. Every day now, the boy would get up early and return in the afternoon, where he would explain to Hide he was simply too busy with 'homework' to play.

Hide would sit at the tea table, alone, waiting.

The boy never came.

On a particularly beautiful day that Hide had been spending staring out the bedroom window, the boy was going to the park and said Hide was invited. Excited, Hide held his hand out but the boy, always wanting to hold the man's hand while on adventures, walked ahead of him, no longer needing Hide's protective presence.

The gesture made Hide's chest hurt.

While at the park, the friend followed the boy across the lush grass, mimicking his jumps and rolls, the two laughing like they used to. While playing, a girl came from the playground and said hello to the boy. They instantly became friends.

Hide remained behind the boy, waiting to be introduced, but the boy ignored him. Looking up, Hide's eye noticed the man standing behind the girl, a similar, upsetting air about him. The second friend wore a fabulous, blue swallowtail coat with a pink and patterned shirt gathered at the wrists, holding a tiny, pink piglet in his arms that looked just as distressed as its master.

Moments later, boy and girl joined hands and skipped off across the field.

Hide stared at the left behind friend. "I've been abandoned," he quietly spoke.

"As have I."

"My name is Hide."

The man smiled slightly. "I'm Seek."