Seeing Is Believing : The Whispering 1 (2 page)

The book dropped from her hands a moment after
the gasp. The fear in her eyes quickly turned to anger.

"Who the hell are you? And how did you get in
here?"

Bruce gazed around the room a couple of times to
look for the person Meg was talking to. It then dawned on him that
she was staring straight at him. He felt an odd sensation as he was
used to people looking through him.

"You can see me?" he asked.

"Of course I see you! Now get out before I call
the police!"

"Oh boy. Look, there is a reasonable explanation
for all this. Well... not so much reasonable as more... say...
fantastical. But I promise that there is an explanation and that I
am not at all a bad guy-"

The porcelain lamp that had survived a close
call during an unapproved indoor baseball game a few years back
became a throwing weapon. Bruce missed catching the lamp with his
face by mere inches.

"I hope that wasn't expensive." Bruce said.

A considerably less expensive but hard-covered
book was the next object hurled at him. It made a fairly sizeable
dent in the wall.

Bruce winced at the realization that the dent
could have very well been made in his skull if he hadn't been fast
enough to avoid it. Thankfully, Meg had run out of things to throw.
Unfortunately, though, she was moving towards him with a look akin
to an angry mother bear's.

"Hey look, you're cute when you're angry and all
but I really think we should both relax here."

Meg replied to Bruce's comment with a punch to
the gut. Bruce stumbled back with a gasp of shock and crashed into
the bookshelf. Tony came running in to the sound just in time to
see Bruce slide down amid some fallen books and Meg going for her
cell phone.

"Get out of the house, Tony. I'm going to call
the police."

"Meg! Meg, stop! He's my friend!"Tony grabbed at
the phone, managing to knock it away.

"Tony!"

"Meg, please! You can call the police but they
won't see him. I am the only one who is supposed to see him and no
one else!"

Confusion was a natural and proper response to a
situation such as this, and Meg was certainly confused. She most
likely would have called the police anyway if Tony hadn't seen
the
Friends
Indeed
book and picked
it up.

"Did you read the poem out loud?"

"She certainly did," Bruce said as he slowly got
to his feet again. "Didn't even know anything would happen because
of that, though."

Maybe it was all the coincidences. Maybe it was
the oddness of the book. Or it may even have been Tony's desperate
look. But something told Meg to consider this whole situation at
more than face value.

"Wait. Isn't Bruce the name of your imaginary
friend?" Meg asked.

"She pays attention. Ten more points there,"
Bruce commented. "And five more for the fantastic throwing
arm."

"It's the same Bruce." Tony said. "He's an
imaginary friend."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I beat up an imaginary
friend."

"And I can't believe you threw a lamp at me.
Nice gut punch, by the way," Bruce said.

With a cold compress pressed to the back of his
head, Bruce sat on the couch in the living room. Tony looked more
concerned about the bump forming on his head than Bruce seemed to
be. Meg was still trying to make sense of all of these.

"So... what are you supposed to be? Some kind of
superhero? I mean, I thought imaginary friends were more like
unicorns and talking butterflies."

"I'm a librarian, actually. At least I am
according to Tony. Thankfully, it seems about right. I do enjoy a
good book," Bruce said.

"Not many kids think up a librarian as an
imaginary friend," Meg commented.

Bruce chuckled. "True enough. But then I suppose
I'm thankful for Tony imagining me as I am. I could have been
something like a purple kangaroo. I imagine that wouldn't be as fun
for me."

"Hmm... that would be a problem. Considering you
would be a male kangaroo and you would have no pouch to store
things-which would be the single best reason to be a kangaroo,
after all."

"Exactly what I'm saying," Bruce said.

Tony smiled as Bruce gave him a supportive pat
on the shoulder.

"Either way, I am what Tony wanted. So any
behavioral problems you can blame on him."

"Hey!" Tony cried.

"I'm kidding, kiddo. Just kidding."

Bruce took the compress off long enough to feel
at the back of his head. He winced and quickly reapplied it.

"Can imaginary friends be hurt at all?" Meg
asked in concern. "I mean like, can I give you a concussion?"

Bruce stared into space for a moment as he
thought the question over. "I actually don't know. Here's hoping I
can't. It's not like there is a hospital that can treat me if I
do," Bruce replied. "But I can tell you we can get headaches. At
least I can."

Meg couldn't help but feel a bit of
responsibility for the headache. "I'll get an aspirin. I mean, if
you can actually take one."

"Make that a whole bottle. No wait. How about a
whole bottle and some tea if you have it?" Bruce called out to Meg
before she left the room.

THE CANISTER OF loose tea leaves was fairly easy
to find. Meg often had a cup during late nights and on nights where
a child had a bad dream or, at times, a memory. It was good to have
something soothing at those times.

More than one night had been spent with her and
a child sitting at the table as she drank her cup of Jasmine green
tea and the child, oftentimes, hot chocolate.

After setting up the dented metal tea pot, she
took out her favorite purple mug and a less favorite mug with a
picture of a cardinal painted on the side.

Tony stepped into the kitchen, just as the tea
was almost finished steeping.

"Everything okay in there?" Meg asked.

"Yeah. Bruce is whining a bit but he's fine,"
Tony said.

He fell into a short silence before biting his
lip slightly and asking a question.

"You're okay with Bruce, right? You're not going
to send him away?"

The look of worry was etched deeply into Tony's
face. Each of the creases was a picture of his fear-a picture that
Meg did not want to see again if she could help it.

"Bruce is fine," she said. He's very pleasant
and I will certainly say he has a sense of humor."

"Is he staying?" Tony pressed.

"I don't see why he can't stay. As weird as it
all is, I don't think sending him away will do any good. Besides,
it's not like the neighbors can talk."

Tony was smiling again, the relief he was
feeling clear on his face. He hugged Meg quickly before running off
to let Bruce know the good news.

As she started to pour the tea into the mugs,
she could hear the excited chatter from Tony in the living room,
something she hadn't really heard much of from him before.

That reason alone was enough to let Bruce
stay.

"SORRY. I'M NOT going to bring you the whole
bottle of aspirin," Meg said, as she entered the living room with a
tray carrying the tea and aspirin, along with a mug of hot
chocolate for Tony she had made as an afterthought. "I don't feel
like accidently killing anyone, imaginary friend or not."

Bruce shrugged before taking the offered mug.
"Fair enough," he said before taking a light sip of the tea to wash
down the aspirin. "This is pretty good."

"I thought you hated tea," Tony said.

"Well, this tea doesn't taste like flavored
water like it does when I make it," Bruce admitted. "I didn't think
it would be that hard to make tea."

Meg chuckled lightly at the comment. "It's not
exactly as easy as boiling water and leaves. But I can show you how
to make good tea if you like," she offered.

Bruce sipped at the tea once more before
answering. "If you can show me how to make it this good, we have a
deal," Bruce said.

Tony watched the scene silently now. The fact
that Meg was more than accepting Bruce was great. Bruce getting
along with Meg was just as good. As friendly as Bruce was, he could
be picky about whom he actually liked as a person.

Many times, Bruce had something sarcastic to say
to people he didn't care for. The fact that he couldn't be heard
was a shield for him. Now that someone else besides Tony could hear
and see him, he had no shield to hide behind.

But it appeared, in this case, he didn't need
it.

That alone made Tony curious.

For once in a long time, he felt comfortable. He
was safe and actually happy. Bruce was great by himself and Meg had
been nice as well.

Together, though, there was a new dynamic. One
that got Tony thinking about something he had never thought
possible until Meg was able to see Bruce.

It would surprise Bruce that there was something
Tony had kept secret from him all this time.

There were times Tony thought of telling Bruce
exactly what thoughts had been in his mind at the time he had read
the poem. But in the back of his mind, there had always been the
fear that, if Bruce knew, he would leave.

It was a foolish thought perhaps but Tony didn't
want to scare off the only friend he had in so many years, the one
who covered his ears when his father went on one of his drunken
rants. The one who made him laugh after a horrible day and the one
who told him stories to help him sleep.

To lose his friend would be to lose hope.

So that was why Tony never told Bruce that he
was what he had always wanted in a father. To Tony, Bruce had all
the important aspects a father could have. He was friendly, full of
humor, creative and protective. Even the librarian part of him had
come from something in Tony's life that spoke of safety and
contentment.

The library was where Tony would hang out for
hours on end. From opening to closing, he liked to sit among the
stacks. Reading a book and sketching in his sketch pad, he was
temporarily safe from reality and from his father. Adding in the
profession of librarian to his ideal imaginary father was only
natural.

Looking at them both now, he saw the only good
remnant of his past life in Bruce and the shine of a bright future
in Meg.

And maybe it was foolish to think this but a
part of him wondered if, maybe, there was a way to bring those two
things together.

Granted there were hurdles. Tony didn't know how
either felt about the idea of romance. And yeah, the fact no one
but he and Meg could see Bruce was a problem.

But there had to be some way around it. People
always said love would find a way.

Tony watched Meg and Bruce talk.

And he planned.

BRUCE ENDED UP sleeping on the couch that
night.

He insisted on it, in fact. That way, he would
be near Tony's room if there were any problems and he wouldn't have
to sleep on the floor, something he had been doing since the
beginning of his existence. So the couch was a nice change of
pace.

Even with the comfortable setup, Bruce didn't
fall asleep until Tony drifted off. Meg had a harder time sleeping
than Tony or Bruce. After all, it's not like she expected to
process all this sudden oddness in her life so easily.

A part of her wondered why in the world she had
agreed to let Bruce stay. As harmless as he seemed, there was the
element of the unknown in the home now. Meg was used to a bit of
the unknown when she was fostering a new child. But this was more
than she had ever handled.

Despite the thoughts running through her head,
sleep did come, eventually. And, though she preferred to be up
before noon, it didn't hurt to sleep a few minutes past noon.
Still, she felt a little guilty about it so, as soon as she got up,
she started on breakfast even though it was technically lunch.