ILLUSIONS

"I'll take it!" 

I was excited to be buying a house. 

Twenty-one with a fun job, big dreams, and most importantly, a best friend who was moving in with me. 

Charlotte and I had big plans. Get out of our stupid small city, come up with a brilliant business idea and take over the world. Simple!

I walked into that new house with determination. In addition to living here, we would also be using some of the house space to run our business. The place was beautiful and spacious with an adorable little backyard. 

"We should probably think of getting a pet once we settle."

I moved to the bedrooms, upstairs. All big, all full of character, one more than the other. 

"Charlotte would love that room. "

I moved my stuff in and began to settle. Unpacking the small bags I had with me as I waited for the moving truck to come with the rest of our stuff and for Charlotte to show up.

The day moved on pretty slowly. The truck came and Charlotte was still a no-show. I called and texted but there was no response. Night fell and she still hadn't reached out to me. I was worried but not too worried. She could handle herself. She was the reason we left our old city. She got too out of control and 'ruined' our small and humble choices. Something about not having a fallback. She claimed, she was too big for a small place like that and I went along with it. She needed me so I indulged her. 

Two days later still no sign of her. I had finished making our house a home and only one room remained empty. Charlotte's room.

In a week we would have to start work, create a workout area for Charlotte's kickboxing class, create graphics, and come up with ways to make our safety whistle app work. She still wasn't here and hadn't reached out.

I sighed.

"Not this again," I was used to talking to myself at this point. I swallowed a pill. It always calms my racing mind and gives me a sense of fake peace. Fake peace is still better than no peace at all.

I moved like a very determined zombie for the rest of that week. I set up the kickboxing space. I started on designs for the app and even came up with the idea of creating safety keychains to sell as merchandise. The TV droned on as I sat on the floor with my laptop, barely listening. I knew, vaguely, it had something to do with the phasing out of old drugs.

"Knock knock."

I would know that sound anywhere. Charlotte had come home finally. I ran to the door and flung it open.

"Where the hell have you been? I have been worried sick!"

I yelled as I stepped aside for my fate sister. She had the nerve to smile.

"Relax Kev, you would not believe what I have been up to."

I know I should have been more upset but I just didn't have it in me. I was tired and the amount of relief that flowed through me when she walked in drained almost all of the little energy I had left plus Charlotte was my soulmate, we were alike in so many ways but different in so many more, we weren't two peas in a pod, she was the pea in my pod. I tried to protect her even if I did always do a bad job at it.

"Tell me, where did you go?"

She heard the defeat in my voice and set her things down.

"Are you alright? Have you been taking your medication?" I nodded. I had to. Of course, I knew this would make Charlotte very unhappy. She said that my meds were bad for me, that they changed me, and that she couldn't stand to be around me when I took them. She had been saying that for most of our life and every time I offered to go get checked and see if I was getting better or if the medication could be changed, she freaked out and told me the medicine was a lesser evil because she could always come back.

"So, what did you do that was so unbelievable."

"I got us a meeting with Keys and Apples!"

I just stared at her. I had no idea what she was saying. 

She chuckled, "They are the leading tech firm in this place. They can help us get the app off the ground."

"Oh! Perfect."

"The only problem is we can't go for the interview together. We never close anything when we're in the same room."

She was right. "You should go, be the face, I'll be the brains." I smiled. I was OK with it. I always was.

After our catch-up session, I led Charlotte to her room where she immediately fit. I knew the energy of the room would match hers. She fell asleep even before she finished setting up her room. The inside of my mind roared and begged for fake peace but I ignored it, my peace was currently knocked out and drooling.

The days went by and business was booming. The kickboxing was going well and we had lots of customers, the key chains were selling out and our app was in its beta stages. Charlotte never left again. 

Everything was as I had hoped it would be.

Charlotte was there with me. In our busy house, with our busy lives, together. I had long thrown out my medicine. Turns out the old drugs were causing hallucinations in most users. Doctors suggested that people using said drugs were to go for new meds but Charlotte said I was doing a lot better. That I didn't have to go for any check-up, so I didn't. She stayed by my side throughout. Together forever.

Little did Kev know, that room she loved for her friend remained empty. That Charlotte was nothing but imagination and a way for her to cope with being by herself.

Completely and utterly alone.