The Society of Imaginary Friends

Valerie awoke later in the night to the sounds of mumbled conversation coming from the balcony. She assumed that Cyrus and Thai were talking, but when she looked out at the balcony from the living room, she saw that Thai was alone. Behind him, the moonlight turned the sand and pyramids silver, deepening the mystery that surrounded them. Valerie heard him chuckle and say something softly.

Thai turned and saw that Valerie was awake. He jumped slightly, as if she had startled him. She joined him on the balcony and stared out at the view.

“You doing okay?” Thai asked.

“Yeah. I’m nervous, but I’m ready to go to the Globe. I wish you were coming with me,” she said, and blood rushed to her cheeks. She hoped he couldn’t see her blush in the darkness. “But maybe you have people you wouldn’t want to leave behind.”

“Yeah, that’s part of it. I’m close with my brothers and sisters—there are six of us. And since I’m the oldest, my parents rely on me to help take care of them.”

“That explains why you’re used to giving orders,” Valerie teased, nudging him slightly. “But how did you ever become involved with the Conjurors in the first place?”

Thai hesitated, and then replied, “I never thought I would want to tell my story to anyone—it’s too weird. But now that I’ve gotten to know you, I’ve changed my mind. I think you have the right to know.”

“I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t owe me anything. We’ve helped each other. I couldn’t have made it this far without you.”

“I want to tell you,” Thai said earnestly, and she nodded. “I was born in a small town in Vietnam where most people knew each other. Growing up, I did well for myself. I’ve got a talent for sports, and always did well in school. I was even accepted early admission into an American college with a full scholarship. That’s where my parents think I am now. They’re so proud,” he said with a wistful shake of his head, and Valerie could see how deeply he missed them. She experienced a pang of envy for his big family who loved him, missed him, and depended on him. If he left Earth, they’d never forget him.

“But a month before I was supposed to leave, I got really sick. I had a fever all the time, and my entire body was achy. The weirdest thing was that I kept hearing these strange sounds inside my head. I didn’t know what was happening to me, and I was terrified. I didn’t want my parents or anyone to find out because they would stop me from going to college. So I hid what was happening. I kept hoping that maybe it was some kind of weird virus that eventually I’d fight off. Some days seemed almost normal and I would convince myself that I was getting better.

“Then one night, I fell asleep and was having these crazy dreams. The sound of crying woke me up, but I couldn’t see anyone in my room or outside. And then my whole body started convulsing, and I realized that the crying was coming from me. I have never been so confused, and terrified, in my entire life. It was as if my body wasn’t under my own control, like there was something foreign was inside me, trying to break out.” Thai paused, then continued. “Now, Valerie, I need you to stay calm, or you’ll freak him out.”

Before she could ask what he meant, Thai closed his eyes. His entire body shuddered, and when he opened his eyes, she saw they had changed from dark brown to a soft gold. Thai had disappeared inside of himself, and the owner of these eyes blinked at her with wide-eyed confusion.

Then he spoke, and his voice sounded subtly different from Thai’s—more gravelly, like it hadn’t been used in awhile. “W-w-who are you?”

“Um, nice to meet you. I’m Valerie,” she replied, trying to keep the shock out of her voice. A shudder passed through Thai’s body again, and when he opened his eyes, she saw that the Thai she knew had returned. She breathed a sigh of relief as he examined her face. Then he nodded, as if he was satisfied that she wasn’t going to start screaming.

“His name is Tan. The night I got so sick, a Conjuror named Midnight appeared out of nowhere, and after explaining about magic and the Globe, she described what was happening to me. I’m an amoebiate. What I’m going through are processes called mitosis and cytokinesis. Basically, I’m splitting into two people. I’m making an exact copy of myself, like an amoeba. First, all of Tan’s genes are created inside of me, which is what is happening now. Right now we’re sharing my body, and sometimes he takes me over, like you just saw. But in a couple years, he’ll physically split apart from me, and we’ll have two separate bodies.

“There are a couple of others like me on the Globe, but no one on Earth for a pretty long time. When we’re fully separated, Tan will have the exact same genes as me—like a clone.”

Valerie shook her head in amazement. “What’s it like when he takes over?”

Thai gave her a small smile. “Weirder than anything you can imagine. It’s like being paralyzed inside my own body, which is really scary. But it takes a lot of energy for him to completely take over, so he doesn’t do it very often. When his genes are completely copied, we’ll physically separate into two people.”

“Will that hurt?” she asked hesitantly.

The muscles in Thai’s face tensed. “Yes. But it’s quick—the physical separation only takes a couple of hours. He’ll appear exactly like me, and he’ll probably act a lot like me, too. The separation isn’t the part the worries me the most, anyway. Until that day, as he gets stronger, he’ll be able to take control of the body we share, and it will be hard to hide what we are. We’ll have to live apart from everyone. Not even my family will be with me. I can’t imagine being totally alone for months,” Thai said, and Valerie understood the dread in his eyes. She knew how empty and desperate being alone could make you.

“Then you should both come with me to the Globe! You could always come back and visit your family.”

“We can’t. At this stage, the Conjurors don’t know if Tan would survive the trip. And I could never let anything happen to him,” Thai said, and Valerie heard the tenderness in his voice, almost like a father for his son.

“You care about him a lot,” she said.

“Yeah. At first I hated what was happening to me, but I’m growing to like him. He seems more like a person every day. One who’s even more scared than I am of everything that’s happening.”

“Can I talk to, um, Tan?”

“Not right now. He doesn’t have the energy to take over again.”

“Where will you go when he starts being able to take over your body more?”

“The Conjurors found a place for me in some remote part of South America.”

“That sounds so lonely.”

“It will only be for a year or two.”

“I’ll visit you both—all the time.”

Thai smiled and then yawned. “I’m counting on that. Now that Tan’s resting, I’m going to try to get some sleep. And Valerie? Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For not freaking out about this. You’re the first person I’ve told. It’s a relief not to be by myself in all this.”

“I know what it’s like to carry a secret alone, Thai. I’m glad that neither of us has to do that anymore. ’Night.”