okay so I'm pretty aware this is long, and I took it in a really different direction than what this really was, but I hope you enjoy? Thanks for reading!
I watched from the corner of her room, cross-legged and frowning. She invited her frilly, pink dress clad friend into her -our- room. They didn’t notice me, not anymore. I stood up and sat on her lap, but she continued to set up her toy world for her and her friend to enjoy.
Carly stopped playing with me last year. She started ignoring me completely six months ago, after deciding she didn’t like me anymore. I couldn’t believe it. We’d been together since we were babies. Carly’s mom was my mom, too. She knew I was real.
I picked up a stray Barbie, thrown hastily aside. Her platinum blonde hair was chopped, and it stuck straight up. This was my Barbie. Carly knew it, but she let her friend throw it away because “her hair’s ugly!”
“She didn’t do anything to you, Gwen. Leave my toy alone.” I said. Gwen and Carly pretended they couldn’t hear me.
I left Carly’s room. I didn’t want to watch her and her friend ignore me anymore. Mom never did. Mom loved me.
I stopped in the bathroom on the way downstairs. I stood on tiptoes to see into the mirror. I looked at lot like Carly did; same mousy hair, same too-green eyes. My cheeks were thick and rosy, just like Carly’s, just like Moms. I was a lot smaller than Carly, though. I wasn’t growing at all like she was!
As I walked, I remembered Carly proudly telling Mom she was over her imaginary friend. Carly told her Gwen and the girls at school laughed when she introduced me, so she was mad, but now I was gone. I’m not gone. I’m here, and I’m not made-up. I’m just as real as Carly, or Gwen! I tried so hard to yell at her, to cry, but she pretended she didn’t hear me. I wanted so bad to show her just how real I was! I was a girl, a real girl, one with hair and nails and dresses! I had shut my eyes, and chanted to myself that I was real, that I would show Carly just how real I was!
In the living room, Mom sat on the couch with tea and a book of pictures. Her eyes watered behind her glasses. I plopped beside her and looked over her shoulder. They were pictures. Pictures of two little babies with pink hats, mouths open, crying. Then of a pretty field, with a rock in the grass. Mom traced her hands over the second, smaller baby, and the rock. She cried harder. I was confused. I tried to comfort her, but she didn’t hear me. I peeked at the picture that was so important that she would ignore me! Carly had taught me some words, so I could read with her.
Leah and Carly, 2009
Forever in our hearts, our baby Leah Anne. 2010
I tried hard again to be real, to comfort Mama. She ignored me, too.