While you were never
Ever in the places I would go
You never showed yourself
All those heart-felt conversations
Were with me and no one else
When I called your name
You never answered am I insane?
-Reel Big Fish, My Imaginary Friend

Posting rights reserved to Cows Go Moo and sweet_serender159

---

The moon seemed to be absent tonight with only the local streetlights illuminating the narrow sidewalk. Unlike the large metropolitan cities, this area was one without much of a nightlife and instead an uneasy silence that seemed allude to a greater danger. The wind seemed to whistle a warning as it blew past a young man and almost disappeared. Yet such a warning fell upon deaf ears as the male continued to walk around the sidewalk with his groceries in hand. He had been doing some late night grocery shopping due to a cramped work schedule and a touch of laziness due to his lack of time to relax. But alas, he was running out of food and didn't want to wake up hungry the next day. However, the man should have listened to his slothfulness and instead shop in the morning. The night was dangerous and it was dark.

"Oof!" Without warning, he was pushed to the ground and his groceries went flying all over the asphalt.

"Give me your money!" The identity of the mysterious assailant was a masked male with a switchblade pointing ready to stab his victim.

This victim, named Jax Reid, was not a strong man or a particularly brave one. In such a situation he would try to run away as quickly as possible, but he knew when he was cornered. "Well are you giving me your money or am I going to have to carve it out of you?" Grabbing the nearest thing to him, Jax threw an orange at the mugger, momentarily stunning him. Jax couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. And now he was going to die for it. Well unless a miracle happened...

Niya couldn't help but giggle a little as she watched the man push Jax to the ground, Silly boy! Always getting in trouble. He doesn't even need me these days! laughing she strolled up to the man with a knife in his hand and laughed as an orange wizzed past her head and struck him in the face. Clapping her hands she waved to jax but sighed when she saw his expression, "Must not be able to see me anymore. Pity." A mischivous smile spread across her childlike features which seemed to have not aged after Jax's parents made him forget her all those years ago. Tapping the man with the knife on the shoulder she giggled when he looked straight through her, terror planted on his face. A slight whisper escaped her lips and was carried on the wind towards his ears, "I suggest you leave now. Better yet I suggest you just leave the country. You never know when I'll be around to find you!" With another laugh she watched the man throw down the knife and look around him, a bewildered look on his face.
"Oh! I'm better than I thought!" clapping her hands again she blew on the back of his neck, purly enjoying the moment of fear in the man's eyes but her smile faded when the man turn and ran down the street with one last look over his shoulder. For a split second she could have sworn he had seen her, a small pale girl with long silver flowing hair and bright green eyes in a white dress standing lightly next to Jax but the moment left along with him. Rolling her eyes she looked back down to Jax and knelt down next to him an almost sad look on her face. She hadn't been following him for long and for the most part he hadn't remembered her or even crossed him mind in the last 10 years or so she had been gone for.

Blue eyes were still frozen, focused only upon his assailant. Jax simple couldn't look at anything else except for the danger right in front of him. It was happening all too fast for him! What am I going to do? What am I going to do? He closed his eyes for a moment and braced for impact...but it never came. Instead when he opened his eyes he found the man facing away from him and instead at...someone else? She looked so familiar, yet he couldn't remember who she was.

"Who are you?" he asked, "and...how come you feel so familiar?"

Niya clapped her hands and cried out in joy, "Oh so you do see me now!?" She giggled and helped Jax to his feet, "Okay well you don;t remember me but at least you can now see me." She put a pale finger to her lightly pink lips and looked to the left, "Hmmm, Well to answer simple I'm Niya. Buuuuuut," She dragged out the 'U' sound and looked back to Jax, light dancing in her eyes, "I'm sure the Psychologists erased me from your mind. So I might have to remind you a little more of who I am."

"Thanks," Jax said as he got onto his feet. Apparently politeness didn't take a backseat to shock. "Niya...Niya...Niyaaaaaaa....Oh!" Like a ton of bricks, an epiphany hit him. Images of all sorts flashed in his mind whilst the accompanying sounds flooded his eardrums. He remembered!...something. "Yeah, I remember my psychologists trying make me forget something, but I don't remember what. Care to enlighten me?"

Niya smiled huge when he said he remebered but than her smile faded once her changed track and repaced it with, "I don't remember what." She wiped a tray tear from the corner of her eyes wih the back of her hand and sniffed dramatically, "Well if I must. Do you remeber one time back in primary school when there was that little boy that always picked on your friend so you got someone to dump a whole lot of paint on his head in art?" She held up a hand in the air, "Yeah that was me." She hoped refreshing his emmeory with one of her favourite memories would help him realise who she was.

Tch how dramatic Jax thought with a smirk as she started to explain herself. "Yeah that's right. When I said it was Niya no one believed me..." Suddenly he connected everything. "Oh my god!" he exclaimed, eyes widening. "I can't believe you're back...I thought you were gone." He was stunned beyond belief at the fact that she was back. And now that she was back it raised the question of how exactly she did return.

Niya clapped her hands, the tears all but forgotten, "Yay! I knew you would remember!" She laughed, "Well it seems maybe your parents didn't do a good enough job of getting rid of me did they?" She giggled and for a split second it felt like old times with Jax, well before his parens went all protective crazy and got rid of her!

"Hah, it's not like they can get rid of what they can't see," Jax said, cracking a smile. The feeling of both nostalgia and relief washed over him as he started to remember Niya and the fun that they had together even outside of the times in which she protected him. "But, now that you are back I guess that we have a lot of catching up to do don't we?" he asked, "I mean, what did you do all those years that you were gone?"

Niya smiled, what had she been doing while she was 'gone'. "That's a good question! I have no idea!" She tilted her head to the side and looked p towards the left, "Last thing I remember was screaming at you to ignore the Pysychologists all those years ago and than POOF! I was gone. I don't really remeber what happened than but all I know was it was cold. But than for some reason I popped back to Earth the other day and saw you with that girl at that party." She made a face, "I thought I taught you better than to go for blondes?"

"I guess what matter is that you're here now right?" Jax asked with a laugh, "to tell the truth that day was kind of hazy. For some reason I couldn't hear you though. Maybe that was why." It was strange really how she simply popped up out of nowhere simply to save him, but it made sense in a weird sort of way. He supposed that it was how she first manifested so when she manifested here again it was fitting. "And hey! In my defense she wasn't a natural blond," he answered, "she was an experimenting brunette!"

Niya laughed, "Experimenting, natural, whatever! They are all the same!" She began to rock on her heels, "I was surprised when you couldn't hear me, I was yelling pretty hard."

{grrrr short post!!!!}

"Aye no judging people by hair color!" Jared chided as he faced her. "And you know, I'm pretty surprised too. I guess it had something to do with those pills that the psychologist gave me."

((xD It's cool))

Niya groaned inwardly. Those dreaded pills. For a while Jax had refused them and had found ways to dispose of them but soon, like all the others, succumb to the Psychologist's ways and reasoning. Well at least that what she saw as she watched silently from the corner with tears streaming down her face. Those were the days she was glad she could block his view of her, just so he couldn't see her look so weak. "But hair colour can make all the difference sometimes." She decided not to even mention the pills out of habit more than anything else.

Jax produced an orange pill bottle from his pocket and pulled out a single pill. "I've been running low lately so I had decided not to take any," he explained, "I guess it was good of me to do that huh?" He laughed at her comment and gave a conceding nod. "I guess that's true. I do find myself liking silver haired girls more than blondes."

Niya couldn't say a word and she felt her eyes grow large, "I do find myself liking silver haired girls more than blondes." She couldn't speak or hear over the hard thudding her heart was making. "Umm well, I guess it is good you aren't takingthe pills anymore." She could feel a blush coming as his previous words swam through her head. Looking away she couldn't help but nervously cough and looked at an orange that had rolled to her feet.

Yeah, we've established that. "Well then," Jax said as he started to pick up the groceries he had dropped, "how about we leave before any more muggers show up eh? I'd like to catch up with you more before you have to protect me for a second or third time." Before he could notice her blush, she had turned away and coughed, making him rather curious at what her expression was, but he decided to shake it off.

Niya smiled, "Okay agreed. And I don't mind saving you a few times. Beats what I was doing." She shrugged and smikred a little, picking up the orange she walked closer to him and held it out for him to take, "I think your missing one."

"Touche Niya," Jax said with a smile before looking at the orange that was handed to him, "I'm not sure I want that one though. It's got all those mugger germs on it." He was joking of course and grabbed the orange before gesturing towards Niya. He started to walk home, now with an old friend by his side.

Niya smiled, "Mugger germs aren't all bad you know!" She laughed and followed Jax down the street. It had been years since they had just walked home together. It began to feel more and more like old times to her, and it sort of scared Niya to how clsoe she really had been to Jax. Instead of him going to his Mother with a scraped knee or a 'boo boo' he ame to Niya. it wasn't like he was replacing his Mother with her it was more like she wasn't around to protect him everyday, whereas Niya had been. not because of the fact that she couldn't leave him because she was tied to his mind, but because she didn't want to leave him.
She looked at him from the cornerof her eye and couldn't help but still be shocked as to how old he eally had gotten, not that 24 was old or anything. He had really grown up without her. She couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness but managed to cover it up and push it deep within herself, so far deep in fact tht she could barely feel it anymore, but in the back of her head she knew that she was going to have to face it that he doesn't really need her anymore.

"That's a lie!" Jax protested as he walked with Niya behind him. It was a nostalgic feeling being with her as well as a relieving one. He had felt more at peace now than he had in years so it really was gratifying. She was his protector without being his mother or father. This protection wasn't overbearing or reminiscent of a cage. In a way she was like his sister, except...different. He felt closer to her than that. "Well looks like we're here!" he announced, as he unlocked the door and entered.

Niya smiled, 'I'm not lying." She giggled, "Okay maybe a little." Walking behind Jax she looked around his home and was shocked to see how well he really had done without her getting in the way. Well, it felt like that to Niya growing up with Jax. Her mischivous mind had always been a bad influence on Jax, even if she didn't admit it to herself.

"So how do you like my new place?" asked Jax. He kicked off his shoes and placed the groceries on the dining room table as he unloaded them before facing Niya. "You know I've always wondered," he said, "what would've happened if I never forgot you."