Hope no-one minds me dragging this thread up again...

First of all - hello. This would be my first post here.

Secondly, I wish to tell you the story of my imaginary friend. I'll do so from the beginning so that you get the best idea possible as to what this character is for me.

Throughout my childhood, I was the the victim of relentless bullying. The bullies would make fun of my voice and annoy me because of it, and "friends" would eventually start doing the same thing. This only applied at home and not at school, where my friends were friends, and the only bullying I really got was from a teacher (yes, a teacher), who did things like tell me I was stupid, claim my brother (who was a former pupil of hers)b was stupid, and grab you by the hand and drag you across the room to show you things etc.

Anyway, I braved the storm and came out the other side without as much as a scratch. Little did I know that what I experienced was only just the beginning. Enter: High School. I was incredibly unpopular - being made fun of, being assaulted and generally just not liked very much at all. I as oblivious to most of it, going as far as to ask out the most popular lassie in the year when I was in my third year, which on one hand I got compliments for, but on the other, a few found fun within it. From first to fourth years, I had a group of friends which changed over time, as some of us grew distant, some left, others grew closer etc. but come 4th year, some of these "friends" were clearly ashamed to be seen with me, ducking and avoiding me in the hallways and the like when I tried to speak to them.

But that wasn't even the worst. 5th year saw a repeat of my childhood bullying - being made fun of for my voice. It started of fifth one person, then into a small group, before expanding to cover nearly the entire year and the year below us. Somehow, my extreme un-popularity plummeted to an even lower depth. The bullying was extensive - I recall being shouted after at a school assembly (where somehow the staff didn't seem to hear it), a song being sang about me at my lunch hour when the group saw me, and again so-called "friends" doing the same behind my back. I spoke to teachers and parents, who by all accounts, were pretty much powerless given the circumstances.

So, where does my imaginary friend come in?

Well, I decided it best one week to skip school and avoid the bullies. Being a railway-lover, I would go to a station on the busiest railway in Scotland and watch the trains. One day, I encountered someone whom I had known from school earlier, and when asked, I shyed away from the "hiding from bullies" fact to a "waiting for my sister" excuse. It should be noted now that I have no sister. I just told this guy that to avoid stating the downright truth. This "sister" would actually become my imaginary friend - she would be a year or so older than me, so that she could provide the protection, warmth, friendship and love that I was so desperately in need of. I think creating this character saved my life in some fashion - not that I was ever going to commit suicide, but in a way helped me realize what direction I should take.

It's been five years since that last bout of bullying, and yet, I have kept this sister around. I continued my education in colleges on the other sides of Glasgow, so I never had .much chance of developing friendships that had any real chance of lasting when classes finished. It seemed like the only friend I was destined to have was this sister character. I grew to love her in that fashion, but have always been fully aware that she is imaginary.

Last summer, I went through a period of loneliness. I say period - it felt more like an entire age, actually. Say from August to February. In that time, having this imaginary sister helped sometimes, but at other times reinforced the fact that I had no friends. I would imagine that she would cradle and comfort me, joke with me and hug me. Intent on overcoming this loneliness, I spoke to my university counsellor about this sister character, and she responded with words to the effect of "I think that this is a very normal reaction from someone who's lacking the social and emotional support, and I can understand that it's going to be hard to remove this character when you have nothing else to replace it with." I have at times tried to get rid of this character, only to welcome her back with open arms when I feel like I need someone to love.

I'm lucky, though. Throughout this experience, not once have I ever considered her as being real. My experiences have pushed me into the field of psychology, which I am entering my second year at university next week. I've relocated to the campus near my home in hopes that I can finally work on a social life and build more stable friendships. Basically, the future's bright for me, I hope.

I know now that this imaginary sister has been a coping mechanism to help me deal with my troubles. There was a period of about 4 years where I felt all was fine in my life and this character was still there, however. But yet again, I was younger then and felt that I would over time build friendships and eventually meet that special someone.