A lot of people have friends. Girls have friends�they like to talk together all the time, mostly about silly things like relationships and shopping. Boys have friends, too. They like to play soccer together, and joke around, pushing and shoving each other. But I don�t have a friend like that. Mine is special, and I love him. He loves me, too.
My friend�s name is Aru. He only comes out when it�s dark, so I�ve never seen what he looks like. Even so, I can tell that, most of the time, he is a little boy because of his voice. But when Aru gets mad, he isn�t a little boy anymore. He�s scary. His voice gets deep and raspy. He gets cold and fierce. I don�t like it when he gets mad. I�m glad he doesn�t ever get mad at me.
My family can�t see or hear Aru. They can�t feel him when he tries to touch them, either. They think Aru is my imaginary friend. They don�t believe in him. Ryou says, �What does Aru look like? How old is he, Malik?� I don�t know. Rakikai says, �Where is Aru from? Who lives with him, Malik?� I don�t know that, either. ProtoMan says, �How did Aru get here, Malik? Is he a human?� I don�t know that.
Sometimes, Ryou tries talking to Aru. He asks Aru lots of questions, and usually gets him very mad. Aru tells Ryou not to interfere, and yells at him loud. Once he even hurt Ryou, and Ryou could hear Aru when he said, �Stay out of our business, you pathetic, sniveling, little parasite!� I got scared then. I told Aru I was scared, and he never hurt Ryou again.
Aru and I play lots of games together. We play hide-and-seek�I usually lose because I can�t see in the dark, but Aru can. We play Marco Polo. We play Twenty-Questions. We can�t have races or play tag, though. We can�t play hopscotch or draw pictures. It�s too dark. I asked Aru why he couldn�t come into the light and do those things with me, but he just said that it didn�t matter. I was going to try to convince him that he�d be okay in the light, but he sounded like he was getting kind of angry, so I didn�t.
Whenever I�m sad, Aru always gives me hugs, and says in a quiet, serene voice, �It�s okay, Malik. I�m here�I�ll always be here.� He rocks me back and forth. He rubs my back. He wipes away my tears. Then, when I feel happy again, we play together.
I know nobody can see him. I know nobody can hear him. But it doesn�t matter. I love Aru. He is my best friend in the whole entire world, and you can�t change that. Because Aru won�t let you touch me. He won�t let you interfere.