Next morning, Meike woke up from just a couple of hours of poor sleep with a really bad headache to keep her company. She looked at the clock, 6:05 AM. Daniel was probably on his way of work so she was relieved she didn’t have to face him now, fighting in the morning wasn’t the best option for breakfast, especially when it was almost time for Leon to get up. And the thing she hated the most was to argue with his father in front of him.

She rose from her bed, stopped at the bathroom and then headed to the kitchen. She could smell the coffee recently made by Daniel and she smiled at that simple detail. Hopefully she would have a peaceful conversation with him later and they would set things up.

Meike prepared her breakfast and when finished eating, went to Leon’s bedroom to wake him up as well. He was a bit reluctant to get out of his warm bed but with a few tickles and kisses from Meike, he was wide awake with a big grin on his lips. He popped out of his bed and sprinted to the kitchen like a hurricane as the phone began to ring.

“Hello?!” Meike answered quickly and held the phone on her shoulder while serving some milk and cereal to Leon.

“Hey Mei, Hella here, how are you doing?” Meike grinned at Hella’s voice. She really needed to talk to someone and she was the right person to understand her.

“Heey!! Everything’s fine around here, just serving breakfast to Leon. What’s up?”

“Nothing much, I was just wondering… Your birthday is coming up so I figured you would want to celebrate somewhere special. We could go to…” Meike interrupted her.

“Oh, Hella, no, not this year.” She sighed. Hella noticed right away there was something going on. “My mind is all over the place now, I’m not exactly in the mood to have a party or celebrate anything, really. And it’s on a Monday, I hate Mondays!”

“Oh, really? So something really serious must’ve happened cause I’ve never seen you decline a party before, monday or not. Just tell me.”

“Well…I can’t say it right now but if you just come by later today, I’ll tell you everything. Can you step by to grab a coffee?”

“Okay, I’ll be there. I gotta go now Mei, see you later.”

“Okay, see ya!” she hung up and stood there, watching Leon eating his cereals happily.

---

“So…spit it out! What’s been bugging you?” Hella asked after taking a sip of her coffee cup. They were sitting in the backyard while watching Leon make his snowman blissfully.

“Well…Leon has a new friend. An imaginary one…” Hella stared at her clueless as waiting for the end of that sentence. Meike sighed, worried that this conversation could end exactly like it did with Daniel last night. “He’s a tall guy, about 1,90, has innumerous tattoos spread on his arms and…his name is Jimmy.”

“Jimmy. Jimmy…Sullivan?” she frowned. “THE REV?” Hella raised her tone and her eyebrows while Meike just nodded and noticed Leon talking and laughing innocently while playing with the snow.

“Yep. And he’s probably there with him right now, cause he asked to build a snowman with Leon yesterday.” Hella had her jaw open while looking at Leon. She could see him talking to someone invisible now.

“But…how did he…know Jimmy?”

“I have no idea. It wasn’t from us. Maybe at school? All I know is that he drew Jimmy on kindergarten and that’s how I found out.”

“Oh my god…do you think he’s…” she couldn’t close her mouth again.

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Hella. All I want to know is if that will hurt my son and what I should do about it.” Meike sounded pissed and tired.

“And…did you…feel his presence around here before?” Meike looked at her a little more annoyed now. She wasn’t even paying attention to her worries too, just like Daniel.

“You are really considering Jimmy’s here? Oh mein Gott…”

“Of course I am! Leon has never seen him before, why the hell would he draw him? Er ist hier, Mei!” Hella had a glowing smile written on her face and Meike curved her mouth in distress.

Great, Daniel thinks this is BS and Hella thinks this is true. How am I supposed to choose a side now? Is there a right side anyway?

The silence remained between them with the sound of a few birds and Leon’s cute laughter.

“But I insist…We should really celebrate your birthday. Especially now we have a more than important guest revolving us.”

“Oh Hella, are you inviting Jimmy-ghost to my unwanted birthday party now?” she nodded in disagreement. “I really shouldn’t have said anything…”

“Yes, I am totally inviting him, he’s your special guest! I’ll bring the cake pops, the decorated cake with Deathbats, anything you want! But don’t ask me to forget about my best friend’s anniversary cause I won’t let it go unnoticed!” Hella sounded determined. “Who knows, maybe he decides to appear and have some jello shots with us, we better be prepared with liquor too.” her lips formed a naughty grin.

“You think this is a joke!!” Meike couldn’t believe in her words. Well, Hella doesn’t have a son, she doesn’t know what is like to be worried with the only thing you are supposed to protect from the world.

“No, I don’t think this is a joke, I think this is too damn real!” she wasn’t laughing, she kept grinning with her eyes wide open to her friend.

“I can’t win this fight, can I?”

“Nope!” Meike closed her eyes and sighed while trying to find any other excuse to not have this party. But she knew it would be worthless.

“Okay, okay, a party in my house, on Monday, yey! So much for being an year older…” she sounded not excited at all. Hella, on the other hand, had all her engines on her head working to imagine this day to her best friend while giving a slight tap on her knee.

---

Meike checked herself in the mirror again, making sure that her makeup was perfect before she hailed for her son.

“Leon! We’re moving! You’re ready honey?”

She paused and listened hard. There was a giggle and laughter emerged from her son’s bedroom. Taking a deep breath, she paced her feet towards it.

“Darling?”

She opened his door to find that the room was in a complete mess. Pillows slumped everywhere, feathers flew and finally she caught a glimpse of her own son dressed in a skeleton costume – a Halloween getup she bought for him last year.

“Darling why are you wearing that?” she gritted her teeth, trying not to release her anger towards her four year old son.

“Jimmy likes this costume mommy! Can we bring him too? Can we? Can we? Please??”

The more she held back, the higher this insaneness built within her. Her feet planted there, not knowing where to go or what to say. She got her husband being mad and disapproved while on the other hand, her best friend supported this crazy idea.

“Sure, honey.” She can’t even believe of what came out of her mouth. Leon yelped happily and high fiving with the air.

Meike tried not to think about it too much and sank in the fact that all children have imaginary friends. Even if that friend was someone famous.

She drove to the grocery store with her radio turned off, until Leon mindlessly pushed the power button and turning it on. A loud guitar solo from Beast and The Harlot blared through the speaker as her City of Evil CD was still in there and she jumped to the sound. Hastily she turned the volume down for a bit and stared at her son.

“You like this song?”

He nodded. “Jimmy wants me to put it on.”

“Okay honey. Can you tell Jimmy to go to sleep? Because mommy’s driving and mommy can’t concentrate when he tells you what to do, okay?”

Meike pursed her lips and tried to not roll her eyes. From the corner of her eyes she saw Leon whispering to something at the backseat of her car. She glanced at the rearview mirror. Nothing was there. Not even a car behind her. Reluctantly she shook her head for each time she was giving in to her son’s crazy idea.

“We’re here.” She stepped on the brake and parked, realizing that her car stereo was now blasting out a track called Burn It Down. Leon was giggling and turned his body around to face the backseat. She frowned at him. But her frown quickly turned into raised eyebrows when she saw Leon was swaying his arms up and down, moving in a fast tempo and at the same time kicking and jumping in his seat.

He was mimicking a drummer. And to be exact, the same drummer that played this song and was sitting in the backseat of her car. Meike decided to turn the radio off and made Leon stopped moving wildly.

“Leon, baby.” She called again, this time she unbuckled his seatbelt, turning his attention fully to her.

“We’ve arrived.”

---

“Okay, wine check. Soda, check. Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Check! I just need to get…Leon?”

Her body spun around, looking for the small figure of her son. But he wasn’t there to be found.

“Leon?” Meike called again, loudly this time. She didn’t care that those people around her started to stare, all she was thinking now was - Damn it Jimmy! Where have you taken my son?!

She was about to reach the cashier when she saw Leon was standing in front of the glass wall, facing a whole set of instruments being displayed on the window. She paid for all her things in the cart and quickly approached him.

“Leon! Where have you been?! Don’t run off like that ever again, understood?!”

Leon threw a glance at his mother then to the set of drumkits in front of them – being displayed behind the glass window.

“Mommy, can I play it?” he spoke, his index finger pressed on the window, pointing to the drumkits. She lurked in hesitation, scanning her eyes all over the instrument store while at it.

Does it really have to be this way? What had Jimmy planted in his young mind actually?

“Well, I guess it’s alright. But just for a moment okay?”

Leon gasped happily and off he went running into the store. He was greeted by an elderly man, tattoos stringing on his arms with a long grey hair tied at the back in a loose ponytail and a nose ring clipped on his face.

“Welcome to Musical Planet, how may I help you little man?”

The man crouched down, so he was eye to eye with Leon while the boy smiled looking around at the whole regional sets of drumkits around the room.

“Can you let him play the drums for just a second?” Meike requested.

The man got up and shrugged. “Why the hell not? Young musicians always intrigue me.”

He led the two of them - imaginarily three, to a set of TAMA kits which was a lot smaller than the ones being displayed on the window.

“These kits are built for 10-13 year old kids. The stands are a lot shorter and the toms are a lot smaller than the regular ones. Come on then, little guy. Give it a try.”

Leon glanced at his mother for a second then to his left. Meike knew right away that her son was talking to his imaginary friend. She can only smile bitterly at the store owner when he wore a frown on his forehead.

“Here you go.” He gave Leon a pair of drumsticks but Leon didn’t know what to do with them. He just ran around the kits, thumping everywhere randomly. The store owner laughed and Meike couldn’t feel more embarrassed than this. Secretly in her mind, she blamed Jimmy for it even though she didn’t want to believe that Jimmy was there.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t let him play. He’s only four.”

The man chuckled and gave a pat on her shoulder for reassurance. “Don’t worry about it. It’s never too early or too late to learn music. Kid’s got a passion. You just need to know when and where to push it.”

Meike pursed her lips and wondered where she heard that sentence before. Was it in a magazine? Or in some interviews she watched? Or maybe in some fan fictions she read online?

“Momm! Watch me! Watch me!” Leon pressed his foot on the bass kick pedal and amazed at the barging sound from the hollow space underneath him. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in O. Meike laughed, her heart instantly melted watching his son so passionately wanting to play the drums. Occasionally she would applaud and Leon would clap his hands too.

She watched Leon play the drums happily for another while as her heart slowly accepting the fact that maybe Leon wasn’t lying. Maybe the master of drums is truly here.

Notes

Another oo-ooneee for todaaay!!!
Now Hella is in it too, a big friend of Meike and ours, that helped us with a few info to write this!! So Dankeschön Hellaaa!!! <3

What you think girlsss??! =p