[ WP ] A schizophrenic falls in love with one of her hallucinations .

I do n't really remember the first time I met him. It seems like something you should remember, I know. Usually stories start the other way, with a poignant tale of a chance encounter. Stars in the sky, waves on the sand, gentle breezes ruffling through silken tresses and all that nonsense. I'd ask him if he remembered, but I'm kind of afraid he might say yes. And I probably had pigtails in and mud on my pants or something. We were kids. 
 
 We grew up together. Family friends, the sort that your parents get together with every so often, and throw you in a room with all the other kids and say something like `` She's *just your age! * You're going to get along great!'' And then they leave and go talk to each other in the living room or the kitchen, and you and the other kids look at each other in the basement or the backyard or wherever you've been banished to, and wonder what is really wrong with grownups these days. 
 
 So, we got together every now and then as kids. Once we started getting along, we'd go run around in the woods together. There was a little stream, so we knew we could go as far as we wanted, and as long as we stayed close enough to the stream, we could always find our way back. And we always did, usually several hours later, usually covered in mud. Then our parents took us home and scolded us and two days later we'd break out in horrible poison ivy. 
 
 It was the best part of my childhood, really. I remember the times with him more clearly than I remember anything else. Well, kids grow up, and so did we. I guess if we'd gone to different colleges, it probably would n't have gone anywhere, but we ended up at the same university, in the same Calculus lecture. Of all the places he could have been, it seemed so strange to see him there. It was a big school, and we were both away from home for the first time, so we sat together just happy to see a familiar face. Someone we knew, someone we could talk to about things that used to be. So we started talking, a lot. I was surprised to find out how much he had to say, actually. We'd both been quiet kids, and conversation had been more limited to pointing out bugs or just enjoying companionable silence, but we were adults now, and adults talked. Or we felt like they did, and we should, now that we were all of eighteen and away from home. 
 
 We talked a lot, actually. Calculus was just before our lunch break, so we started getting lunch together. And... then we started getting dinners together. And getting together on the weekends. I remember the first time he said `` I love you.'' It was a little after Christmas, and I'd known it was coming for a while. Known he was going to say it. I do n't know how, but I just did. I did n't know how I felt. Unsure, mostly. I wanted to love him. I thought maybe some day I would. I just was n't sure yet. So I told him that, and he seemed okay with it. He still loved me. 
 
 And a couple months later, I was ready to say it too. Simple words. I love you. But they meant a lot, to both of us. We were happy together. We'd started talking a little bit about getting married, too, though he had n't actually proposed - but we both knew he was going to, when the time was right. And we both knew that when he did, I'd say yes. 
 
 It was summer now, and I'd been missing him - it was strange how we'd only been away from each other for a couple weeks, but it felt like an eternity. It was okay, though - I was going over to his family's place for dinner, and I'd get to see him again. Get to hear him tell me he loved me. I'd missed that. 
 
 He opened the door to let me in, and we had a few moments to ourselves, just to say hello and remind each other that yes, we were still there, yes, we still existed, yes, we still loved each other. `` Jenny's here!'' he called up the stairs. 
 
 His brother came down and looked at him quietly. `` David...'' he hesitated. `` You know she's not real, right?''
