[ WP ] After a world-wide cataclysm you 're the only human left alive . In your extreme loneliness you 've created an imaginary friend who follows you around and keeps you company . However , the other day they did something which made you think maybe they 're not imaginary after all .

I guess you could call it a cataclysm, but that word sounds so violent. It makes me think of a huge earth shaking, volcanoes exploding, lightning raining from the skies event. The end of the world was far more quiet. 
 
 
 Most people didn ’ t take bacterial resistance seriously. They were so afraid of germs, spraying their Lysol and using hand sanitizers. We were warned that it was encouraging bacterial evolution – into stronger and more powerful species that resisted our efforts to kill them. We tipped the balance. I don ’ t know if they ever found a way to stop it, but when Death came it spread quickly, killed quickly. 
 
 
 It was amazing really, how fragile human civilization really is – well, was. 
 
 
 So here I am. Alone the last few years. Maybe there are other survivors, but they ’ re so spread out and within a few years the last of the power stations shut down and any chance at long distance communication went with them. I gave up listening desperately to the hand held radio after the second year – there was no one left, of there was, the chances of us finding each other got smaller with every passing day. 
 
 
 Surviving gets pretty boring, once you ’ ve secured the basics: water, shelter, food and in that order. It took a few months, but I moved into a farm a few miles from my house. Supplies are everywhere, slowly decaying. The plants have taken over the cities, and the birds fill old office buildings with song. This wasn ’ t some post-apocalyptic horror movie: it was just boring. 
 
 
 Years went by, and I was lonely. I had a huge pile of books from the closest library I was making my way through, but books aren ’ t people. Eventually, I started talking aloud to myself – after all, there ’ s no one to think I ’ m crazy for doing it but me! 
 
 
 I was in the kitchen of the farm store I ’ d converted into a home base, chopping tomatoes and fantasizing about fresh mozzarella. “ It ’ s the little things y ’ know. Like cheese. If that damn cow hadn ’ t died maybe I could have tried to make some. ” I muttered aloud to myself. “ All those zombie movies and no one ever really talks about the things you miss from civilization. ” 
 
 
 “ That ’ s because they ’ re too busy running for their lives. From like, zombies. ” Came the reply. 
 
 
 I slipped with my knife in surprise, cutting my finger. “ Goddamnit! ” 
 
 
 “ That looks like it hurts. ” He stood in the middle of the kitchen staring at me. Tall, slender, shaggy dark hair. He reminded me my brother a bit, as I pinched the cut tightly closed. “ Huh. I should have guessed I ’ d start hallucinating eventually. Or was it that can of beans? Does botulism make you hallucinate? ” 
 
 
 “ I don ’ t know, it might. ” He replied with a grin. My surprise faded away. There was no way he was real, and his familiarity seemed to confirm it – I mean, hallucinations had to come from somewhere in my own mind, so it would make sense that he would look like people I had known. I searched in the first aid kit for a band aid, then set about washing and drying my hand before applying it. I could either give in to insanity I suppose, or continue to hold on as best I could. 
 
 
 “ So what do I call you, imaginary friend? ” 
 
 
 He shrugged, “ Whatever you want? ” 
 
 
 I thought for a moment, remembering my now-dead friends and family. “ Matt it is then. ” 
 
 
 ****** 
 
 
 Having an imaginary friend as an adult is strange. Matt came and went, appearing without any real pattern. Some days, we chatted. Others he was simply there, watching, as I worked the fields and harvested fruit from the trees. No other hallucinations appeared, so I wondered if maybe this was the worst of my mental break. But hey, years of post-civilization solitude meant I could cut myself a break right? 
 
 
 Another year flew by, and it was a little less lonely with Matt around. You have no idea how nice it is to hear a human voice after so long in silence. 
 
 
 So you might imagine my surprise, to come around a row of blueberry bushes and find Matt. Matt, holding what looked like a cell phone held to his ear. “..yes sir. Yes. She still believes she ’ s a lone survivor. ” 

