Technically this story has about 18,000 words written so far, but I am only uploading one chapter at a time because I need to do some more editing before I put it out for the world to see. please read and review, and I would especially love to hear your guesses on what happens in the end! Thank you very much. (:

Chapter One

Jacob bustled about with rampant energy his mother tried to smother. It was six o'clock in the morning and she needed more sleep. But Jacob was fully revived, and while his mother tried to get him to calm down, he tried to get her to get up.

"Mommy it's morning! I'm hungry! I want breakfast, Mom! Mom! See all those cars? They're going to work! All THOSE people are up! Get up, Mom! I'm hungry!" his voice was like a kitten's if it could talk, only much louder and much more demanding. High and shrill, it pierced through his mother's head as she yawned and clenched her fists with annoyance.

This went on much longer, until finally Jacob's mother gave in and slowly rose out of bed. "What do you want for breakfast then?" she grumbled in a sleep-clogged voice.

"Umm... pancakes would be fine. Thank you." he said sweetly.

"You're getting toast." was her response, and his face fell for only a moment, then his grin was back and he bounded after his mother with young energy.

Jacob sat at the small circular table with only two chairs, and pulled his place mat in front of him. He looked over at his bedraggled mother and said, "You look pretty today, Mommy."

Expecting a "thank you" or "you are the kindest boy I have ever met" sort of response, Jacob looked up with bright eyes and a half smile on his lips. But his mother merely glanced at him, and the toast popped up, and she smeared butter and jam on it. She said nothing.

She grabbed the toast and set it in front of Jacob, then left to take a shower. Jacob stared down at his toast, and a brilliant idea flashed across his mind. He snatched it, and smiled at his ingeniousness.

"You aren't toast." he said to the piece of toast in front of him. "You are pancakes. With syrup, and bacon on the side."

And what do you know? That piece of toast BECAME a pancake, with syrup, and a crispy piece of bacon on the side. Jacob lept from the table to grab a fork and dove into his breakfast happily.

The mother, whose name was Eleanore Climate, finished up her shower, changed into clean clothes, and felt much better. She dried her hair and brushed it until it fell in lovely chocolate waves down her shoulders and back, and put on her makeup. She looked in the mirror and, feeling satisfied with her long eyelashes and slight pinkness to her cheeks, smiled for the first time that day.

Jacob had almost finished his slice of bacon and was halfway through his pancake when his mother came in.

"Great pancakes Mom!" he called out to her. "And the bacon was crispy- just how I like it." she looked over at her son, half a piece of toast in his mouth, and shook her head. Being a mother had never been her forte, and she thought her son was very weird. She didn't know if other children were just as weird, but as she didn't want to risk it, so she didn't take him out into public very often.

"I'm going shopping, Jacob." she told him, trying to ignore the fact that he was eating his toast with a fork. "I won't be back until evening. There's macaroni and cheese in the pantry you can make, or stuff for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Jacob nodded. He was used to being alone for the day. "Who are you going shopping with?" he asked.

"Evangeline." she whipped out before she slammed the door and was gone.

He supposed it was time to start school, but he really didn't want to. Sitting in front of a computer all day was torture to him, but his friends on line always told him if he didn't get a good education he would be poor when he grew up, so he suffered through it.

He had a classroom on the computer, and his teacher, Mrs. Reyleen, was very kind. When they were struggling with something, she walked them through individually, and she wrote happy messages to them when they did well on a test.

"Okay first graders. Today we will be getting new spelling words for the week, and taking a practice test on Reading Comprehension." Mrs. Reyleen typed in. "Is everyone here?"

Each student took their turn typing in their name. Starting with the people who had last names starting with A, and going down the list, all the way to Z. Jacob waited until Mary Callin went, and then Henry Cedar. Then he typed in, very carefully, "Jacob Climate" and pressed the enter key.

School was over at three o'clock today. Jacob, his mind exhausted, made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat to watch cartoons. His favorite shows were Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and the News channel. On the News, he learned about everything that was going on outside his little apartment, and he often muttered things like "Wow!" with a jealous tone when he saw all the exciting things that were happening in the world around him. He wished so badly that he could be out there with the rest of the world, and doing things great enough that the men and women on the News would be telling the world about HIM. He made it a life goal to get himself on television. Someday, he would be up there, and everyone would be watching HIM. Little kids locked in their apartments would look up to him and maybe even envy him just a little bit.

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was one of Jacob's favorites because it made him laugh, and because he had an imaginary friend himself. But his friend was never around when his mother was home. He only came after she left, and after Jacob was done with school for the day.

Striding in now, tall and square, was Big Guy. He had thick muscles in his arms and legs, and he was almost as tall as the ceiling. He had to duck through doorways, and nothing in the entire world terrified him. He did as he pleased all day long, and Jacob was honored that he made the time in his busy life every single day to come visit him. He grinned hugely when he saw Jacob. In his deep, warbly voice, he called "Jacob!".

Jacob jumped off of the couch and ran to hug Big Guy as hard as he could. No matter how hard he squeezed, he could never hurt Big Guy, and he took on that challenge every single day.

"Alright, alright." said Big Guy with a laugh. He gently pushed Jacob off and looked down at him. Big Guy's thick curls almost touched the ceiling of the apartment. "So what are we going to do today, Jacob?"

Jacob's brows furrowed in concentration. "Hm." he said. "Mom is with Evangeline today, and so she probably won't be back until around five o'clock. We have a few hours.. why don't we get out?" he smiled mischievously. This was Jacob's idea nearly every day. His mother didn't know, because eif she did, she would go completely berserk. That was her number one rule: Do not go outside on your own. But Jacob had to, he was a seven-year-old boy, and he needed fresh air and a place to let his energy out.

"Are you sure Jacob?" asked Big Guy, always worried about Jacob's safety. See, if his mother could only understand that Jacob had a personal bodyguard following him around, he was sure she would be okay with letting him outside, because he wasn't technically 'on his own'. But his mother never understood his imagination, she always gave him this funny look when he mentioned something that they both knew wasn't real.

"I'm sure." Jacob replied, and he grabbed Big Guy's hand and left the apartment, making sure to leave it unlocked so that he wouldn't be locked out when he came back. Jacob had a fear that he would forget to unlock it and be trapped outside when his mother got home, but if he was ever close to forgetting, Big Guy would remind him.

They crept down the hall as silent as they could, and walked down the stairs instead of taking the elevator, because nobody ever took the stairs, and their goal was to not be seen until they had left the apartment building. If they were seen, Jacob would just say, in a childish voice, "Visiting my aunty!" and continue on down the stairs with his heart racing.

Outside. Fresh air. It was a cold February day, and not many people were out and about. Jacob took a deep breath, smiled, and walked attentively on the sidewalk to the park, eyes soaking in the trees and the speedy cars and the aura of joy and energy that floated in the air like oxygen- invisible, but there with every breath you drew. When the park came in sight though, Jacob lost his conecntration and the only thing he saw was the park, or rather, the ocean. He began to run, legs burning in a beautiful way. There were a few kids running around on the big toy, but as he got closer, they turned into pirates. The bark on the ground became water and he jumped right in, dog-paddling frantically until he made it to the ship. He scrambled up to the wheel and turned it as far as it would go. The ship made a sharp turn, and almost flipped over but by some miracle it stayed up, and he barely missed the huge glacier in front of them. He thought about how he should have been the captain on the Titanic, and laughed joyously.

His mind created the ship, and he subconciously knew this. But he ignored his subconsciousness and watched the waves lap up to the boat, the white foam and the smell of salt in the air. He was on the biggest ship in sea. There were huge cannons scattered along the deck, pointing at every which angle so nothing could take his ship down no matter how hard it tried. He felt a surge of powerful adrenaline in his tiny body and it made his arms jerk the wheel with controlled strength, just like a real captain. His arms appeared to him to turn into Big Guy's almost- muscles bulging out and baby fat instantly turning into muscles harder than diamond.

Then he noticed something terrible.

Big Guy was in the water, drowning! The pirates had attached weights to his arms and legs, and he was sinking deep into the water at an alarming rate! Jacob abandoned the wheel and dove into the water. He went under, into an aphotic trench and didn't resurface.

When Jacob woke, he was laying on the bark at the playground, right by the big toy. The sun was beginning to set, the sky turning into a soft pink to the west, and he was alone. He jumped up, and looked around wildly.

"Big Guy?" he whimpered with confused terror. There was a few minutes of silence, and Jacob remembered his mother must be almost home, if not already there. The situation was horrible. He had two options, and neither one would be a pleasing decision. He either had to look for Big Guy and risk being late home, ie: getting caught, or go home and leave Big Guy here alone, wherever he was.

A sharp pain erupted in his head, and he fell to his knees, cradling his head in his hands. He had no idea what was happening, it was like an army had been implanted in his skull and was shooting his brain on command. He trembled with pain and then fear when it had passed. He made his choice then. He was going home.

"I'm sorry, Big Guy." he whispered. Then he sprinted home, the recurring pain in his head making everything spin and his vision blur. He raced up the stairs and ran to the door, opening it and sighing with relief that his mother wasn't home yet. He closed the door and locked it, the screech of the hinges sounding amplified, then he slouched into his room and fell onto his bed and into a deep sleep.

Jacob was confused when he woke up. It was late at night, and his head throbbed uncomfortably. He sat up and rubbed his temple, and then shot out of his bed and ran to the bathroom. He leaned over the toilet and threw up, waking his mother in the next room.

"Jacob?" she stood in the doorway with her hand in her hair and her eyes nearly closed. Her hair was a ratted mess, and she hadn't washed her face before bed, so her make-up was smeared across her entire face. Jacob, of course, didn't notice any of this, and he was too exhausted to care anyhow.

When he was finished, he stood up and flushed the toilet, then walked over to the sink and brushed his teeth. He was shaking, and his reflection was pale and frightened. There was a whooshing noise in his ears, and the bathroom light made his eyes hurt. He turned it off.

"Jacob, are you alright honey?" his mother asked.

He washed his mouth out and put his toothbrush away. Then he pushed past his mother without answering her half-hearted question and walked back into his room, laying down and falling back asleep.

In the morning, he felt a little better. He was still dizzy, but the pain in his head was more of a dull throbbing then a sharp pierce. He got up, and there was a note on the table from his mother.

Jacob;

Hope you feel better. There's some fruit and saltines for you on the table. Had to go to work. Won't be home until late.

-Mom

Jacob sat up at the table and ate his breakfast, which today really was fruit and saltines. He decided it was a good day to skip school. His mother would understand. He was sick.

When the events of yesterday came back into Jacob's brain, he felt a horrible heavy feeling in the bottom of his stomach and he lost his appetite. Big Guy was gone, lost at the park. He prayed he would find his way home.

Jacob realized he must have hit his head when he jumped off of the big toy. He scolded himself for letting his imagination get too far. It wasn't water and he couldn't dive into it. It was the cold, hard ground and it had made him sick. The truth didn't feel good.

He wished his imagination could be the real thing. Why couldn't HE create the world as he wanted it? If everybody could just do what they wanted, see what they wanted, everybody would be pleased! And the evil truth wouldn't get in the way and leave them hurting and wishing they could just make themselves imagine they were truly happy.

Jacob thought about spending the day sleeping, but he was tired of sleep. Instead he searched in his mother's medicine cabinet for some Tylenol, which his mother always gave him when he was hurting, and he took one. After about half an hour the pain in his head was nearly all gone, and he was feeling much better physically, although mentally he knew the scar would never leave. Maybe... no. He would not go outside without Big Guy.

Jacob decided to give himself a bath. He ran the water himself, stopping it when it reached his belly button, and cleaned himself off. The warm water relaxed his muscles, and he almost dozed off once or twice. He thought about where his friend could be, what he was doing. Was he looking for Jacob, or had he decided he was too much to handle and gone off to be with his other friends, the big, strong ones who didn't need a guardian or someone to keep them company? His heart hurt when he drained the bathtub, and he dressed himself in clean clothes slowly. He stepped out of the bathroom and everything he had been thinking about dropped from his mind like heavy rain. The cloud left his brain and all he saw was sun.

"Big Guy!" he ran to him and squeezed and squeezed, harder than ever before. He buried his face in Big Guy's muscular stomach and breathed in the scent of tough manliness.

"Hey, Jacob! You're okay! I was worried about you!" Big Guy said, giving him a painful knuckle sandwich. Jacob didn't let himself complain, not to Big Guy. He would prove to Big Guy that he was worthy of his time. Somehow, he would prove it.

"You were worried about me? You were lost!" he cried.

Big Guy looked confused. "Lost? I wasn't lost. You just couldn't see me. You hit your head too hard, and your imagination was knocked right out. I'm so glad it's back. I was worried you would never be able to see me again."

Jacob was surprised, but it all made sense, and he smiled up at Big Guy. "I'm glad, too. So... do you want to go check out that new ice cream shop?" he asked.

Big Guy gave him a disapproving look, but of course he followed Jacob out the door, and reminded him to unlock it. He would never let the boy go alone.