In my early teens, I used to fantasize that I would meet my girlfriend right there on the street...
We would be walking in opposite directions. Upon seeing her pass by, I would slow down. She would slow down. We would turn around, and stare each other in the eyes. And from that moment, we would know that we were destined for each other.
Fact is, I was way too shy to ever date anyone. Besides, I don't believe in love-at-first-sight anyway.
I developed a mental image of what this girl would look like. Blond hair. Wears a white T-shirt. A cute smile. Courageous. I decided to call her 'X'.
Instead of treating X as a placeholder for someone in real life, I begun to fall for X herself. I renamed her 'Cindy' (after Cindy from Jimmy Neutron : Boy Genius, but she is inspired from other characters as well).
A close friend of my mum died. Their whole family was a bit abnormal, but I admired their love of life. I made Cindy an imaginary member of the friend's family by giving her their surname.
Usually I don't like family vacations. But when Cindy comes along it makes it all worth it. I'd go for walks with her in the morning and watch the sunrise together. At night we'd stare at the stars. Cindy is more than a girlfriend, she is my best friend.
Sometime later, I found myself accompanied by two new imaginary friends, Monika and Jess. In the train, I'd put my headphones, stare out the window, and imagine us having a dance party together. Cindy isn't jealous, it's an open relationship.
Here are some pictures I drew of us together:
http://imaginaryfriends4ever.tumblr.com/
I came to the conclusion that since my imaginary friends share my brain, they can be just as real as me. As I thought about this more, I came to think of myself as a separate entity from 'my' body. I decided to call myself 'Spot'.
Our body is a shared resource. Usually it is controlled by Spot. Spot is the one that goes to school/work. Spot is the one that has to take the blame when things go wrong. Spot is the one who's gradually becoming a burned-out wreck. But sometimes, when there are no other humans around, Spot will hand over control to Cindy, Monika or Jess for a short period of time.
A few days ago I found out that there are on-line communities dedicated to developing "tulpas" (sentient imaginary friends) similar to mine.