User blog:Red Geist/(Spoilers) Is the kid in the first mission of the ME3 demo a figment of Shepard's imagination or is he real?

I was playing the Me3 demo and noticed that only Shepard really notices the kid. At the end, when he boards the shuttle, none of the soldiers seem to notice him or help him onto the shuttle. Could this mean that the kid is merely a manifestation of Shepard's fear of confronting the Reapers, and ultimately failing? Or was the kid real, and served to pull the player's heartstrings upon his death?