Chapter Text
His singular existing eye flew open as he sat up almost automatically in his bed. His breathing was unsteady and he could feel cold sweat sticking his clothes to his body uncomfortably.
He wiped his forehead with a sigh to get rid of the sweat forming there, trying to remember the dream that woke him up. Though it was quickly slipping away from him like sand between his fingers.
The boy looked towards the digital clock that sat innocently on top of his bedside table. It read as 01:24 A.M. And he was trying so hard to fix his sleeping schedule, too.
Nevermind. He tried to remember the dream again but all he got in return was the start of a headache, so he quickly stopped trying to remember. It’s probably not worth it in the end anyway.
DING!
He jolted out of his thoughts from a quiet noise coming from his phone, which was also on the bedside table. Just next to the digital clock.
He wiped more sweat off as he picked up the phone and turned it on.
[01:28 A.M] YOU HAVE ONE MESSAGE FROM KEL.
He hesitated for a second before taking in a deep breath then clicking on the notification and opening the messaging app.
From Kel today at [01:28 A.M]
Kel:
Hey Sunny! It’s been a while, I know. I was wondering if you wanted to visit Faraway for the summer if that’s fine with you and your mom of course! Also before you ask Basil is doing fine, we've been hanging out more and I've even gotten Aubrey to join us sometimes!
Oh boy. Kel wanted him to visit… He could already feel the shadows closing onto him. S̶̠͖͂̑̄O̵̻̘̕M̷̼͆́Ḙ̴͈͓͆T̴̼͖̏́͠H̴̯͋̾̏İ̴͖͌N̶͈͆͊G̴̛̯͎̈́ staring at him with pure loathing in it’s singular eye from the darkest shadows in his room. He could feel his breath shortening and his hands trembling. He couldn’t do this- he couldn’t take this oh god ȟ̵̦̹͖͈̱̱e̴̟̝͐̃̐'̴̼̳̆̆̅̄ͅš̸̨͎̠̦͓̗͍̓ ̸̘͌̈̑̈́͝s̴̡̗̬͖̥͖͖͑̐̽ȱ̵͇̬̤̮̦̬̬͗̇̐́͠ ̵͙̫̮͕̜͇̀̀̓͊̚̕s̶̩̻̙̃͂́o̸̖̩͛́̏r̴̪̲͈͍̬̼͝ŗ̷͚̯̘͕̣̿̓̚y̷̫͗̓̀ ̴̧̧̹̻̫͔̂̑̄̎͑M̴̨͖͇̲̯͚͖̃͋a̷͔͈̜͎̗̫̥̕ṙ̴͈͔͉̟̺͕̌í̵͇͈̝̰̬̭̈́͗́̓ ̵̩͐̊̈́i̸̝̇́͒̎͠t̸̢̖̬̻̦͔̋̎̉͜͝'̴̺̬͌s̴̡̺̰̹̈̈́̾̔͐ ̵̖̳͓̼͔̜̭̇̿̀͐̕͠ǎ̶̩̈̌́̓l̷̡͔̘͉͔͍͊̅̓ͅl̷̻̠̩̯̀͂̏̊̆͝͝ ̵̳̗͔͂͑̒̑̎h̵͍̙̱̏͂i̸̘̟̭͒̆͂̓̒̔͝s̵̛͎̹͈͇̥͇̎͆̃́̓͆ ̶̰͕̤̯̃̅f̷̧̠̫̹͎͇̫̾̓͝ȧ̶̖̙̘̦̬̮͋ư̷̼̓̔̈́̓͜͠l̵̙͍͐̋̓̌̕ṭ̶̛͙̆̂
…
…
…
What?
The boy, Sunny, blinks and takes notice of his surroundings. Last he remembers he was in his bed and then… He’s suddenly in the living room, sitting on the couch with the lamp that’s on the coffee table. It’s one of those that change colours. His mom got it around a month ago.
Sunny shakes his head, no point wondering about something he doesn’t understand or remember. He suddenly realises a familiar weight in his hand. It’s his phone. Oh, right! Kel. He could act like he didn’t see it and leave it for future Sunny or answer him right now…
...
From Sunny today at [01:47 A.M]
Sunny:
I don’t mund iF you wiant to hang ut Ill asc mom
Maybe not reading or writing since twelve stunted his writing skills. Just a bit. Eh, Kel will probably be able to read it. Considering how horrid Kel's spelling used to be. He gives it a 85.36% chance that Kel will understand him.
From Kel today at [01:48 A.M]
Kel:
Oh hey, Sunny! Sorry if I woke you up. Just text me when you ask your mom! And go to bed! I know that I’m up and it’s a bit hypocritical of me to say this but the doctor said for you to have loads of rest. Please try to sleep, goodnight!
Oh wow, Kel actually managed to read Sunny’s mess of a message. Which is surprising since it looks like Sunny smashed his keyboard to type that message. But a win is a win, no matter how small. Though, he should probably go back to bed like Kel said. He’ll have to have enough energy to ask Mom tomorrow.
With that thought in mind, he stood up from the couch, he still doesn’t remember how he got there, and then made his way to his room. Speeding past the bathroom where the door was open for some reason, his mom probably forgot to close it before going to sleep. Despite him constantly telling her to keep the door closed even without anyone using it. It only takes him a whole two minutes from the living room to his room since the apartment mom bought isn’t exactly the biggest.
He fell on his bed with a soft thud as he put his phone on the bedside table, closing his eyes and letting the sweet embrace of sleep claim him.
“Goodnight, Sunny.”
He didn’t have enough awareness to question the sudden voice that came out from the depths of his mind.
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY.
When Sunny opened his eyes next it was day. Another dreamless night. One look at his digital clock told him that it was currently 11:46 A.M. A bit later than he wanted but it was still early enough.
Wiping crust from the corners of his eye he sat up in bed and grabbed his phone to check for any messages he might have slept through.
Nothing. Ah, oh well. Just means he doesn’t have to talk to anyone besides asking his mom if he could visit Faraway for the summer today. Woo-hoo.
And with that he gets out of bed and makes his way to the kitchen. His mom should be in there making breakfast since she usually goes to work at twelve. The key word being ‘usually’.
As soon as he entered the living room he has to fight back a groan. Just his luck. His mom isn’t here. Must’ve been one of those days where she goes in early. Whatever, he can just ask her over text.
CONTACTS:
Mom
Kel
CONTACTS:
-Mom
Kel
From Sunny today at [12:03 P.M]
Sunny: high mom can I vist Farway for summer Kel want to hung out
...
Sunny watched the clock turn 12:09 A.M before sighing and pocketing his phone. Looks like he probably won’t get an answer until his mom comes home. Unless he’s lucky and his mom decides to check her messages when she gets on break. Which will be at 4 P.M, which is also in… A whole three hours and fifty-one minutes.
...He should probably find something to occupy himself for that duration.
~
The digital clock in the living room read 12:29 A.M. Sunny, who was currently standing in the middle of a pentagram in a circle which was also surrounded by candles, held his phone in his left hand and a knife in his right. Now, you might be wondering what he was currently doing but fear not, for it shall soon commence.
Sunny quickly scanned through whatever was on his phone for what seemed like the tenth time before casting it aside by throwing it on the couch and raising the knife in his right hand to the palm of his left. Was he really going to do this? Yes. Was he sure this would work? Hell no. Was he just doing this to pass the time? Hell yes. Is anyone going to stop him? No. But mainly only because there’s no one around to stop him.
He readied himself with a deep inhale and pressed the knife onto the palm of his left hand. Just before he could slice his palm his phone buzzed from the couch, signalling most likely either his mom, which was very unlikely, or Kel texting him.
Looking at the ritual circle now, he thought it was a pretty stupid idea. What was he even going to do after slicing his palm open? Summon a demon? Maybe even summon Mari? Hah. That would be something to remember.
Sunny shook his head as he stepped out of the circle, he’ll have to clean that mess up later but right now he’ll have to see who messaged him.
As he picked up his phone and turned on he saw that, unsurprisingly, it was from Kel and not his mom. What a shocker…
From Kel today at [12:36 A.M]
Kel:
Good morning Sunny! No idea if you’re awake or not but still! I kinda forgot to mention that if your mom lets you come over to Faraway Hero will be back from university for the summer holidays too, lol… but if you visit he shouldn’t be that bad! I hope…
Ah. That’s even worse. Hm.
From Sunny today at [12:38 A.M]
Sunny:
I don’t mind hav to wuit four mom to come hom two get answeer praoblely
Kel:
Alright! I’ll get out of your hair now. Tell me when you get an answer, Have a good day!
And that was that. He still had to figure out what to pass the time with. Ahh… why must his life be this hard… Please Mari save him from this boredom.
Hold on. Hm. That reminds him of something. Ah. Yes. Headspace. Forget the ominous ritual circle in the middle of the living room he has to clean up. It's time to test something. By sleeping!
~
Okay. Trying to get back to Headspace, or at least Whitespace by sleeping was a bust. All he got was a short two hour nap and a bad back. He’ll rate the couch a 3/10 on the sleepability scale. A very real word that he just made up.
Checking the digital clock Sunny gained the information of the current time. Which was currently 2:30 P.M. Only one hour and thirty minutes left until his mom hopefully answers his text. The keyword being ‘hopefully’.
But how will he get by that one hour and thirty minutes without dying of boredom? you may ask. Well, that’s for him to find out. Sunny then gets off the couch and-
Huh?
...
Sunny blinks a couple of times to figure out where he is. It’s hard to find out at first, his brain just feels weird and slow for a couple of minutes before it seems to get back to normal speed. Letting him find out that he’s still in the living room, just sitting on the couch again, and he has his phone in his hands like he was typing something.
When he looks at his screen it shows that he was… Texting Kel?
From Sunny today at [2:37 P.M]
Sunny:
Joe man
Joe man
Joe man
Joe man
Joe
Ur mom
Orange Joe SUCKS
Kel:
Hey! Orange Joe does NOT suck!
Sunny:
Is that what got ur attentions rlly?
Kel:
Are you feeling okay Sunny? I forgot to ask this earlier but has your eye healed nicely?
Sunny:
I am Sunny ur just stupid all that orange Joe get into ur head stinky poo poo baby
Kel:
Uh. I wasn't even asking if you were really Sunny lol maybe get some sleep?
Sunny:
Stinky
Sunny turns his phone off. A feeling of fear and confusion forming. What the hell? When did he text Kel? He doesn’t remember at all. It’s like he was possessed by… something. That’s a scary thought. Finding out you may not be fully in control of yourself.
Sunny quickly shakes his head at that thought. Taking in a shaky inhale. No use having a panic attack over this. It’s better to be calm and have a clear head than freaking out. Freaking out gets nothing done.
~
The clock turned 4:13 P.M when Sunny’s mom texted back. You may be wondering what he did during the time it took for the clock to turn four thirteen P.M. Well, it was mostly trying to not have an existential crisis. Which took around an hour and a half to get over before he decided to take a quick nap.
From Mom today at [4:13 P.M]
Mom:
Hey Hunny! Sorry for taking so long to answer. You know how it is at work. And sure! I wouldn’t mind driving you to Faraway so you could visit Kel for the summer! I’ll drive you there tomorrow. Just make sure to stay away from that one. You know who I’m talking about. I’ll see you after work! Love you xx
...
Of course she would say that about Basil. Just because he stabbed Sunny’s right eye leading it to being removed doesn’t mean she has the right to forbid him from seeing Basil. Yeah sure, he gets really bad flashbacks when he sees anything gardening shears related like scissors which leads him to having bad panic attacks but that doesn’t mean he can’t be around Basil… probably.
Whatever. That’s a problem for future Sunny. Right now he has to… Hm. What does he have to do right now? Oh right. That ritual circle. He needs to clean it up-
Never mind. It seems whatever or whoever is possessing him had the decency of cleaning up the ritual circle for him while controlling his body. How thoughtful. But now he has a problem…
What now? He doesn’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day aside from sleeping. Or he could actually start downloading some games onto his phone for situations like this. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
~
This is harder than expected. Most of the games are either cheap knockoffs or… ‘LooksMax AI’. Huh. The mobile gaming industry sure is going down in flames. Sunny wonders when that started happening during the four years he isolated himself. Oh well.
One quick look at the clock on his phone would show that it has been around an hour of him searching for any good games to download onto his phone. Which puts the time to 5:16 P.M. which gives him around an hour left until his mom comes home since she usually gets off work at half-five and gets home at six.
~
Oh god. He’s dying. He’s actually dying. It’s currently 5:20 P.M according to his phone and he is dying of boredom. There’s nothing to do in this apartment at all and it is killing him. Maybe he should’ve let Omori win and see what happened. That would probably be way better than what’s currently happening. Granted Omori probably would’ve killed him based on what he was saying during their fight, but still! It wouldn’t make a difference from how bored Sunny is.
But alas, what can this poor bored boy do? It’s not like whatever’s been possessing him lately will decide to possess him again now, right?
...
Right???
Okay maybe he was trying too hard. 5:23 P.M. Oh god. This is actually the worst thing that has happened to him besides the day before the recital, sorry Mari.
Another five minutes passed by achingly slowly. It was like the world was trying to kill him! How did he ever survive isolating himself for four years? Yeah sure, he had Headspace but the other 40% of the time he spent in isolation he was awake. And all he was able to do in the real world was play blackjack since he had zero energy for anything else. But at the same time he was also heavily dissociated 24/7.
But enough about that. He has to find something to do or else he’ll go crazy! Maybe he could try another ritual, or… cooking? No. His mom never really buys anything other than pre-made food. Drawing? Yeah, but he’s having a break from drawing today. Yesterday he spent around six hours alone on drawings! That’s way too much.
Hmm… what else… what else could he do..-
CREAK
Sunny shot up from the couch, which he was lying on contemplating life, and whipped his head to the front door which just opened. Revealing… His mom? She didn’t say she was let off early. Weird.
“Hey Sunny! Sorry for not texting you earlier that I was let off early, I forgot. But! I got you your favourite for dinner. Steak! Isn’t that nice?” She chirped out as if it wasn’t nearly six in the afternoon. Where she got all that energy from was beyond Sunny.
Noticing that he hasn’t responded yet Sunny quickly nods, hoping that she’ll let him not talking off just this once. But of course, life hates him and therefore he has to suffer.
“Come on sweetie! I know you can use your words, and it’s rude to not reply! I’ve said this already! What if we had a guest? You wouldn’t be able to do this!” And the promise of steak already settled horribly in Sunny’s stomach just like her words. His appetite completely gone. Why can’t his mom just understand that talking is hard? It wasn’t his fault his vocal cords were messed up from not talking for so long.
“Whatever, I’m not going to argue over this right now,” his mom sighed, then continued speaking. “We’ll need to wake up early so I can drive you to Faraway! I’ll cook the steak so you can eat it later. Love you, sweetie!” And just like that she disappeared into the kitchen.
Sunny sighed, feeling drained from just that. He has no idea how he’ll survive Faraway at this point. Oh well, only time will tell he supposes. A quick look on his phone told him that it was now 5:42 P.M. A great and definitely not unhealthy time to turn in for the ‘night’!
Getting up he had to stabilize himself as his vision went dark for a few moments. It’s always annoying when he gets up too fast and that happens. He’s pretty sure the doctors said he had iron deficiency. But they also said he had a whole lot of other stuff too. It was like he was collecting Pokémon cards. But medical edition.
Anyway, he’s getting off track. He needs to go back to bed. And go back to bed he shall. Just after going to the bathroom and brushing his teeth.
Sunny turned the lights on in the bathroom, quickly averting his eyes from the mirror that lies innocently over the sink. He’d rather not see a version of his sister behind him sporting a gaping wide mouth and a neck that could rival a giraffe just before bed.
He then made his way to the sink, keeping his gaze on the floor and picked up his toothbrush. Wet the toothbrush, apply toothpaste, wet toothbrush and toothpaste and start brushing. After the two minutes is up he spits into the sink and turns the faucet on, rinsing away his spit mixed with toothpaste and cleaning his toothbrush.
Then grabs a towel and spits any remaining mixture of saliva and toothpaste onto the towel, wiping his mouth as well. And that was brushing his teeth complete! How fun.
After doing his business in the bathroom and flushing the toilet Sunny finally gets to collapse onto his bed. But just before he lets unconscious drag him under he grabs the charger, sticks it into his phone, puts it on his bedside table and then finally, lets unconsciousness take over.
WELCOME TO WHITESPACE, DREAMER.
we have something to discuss.