Chapter Text
Welcome to White Space
You have been here for as long as you can remember
Sunny jolted awake, a wave of fear washing on his body.
Eyes wide, he looked around the empty room, gasping for breath.
As the realization of where he was set in, the fear turned into rage. He clutched his hands into fists.
«Omori!» he growled, standing up. He gritted his teeth until they hurt. «Why have you brought me here again?!»
But no voice responded back. The soft breathing of Mewo curled next to the white blanket was the only sound Sunny could hear.
«What…?»
He looked around. White Space hadn't changed much since the last time he had visited. The laptop on the blanket was still turned on, filled with static. The sketchbook laid next to it, closed. Not too far, the tissue box stood untouched.
The white door was the only thing missing.
Sunny turned towards the ceiling: his heart skipped a beat at the sight of the lightbulb. It hung from the ceiling, emitting a soft white light.
He approached it with wary steps, raising a tentative hand towards it.
It was warm, but not to the point of hurting.
«Why is it back?»
After the confession in the hospital, Sunny had retreated back into White Space a few times out of his own volition, when his head hit the pillow. Sometimes Omori would be there too, but no exchanges were ever given, the two boys deciding to spend the night in silence, each one doing their thing.
But then, one day, Sunny found himself finding the White Space not useful anymore and stopped visiting it, his dreams now replaced with much more pleasant real world situations and funny moments between his friends.
Surely, one year had not been enough to properly heal all their wounds - and Sunny always wondered if that day could ever arrive for him - but they were beginning to scar.
What were once timid messages dictated by pure good manners, slowly started to become heartfelt manifestation of their willingness to stay together.
Sunny sometimes cried out of pure relief, while in bed.
One year had passed since that day, and now he was back in that dreadful place.
«Omori!» he yelled again. «Show yourself! I just want to talk.»
But once again, no voice responded back.
He sighed, defeated. No point in getting angry at a completely empty room, and Mewo hadn't done anything bad.
He knelt down and started petting the cat, who in turn showed her belly.
«Is it a trap?» Sunny chuckled. He put the hand on the soft tummy, and Mewo curled her feet without the claws, pawing at the hand.
«It was!» Sunny chuckled again.
He wasn't sure how much time he spent playing with Mewo, who was now sleeping on his legs.
He had checked the laptop in the meanwhile, to realize that not even Black Space was there to be accessed.
«A White Space without Black Space», Sunny pet Mewo. «I wonder what that means.»
He looked at the white lightbulb dangling over the blanket. The black tendrils were long gone: if it weren't for the missing ceiling, it could have been seen as a perfectly normal lightbulb.
«Waiting for something to happen?»
The voice startled him.
Meow?
He lowered his gaze. Mewo was looking at him, yellow eyes wide and bright on the black fur.
«I am», answered Sunny. «But I don't know what I am supposed to do.»
«Does something stop to exist when you do not shine a light upon it?»
Sunny furrowed his brow. «Huh... no? It's in the dark but it keeps existing.»
«But not in your awareness», Mewo's eyes didn't budge. «In the darkness, you can create your own reality.»
Sunny's eye widened. He looked at the lightbulb once again.
«Thank you, Mewo. Please tell Omori to show himself, the next time he invites me back here.»
But Mewo had stopped speaking, licking her paw like a normal cat.
With a pet and a soft squeeze, Sunny put Mewo back on the blanket and walked towards the lightbulb.
He cupped it with his hand and, in one fell motion, tore it away.
The scent of trees filled his nose before he could open his eye.
His view was greeted by a purple sky filled with golden lines.
«Headspace?»
He jolted up. The mint-colored forest engulfed him, right next to the stump he knew so well.
But the hole that would have lead to the Neighbor's Room was sealed shut and the top of the stump didn't show its usual array of colors, being instead covered with mint-colored moss.
It felt abandoned. The whole place reeked of abandon.
Sunny's stomach twisted with fear and worry. It felt wrong. Just plain wrong.
He wasn't supposed to be there, every fiber of his being screaming at him to wake up from the endless nightmare.
Sunny closed his hands and realized he was holding something: the white lightbulb.
He stared at it for a short while, before shaking his head. Something in his gut told him to not break it this time.
He put it in his pocket and looked at his empty hands.
He had to wake up, but he had no knife on him, and he had to make do with his hands.
Sunny tried all the arsenal he knew: he pinched his cheek and his lips, he blinked rapidly, he poked his scar on his right eye under the eyepatch, to no avail.
With trembling hands, he looked around. The crossroads looked as still as ever, a playground of waiting moments.
Sunny took a deep breath. Then another one. And he calmed down.
«I guess nothing will happen as long as I stay here.»
He took the route towards the Playground. He hoped to find a friendly face in there.