White︱BenEarth AU

7

Earth couldn't but stare forward. Or so it looked.

His eyes weren't focused on anything, it was like he was absent from the room, mentally. If souls were real, Ben could have sworn that Earth's soul wasn't in his body anymore, and was long gone by now.

"I'm sorry I said this too soon I... I shouldn't have done that." Ben tried apologizing, but it seemed ineffective.

"Please say something, it feels like I'm talking to a ghost." Ben bit his lip, and almost flinched as Earth focused his gaze on him.

Earth felt betrayed. He felt lied to, screwed over, humiliated, whatever you want to call it. But not by Ben, by Joong.

His eyes were watered when he looked up to Ben, but all he could do, was focus on the figure behind the tall man. 

He saw Joong.

For the first time, out of the room 56. 

"You're not real." Earth said and gulped. "You're not real, you're not real, you're not real-" He started repeating, his speaking pace increasing by every syllable, to the point he was almost screaming. 

Earth grasped his hair tightly and tried pulling the strands off. He wanted to dig into his brain and end this hallucination of Joong.

Why was he here now, when he already knew he wasn't real. 

"Of course I'm not real." Earth heard Joong talking, which made him calm down a little, enough to stop pulling his hair.

Earth looked back up, and now, he didn't see Ben anywhere anymore. Maybe he left the room already, or he had gone completely insane. "Then why... did you lead me into this friendship?" Earth asked in a sob, trying to contain himself from shedding those meaningless tears.

"Bunny..." Joong sighed and just stood there, like he normally would whenever Earth visited him. "You were all alone in here. You created me into your own mind, because obviously, you needed a friend." Joong explained. "You know this to be true, because you're making me say all of this."

Earth fell silent for a while, having to process his thoughts. "How can I know what's real and what isn't?" He asked, looking dead serious. Earth didn't like to be mad. He hardly was, because usually in here, he was just impassive. "Is anything real?"

"You have to figure that out by yourself. I have as much knowledge as you do, that's how this works." Joong said and went to sit next to Earth. "What you need to do now, is to stop focusing on me. Look there." Joong placed his finger onto Earth's chin and turned him to face forward. Earth was now able to see Ben. He stood at the same spot as before, so maybe he didn't leave the room at any point.

"What about him?" Earth asked in a curious tone. He didn't quite like how Ben's eyes were widened, and he wasn't writing anything down like he usually did. Something was odd. Was he hearing his conversation with Joong?

"He's your messiah." 

"My what?"

"Like a savior. You read that word in a book about a week ago, don't pretend like you don't know." Joong rolled his eyes. "Maybe his presence here was meant to be, you know? What are the odds that he chose you, out of all the people here? He can tell you more, I mean look at him. He looks like a trustworthy person."

"Yeah you're right..." Earth gave up and turned back to face Joong. "Are you going away now?"

Joong shook his head. "No, I will appear when you feel the need to. Think of me as an... imaginary friend, everyone has those."

"Are everyone's this lively?"

"No." Joong chuckled. "But you might not even need me anymore, now that you have someone to trust. So on, this may be a goodbye." Joong nodded and reached out his hand. "So long, bestie."

Earth looked at Joong's hand and slowly reached out his own hand, shaking his. 

He saw Joong's hand disappear right in front of his eyes, and when looking up, Joong was gone.

Earth choked out a sob, and turned back to Ben. He got up from the bed and walked in front of Ben, looking up into his eyes. Earth bit his own lip to suppress his crying. 

He leaned forward and buried his face onto Ben's chest, rounding his arms around him. "P-please... help me..."