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He refused to look up. Not again. Since Tommy woke up this morning, from a nightmare no less, things have been weird.
When he first woke up it didn't seem stranger than his normal; he could still see and hear thing at a different pace then how it actually was as well as the current. He'd be having a visitor if the distant, faded knock followed by Sunkist's barking was anything to go by. But then he looked at his actual room.
Despite it being 9 AM in summer, his room was a bit on the dark side. Normally this would be something to shrug off, but a big difference from the usual darkness was a bit of shadow protruding out, tilting his dresser.
He jumped in startlement, which made most of the darkness disappear. He decided to get ready for the day, walking to the bathroom.
The scene in his room reminded him of the nightmare, which reminded him of... No. He can't think about it. It makes him scared and sad. He doesn't need to be scared all day. As he walked he had been lightly smacking his face, trying to snap the idea out of his head.
He made it to the destination and turned on the light, ready to start brushing his teeth.
He ended up jumping again. His form was wrong. At least, it made sense as his form, as it copied his movements and had his hard-to-describe dark eyes, but everything was weird.
For the first bit, he seemed to have more eyes. Not a lot, just enough pairs to match the levels of time he can see. His face was half shadow-y, in a diagonal direction, the eyes in the shadow glowing eerily. There was a small bit of... Tendrils? coming from his head, just underneath where his hair was and around his face. They were small and dark.
The image of himself was frightening. As his pulse increased, his hands gained claws, which made things worse.
Which lead to where he was now. Curled up in a ball, all 6 eyes closed, and who knows what else. He doesn't understand. He doesn't get what's going on. He was scary, and as a result was scared of himself.
He just needed to calm down. He wasn't sure how, but he needed to. He needed to...
A knock on the door. Sunkist's barking. They're already here? Maybe if he stayed still and quiet they'd leave. Maybe...
"Hey bro? I know you're home. Sunkist keeps her mouth quiet when she's home alone."
Shit. Benrey. Out of all of his friends, it had to be Benrey. Tommy had to make something up.
"Err, I-I'm sorry Benrey. I-I'm not feeling well." He shouted out, which sounded almost cascading and loud, like a waterfall.
There was silence as Tommy tried to calm again.
"So I'm gonna come in."
Tommy's panic skyrocketed. In that moment he could hear, and feel, the changes, as he still refused to look.
There was creaks and cracks. Snaps and bangs. Glass breaking in the bathroom he hid in, and cursing galore from Benrey. Tommy just curled deeper and started mumbling to himself.
Benrey made it to the bathroom, door still open from when Tommy entered hours ago. Lights out made him have to rely on his limited vision. Ironic that a thing like him had bad night vision.
Course, part of that could've also been the unearthly darkness emitting from a specific center. Boy, was he in a bad place.
"Tommy." Benrey said calmly at first, trying his hardest to not startle the other. When that wasn't working, he said Tommy's name a bit louder.
This made Tommy jump, but he didn't lift his head up much, just enough to speak again.
After clearing his throat, he said in a less loud but still cascading voice. "Please leave Benrey. I... I'm not doing well."
"Yeah, I can tell." He squatted down to be at level with the boy now in front of him. "Whattup?"
"Mscrlokin. Donlkt."
"You mind speaking clearer, bud?"
Tommy just shook his head lightly.
Benrey sighed. "C'mon." Head shake. "C'mooooon!" Head shake.
The sweet voice came through. It was an attempt to make Tommy look up. Instead, he just stiffened, along with other things to him.
Sweet voice again. This time Tommy looked up just to try and read it.
That's all Benrey needed to see Tommy's current self.
The base shape was still human, and his size hadn't changed. He was mostly shadow. Not enveloped in shadow, just a solid shadow. Some parts of his normal limbs and half his face was still human. Strands of his hair and parts near the hairline had become dark tendrils, moving like proper limbs but too small to work for anything positive. He also seemed to gain some small shadow wings and tail. They were only about half the length of his arms, but they were there. He had six eyes, half were his normal dark, and the others were bright blue. All were glowing. He opened his mouth, mouthing the meaning of the bubbles, and revealed lamprey-like teeth. His mouth glowed in a recognizable way; the colors said "scared".
Benrey's meant "here to help", which lead to an emotional change in Tommy as he hugged his friend.
Benrey was caught off-guard, but accepted the hug. After being there with just sobbing, Tommy did repeat what he said earlier. "I'm scary looking. Don't like it."
"Nah, nothing scary about you."
That made Tommy look up again. "Are you sure?"
"Course not. May be more complex than mine, but it's the same situation, y'know."
Tommy let go. "W-well I... I still need-"
"Don't drag this on, brah. Too cringe." Benrey said, purposely letting out some bubbles reading "can't handle sappy stuff rn" before continuing "Don't worry, you'll have snacks, soda, and a few monkeys ready to smack each other with baseball bats ready and waiting."
Tommy chuckled a bit looking up already with less shadow and less teeth.
"Thanks, Benrey."