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Jeff opened his eyes and found that he was in a pitch black void.
There was no sound, nothing to be seen, just him and this wide, empty space.
What the hell... I'm dreaming, right? He thought. He looked around the void, wondering why his mind had decided to bring him here. He debated pulling a dumb horror movie character trope and yelling 'hello,' but he decided against it. He let out a heavy sigh.
...If this is some kind of lucid dream, it's the most boring lucid dream I've ever had. He thought.
"How could it be boring?"
Jeff whirled around at the voice, instinctively going for his knife before realizing his dream-self was also wearing pajamas and didn't have a knife on hand.
He found the source of the voice and immediately stopped and stared.
There was a person standing there. Jeff couldn't tell if they were a man or a woman, but they were unsettling as all hell. They had bright green hair that was cut just above their shoulders and a unsettlingly huge smile on their face. Their eyes seemed to stare into Jeff's very soul as they studied him, giving him a once-over. Jeff didn't know why, but there was something about them that seemed off. Inhuman, almost. Like they weren't a person at all but rather something else pretending to be a person. Whoever this guy was, they creeped Jeff out.
The person raised their eyebrows in surprise. "Hm. You're a lot taller than I imagined."
Jeff stared at them, confused. If he was dreaming, how the hell would his mind have been able to think of this person? He'd never seen them before in his life, so why...?
"Who the fuck are you?" He asked. The person tilted their head to the side. That terrifying grin never left their face and it made Jeff uneasy.
"Oh? You don't recognize me?" They said. Jeff stared at them blankly.
They suddenly blinked, like they were thinking about something. "Well - maybe recognize isn't the right word, more like... remember?"
Jeff shook his head. "I've never seen or heard of you or anybody that looks like you ever."
They rolled their eyes. "Tch. Of course he never talks about me. He probably doesn't want to ruin the one good thing he has going for him, right? What a moron..."
"What do you mean by 'he?'" Jeff asked. "And who the hell are you?"
The person's smile somehow got wider. Jeff was beginning to think that his feeling of this being not human was correct.
"I'm BEN."
Jeff blinked. "No you're not."
"Oh, but I am! Just not the Ben you know." The thing - BEN, apparently - said, folding their arms behind their back.
Jeff became more confused. "What do you mean 'the one you know?' Ben looks nothing like you!"
BEN chuckled. "That Ben is a mere child who was drowned long ago. I am different. I never died, I'm still alive and existing."
Alarms started to go off in Jeff's head. Something about this thing was really off. He didn't like it.
Relax. He told himself. It's just a dream. This guy isn't real.
"Oh, but I'm very real, Jeffery."
Jeff clenched his hands into fists and stepped back, shocked. "How-?!"
"Did I know what you were thinking?" BEN finished. It chuckled, the sound sending shivers up Jeff's spine. "We're inside your mind. Your thoughts aren't safe here. It's like they're being broadcast for people like me to listen to while we're in here! I can sense every single thing that you're thinking right now."
It's eyes narrowed. "Including how you seem to view me as some sort of threat."
Jeff raised his fists. "Well, if you're not a threat, then what are you?"
"Put your hands down, I'm not going to fight you. I'm just a person trying to have a conversation! The other people I'm around have gotten... boring to speak to. I wanted to see a fresh face for a change."
It stepped closer towards Jeff. "And you are just the person I wanted to see."
"Why?" Jeff asked. "What do you want?"
BEN sighed. "You're just like all the others - always asking questions, always wanting to learn. It's interesting - like curious little schoolchildren. Only instead of wanting to learn about the world around you..."
It placed a hand over its chest. "You just want to learn about me. You almost make me feel spoiled with all this attention you're giving me." It giggled once again. "This is why I never bore of talking to people like you. New people, people that are... innocent. Pure, in a way. I like it."
Jeff frowned in disgust. "Are you gonna stop acting like the Riddler and answer the question or not?"
BEN sighed again. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you more. But first..."
Suddenly, it was right in front of Jeff. It hadn't stepped forward, it had just... appeared closer to him out of nowhere. Like it had teleported. He stepped back, startled.
"I want you to tell me about yourself."
"...What?"
"Tell me about yourself." It said again.
Jeff squinted his eyes at BEN. "What the fuck do you want?"
"I want to learn more about you."
"Like what?"
"How close are you and Ben?"
Jeff's heart skipped a beat. "What?"
"What do you think of him? I know you two are close, but I'm just not sure how close. If I knew what your relationship with him was, then I can-!"
Jeff swung a fist at it without hesitation. He didn't want to answer it's questions. Besides, why the hell would it want to know about Ben? This thing was starting to piss him off.
Instead of Jeff's punch landing, however, BEN's body erupted into pixels and glitches, completely avoiding the punch. Jeff swore he could hear voices whenever it did that, almost like tiny screams coming from the thing's body. He reeled back, unsure of what to do. BEN's smile never left it's face, but its gaze narrowed into an eerie glare.
"That was rude, Jeffery."
Jeff stared at it in shock. He didn't speak.
"I will say this again - I didn't come here to get violent. I came here to have a chat. Nothing more, nothing less. All you have to do is answer my questions and I'll answer yours. Then, we can both return to our normal day-to-day lives. Alright?"
BEN titled its head at Jeff, its grin never leaving. He was beginning to wonder if its mouth was stuck that way.
"Now - how about we start over, hm?" The thing said. Jeff sighed heavily. Why can't I just wake up now...
"You will wake up whenever we are done. Now - how close are you and Ben?"
Jeff eyes the entity before him. He didn't trust this thing at all. No way in hell would he tell it the stuff it wanted to know.
"Let me ask you something first." He said. BEN raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Oh? Do tell."
"How do you know Ben?" Jeff asked.
"Hm?"
"Don't play dumb. You wouldn't be asking about him unless you knew him, so how the hell do you know him?"
BEN sighed. "Fine. I'm an old friend of his. I wanted to come back and see him again, only to discover that he's not only made new friends, but that he's pretending that I don't even exist. That's rude, don't you think?"
Jeff looked at him suspiciously. "Ben's never mentioned a friend with the same name as him."
"That's because we had a bit of a... disagreement last time we saw each other." BEN explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if his anger got the best of him and led him to stop talking about me altogether. He's definitely the type of person to do something like that."
No he's not. Jeff thought. BEN gazed at him curiously.
"Oh? And how would you know?"
Fuck! I forgot it could hear inside my head! He cursed at himself. BEN chuckled.
"Because I've known him longer than you have." Jeff argued.
"HAH!" BEN laughed. "That's your argument?! Please... Ben and I have been friends for a much longer time than you have. How long ago did you two meet each other, exactly?"
"None of your fucking business." Jeff spat.
"Ouch, rude." BEN said, crossing its arms.
"Alright, now why and how are you inside my head?" Jeff asked.
BEN held up a palm. "Ah, ah, ah~! You've asked your share of questions. Now it's my turn."
It stepped closer once again. "How much do you really care about him?"
"Why do you want to know?" Jeff countered.
"Curiosity. I want to know about the people that my friend has surrounded himself with, that's all."
Jeff sighed. "He's a good friend. There, happy?"
"Hmmm, somewhat. But anyone can see that the two of you are friends just by looking at you." BEN said. "I want to know just how deep this friendship of yours goes."
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Let me ask you this: Have you killed for him before?" BEN asked.
"Yeah?" Jeff blurted out. "So what?"
BEN raised its eyebrows. "Interesting."
"Can I ask my question now?" Jeff asked. He was getting irritated with this thing.
"Not quite yet. I want to do one more thing." BEN said. It stepped closer to Jeff, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I want you to ask Benjamin about his game cartridge."
Jeff became confused for the umpteenth time. "Why?"
"I want to know what's become of it! We used to play on it together all the time before it became a prison for him, you know?" It said. "Oh, and don't tell Ben that I asked. Or that you even saw me at all. I wouldn't want to destroy your friendship because of you talking to me and him not trusting you now, would I?"
Jeff shook his head. "Why wouldn't I tell him about seeing you? If you're his 'friend,' why can't you ask him about it yourself?"
BEN sighed. "He won't listen to me. I've already tried. Now, will you ask him or not?"
"What's in it for me if I do?"
"I'll let you ask as many questions about me as you'd like next time." BEN said. It folded its hands behind its back again. "You can learn all there is to know about me that you desire. Deal?"
Jeff huffed. "Fine. Deal."
BEN smiled. "Good. I will see you tomorrow."
Jeff woke up with a start, gasping like he hadn't breathed in years. He ripped off his sleeping mask and looked around. The digital clock said that it was 4:23 in the morning. It was pitch dark in the room and Jeff could hear the faint sound of Ben's breathing as he slept in the bed across from his.
He ran a hand through his somewhat tangled hair. Was that real? He thought to himself. It sure as hell felt like it. But there's no way, it had to have been just a dream, right?
But how would I have created something like that... thing in my head?
Jeff didn't trust BEN one bit. That thing was shady, shifty, and untrustworthy as all hell, he could practically taste it. There was no way he would tell it any real information about Ben.
But... how would he tell Ben about it?
It was obvious that BEN knew Ben. But he didn't know if Ben knew it or not. He could have known it - or he could have forgotten it after he died, much like many other people that were a part of his life before death. Still, would Ben want Jeff to be talking to this guy? Did he even really know this thing?
He wasn't sure.
He thought about it for a second. Ben never mentioned anything about having friends before meeting Jeff, let alone anyone like BEN. It was suspicious, that was for sure.
But he couldn't help but wonder: what was this "disagreement" between BEN and Ben that it was talking about? And if it had actually happened, why hadn't Ben ever mentioned it? He always talked to Jeff about what happened at the Gate or in his past when he remembered it, so why hadn't he told Jeff about BEN?
Jeff wanted to smack himself. He was overthinking this situation way too much. All it was was just a really weird lucid dream, he told himself. BEN isn't actually real, he didn't need to "think about it" at all, everything was fine.
He sighed heavily and rolled over, deciding to try and go back to sleep. He was way too tired to be thinking about some stupid dream that he had.
But he couldn't help but wonder...
What if it was real?
And if that was the case,
Who was BEN?