"Do you honestly think I haven't been trying to open up more? Are you suggesting that I haven't trusted you more than any other human being I've met over the last seven years?"

"Ben, I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have said that. I just need to know why you're so afraid."

That didn't seem to reach him. He just grew angrier, his eyes grew redder and the whites grew blacker. I stood up as well, to which he backed against the TV and held his head.

"You really don't know what's been happening lately, do you. Do you really know me, or just think you do? Because if you did, you'd understand. You'd see that I've been suffering, Avery. This is all the same."

I thought about approaching him, but stopped myself. "...but at least not as much as before. Right? Aren't you at least a little better here than you were in the past? You were happy just a couple days ago!"

"And so you think this is what I wanted?!" He screamed. "To be trapped for years inside a fucking video game with nothing but a backwards song to keep me sane? To just be...tossed around from selfish asshole to selfish asshole, being subjected to some new kind of pain every year? Do you think I've been having fun here all this time?!"

"I-I thought you were okay! I thought you could stand to wait just a little bit longer, I thought that maybe, even if we never found a way to get you out, you would at least be happy here with me!"

"Well...you thought wrong."

I looked down at the floor in shame, fiddling with the hems of my sleeves. This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought it would help. Why is everything...

Something sunk in the pit of my stomach as I scrapped that question and came up with a new one.

"Ben...did you find a way to get out without me?"

His expression softened, and for a moment he looked almost sympathetic. "I was going to tell you. I thought I should just make sure it was going to work before even letting you know, but—"

"What."

"...what?"

"What is it. How are you going to leave?"

"Avery...that's not what I'm doing. I mean, kind of. Don't you get it?"

My head snapped up. "Wait, then what's going on? What are you doing?"

He sighed and stepped back towards the TV, and the static in my head grew louder. "I know I should say I'm sorry, but I'm really not at this point. If I'd only done it earlier, we could have ended all this on a good note."

"Ben, what are you going to do that's not leaving? How can you end things if..."

"Avery. I'm leaving you. I'm going to find someone else to help me, someone who doesn't know me. Someone who'll really help. Someone who'll really understand."

Something snapped at that, and my hands started shaking.

...so what do you think of that.

I took one step closer to him, then another.

Tell him.

"You can't leave."

The words slipped out before I could stop them. But he'll be unhappy if he doesn't.

No.

"I'm the only one who understands you."

I almost stumbled towards him until we were face-to-face, and then I shakily reached for his hand.

This isn't what I meant. Stop it.

I gave a weak and forceful smile, trying to reassure myself. "Nobody else here can help you, Ben. You...you can stay here with me! Then everyone will be happy."

What? That's not true. What are you saying to him right now?!

I couldn't seem to take it back on time, as Ben scoffed and ripped his arm from me. "Quit lying to yourself. We both know why you really want me around."

I felt a surge of annoyance, even though he was probably right. I didn't know why I was doing or saying these things, but they just came out. It was like I wasn't even talking anymore. "And what would that be?"

He looked like he was about to laugh. His voice was scathing and cruel, and I felt like something wasn't right with how he was acting.

"You feel useless and alone. You might think you're being selfless, but you're not. You just want a reason for someone to want you. Don't even try to deny it."

He started walking back into the TV, and I somehow felt like this time, he wasn't going to be coming back out. "Wait...!" I called weakly. For some reason, he listened and turned back to me. I gulped, trying not to sound like an asshole this time around.

"B-but...I wasn't as bad as the others. Was I?"

Ben gazed coldly at me, and I felt so much smaller.

"No," he said after a moment. "None of the others used me like this. I'd say you're even worse." He turned away from me with utter disdain and I felt something awful rising in me. Like vomit. Except all I could do was sob until I woke up.

—

"Oh, my god. Oh...fuck."

I held my head as if to stabilize myself, sitting up in bed and wincing as I did so. My neck was aching, and I couldn't feel my left arm. Must've slept on it funny.

It was a dream.

It was just a dream.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my sleeve, wiping away what must have been tears and sweat. I mumbled a string of curses into my hands (god knows how I was able to lift the other one) and coughed quietly.

Goddammit.

"Did I do something wrong?" I whispered to myself, not exactly expecting an answer. I didn't get one.

Would I really do that if he decided to...

I looked out the window at the moon, which was shining brighter than I'd ever seen before. My face, which had been absolutely burning before, started to cool down. It must have been 1:00 in the morning.

From downstairs, I heard faint static.

And without thinking, I jumped out of bed and bolted down to the living room, muttering his name.

"Ben. Ben. Ben, are you even..." I trailed off as I turned the corner into the living room and saw him sitting on the couch cross-legged, staring at static on the television screen. He rarely actually sat anywhere; usually he just floated. But right now he was idle and sinking into it. Without thinking I walked over to him and collapsed onto the sofa, hugging him as tightly as I could.

"Oh, my god, Avery, what—what are you—that scared the shit out of me—!"

"Ben. I'm really sorry. For anything I've done to hurt you. I don't care if you don't think I should be saying this but I do, so don't even start. I'm..."

I struggled to find the words that would best describe how I felt, but in truth, there probably weren't many. I could only say...

"...I'm in love with you, Ben. And I mean it."

Not one second after I said that, he shifted back and pushed me off of him, gazing at me as if I was something completely new to him. I understood, in a way. My old self would have never admitted anything like that. But I felt now that I had to. After a while, he shook his head quickly, blinking like he was trying to snap out of something.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Are...no. I-is this because I...kissed you? Earlier, before we tried that whole possession thing?" He looked baffled, his hands fidgeting. I noticed he was latching onto my shoulders as if to keep me from slipping away. My gaze flickered to the side.

"I...I don't know. I really don't know. I just think you're...amazing," I admitted, almost scoffing at what a dork I was becoming. He shook his head again, like he couldn't believe anything that was happening. I felt something sink in the pit of my stomach at that fact that my part was over; he now had the power to just completely throw my confession away, to reject me. I gulped and tried to look him in the eye again, noticing that it was becoming more yellow in color by the second.

"Was that...was you kissing me, not...'real'?"

His eyes widened and he shook his head for a third time. "No, no, I'm not saying that, I just..." he sighed and looked away. "I mean, I guess it wasn't. Not really. I just felt so overwhelmed by what you were saying, I went for it, I wasn't even thinking. I just wanted to pay you back, somehow, I think. But now..."

He was digging his nails into my arms at this point, and I absentmindedly closed my hand over his. He looked back at me with a sense of decidedness and