On Sea

“Hello,” the boy-like being chirped. I looked at him.

“You are…?” I asked, their voice raspy with disuse, “Are you also something conjured with illusions in this world? How do you know my name?” The boy… was a yellow, glowing being. He shook his head, “No,” he answered simply, “I know this space could sometimes be very tricky! But uh…I am real, I promise! And I know everyone here!” I stared at him skeptically, for years they had stayed in the Weird Space…they did not even know how they got there, only that they knew there was no way out. All he has received in this place were lies, illusions, and visions that just made them delusional.

The boy shrugged, I just noticing his body was slightly wobbly, due to seemingly being made out of half-liquid. “Oh, look, you made a sea,” he commented, glancing at the newly made scene with interest.

“Hello…? World to you, you to world? Are you still here?” The boy snapped his fingers, which made him snap back to the “real world.” “Sorry,” they muttered.

“What are you?” I wondered. Their hand hovering before the boy. The boy shrugged again, “I dunno, maybe like the others, and like you. We are just here, I just look sorta different.”

Over the next few minutes, there was just silence, and they listened to noises that resembled wind blowing on the sea. The two watched the distant boats sail past, letting the cold slowly seep into their limbs.

“You are thinking about something,” the boy whispered.

“What?”

“I said you are thinking about something, because it’s so loud I can hear it,” the boy said again, louder this time. “What are you thinking about?”

Mystified, I met his gaze, “I am not thinking about anything.” The boy smiled, “Not what you are actually thinking, silly, I’m talking about…the quieter thoughts you have.”

“Quieter thoughts?” I snorted, “What scale of quiet counts as ‘quiet thoughts?’” The boy just looked away, strangely looking blissful.

For an eternity, they stayed there, together, and for the first time in eternity, I felt less sick.