Night passed.
Day passed.
And TJ still felt like he was dreaming.
Red and blue flashed in his mind at that horrible visage in the lake, as if the sun and moon were constantly on his eyes.
He didn't scream, he didn't talk. His body was in an instinctual autopilot, reacting to what other people said, nodding every once in a while. If he was in a state of shock, it didn't matter: life went through the motions, his mind shut down.
Until he tripped.
"Are you okay?"
TJ looked up, and saw blue eyes much like his own. Except a bit red from crying, and attached to an otter slightly older than him.
His first instinct was to freeze and squeak in fear.
"Nice going fucker, you scared him" Chase chastised.
"I-I was just asking if he was okay!" Sydney responded, a small hiccup in his voice.
TJ looked to his surroundings. They were out in "the forest", Leo and Jenna next to them. Carl and Flynn were nowhere to be seen.
"Here, it's okay" Jenna cooed softly, kneeling down and hugging him.
"I-I'm fine" TJ said, trying but failing to get off her embrace.
The reeling of the mind, to get out of a dream and to be forced to confront awareness, is quite the stunning experience. To realise your senses are your own, to realise you are seeing with your eyes, can be quite shocking. And TJ just shivered nervously, realising the notion of feeling and of seeing and how he was a mind trapped inside a fleshbag.
"We shouldn't have come here" Chase said, "Sydney doesn't deserve being our fr-"
"Callate, dundo!" Leo barked, "You almost tried to kill him, remember?"
"He started it!" Chase said, "So what if he didn't kill his father, he was still going to drown Toby!"
Sydney didn't say anything to defend himself, just looked to the side in what TJ interpreted as an equal mixture of frustration, boredom and guilt.
"And he's sorry about that, right Sydney?" Leo said.
"Y-yeah" Sydney said, pacing a leg and his tail in a repetitive motion.
"That doesn't sound convincing" Jenna said, and her hold on TJ became even more oppressive.
Leo sighed.
"Hija de- we have to stop arguing and starting fixing! We're friends!"
"I-it's alright Leo" Sydney said.
For a moment he seemed like he wanted to say something more, but he didn't, and just kept his neurotic rituals.
TJ took his time looking at Sydney. A part of him was still flinching; it hadn't been long ago when the otter wrestled him to the ground, burnt cigarettes on his skin, kicked him, even attempted to drown him. Yet, seeming him vulnerable like this made him feel safe. Years later he would regard this moment with a sense of shame, and even then he felt sorry for Sydney, but right there and then there was a satisfaction, a sense of justice.
But this was short lived, as Jenna's hold and her and Chase's arguing with Leo over Sydney was hurting his ears. The loudness almost watered his eyes by itself, but seeing his friends arguing felt like there was an earthquake in his soul, ripples tearing through his chest.
"Please stop! I don't even know why we're here!" he cried.
Everyone looked at him, confused.
"Hm, Toby?" Jenna asked, "Are you okay? Like, really okay?"
"Yeah man, we've been through this" Chase said, "Leo somehow thinks its a good idea to spend time at Sydney's place for some fucking stupid reason."
"Toby likes Mr. Bronson's stamps collection" Leo sighed, "Can you think of anything else to cheer him up?"
Oh yes, TJ remembered the stamps. Most were just generic birds rendered in reds or blues, but there were a few with landscapes or monuments from other countries. Apparently he bought them years ago when he tried to leave Echo, and just piled them in small frames. In the few occasions TJ visited Sydney's place they were an easy source of distraction from the otter's bullying, but even without that in mind they were pretty.
"C-can you bring them here?" TJ asked meekly.
"Mrs. Bronson won't let Sydney touch them" Jenna said, "but that's alright. He can't hurt you."
Sydney's face wrinkled horribly at those words, and TJ wanted to tell him that everything was alright. But that would be lying, he still was wary of him.
"Can you get up?" Chase said softly, reaching a paw to TJ.
TJ nodded and took it as Jenna released him from her grasp. Only it was replaced by Chase's arm over his shoulders, steering him. Both of them were very handsy, and TJ felt less comforted and more intruded on by his friends, which combined with his still reeling mind did him little good. Sydney led the way, and as he walked TJ earned to follow him, if only because he wasn't touching him.
They went inside the Bronson residence. Mrs. Bronson was out working, but she trusted Sydney to not break anything. The few times TJ directly interacted with her, she was stern, and he imagined that she didn't love her son that much. What was less clear was why she was less vigilant about other kids like Jeremy or Clint or just about anyone else on Echo, but he supposed she did keep her husband's shotgun.
As he was imagining how brutal she was, he entered the autopilot again, not noticing as he sat down on the couch, only to be spooked as he felt weight on its other end.
"S-sorry" Sydney said, "here."
He handed TJ two frames worth of stamps. TJ hesitated for a moment, before carefully taking them.
"T-thank you."
Sydney nodded, before putting on some headphones. Soon, the muffled sounds of rock filled the air.
"I-is that Cherryloom?" TJ asked, his ears perking.
"Sydney, he asked you a question" Chase said, leering from above the couch.
"I know" Sydney said, before turning to TJ, awkwardly, "D-do you like them?"
"Yeah, my father has their album" TJ said, now more at ease.
"Now that's surprising, I never took your father for liking non-christian rock" Jenna said.
"My dad would probably beat me for getting this" Sydney chuckled.
He paused, as if looking for something to say.
"Your dad's cool, Toby."
"T-thanks."
With the pretty stamps and the music, the process of TJ readjusting to his senses was halted, but he was happy. He forgot about Chase hawking over Sydney, he forgot about Jenna keeping on her studies while occasionally eyeing them both, he didn't know where Leo was in the first place.
But he didn't forget about Sydney.
In a bit of a daze, he approached him, and leaned on him. It wasn't like he forgot the fear: on the contrary, as soon as he realized what he had done, he was frozen, rigid with fright. The other boy body's stiffened as well, unable to cope with this.
"H-hey now" Sydney said nervously, his eyes darting to Chase and Jenna and a third party, which TJ assumed to be Leo.
TJ wanted to apologise, but he couldn't muster a word. So he just closed his eyes and dug his head deeper into Sydney's chest, taking refuge in his former bully.
Only a dream could create such surreality, yet this removed TJ from his daze. He listened to Sydney's heartbeat, and calmed down.
Soon, he felt Sydney's body soften, and a paw stroke his head.
They said nothing. This would be the first of many awkward silences until the Day of the Dead.
