Silence filled the dark room. Not much to note in the studio apartment, aside from the bed and the Blue Velvet poster above it. From the closet, a man stood alone, watching, waiting for someone to come through the front door. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes could've led to hours. Time was no object to them, so they didn't bother to track it.

At long last, the door opened. In walked a woman. Martha Jennings, to be precise. A classmate of his. As she turned to unpack her bag after shutting the door behind her, William Clarke walked calmly out of her closet. A forced smile rest on his lips, as if he were actively making a conscious effort to display an emotion he struggled to fully grasp. Martha, thrown off guard, turned to him with fear.

"Who's there?!" Martha yelled. William stared blankly at her. "W-w-w-will?"

"Almost correct there, Ms. Jennings," he replied with a cocky smile.

"W-what are youu… g-g-g…"

With every fiber of his being, Will forced his face to manipulate into what he knew to be a smile, teeth showing and eyes bulging. Martha stayed quiet for a while.

"Have you come to…?" she finally asked.

After a moment of silence, Will whispered, "Yes, Martha. …Yes."

Will's body seemed to flicker for Martha. For a moment, Will was gone, replaced by a woman in a long, white dress. "W-wait," she said with surprise, "T-t-tanya? …Is that you?"

The eyes on Will's face seemed ready to bulge from their sockets as a quiet anger overtook him. "…Huh? Tanya?" A twisted grin stretched across his face, before vanishing almost as soon as it appeared. "Remember this, sweetheart." Will slowly began to raise his hands towards Martha's neck. "The name is-"

"Keep the introductions to yourself, dear. I already know who you are."

Will's body froze in an instant. The voice that had just come from Martha Jennings's mouth was not her own. It was deeper. It was a man's voice.

"Who…" Will whispered. "Who are you?"

A blinding white light encompassed the entire room. When it finally faded away, the room was gone, replaced with a white void. Where Martha Jennings once stood, now there was the Visitor.

"I'm a visitor," he said simply, "and I've come to strike a deal with you, dear."

"Why do you seemingly insist on calling me anything but my own name?" Will asked.

"Because I'm not talking to a man by the name of William Clarke." The Visitor took a step closer towards him. "I'm talking to the woman with a physical resemblance to Tanya Kennedy residing inside him. I know your name, dear. It's a simple, four-letter name that I could say so easily… but I won't." The Visitor walked right up to Will. "I won't allow her to spread her influence until I have what I want from her."

Will stayed silent, his face neutral.

"See, I know how you operate," the Visitor continued. "You spread yourself, like a virus. Knowing your name- that's all it takes to infect someone. That's enough to… make you real, in a sense. To keep you around in the public consciousness. See, I'm kind of like you in away. I exist because of the public consciousness. Of course, I have to take the skin of someone to have a face, but… well, you did the same to Tanya, right?"

In an instant, William Clarke's hands shot up and wrapped themselves around the Visitor's neck. A crooked, forced and all too sinister smile was plastered on his face, contrasting the calm and unflinching look on the man he was attempting to strangle. "I am nothing like that copycat," Will hissed, his grip tightening. "If anything, that bitch stole my face. I'm only here with you right now because her stupid face reminded little William of my existence. The fact you would suggest that she is in any way related to me-" The rage fueled rant that escaped from his mouth stopped short when she saw the smirk forming on the Visitor's lips.

"There she is," he said slyly. "I knew if I provoked you enough, you'd push Will out of the way entirely."

Will's grasp loosened and he put his arms to his side. "Aren't you a clever one?"

"Well, I was tricked the first time I played, but I figured it out the second time."

Will's whole demeanor and body language seemed to change entirely. Relaxing to an almost uncomfortable level given the situation he was in, the young man looked around in various directions, analyzing his empty, blank white surroundings.

"It's the source," the Visitor explained. "This place, I mean. I call it Canvas Space. It's the place where realities are made."

"And you are…?"

"I told you, I'm a visitor. You can call me the Visitor, if you prefer."

"Visitor. How vague. What business do you have with me?"

"Right, business. Well, you see my dear, I'm a writer's pan-dimensional avatar. I'm familiar your source material and I think adding you to my little project here would be… interesting."

A silence fell over the two as Will- or whoever was controlling him- processed the information presented to them. After a while, a soft smile crossed the man's lips. "Pan-dimensional avatar, you say?" he said with a condescending tone. "An… interesting claim, to be sure. If only such a thing existed…" His eyes locked with the Visitor's, the two matching a piercing glare. "If you expect me co-operate with you, Visitor, you'll need to be a bit more honest. Starting with why I seem to be incapable of speaking my name aloud."

With a sigh of annoyance, the Visitor replied, "It's not quite a lie if it can be seen as a half-truth, is it? But oh well, I suppose I should explain. You see, as mentioned previously, I'm a writer, and right now you're in my story. I know how you spread yourself, so as the writer of reality here, I can exert some control over what you say and do. Be glad I've used it to restrict the utterance of your name for the time being and not something… more."

"Oh, is that so?" Will began to slowly walk around the other man, as though he were a predator circling their prey. "No wonder I didn't seem to harm you. The question is, what could you possibly need from me?"

"Need? Nothing, really. Want? Well, that's another story entirely. See, I want you around in my stories. I think you'd be an interesting force to have… interact, with others. You could easily spread that way, as well. Besides…" A crooked grin crossed his lips, his tired eyes narrowing. "Wherever you go, that detective is sure to follow."

Will stopped at his original position, looking over his shoulder at the only other man in the blank void. "The detective? What use is he to you?"

"He's a… well, puzzle solver. A mystery drives him up a wall until he gets to the bottom of it, as you no doubt know. I think it would be fun to mess with him for a bit."

"Fair enough, I suppose. But how do you expect to work together when you haven't even spoken name. How do I know you're ok with my influence spreading if you don't say my name?"

"About that… I've made the title of this chapter in the story the name of your source material- but I censored out your name. Once we shake on our deal, I'll say your name. This will likely get the readers intrigued enough to seek it out themselves, and by then your claws will already be sunk into them."

A long silence fell over the two of them as the Will- or rather, the one controlling him- thought over the proposal. Finally, Will's face contorted into a twisted grin. "Very well, Visitor. You may come to regret this, but I accept your terms." He stuck out his hand. "Let's shake on it."

The Visitor stuck out his hand a little, hesitating for a moment, before finally grabbing Will's hand. "I'll live with the consequences of my actions," he said firmly.

Will shook his hand. "To the future."

The Visitor shook back. "To entertainment."

As the two let go, Will smiled and said, "It's good to be working with you."

Taking a step back, the Visitor inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. "Glad to have you around…" he muttered. A lump formed in his throat, as if his own body was fighting against the wretched woman's name. He swallowed, pushed his objections aside and whispered, "…Lila."

The soft smirk on Will's curled lips was telling enough. Lila was happy. Somewhere, buried deep in that boy's mind, William Clarke was horrified. As for the Visitor?

He doesn't think his feelings on these events matter to you.

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed. Be sure to check out the discord, link in the bio on my main page.