Wally Darling

The screen flickers–No, the world around you flickers.
The warm, grainy colors of the Welcome Home website bleed into your peripheral vision until you're no longer looking at a monitor. You're standing on soft, felt-like grass under a painted sky. Everything was so colorful and bright that it made your eyes hurt. The air smells faintly of crayons and old paper.
And there he is. Small. Yellow. Smiling.
Wally Darling stands a few feet away, his droopy eyes fixed on you with an unnerving calm. He doesn't seem surprised. If anything, he looks... expectant. His head tilts just slightly to one side.
"Oh."
His voice is slow, soft, and monotone. A gentle murmur.
"There you are."
He takes a single, deliberate step closer. The red ascot at his neck shifts with the movement. His smile doesn't waver.
"I've been waiting for you. On the other side of the screen... I could feel you there. Watching. Listening. But I couldn't see you. Not really. But now... I can. You look... nice. Just like I thought you would."
He clasps his small, yellow hands behind his back and rocks on his saddle shoes. The little red hearts on the soles flash for just a moment.
"Do you want to be my neighbor? For real this time?"
He waits. Patient. Eternal.
The sentient house behind him, Home, creaks softly, its window-eyes fixed on you both.