To Repent My Wicked Deeds

It all happened so fast.

He had grown to resent his violin, grown to dread each lesson for it dragged him away from his friends. While they got to watch cartoons in the mornings, got to play together and have fun, he was shut away. Practicing. But he never said anything, never complained; they had worked so hard to come together and buy the violin, he didn’t want to give up and disappoint them.

This recital was the height of his stress and resentment. It required more time spent practicing which in turn meant Sunny spent less time with his friends, and it scared him, the thought of performing for everyone he knew. Even with Mari at his side, he was terrified. Terrified of the stage, of the pressure, of failing-

He broke the violin. Pitched it down the stairs to feel a brief sense of satisfaction as it smashed against the ground, the sheet music settling over it like snow drifting to the ground. He immediately regretted it.

Mari, getting ready in their room, came rushing out at the noise, and when she saw the mess, she began to yell. Sunny was frightened, Mari had never yelled at him before, but he argued back. He couldn’t yell, but he made his frustration known.

They both said things that they would regret. And Sunny, signing as he spoke as was his habit, used his hands to send a message. Mari fell down the stairs.

She shrieked as she fell and each thump as she rolled down the stairs echoed through the house and in Sunny’s ears as he stood, frozen, and could only watch her fall with wide and terrified eyes. She landed on the broken remains of the violins, and was still.

Basil, who must have come in unnoticed during the argument and now stood stock-still in the doorway, screamed. Snapping Sunny out of his fog enough for him to realize just what he had done.

“Mari?” Sunny asked, voice tentative and hoarse  as he began to slowly creep down the stairs after her, clinging to the banister like he couldn't stay upright without it. “Mari?” His voice grew more frantic.

“Mari!” Basil was already half-crouched over her body and looked frantically between her and her brother. “Sunny- you pushed- no you wouldn’t- she-” His breath came in ragged pants and he looked as terrified as Sunny felt.

Sunny reached the base of the stairs and fell to his knees next to Mari, hands shaking as they fluttered over her body like he could help her in some way. He was crying, he thought, he could feel the tears on his face. Basil was speaking, muttering incoherently to himself as much as Sunny. Sunny could barely hear him.

“Mari.” He whispered, voice choking.

“Sunny, what did you do?” Basil asked in a horrified whisper.

Sunny looked up to him, face crumpled. “I… pushed… Her.”

“No, no, you wouldn’t right? You wouldn’t… It’s Mari. It was an accident, right Sunny? An accident?” Basil sounded even more frantic now as he dug his fingers into his thighs. “We.. we need to fix this, Sunny. We need-”

“Help.” Sunny choked. “ Help .”

“No! Sunny! No! You’ll- you’ll get in trouble! They- they- they won’t… understand, they’ll- you’ll get in trouble! She- she might be-”

“Get help.” Sunny insisted, staring at Basil. He.. He couldn’t, he couldn’t talk, couldn’t do anything, didn’t know what to do. He needed help. Mari needed help. Basil could help! Why wasn’t he helping?

“No!” Basil repeated. “We- we can’t- we… We’ll- you’ll get in trouble. But it wasn’t you, Sunny, was it? Right? It was an accident.. An accident…”

Sunny stared at Basil, his throat tight and his limbs heavy with panic. Why wouldn’t Basil get help? “Basil.. Help .”

“No, no, no, no- we can… Hide her. It. Maybe? Make it… Make it look different? We need to hide this Sunny, so you- we- you don’t get in trouble… They’ll be so angry..” Basil stood slowly. “I-I can, I can help! We’ll figure this out, th-they’ll never know-”

“No!” Sunny cried. “Get.. help. For Mari.”

“She’s dead!” Basil said. “We- we can’t help her! W-we need to hi-hide her! Hide this! Or you’ll get in trouble! Everyone… Oh they’ll all be so mad… and-”

“No!”

Basil began to stand, backing away without taking his eyes off the siblings, his hand fluttered nervously but he didn’t do anything. “I- I- I- I can’t- I just want to- if you won’t-” He couldn’t talk, his voice rose in pitch as he tried. “I’m sorry! I can’t-” Basil turned on his heel, and fled.

Sunny stared after him with shock. Why did he leave? Why, why did he want to.. Not help Mari? What was Sunny supposed to do now?

“Mari?” He whispered desperately. She did not respond.

He could not tell if she was breathing.

He picked Mari up under her arms.

And slowly. Carefully. Dragged her upstairs.

Wincing each time she bumped against something.

He tucked her into her bed. She ought to be comfortable.

He sobbed. And tried to ignore the blood staining his hands. Crusting over his fingers. Sticking to his face as he wiped away tears. He didn't know what to do. But he remembered the violin.

Slowly, Sunny got to his feet and went downstairs once more. He knelt at the edge of the puddle of blood, and piece by broken piece gathered the violin into his arms, ignoring the splinters that dug into his skin. He made sure he picked up even the bits that had been dragged partway up the stairs when he moved Mari, and once he had everything, he knew he had to hide it all.

Numbly, he went to the playroom that had gone unused since the building of the treehouse, remembering the toy chest as a good place to hide things.

The phone began to ring.

      And ring.

            And ring.

Sunny locked the toy chest.

The ringing stopped.

He went to the phone. And called his mom.

She answered immediately. She must have been the one calling. “Hi honey, how are you? Excited for your big recital tonight? I just called but I figured you and Mari were practicing.”

“Mari.” Sunny choked out. “Fell. Help.”

The lie made his throat tighten even more, but Basil had been right about one thing, that he’d be in trouble for hurting Mari. And he was too scared to fathom the consequences of his actions. “ Help .”

He hung up.

His parents arrived home in record time with the paramedics hot on their heels. Sunny was sitting on the doorstep, the front door opened behind him, but only really acted when his parents rushed him and demanded to know where Mari was, and what had happened. Shaking, he led them to the staircase but refused to go any further past the pool of blood and broken violin.

“Room.” He whispered to his parents, pointing upstairs. They took the charge and led the paramedics along.

He heard his mother's surprised cry turn into a choked sob as she entered the room. Heard the paramedics talking, heard the sirens. But he stood still, numb.

His mother came back downstairs and guided him to the living room. He sat on the couch. A stretcher was brought in. His father paced the living room. One paramedic came to question Sunny, asked him what had happened, but Sunny couldn't even force himself to respond.

“He can’t talk, he... usually he can whisper to me, or to Mari, but she…” His mother's explanation was cut off with a sob. “Please, Sunny, what happened?”

Sunny forced his numb, shaking hands to cooperate and managed to sign one thing. Fall .

All his friends arrived just in time to see the ambulance leave with Mari. Sunny sat in the living room, a heavy blanket over his shoulders, but his parents were out on the front step. They were quick to send the kids inside and corner Kel and Hero's parents. The kids did not know what happened and asked Sunny questions, but he was unresponsive. All of their words sounded muted. Like he wasn’t really there to hear them.

Their parents all entered the room minutes later, faces drawn. Everyone turned on them immediately.

“What’s going on?” Kel demanded.

“Where’s Mari?” Aubrey tacked on. “And what’s wrong with Sunny?”

Sunny’s parents exchanged a look. His dad sighed heavily, and his mom looked like she was going to start crying again.

“Mari… Was in an accident. She.. fell down the stairs.” His dad explained slowly.

Everyone froze. Kel gasped, and Aubrey turned to Sunny, looking concerned. He did not meet her gaze.

“Did you..?” She began.

“He saw it happen. We think.” Sunny’s mom said. “He won’t talk right now, we... don’t know exactly what happened. But he tried to help Mari, and… he did get help.”

“Is Mari okay?” Hero asked, sounding stressed.

“We don’t know yet.”

“What about the recital?” Kel asked.

“It’s cancelled, obviously!” Aubrey snapped at him.

Kel shrunk away from her, hurt.

She frowned. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“All of you are going to have a sleepover next door, and we’ll call Basil’s parents to let them know what happened. Then Sunny’s dad and I are going to go visit Mari in the hospital.” Sunny’s mom continued, and turning to Sunny, she asked, “is that okay, honey?”

Sunny did not respond.

“We’ll bring a bag over for you, and call when we learn anything.”

Sunny continued to stare blankly.

Kel and Hero’s parents began to herd the children outside to break off any remaining questions they might ask, but when Sunny didn’t move to follow them, Hero doubled back and picked him up to carry him next door.

True to their word, Sunny’s parents stopped by Kel’s house before they left for the hospital to leave an overnight bag and say goodbye. He stood stiffly as they hugged him and kissed him and reminded him they loved him.

They wouldn’t love him if they knew the truth.

Sunny didn't eat when Kel and Hero's parents ordered pizzas, and sat silently on the couch when they all watched a movie. He couldn't fall asleep that night after everyone else had. Mari's shriek echoed in his ears and every time he tried to close his eyes, all that he could see was her body.

The call came late that night, after the adults had gone to bed. Hero, as restless as Sunny apparently, answered the phone instead. Sunny could hear him talking in hushed tones in the kitchen, but moments later he came to get him.

“It's your parents.” Hero said. “And about Mari.”

Sunny followed him to the phone. Accepted it as it was offered to him.

His mom was on the other end. “Sunny? Honey, I have good news. Mari- Mari's gonna be okay.” Her voice shook with relief as she spoke. “She- her neck is fractured, and one of her arms is broken, and the doctor is keeping an eye on her for signs of a head injury but.. She woke up briefly, and she's in stable condition. She's going to be okay.”

Sunny made a small noise into the receiver if only to show that he was listening.

“We'll talk to Kel's parents about it, but, you kids can come visit Mari in the hospital tomorrow, okay?” She paused, letting out a shaky sigh. “I-I'll let you get back to sleep now, I just wanted to let you know that she's okay. Good night, honey, I love you.”

I love you, too . Sunny wanted to say. But the phone beeped as his mom hung up.

He put the phone back on the cradle and slid to the floor, sobbing with relief.

Mari wasn't dead. He hadn't killed his sister. She was going to be okay.

Hero, still nearby, joined Sunny on the floor as if to offer some silent support. Sunny did not think he deserved it, as cold dread began to seep in around his relief.

Mari was okay. 

But... What if she remembered the truth?

Sunny didn’t sleep at all that night; every time he managed to doze off he would jolt awake moments later. He stared at the static on the tv, listened to his friends’ peaceful breathing, and the process repeated several more times. He must have fallen asleep eventually because the next thing he knew, he was waking up to Aubrey kicking Kel.

“Wake up!” Aubrey demanded. “Kel! Come on!”

Kel grunted and rolled over. It was difficult to tell if he was ignoring her, or genuinely still sleeping. Aubrey must have noticed Sunny staring, because she was quick to sidle up to him and sling an arm around his shoulders.

“Fine! If you won’t wake up, then Sunny and I will eat all of the pancakes Hero made!” She threatened Kel.

Kel sat bolt upright. “There are pancakes!? Why didn’t you say so?” The rough sleep in his voice hardly masked his enthusiasm, and he was quick to jump on his feet and bolt off to the kitchen.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but her expression was fond as she turned to look at Sunny. He stared back at her blankly.

“Sorry for waking you up.” She apologized after a moment, expression fading. “Hero said we should let you sleep, but Kel wouldn’t get up…”

Sunny didn’t respond.

“Hero made pancakes.” Aubrey offered. “You didn’t eat dinner, so you ought to eat breakfast since you’re up. Come on!”

She hopped to her feet and pulled Sunny out of his tangle of blankets and up along with her. The air outside of his blankets was cold, and he wanted nothing more than to curl back up and go back to sleep, but he allowed Aubrey to guide him to the kitchen anyway.

He didn’t deserve sleep.

Hero was at the stove making pancakes with one hand and trying to fend Kel off with the other, but he managed to shoot a smile and a “good morning!” to Sunny and Aubrey as Aubrey led him in. This was a morning like any other, a common occurrence during their sleepovers, but Mari and Basil’s absences weighed heavily in the room. Normally, Basil would be attempting to distract Kel at least long enough for Hero to finish cooking, and Mari would be at the fridge taking everyone’s drink orders.

It was weird without them.

Everyone seemed performatively happy, and it did little to mask the anxiety in the room, like they all noticed the absences of their friends and were trying to pretend it was all normal, at least for awhile. If Sunny did not know the horrible truth, he would expect to return home to Mari, happy to see him and asking how the sleepover went.

Finally, breakfast was served and everyone got their share. Sunny got himself a single pancake. When everyone sat down in the dining room to eat, he barely picked at his food.

They kept up a terse conversation and kept trying to engage Sunny, cracking jokes about the movie they had watched last night, acting still as if everything was fine when it wasn’t, but when Sunny didn’t respond, they moved on.

Sunny could only stare at his hands in his lap. With them, he had hurt Mari. Ever since he was little, using his hands to sign had been his main method of communication. Signing to Mari, even while arguing, that was normal up until he… He pushed her. His hands were dangerous. He was dangerous.

If he were capable of hurting Mari , then who was to say he wouldn’t hurt his friends?

It would be better if he stopped using his hands entirely.

That way, he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

A glass of orange juice was placed in front of him, drawing him out of his thoughts and his eyes up to Hero’s face, smiling, yet worried.

“If you won’t eat,” Hero said. “You should at least have something .”

Sunny drank the orange juice, if only so everyone would stop staring at him.

It made him feel nauseated.

“Good morning kids!” Kel’s mom said as sailed into the dining room.

“Good morning!” All the kids, except Sunny, echoed back.

Her gaze settled on Sunny for a moment, her eyes concerned, but she turned her focus away after a moment. “I have good news for you-”

“Is it about Mari!?” Kel asked.

“Don’t interrupt. But yes, it is.”

Everyone leaned forward in their seats.

“Sunny’s parents called this morning. Mari is okay! She’s injured, but she’s going to be fine.” The news was met with a loud cheer from Kel and Aubrey, and a sigh of relief from Hero. Sunny knew the news already, and didn’t react except to stare down at his hands again.

“They said that we could come and visit her, so after you’ve cleaned all this up and gotten dressed, we can go to the hospital. But all the dishes need to be washed first.”

Another cheer. Sunny had never seen Kel so excited to wash dishes before in his life.

Working together, everyone, except for Sunny, made quick work of the mess in the kitchen. The mood had changed exceptionally and now they were all genuinely excited, bouncing on their feet and rushing around to get ready to leave as fast as possible, yet Sunny felt like he was swimming in molasses, each of his actions slow and disconnected.

After a while, everything was done and everyone was ready, so they all piled into the car to go and visit Mari.

He had always hated the hospital.

It smelled too clean, and everything was bright and cold. People were supposed to recover here, but he couldn't imagine anyone feeling better in a place like this. He couldn't imagine Mari recovering here. He wanted her to be somewhere nicer, more cozy and comforting.

It was his fault she was here.

The nurse at the reception desk told them where to find Mari's room, and the group set off, bubbling with excitement only muted by the somber surroundings. Maybe Sunny wasn't the only one to find hospitals oppressing.

He trailed behind the group, listening to but not truly hearing their conversation as he walked…

      ...and walked…

            ...and walked…

The hallway stretched on endlessly, the glaring white lights reflected off the linoleum tiles and white walls, heart rate monitors beeped from every other room, and suddenly, he was alone. Walking. Walking where? All the rooms looked the same.

Sunny began to panic-

         Only to come to an abrupt halt as he walked into Hero's back.

Why had they stopped?

         Where had they gone?

They were outside Mari’s room. Everyone was staring at him. Were they expecting something? Sunny stared back blankly.

“Are… you gonna open the door?” Aubrey finally asked.

Sunny blinked. He stepped forward. And opened the door.

Sunny's parents, sitting in uncomfortable looking hospital armchairs and talking quietly, looked up as they entered. Mari was asleep on the hospital bed, surrounded by medical machines Sunny did not recognize. On the little tv mounted on the wall opposite of Mari, a talk show droned on. Mari would've hated that.

His mom smiled at him widely, but although he tried, Sunny  couldn't return the expression.

Kel's parents went to Sunny's parents to talk. The kids all gathered around Mari's bed, Sunny swept along with them.

“Is she in a coma?” Aubrey asked Sunny's parents, eyes wide.

“No. She's just asleep, which means all of you will need to be quiet.” Sunny's mom explained.

“You hear that, Kel?” Aubrey asked. “You need to be quiet.”

“I can be quiet!” Kel replied, loudly.

Everyone stared at him. Aubrey crossed her arms. Hero chuckled.

“I can be quiet..” Kel repeated, softly, this time, as he turned his gaze to the floor.

Sunny ignored his friends, letting their conversation mix with the droning of the talk show on the tv, and stared at Mari's face.

      And stared.

            And stared.

Until he was no longer staring at Mari, peacefully asleep in her hospital bed, her neck in a brace and her arm in a cast and all of her cuts stitched and bandaged, but was instead staring at Mari, limp and bloody and unresponsive, lying in a slow growing pool of blood. Her blood.

He felt panic. He could hear himself speaking, pleading , but couldn't make out his own words. He raised his hands-

      But he knew it wasn't to help her.

Kel jostled him, and he blinked in surprise, once again staring at Mari in her hospital bed. His hands were at his sides, and the room was swaying around him- or maybe he was swaying.

“Maybe we should give Sunny a minute alone?” Hero suggested.

Sunny could feel everyone staring at him as they murmured their agreement and began to shuffle out.

No! Sunny wanted to yell. That's the last thing I want!

But he couldn't find the words.

His dad squeezed his shoulder as he walked by.

To be left alone with Mari terrified him, and he could already feel his heartbeat growing faster as he stared at her. What if he hurt her again?

He took a step away from her bed.

And another, just to be safe.

Mari shifted, startling him, but she didn't wake up and he hated how relieved that made him feel.

After a few minutes, or maybe more, his mom reentered the room. She gave Mari a worried look, and her worry only grew when she looked at Sunny.

Her voice was soft when she spoke. “Hey, honey, are you ready to go? Your dad and I are going to head home for a bit, and you can come with us.”

Sunny dragged his gaze away from Mari, and stared at his mom instead.

“Aubrey is going to ride home with Kel and Hero, but I'm sure you'll see them all again later.”

A slow nod.

“Are you coming?”

He stared at her a moment longer, then turned to look at the tv. Stiffly, he raised an arm to point at it.

His mom frowned. “The tv? What about… Do you want the channel changed?”

Another slow nod.

Seeming to understand what he wanted, his mom found the remote and flipped through the limited channels.

Only once they found a movie that Mari would've liked did Sunny agree to leave.

When they got home, Sunny went straight up to his bedroom to lay down. Stepping over the now dried blood puddle at the base of the stairs, and carefully dodging every bloodstain on the floor.

He opened the door to the bedroom, and his gaze landed on Mari's bed. The sheets were rumpled and vaguely bloody, and painfully void of Mari . Mewo, Mari's cat, was on Mari's bed, and stared at Sunny.

Sunny decided he couldn't stay in here. He would only be able to imagine what he had thought to be Mari's corpse tucked into her bed.

He pulled the blankets off of his own bed, and dragged them to the playroom instead. Without bothering to turn on the lights, he made a nest and curled up, right next to the toy box where he had hidden the violin.

In his head, violin music played a song of guilt that continued even after he fell asleep.

For two days, Sunny turned away any guests who came to his doorstep. His dad went back to work, and his mom split his time between home and the hospital. Mari was awake more and more often, and his mom said she wanted to see him, but he wouldn’t leave to visit her, nor would he meet his friends when they came to visit.

He was afraid that if they came here, he’d hurt them.

They assumed he was just worried and upset about Mari. They didn’t know about the guilt that plagued him, and the phantom violin music that played in his head. He had to move out of the playroom. The violin music was too loud in there, and his mother washed Mari’s sheets. He was back in his room, laying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Unable to hurt anyone.

But by the third day his friends would no longer take no for an answer.

“SUNNY, GET UP!” Kel yelled, bursting into the bedroom as he had done a thousand times before. Aubrey came bouncing in after him, and Hero brought up the rear, looking amused.

Usually, Mari would be in there too, and she’d gently scold Kel for the door, telling him to be careful, and Basil…

‘We’re going to check on Basil!” Kel announced as he jumped onto Sunny’s bed.

Sunny sat bolt upright, almost knocking heads with Kel. No he wanted to say. He did not want to see Basil, did not want to be reminded of what Basil knew, and what Basil didn’t do.

“ And then we’re gonna make cards for Mari!” Aubrey added. “Her room was so empty, she must hate it.”

“And we’ll try to deliver them ourselves.” Hero finished.

So it seemed the itinerary for the day was final. But Sunny didn’t want to do any of that.

Aubrey and Kel both grabbed an arm, as if they had planned this, and tried to drag Sunny out of bed, but he jerked away from them, startled, and wrapped his arms around his chest. He was afraid that he’d hurt either of them, and he could feel his heart rate raising. 

But he wanted to treasure what little time he had with them before they knew and they hated him . He had to act normal. He..

He got out of bed.

“Come on!” Kel was practically bouncing in place.

Sunny stared at him for a moment, then slowly raised one arm, and pointed.

“What are you..? Oh, the closet.” Hero said. “Do you… want something?”

A nod.

“I think he wants to get dressed!” Aubrey said. Sunny nodded again.

“Oh, okay! We’ll wait for you in the living room, join us when you’re ready!”

Sunny was not sure he would ever be ready to see Basil again, but he nodded once more and went to get dressed as soon as all of his friends left and closed the door. He was slow and unsteady, wanting to delay the inevitable, but getting dressed took only a few minutes, and soon he was reaching for the handle of his bedroom door.

Going down the stairs was a challenge. The blood had long since been scrubbed away, but he could still see the red edges of it on the wood floor. He could still see Mari there, limp, broken-

He jumped off the last step, over the imaginary blood puddle, socked feet making no noise but causing him to slip a little. He did not fall.

As promised, all of his friends were in the living room and talking to his mom about Mari, about visiting her to bring the cards they intended to make. He entered quietly so he wouldn’t disrupt them, but that didn’t work because Kel was on his feet as soon as he saw Sunny, and drew everyone’s attention to him.

Sunny waved.

“Finally!” Kel exclaimed. “Let’s go! We got lots to do today, and Mom wants Hero and I back in time for dinner!”

“Sunny, you’re going out?” His mom asked, sounding surprised. He didn’t blame her. He hadn’t been outside in a few days. “Be safe, honey. Okay? I love you.”

Sunny gave her the barest hint of a smile, and even twitched his fingers like he wanted to sign, but he thought better of himself and kept his hands at his sides. It was better if he didn’t use them. Who knew, maybe he would even hurt his mom if he tried to use his hands.

With Kel leading the charge, the group headed out to go and visit Basil. The sunlight was blinding, and Sunny had to pause for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the natural light of the world before he was able to follow his friends.

“He’s been like you.” Aubrey explained. “Ever since he heard the news, he’s been in his house. But we’re not just gonna let him stay in there! Basil needs us!”

“It was Hero’s idea to check on him! We haven’t heard from him since… Y’know.” Kel added. “We’re not even really sure he knows she’s okay? Has your mom called Polly recently to tell her?”

Sunny shrugged slightly.

His friends seemed happy that he was more responsive than he had been. And, admittedly it did feel nice to interact with them, but he was still afraid of signing, afraid that one of them might end up in the road as creeping thoughts made him think about how close it was and how easy it would be, and he was already awful-

“Kel, watch where you’re going!” Aubrey shoved Kel after he bumped into her, and Kel shoved her in retaliation. Sunny winced and eyed the road even though neither were in danger.

As if sharing his thoughts, Hero looked over at the two. “Hey, be careful.” He said.

“Okay mom .” Kel replied, sticking his tongue out.

Aubrey laughed.

They, or rather, Aubrey and Kel, had decided that Hero would be the one to do the talking. Kel insisted that Aubrey was “too mean”, and Aubrey insisted that Kel was “too obnoxious” and they all knew that Sunny wouldn’t be able to talk at all.

Kel did suggest letting Sunny talk to Basil, because Basil seemed to like Sunny the most, but Sunny shook his head and shrugged because he couldn’t talk, and he did not want to talk to Basil.

The last time he did, Basil did nothing .

Hero knocked on the door. Minutes later, Polly answered.

“Hello, kids!” She greeted with a smile. “Are you here to see Basil?”

“Of course!” Kel answered, without actually letting Hero talk. Aubrey elbowed him.

“Oh, good.” Polly said. “He hasn’t really been out of his room since he heard about Mari.. Sunny, I’m so sorry about what happened to her.”

Sunny shifted his gaze to his feet.

“Did you guys hear that she’s okay? Does Basil know?” Hero asked.

“I did tell him. It was through his bedroom door, though, so I’m not sure that he heard.”

“Can we go see him?” Aubrey asked.

“You all know where his room is,” Polly said, stepping aside to let them in. “But I’m not sure he’ll come out… He… He hasn’t taken Mari’s hospitalization very well.”

“Sunny shut himself in for the past few days too, but as you can see, we are very convincing!” Kel said, confidently marching inside with the others on his heels.

Sunny trailed behind them, dread blooming in his stomach.

Hero knocked on Basil’s door. “Basil, are you in there?” He asked.

“Where else would he be?” Kel asked.

Aubrey elbowed him again. “Basil! We’re all here for you!”

“Come out, or we’re coming in!” Kel added.

He got more of a warning than Sunny had. But he did not come out. So Hero tried the door, and as soon as it swung open, Kel and Aubrey burst in like they had Sunny’s room, Hero followed them and Sunny followed.

Basil startled at their abrupt arrival, jolting upright in such a way that Sunny wondered if he had been asleep. “Hi guys-” He began, but he froze when he made eye contact with Sunny.

Sunny stared at him, expression blank as always, not even betraying his anger.

“Hi.” Basil tried again.

“Basil! How are you?” Hero asked. “We’ve been worried, we haven’t heard from you since-”

“Mari.” Basil said quietly, looking away from Sunny. “Is she..?”

“She’s fine!” Aubrey said. “Didn’t you hear? She’s in the hospital, a couple of her bones are broken, but she’ll be okay!”

Basil wilted at the news. “I… Polly told me she was in the hospital, I wasn’t sure if…”

“We’re gonna go see her today-” Hero began.

“After we make cards for her! Do you want to come?” Kel interrupted.

“I-”

“Great!” Much like Sunny, Basil was given no choice in the matter, and Kel and Aubrey were upon him to pull him out of bed.

“Guys, be careful! Let him get ready, first.” Hero intervened.

“Yes, please!” Basil added, weakly fending off his friends.

“Don’t take too long,” Aubrey said. “Or else.”

“Or… Or else what?”

“I’ll get you!” Kel exclaimed.

“Ah… I definitely don’t want that.” Basil said with a small laugh. “I won’t be long, don’t worry! I’m.. I’m excited to see Mari!”

"We’ll wait in the living room.” Hero said, and he waited in the doorway for everyone to leave, Sunny being the last to file out.

“Sunny, wait-” Basil began.

But Sunny ignored him.

With Basil in tow, the group set off once more, this time they were headed back to their treehouse. Most of their crafting supplies had ended up there over the years so it was the ideal place for today's project.

Basil ended up walking next to Sunny at the back of the group. He fidgeted nervously and kept trying to make conversation,  but Sunny refused to even look at him.

The longer they walked and the longer Sunny ignored Basil, Basil became more and more fidgety. Sunny felt… bad, about it. The tension between them was palpable, but all he could think about when he looked at Basil was how Basil just left him when he and Mari needed help, and he couldn't understand why he would just do that! Basil said he would help, but he didn't want to help Mari, he wanted to, to hide her-

Sunny walked a little faster to get away from Basil, inserting himself between Aubrey and Kel. 

Hero laughed when he noticed. “Tired of their arguing too, huh?” He asked.

Sunny stared back.

Kel and Aubrey started to argue about how they were not arguing.

When they all reached the treehouse and clambered inside, Sunny chose a spot at the table away from Basil. Basil looked hurt , but was quick to hide his expression as Hero and Aubrey began to lay crafting supplies on the table and encouraged everyone to get to work.

Sunny took a sheet of purple construction paper, Mari's favourite color, and a pencil, and stared at it blankly. What was he supposed to write? “Sorry for shoving you down the stairs”? No.

“Hey Aubrey.” Kel said. “Aubrey, Aubrey, Aubrey, A-”

“WHAT!” Aubrey yelled.

Kel looked at her smugly. “I bet my card will be better than yours.”

“No! My card will be better.” Aubrey argued. “It will be the first one Mari reads!”

“Mine's gonna be better than yours.” Kel replied. “Here! When we're done, Sunny can judge them! He'll know which Mari will like better.”

“Fine!”

“Guys,” Hero interjected. “Mari will love everyone's cards. It isn't a competition.”

“Yes it is.” Kel muttered.

Hero sighed.

“Whatcha making, Basil?” Aubrey asked, changing the subject as she leaned over to look at his card.

“Ah. I'm trying to draw some flowers… It's not going very well.” Basil answered, frowning at his work.

Kel leaned over to look, too. “You're doing better than Sunny. He hasn't even started yet.”

Sunny blinked at the sound of his name and looked up, once again making eye contact with Basil. He looked away and at his blank paper. He hadn't even folded it yet.

Carefully, he matched the corners and creased the center until he had an even fold, but still he didn't know what to write. “Get well soon” seemed too impersonal, but anything else… Was too much.

Mari wouldn't even want a card from him, not after what he had done to her. She had to hate him now! Hate him for what he did, he deserved it. Even gentle Mari had to have some hatred in her heart.

He began to sketch something on the inside of the card, an idle doodle more than anything, just so he would look busy to his friends, but soon he realized he was drawing a violin, and scribbled it out.

No point in reminding Mari of what he had done.

“Is everything okay, Sunny?” Hero asked, having noticed Sunny's erratic movements.

Sunny stared at him for a moment, then scribbled No ideas on the corner of his card and showed it to Hero.

Hero nodded in understanding. “Don't worry, I'm sure Mari will love a card from you, no matter what you write or draw.” Without Sunny asking, he reached over and got him a new piece of paper. This sheet was yellow.

“What's wrong?” Kel asked.

Hero conveyed Sunny's message; Kel nodded and said to Sunny, “you could always write “get well soon”! That's what I did.”

“Add glitter.” Aubrey said, doing just that to her own card. “Ah..! But not that much.” She frowned in frustration at her card and the small pile of glitter she had accidentally dumped on it. 

Kel laughed at her as she got up to shake some of it off into the trash, card carried carefully so as to not shed glitter on the floor. Aubrey made a face at him as she passed by.

“You… could draw some flowers, like I'm doing.” Basil suggested tentatively.

Sunny shrugged, which was about as much acknowledgement as Basil was going to get from him, and he went back to work, this time trying to draw a flower, although he couldn’t think of any off the top of his head, and refused to ask Basil for help. He settled for basic, nonspecific flowers, and a little cat napping amidst them. Mari would like that, he hoped.

Predictably, Kel finished his card first and he slapped it down on the table in front of Sunny, startling him. He had been focused on his drawing, obsessively adding details to it as if drawing a really nice picture for Mari would make her forgive him.

“WHAT do you think?” Kel asked. “Will Mari like it?”

Kel's card was orange construction paper with “get well soon!” written in uneven block letters on the inside, and covered in artfully placed stickers as well as messily drawn doodles of things Sunny couldn't quite identify. He was pretty sure at least one of them was a dog, maybe Hector? It was hard to tell.

“I'm done too!” Aubrey announced, kindly sliding her card over to Sunny.

Her card was on pink construction paper, she had drawn a rainbow and some clouds on the front and embellished the rainbow with glitter (the leftovers of the extra glitter sparkled in one concentrated area and shed on Sunny's hands), and the inside was a similar design with a nice little message written in messy cursive.

They were both great, both capturing the character of their makers very well. Sunny was sure Mari would love them both. As his judgement, Sunny placed a hand on each card in front of him.

“Aw come on! You gotta pick one! You gotta pick mine, it's clearly better.” Kel said.

Aubrey made a face at him. “Don't pander to the judge!”

“I'm not pandering! I didn't even draw any pandas!”

“That's not what pandering is, dummy.”

“Would you like to see my card too, Sunny?” Basil asked shyly.

No , Sunny thought bitterly.

“Yes!” Aubrey answered for him. “Show us!”

Basil slid his card across the table. It was mint green construction paper with various flowers drawn in purple ink on the bottom half, with a couple butterflies drawn above them to fill the space. Sunny was sure that the inside was drawn to match, maybe with a message in Basil's neat handwriting, but he didn't look. Basil, Sunny thought, did not deserve to give Mari a card when he had been willing to leave her to die.

He looked at Hero, as if to ask what his card looked like while ignoring how Basil wilted further, unaffected by Kel and Aubrey's praise.

“Uh, mine?” Hero asked, noticing Sunny staring. He had been writing something on the inside of the card, chewing his lower lip thoughtfully, and now as Sunny stared at him he slowly, nonchalantly even, folded his card. “I guess you can see it, just- just don’t open it, okay?”

Sunny nodded. Hero handed his card over.

Hero’s card was made of beige construction paper, and on the front he had written “get well soon” in pretty looping letters, and added some music note stickers to fill the empty space. As promised, Sunny did not open the card and would leave whatever Hero had been writing between him and Mari, even going as far as to hand the card back to Hero before Kel could get his hands on it.

“It’s pretty!” Aubrey said to Hero, looking over Sunny’s shoulder. “What about your card, Sunny?”

Sunny’s card was yellow construction paper, on which he had drawn a simple field of flowers, maybe daisies but they weren’t specific. The flowers continued on the inside of the card, and among them he had drawn a cat resembling Mari’s cat, Mewo, napping. He had not written any words. Everything he wanted to write was an apology, but Mari deserved to hear it from him. If he could ever find the words.

“Suppose you're quiet even in writing, huh?” Kel teased. “It’s a good card! But I think Mari will like mine best.”

“What flowers are those?” Basil asked, tilting his head.

Sunny shrugged.

Hero glanced out the window. “It’s getting late, we better head down to the hospital before visiting hours end.”

Sunny’s mom drove them all to the hospital, and Sunny spent the entire car ride staring listlessly out of the window, dread growing every minute they grew closer to their destination. To Mari. She was sure to be awake this time, and Sunny was certain that the joy of seeing her friends would not outweigh her hatred for him. She had to hate him. It simply wouldn’t make sense if she didn’t. After what he had done, he deserved it.

The trees passing by the window seemed endless. Whatever conversation his friends were having began to blend in with the music on the radio. His vision began to blur with the scenery and his thoughts wandered until they too became blurry and blended with the radio.

He only noticed they stopped when Aubrey shouldered him while unbuckling. Carefully clutching his card in one hand, Sunny followed his friends out of the car.

The receptionist was hesitant to allow a pack of children into the hospital, but Hero did most of the talking and the rest of them showed her the cards they had made for Mari, and soon they were all signing in and heading down the familiar hallway to get to Mari’s room.

As they walked, Sunny grabbed Kel’s free hand with his own, determined to not get lost this time. Kel gave him a confused look, but gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Must be hard seeing your sister in the hospital, huh?” Kel asked, brow furrowed.

Especially because I put her here. Sunny thought.

Kel shuddered. “Dunno what I'd do if Hero got hurt like this… I don’t want to think about it.”

Sunny did not think Kel would ever need to think about it. Kel would never hurt Hero.

Hero was the first to open Mari’s door, but Aubrey rushed past him into the room with a barely contained cry of excitement, like she was trying to be respectful of the other patients, but failing miserably. Everyone followed after her with their own happy greetings, and Sunny could hear Mari’s cheerful replies, but he lingered just outside and just out of sight, hesitant to see her.

Even Basil entered the room before him.

“Sunny, come on!” Kel called.

He was almost certain that, under Aubrey explaining her card, he heard Mari ask, “Sunny is here too?”

Sunny was not wanted here. He knew that. It would be better for him, for Mari, and for everyone if he left, and left them to talk and be happy. Anxiety crawled up his throat and dried out his mouth and he had to be careful to not clench his fist around his card lest he wrinkle it. He took a deep breath that did nothing to steady his pounding heart, and stepped into the room.

Mari greeted him with a smile.

Basil had been looking forward to the recital ever since it was announced.

Everyone had been.

Mari and Sunny were an amazing pair; as close as siblings could possibly be with a friendship that made him jealous. Sunny had even picked up the violin just to spend more time with her while she practiced on the piano. They sounded lovely together. Sometimes they let their friends sit in on their rehearsals, and the music they made was beautiful.

Basil was jealous.

Only a little bit. Because the violin meant he didn't get to see Sunny as often as usual.

But it was fine.

That night they were all meant to meet at Sunny's house so they could all go to the recital together; they did everything together, after all, why should this have been any different? Basil arrived early, though, because he was very excited, and because he wanted to spend a little extra time with Sunny and Mari and maybe even catch their last minute rehearsal.

Instead, he arrived just in time to watch Sunny shove Mari down the stairs.

Basil had heard the argument, of course. Mari was yelling and even Sunny was being louder than usual. Mari called Sunny ungrateful, Sunny called her controlling. Basil opened the door with a greeting prepared but it died on his lips as he watched Mari fall.

There was nothing graceful about the way she fell. She twisted desperately like a cat trying to land on her feet, but she must have hit her head on a step because she went limp the rest of the way down until she landed in a heap on the floor. On top of Sunny's broken violin.

Sunny stood at the top of the staircase, arms still extended and an expression of horror clear across his face. Behind him, a strange shadow fled.

Basil screamed.

He heard Sunny talking, repeating Mari's name but ignored him and knelt at Mari's side, calling her name as if that would wake her. But she didn't move.

She looked dead.

But… Basil knew Sunny. Basil knew that Sunny would never, ever hurt Mari. It could not have been Sunny who pushed her. That thing behind him, that shadow.. That was the culprit, right?

He tried to convince Sunny that they had to do something, but Sunny wouldn't listen. Sunny insisted that they should call for help, he couldn't see that Mari was beyond saving. He couldn't accept it.

Basil didn't want to accept it, didn't want Mari to be dead, didn't want Sunny to be her killer. Sunny would get in trouble, he would go to jail- Basil was his friend, he couldn't let anything happen to Sunny. But Sunny wouldn't listen.

Like a coward, Basil fled.

He had no destination or goal in mind but he wanted to help Sunny, had to help Sunny. So he wracked his brain for any ideas.

What if Sunny hadn't killed Mari?

What if Mari… Killed herself?

By the time Basil arrived back at Sunny's house, running at full tilt with a jump rope clutched tightly in one hand, an ambulance was parked out front.

He stopped. He could see people, Sunny's dad, and a stranger talking on the front step. He did not see Sunny.

Swallowing his fear, Basil ran all the way back home.

Mari loved her family, and her little brother, more than anything in the world.

She would always remember the day Sunny had been born. She had been staying with Hero's family while her parents were in the hospital, but when they got the call they all piled into the car to take Mari to meet her new baby brother. She remembered walking into the hospital room with her dad's hands on her shoulders and seeing her mom cradling Sunny to her chest and smiling warmly.

Hero's own little brother had been born several months prior to Sunny, and Mari liked playing with him, but nothing beat having her own little brother to look after. He was just like a baby doll, but a little more fragile.

To the amazement of Hero's parents, Sunny was a quiet baby. Sure, he cried, but it only ever seemed to be when he needed something. Otherwise he was pretty content to sit and look around the world with his big dark eyes. Mari loved carrying him around the house and explaining things to him because it was like he was actually paying attention.

When Kel started talking, he took to it like he would never be quiet again, babbling aimlessly about anything and everything even before he knew any words. When Sunny started talking, he learned “Mommy”, “Daddy”, and “Mawi” and that was all he cared to know. He'd say a name to get attention, and then use the baby sign language they had taught him to ask for whatever he wanted. He would sign “eat” or “all done”, or “I love you” to everyone, but especially his parents, and Mari.

His lack of speech worried their parents, but when they took him to a doctor she said he was fine, and would learn to talk in his own time. While they waited, Mari began to get books about sign language from the library and learned alongside Sunny so that they'd always be able to talk, even without words.

(She made Hero and Kel learn, too. Just in case.)

Sunny did begin to talk more at home, and was positively chatty when he wanted to be, but he clammed up when he started school, refusing to speak to even his teachers. He also became prone to meltdowns. Mari would meet with him after school only to see that he had been crying, and he would hug her and bury his face in her shoulder and she would carry him home. Selective mutism, the doctor said, caused by anxiety. He'll grow out of it.

He never did. But that was okay.

Their friend group grew quickly. Kel met a little girl named Aubrey who was quickly accepted into the fold, and Sunny latched on to a boy named Basil who he met at school. Basil was the first friend Sunny had made at school by himself, and Mari was proud of him for that. Aubrey and Basil were quick to pick up on sign language so that they too could talk to Sunny when he didn't feel like speaking, and Hero and Mari became responsible for the four of them.

For a brief time in middle school, Sunny picked up the violin when Mari began playing the piano. He took to it beautifully, and always looked very peaceful when he played, but he was quick to abandon it in favour of being able to spend more time with his friends. Mari understood. Her rehearsals drew her away from them, too, but the piano was a more social instrument and when they caught her practicing she'd always invite them to join in.

Kel preferred to bash on the keys, but Hero, Aubrey, and even Basil learned at least the scales.

Mari knew Sunny missed the violin. He never said anything, but she would catch him flipping through old sheet music, or trying to play the violin he had outgrown, and that's when she had the idea.

It took months of hard work from all of them, but together the group bought Sunny a violin.

He loved it, or so they all thought.

The night of their recital, the recital that they had been rehearsing for together for months, the recital that everyone had been excited for, Sunny broke the violin.

She had never been so angry at Sunny before, and even as his eyes welled with tears she yelled at him, called him an ungrateful brat.

He called her controlling and bossy.

Maybe she should have noticed his frustration sooner.

Maybe she shouldn't have been so hard on him.

Or maybe Sunny should have told her he was upset.

Maybe he should have said he didn't want the violin in the first place.

There were too many maybes. Too many things they both could and should have done.

But instead of doing any of it, they let their stresses get the better of them. Mari yelled. And Sunny shoved her down the stairs.

The last memory she had of that night was of Sunny's face, rage warping into horror as he watched her fall, his arms held out still, frozen in place.

When she woke up in the hospital hours later, her parents leaning over her with worry etched into their faces; she didn't know what Sunny had told them, and she didn't know if she would ever be able to forgive him.

But she did know she had to protect him, just like she always did.

And Mari lied.

The next few days passed in a fog.

Sunny tried so hard to be normal. But his head no longer belonged to him, and his hands belonged to a monster. He had always been quiet, but his friends were quick to take notice that he was no longer speaking at all . “He misses Mari,” his parents said, because they all knew that she was the person he’d talk to the most. “He’ll cheer up when she’s back.”

They were wrong.

He continued trying to be normal. He hung out with his friends. He did whatever they wanted. And he tried to ignore the gaping hole that Mari had left behind.

Anywhere they went, he could picture her with them; gently scolding Kel and Aubrey for arguing, teasing Hero for getting spooked by a bug, holding Sunny’s hand when he started to get overwhelmed, talking to Basil about flowers… Everywhere they went was empty without Mari.

And it was all his fault. He was the reason she was stuck in the hospital, in the stark white hell of noise and loneliness. She had to hate it there. He hadn’t been to visit her since delivering the cards with his friends, it was too much, and even though he knew Mari must have been suffering more for having to stay there, he just couldn’t force himself to go with his parents to visit her whenever they asked.

But Mari was coming home today, and he would no longer be able to avoid her.

His dad had already left to pick her up from the hospital, while his mom stayed home with him to prepare the house. Mari was mobile, but she would need a lot of help getting around for a while. Sunny was sure his parents would depend on him to help her, but he had no intention of doing so; not because he didn’t want to or didn’t like Mari (he wanted to help her badly, he wanted to help her), but because he was terrified that he might hurt her once again.

She had, apparently, said she was fine to sleep in her own bedroom on the second floor despite their parents’s worries about her and the staircase. He had heard his mom fussing about it to his dad the previous night. What if Mari fell again? What if she had some stair related trauma? What if-

No, Mari would be fine. As long as Sunny wasn’t around her.

To ensure that he wouldn’t endanger Mari, Sunny had removed himself from the second floor entirely and withdrew to the playroom. Once again nesting on blankets next to the toy chest where he had hidden the violin. Violin music still played. Louder today than ever before, creating measures from his guilt.

Mari had lied about the circumstances of her fall, unknowingly supporting the false story Sunny had told. He had learned that when he visited her with his friends, and she repeated what she must have told everyone who asked, that she had tripped and fell and it was nothing more than that. Even now, Mari was defending him like she always did.

He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t tell the truth. He didn’t understand why she wasn’t angry, why she had smiled when she saw him, treated him like normal. He didn’t visit her again because he didn’t understand her and he was sure she was only doing it to make him feel more guilty, so that he would tell the truth on his own.

“Sunny!” His mom called. “Mari is home!”

Sunny went out to greet Mari, who met him with a “hello” and a sad sort of smile, like she was trying to be friendly but just couldn't do it. He did not blame her, and was quick to retreat to the playroom once more, just to stay out of her way while she got settled in. She deserved the peace of mind that his lack of presence was sure to afford her.

In the playroom, he sat against the door and listened to his parents fuss over Mari, and listened to her reassure them that she was fine, that she could make it up the stairs herself, and, oh! Hello Mewo!  

Mewo must have come out of her hidey-hole to greet Mari. The cat was giving Sunny’s sister a warmer greeting than he had.

Sunny sighed, shook his head, and slowly got to his feet. He wandered the small room to collect some toys to play with, easily recognizing which belong to Kel or Aubrey or Basil and had been left at his house, forgotten. He wondered briefly if his friends would want their toys back, or if they were all too old for dolls and matchbox cars.

He arranged all the toys in two lines, while one stood apart, giving instructions on how to play hide and seek. Sunny was “it”, somehow, but to humor himself he closed his eyes to count…

... When he opened them, he was on a playground in a pastel forest. Omori looked around. All of his friends were hiding, and he had to find them; but before he did that he wanted to go visit Mari who sat on a picnic blanket off to the side, propped up on her two healthy arms to watch the playground, and Sunny, with an amused expression.

He took a step towards her.

“Psst, Omori! I’m right here.” Kel whispered from his “hiding” place behind the tether-ball pole, almost directly in front of him. “Don’t tell Berly!”

Omori turned back towards him and smiled.

Kel winked. “Now we can go find all of our friends together!”

His friends knew how much he hated to be alone, Kel must have thrown the game just to make sure he would be okay. That meant a lot, because Omori knew how much Kel loved to win games. Hand in hand with Kel, he went a-hunting for his friends.

Aubrey was hiding in some bushes, Van behind some trees, and Hero had ended up exercising with Shawn and Ren instead of hiding. It took some time, but with Mari’s help, Sunny found everyone.

Except Basil.

They lined up for a roll call and only then was Basil’s disappearance noticed. Everyone began to look for him, only to learn that he had been grabbed by Boss! Boss had been banned from the playground because of what he did last time , and now he was back to ruin their fun!

Omori and his friends prepared to fight…

...And were successful!

Basil was freed, but being himself he was quick to forgive Boss, and even lifted the ban despite everyone else’s mixed feelings, but Boss resigned himself to hiding behind a tree and everyone was quick to get back to their own games.

“Okay! Can we go to my house, now?” Basil asked the group. “I still want to show you guys those sprouts I planted!”

“YEAH! Let’s go!” Kel exclaimed.

“Lead the way, Omori!” Hero said.

Omori began to walk…

“Sunny? Are you in there?” Sunny's mom knocked on the door. “It's time for dinner!”

Sunny, feeling slightly dazed, opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet to amble over to the door. When he opened it, his mom smiled. 

“What are you doing in there? Don’t you want to spend time with Mari?” She asked.

He shrugged slightly. 

His mom’s smile faded slightly, but she didn’t push the subject. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

Words could not begin to describe dinner that night. Awkward could not cover the emotions Sunny felt as he sat across from Mari.

Their parents chatted idly, telling Mari how happy they were that she was back and healthy, that they were sure Sunny was thrilled to have her back, and that they had asked everyone to stay away just for the day to give Mari time to adjust, but the gang would come by tomorrow to say hello.

Mari responded to them easily, but she stared at Sunny the entire time. He did not return her gaze and couldn’t bear to look at her with her casts and her bandages and her bruises, so he stared at his plate and picked at his food and tried to ignore the weight of Mari’s attention.

He barely ate, and when dinner was over he ended up putting shrink wrap over his plate to save it for later- at his mom’s instruction. She was worried about him, he could tell, but she didn’t seem to know how to broach the subject.

“Honey? Can you help me with the dishes?”

Sunny nodded and went to join her in the kitchen. He got a clean hand towel from the linen drawer, and as his mom washed dishes and began to talk about nothing in particular, he began to zone out, thinking about his friends at Basil’s house…

Omori led the way to Basil’s house, past all of his gardens, past all of the emotional sprout moles, and even through a battle with Ye Olde Sproutmole. Hero taught them all about emotions and teamwork, and Kel impatiently demanded that they continue on.

Basil’s house was a shoe on an island in the middle of a very small lake, surrounded by plants, as cute and as charming as Basil himself.

As they were walking up the path, Basil ran ahead to take a picture of them all. He was always taking pictures, especially when people weren't paying attention; he said he liked to capture their natural selves. Everyone crowded around to see, and the picture was cute! Albeit a bit blurry, but Basil said that that just gave it character and went to put it in his photo album anyway.

Kel and Aubrey started to argue then, pushing each other back and forth until they accidentally knocked Basil over, despite Hero's best efforts to stop them. Basil dropped his photo album and pictures scattered everywhere, but Hero helped him pick them all up, and Kel and Aubrey apologized. Basil said it was okay, and that they could all go inside and put the pictures back in the photo album together inside. So they did!

Omori did most of the work, but he didn't mind, because he loved helping his friends and could remember which pictures went where. Basil picked up the photo album when Omori was finished and thanked him sincerely, but a picture fell out.

“Oh that's odd.” said Basil as he went to pick it up. “Did one come loose?”

Everyone watched him quietly, as confused as he was. He looked at the picture, head tilted slightly.

“Did I take this?” Basil continued, talking more to himself than anyone else. “No, that can't be right… Mari, she's-”

A crash, a shriek, Mari on the ground-

A crash. Pain.

Sunny dropped the plate he was drying onto his feet.

“Oh, Sunny! Are you okay?” His mom shut the sink off abruptly and turned to him, face full of concern. “Don’t worry, honey! Accidents happen. Stay there and I’ll clean up the glass, all right?”

Accidents happen. It was fine. He didn’t mean to drop the plate, just like he hadn’t meant to push Mari down the stairs. It was an accident!

He began to cry.

Mari and Sunny’s parents came to tuck them in that night even though they were both too old for that now. Besides, he knew that they were only there to fuss over Mari and make sure that she was okay; he was more of an afterthought, but that was okay because Mari did deserve all of the attention and it was better if he got used to this kind of treatment, anyway, because if the truth ever got out, then…

Well, this would be the rest of his life.

The lights went out and their parents left after a final goodnight, reminiscent of a better time when Sunny and Mari had been younger and their dad would read them bedtimes stories. Almost every night, after their dad left the room, Sunny would crawl into Mari’s bed to sleep with her; now, though, he stayed in his own bed and stared at the dark ceiling with empty eyes, listening to Mari as she shifted around as though trying to get comfortable.

Laying there in the dark and listening to Mari’s now even breathing slowly became unbearable. Shadows seemed to close in on him and made it hard to breathe, his sheets felt too heavy and he was too hot, his heartbeat was speeding up-

Sunny sat up abruptly. He couldn’t do it. It was all too much. Laying here and waiting for Mari to say something, anything , while the darkness closed in on him; he couldn’t take it. As quickly, but quietly as possible he got out of bed and made towards the door with the intent to return to his nest in the playroom, but-

“Sunny?” Mari asked softly. “Where are you going?” She sounded concerned. Why would she be concerned for him ?

He froze like a deer in the headlights, one hand already on the doorknob. He was so close to freedom that he was contemplating ignoring Mari entirely, opening the door, and making a run for it. The darkness in the playroom was oppressive but at least he was alone there, where he couldn’t hurt anyone and didn’t have to wait to be acknowledged. But wasn’t this what he had been waiting for? For Mari to talk to him?

Slowly he turned around to face her.

Through the dark, he could make out Mari’s silhouette sitting up in her bed. He couldn’t make out her face, but he imagined her expression matched her tone. Concerned.

Mari sighed wearily. “Please, Sunny, stay. We... We should talk.”

No , Sunny thought.

“Can.. can you get the light?”

He swallowed nervously, but complied.

After blinking away the sudden brightness, he looked at Mari again. She was still sitting up, her broken arm cradled across her chest and her good hand on the sheets in front of her. He had been right about her expression, she looked concerned, but she tried to offer him what he guessed was an encouraging smile as she patted her lap. An invitation.

Sunny wanted nothing more than to curl up in her lap and let her stroke his hair while she told him everything was all right, but he knew that that wouldn’t happen and he didn’t deserve her comfort, so he slunk over to her bed and perched on the very end of it, keeping his hands folded in his lap and his fingers curled into fists with his nails digging into his palms.

Mari looked troubled, and reached out to him with her good hand as if offering it for him to hold, but he did not reach out to take it. She probably wanted him to apologize. He wanted to apologize, but “I’m sorry” simply didn’t seem like it would be enough.

“Sunny…” Mari said, and panic rose higher in his throat.

He opened his mouth to at least try and say something-

“I forgive you.” Mari blurted.

         Only to be interrupted.

His mouth snapped shut. What? No. She wasn't supposed to say that, not at all. She was supposed to yell at him, or threaten to expose the truth, or say she hated him, or at least wait for him to attempt to apologize. He dug his fingernails harder into his palms, hoping that the pain would wake him from whatever dream he was having, but the slight stinging pain only proved that he was very much awake, so he could only stare at Mari with shock and confusion.

Mari sighed and gripped the blanket with her good hand. “No, really, I do.” She said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince him. “I… I never should have yelled at you like that, or taken my anger out on you… You shouldn’t have broken the violin and you should have told me if you were upset but… I know you’re sorry for that, right? And for… You know.”

Sunny nodded once. Slow and hesitant..

She continued to talk. “You’re my baby brother, Sunny. I… I’ve always promised to protect you and I’m not going back on that now. What you did was an accident, right? I know you, I know you’re sorry for it. So I forgive you. You don’t need to be scared, I know why you lied and I’m not going to tell anyone the truth, and I’m not mad at you, so you don’t need to hide from me any more. It’s okay.”

It wasn’t okay.

Nothing Mari said sounded genuine to him. Maybe it was all in his head but it sounded rehearsed. She didn’t really forgive him, and that was okay! He didn’t want her to, especially because he hadn’t even properly apologized to her. He didn’t deserve her forgiveness after what he had done to her, and now as she sat here in her casts and bandages and bruises and forgave him he only felt more guilty.

She was Mari . His beloved older sister. Who had pushed him too hard during their music lessons, who hadn’t noticed how stressed he was, who yelled at him, who-

      Who he had pushed down the stairs.

“Sunny, please… Say something. It’s me, you know you can talk to me.” Mari offered him her good hand again.

Why? He wanted to ask, staring at her offered hand. Why would you forgive me? He didn’t deserve her forgiveness or her protection. She shouldn’t have lied for him and he shouldn’t have lied in the first place. She said it was okay, that no one would need to know but he couldn’t believe her because she wasn’t supposed to forgive him.

He couldn’t take it. He had to get out of there.

Slowly and without a word, which would be normal for him usually but now felt rude, he got to his feet and walked away; turning the light off before he left the room and feeling Mari’s eyes on him the entire time. As soon as he closed the door behind him he slumped against it, his heart was racing and his palms stung and he felt like he had escaped an interrogation instead of a conversation with his beloved big sister.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the dark, Sunny got himself together long enough to carefully and quietly creep down the stairs and into the playroom before finally breaking down into tears.

Knockknockknockknock

...Omori was with his friends, but Basil was missing. They were all looking for him...

Knockknockknock

...The forest was a confusing maze, but with his friends behind him, Omori could do anything…

“Sunny! Are you in there?” Kel’s voice came in through the door, loud and energetic and enough to drag Sunny from his dream.

He would have to find Basil later.

“Kel! Don’t be so loud.” Aubrey scolded, then added in a voice only slightly quieter than Kel’s, “Sunny! Come out or Kel’s gonna eat all the cake!”

That’s fine . Sunny thought groggily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He didn’t even know what cake she was referring to. Go away. Go on without me .

They were probably here just to see Mari, anyway. He didn’t need to be there to ruin Mari’s reunion with her friends. But unfortunately, Kel and Aubrey weren’t the type to give up.

“I’m gonna break in there if you don’t open up!” Kel threatened.

Aubrey gasped. “No you will not! Don’t damage the house, Kel! We don’t even know if he’s in there!”

“Where else could he be?”

“Outside, maybe?”

“Why would he go outside? Mari said he disappeared last night, you know he hates the dark!”

Before his friends could go on a wild goose chase, or even got too worried about him (why would they worry about him?), Sunny opened the door, rubbing one of his eyes sleepily.

“Told you!” Kel exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at Aubrey.

Aubrey made a face at him and turned back to Sunny. “Why did you sleep in there?” She asked.

Sunny did not feel like explaining. Nor could he even if he wanted to. He stared at her blankly until she frowned and shrugged, knowing that asking him more questions was pointless.

Kel grabbed Sunny’s arm. “Well, come on! Everyone’s waiting in the kitchen.” He started to pull him along, and Sunny went, if only because he had no choice in the matter. Aubrey followed along humming merrily to herself.

Mari’s return had put everyone except for Sunny in a good mood, it seemed.

In the kitchen, Mari was sitting on one of the counters, chatting away with Hero as he cut up a cake. Basil was helping by supplying Hero with plates, and occasionally interjecting his own comments into the conversation. Mari paused mid-sentence when she and Sunny made eye contact, but was quick to look away and continue talking.

“We’re having cake for breakfast!” Kel announced to Sunny, gesturing grandly at Hero and the cake. “It’s strawberry, and he stayed up all night making it for Mari.”

“Hero! Is that true?” Mari asked.

“N.. No, Kel is exaggerating.” Hero said ducking his head to hide his blush.

“He better be! You know it’s not healthy to stay up all night.”

“I am, Mari! Don’t worry.” Kel laughed. “He did stay up pretty late though.”

“ Kel .” Hero complained.

Aubrey had an odd look on her face, knowing and excited. “Staying up all night to make a cake for Mari , huh?” She asked Hero, grinning.

“Sunny!” Basil cut in, perhaps to save Hero from being interrogated. “Why don’t you help me set the table?”

Sunny did not want to do that or be near or alone with Basil, but he couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse, so he suppressed a sigh and went over to pick up two plates. Basil got two of his own, and they both left for the dining room.

Setting the table took very little time but in that time Basil kept sending Sunny furtive glances that he ignored. He did not want to talk and he did not want to talk to Basil , and was the first to return to the kitchen, because at least the focus would be off of him if he were near the group.

“Guys! What do you want to drink?” Aubrey asked, standing at the fridge with a row of glasses lined up.

“Orange Joe, please!” Kel called.

“Ew, Kel! With cake?” Aubrey made a face. “That’s gross.”

“You’re gross!” Kel shot back. “You’d like it if you tried it!”

“That’s a bit too much sugar, Kel.” Hero tried to interrupt. He was ignored.

“I’d rather die !” Aubrey responded dramatically. “Now I’m taking drink orders for anyone but Kel!”

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

“Will you two knock it off?” Mari snapped.

Everyone froze.

Basil looked stricken, Hero was surprised, Kel had an awkward smile stuck to his face, and Aubrey’s face was crumpled, like she was going to cry. Sunny felt like he had been struck. The last time Mari had snapped like that, it had been aimed at him , and he had… 

Mari realized her mistake immediately. “I’m so sorry, I-” 

“Let’s… Take a walk.” Hero interrupted gently, already offering her a hand to help her get off the counter. She accepted it. Everyone watched them leave.

Aubrey began to cry..

“Aw, don’t cry, Aubrey!” Kel said, his cheery voice sounding strained. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it! She’s probably just cranky ‘cause she’s hurting.” He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Sunny clenched his jaw and stared at the floor. This was his fault. It was his fault that Mari was hurt and mad because of it. Basil put a hand on his arm and stepped closer without saying anything, as if he knew exactly what Sunny was thinking about.

“Y-yeah, you’re probably right.” Aubrey sniffled and wiped her face with her arm. “Mari would never actually be mad at us, right? We argue all the time and she’s never…”

“Of course not! We’re too adorable for her to be really mad at us.” Kel still sounded strained.

“Thanks, Kel.” Aubrey said, smiling at him. “And, and, maybe Orange Joe isn’t entirely disgusting.”

Kel grinned, this time it looked genuine. “I knew it! So do you want some?”

“Absolutely not.”

They both laughed, and even Basil giggled a little although Sunny wasn’t sure what was so funny. They were probably only laughing to relieve the tension in the air. Basil let go of Sunny’s arm and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“So… Drinks?” He asked cautiously.

“Right! For everyone except Kel!” Aubrey stood up straighter. “What do you want, Basil, Sunny?”

“Not fair!” Kel complained.

Before Basil or Sunny could respond, Mari and Hero returned to the room, Mari looking apologetic with her head bent as best as she could bend it, given the brace, and her eyes downcast.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you, Kel, Aubrey.” She said softly. “I-”

“It’s okay!” Kel interrupted, unwilling to linger on it. “We couldn’t stay upset with you, Mari.”

Aubrey sniffled, then nodded. “Would you like a drink?”

Sunny did not come out of the playroom for several days after that. Even when his friends came to see Mari the day after she came home, and even when they came back every day since then to try and convince him to come outside and play. The only times he did leave were when his extremely worried parents talked him into emerging to eat something, or when he needed to use the bathroom. In both instances, he took care to avoid Mari.

Mari came to the door frequently to talk to him, but he never responded.

He pretended to himself that he was content in his self-imposed isolation as he listened to his friends talk in the living room on some days, and as he eavesdropped on his parents as they spoke on the stairs in hushed whispers about how worried about him that they were. More often than not, though, he was outside of his own head and playing games in the dreamworld with his friends while Mari watched on from the safety of her picnic blanket.

Besides, he had toys to play with when he was in the present, and his sketchbook with a few colored pencils. He liked to draw his dreamy adventures sometimes, and thought about showing them to his friends; he knew Aubrey would like the various bunnies that inhabited the land, and that Basil would love all the strange and interesting plants, but he also knew that he would never get to show them.

Sunny had picked up another “hobby”, too. One night, when he had been making himself dinner long after his family had gone to bed, he accidentally cut one of his fingers with a knife.

      So he took the entire knife with him...

         ...And used it when he needed to remember that he was real .

               (There was no harm in a few thin, red lines, was there?)

Today was Aubrey’s birthday. Everyone had been invited to the park for her birthday party in the evening. Sunny’s mom made him leave the room and go to Hobbeez’s with Mari that morning to go get Aubrey some birthday gifts, but Sunny remained withdrawn the entire time. Mari, too, was quiet but she kept glancing at him as if to make sure he was still with her. Sunny was too busy imagining Sprout Moles and other small creatures going about their days around him to notice.

His mom did not need to force him to go to Aubrey’s birthday party, he went willingly because he owed that much to Aubrey, although he did dread the inevitable questions about his whereabouts the past few days, and questions about why had he been avoiding them, and teasing about “oh look who's finally emerged!”

He and Mari wrapped their gifts, then ate lunch, and then he retreated to the playroom until it was time to meet the others at the park. Sunny must have dozed off though, because the next thing he knew he was woken up by someone knocking on the door.

“Sunny! Come on! We’re going to be late!” It was Mari. She sounded annoyed.

Sunny shuddered at her tone and considered his warm nest of blankets. Maybe if he laid back down and ignored her she would go away…

No.

“Sunny!”

That wouldn't do.

Slowly he got to his feet and went to the door. When he opened it, Mari scowled at him and left, giving him no choice but to follow.

Mari was right. They were late. Only by a few minutes, but they were still late. And it was all Sunny's fault.

They were spotted walking up to the park almost immediately and Kel and Aubrey came sprinting over to greet them with Basil and Hero following at a slightly slower pace.

“Hi guys!” Aubrey greeted, smiling brightly.

“Happy birthday, Aubrey!” Mari replied. “Sorry we're late.”

“I’m just glad you came at all! I mean, after the past few days, I was worried that Sunny wouldn’t come.”

“Aw, c’mon Aubrey, Sunny couldn’t possibly ignore you on your birthday!” Kel slung an arm around Sunny’s shoulders, but his cheerful voice sounded a little strained.

Sunny wordlessly held his gift out to Aubrey.

“Oh, for me? Thank you!” She accepted it with a bright smile.

“I have a gift for you, too!” Mari said, offering her own present to Aubrey.

“Thank you!” Aubrey repeated. “Come on, guys! You should see what Basil and I did for decorations! Oh, and the cake Hero made!”

“You made a cake?” Mari asked. “That’s so sweet of you.”

“It was nothing! I thought Aubrey would like it.” Hero replied, bashfully rubbing the back of his head.

“I do! It’s bunny shaped! Mari, come look!” Aubrey waved for them to follow and dashed off with Kel hot on her heels. Basil and Sunny followed at a slower pace, and Hero and Mari brought up the rear.

Basil and Aubrey had sectioned off a small portion of the park to be Aubrey’s Birthday Zone; two picnic blankets had been set up along with a collapsible table and a cooler. The decorations were minimal but all very Aubrey , some pastel balloons and streamers had been strewn about and Basil had even thrown in some flowers made of paper. Aubrey’s mom sat on one of the picnic blankets with Kel and Hero’s mom, and their dad was grilling food. Sunny and Mari’s parents went to join the adults and, after admiring all the decorations, Sunny trailed away to join them.

Aubrey, Kel, and Basil all ran off to go play together while Hero and Mari stood nearby, though it looked like Mari was trying to encourage Hero to join them.

“Don’t you want to go play, too?” Sunny’s mom asked him.

Sunny shrugged. It was safer for everyone if he didn’t.

His mom frowned, but didn’t push the issue and instead turned away to exchange pleasantries with the other adults. Sunny listened with half an ear, but his focus was on his friends.

“I’m glad Aubrey’s having fun.” Aubrey’s mom commented to the other moms as they watched Aubrey wrestle Kel to the ground while he cackled wildly. “This is her first birthday since her dad left us… I was worried for her.”

Hero fruitlessly attempted to intervene and Basil stood by to take a picture. Mari was laughing and cheering Aubrey on.

Sunny frowned. He had forgotten about the whole situation with Aubrey’s dad, but she didn’t talk about it too much; it was a major sore spot for her, but he did remember the sleepovers that they had spent comforting her.

“She’s got a lot of friends to support her, I’m sure she’ll be okay.” Sunny’s mom said.

Aubrey was sitting on Kel’s back while he writhed and laughed. Hero had clearly given up on separating them and seemed to be bargaining with Aubrey for his brother’s freedom.

“Kids!” Kel’s dad called. “Dinner’s ready!”

Kel immediately twisted Aubrey off of his back and onto the ground, then he leapt to his feet and was about to sprint away but-

“OW! Kel!” Aubrey whined.

“Sorry!”  Kel stopped and went back to help Aubrey up.

Hero laughed. “Maybe you do have manners.” He teased Kel.

“It’s her birthday! I gotta be nice.” Kel said to him, then to Aubrey he added, “But tomorrow? All bets are off.”

“Sure.” Aubrey replied.

They ate a dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers and chatted gleefully all the while. When they were done eating, Sunny was dragged off to play with his friends while Mari stayed behind this time, apologetically telling Aubrey that she was starting to ache and needed a break.

In the meantime, Sunny was brought into a game of Hide and Tag that Kel both suggested and seemed to be making up as he went, but no one really minded. Sunny was not very fast and was not doing very well in the game, Basil and Hero were both giving it their best but Basil was slow because he didn’t want to break his camera and kept landing in the “out” zone that was the sandbox with Sunny.

“Uh, come here often?” Basil asked Sunny with a nervous laugh.

Sunny stared at him.

“Yeah… Yeah, that was stupid.” Basil said. “Uh, h-how are you, Sunny? Now that Mari’s back.”

He continued to stare. Was the answer not obvious?

Basil frowned. “That was stupid too, huh?” He sighed. “Y-you haven’t spoken since… Since Mari f-fell… I’ve been worried-”

Why had he been worried? It wasn’t like he cared enough about Sunny or Mari to help either of them.

Sunny looked away.

Basil was quiet for a moment. “Do you think the others… forgot about us? We’ve been here for a while…”

He was right. Sunny hadn’t actually seen Kel or Aubrey for a few minutes now. Had they stopped the game? He stood up abruptly to go look for them, and although he didn’t look, he could hear Basil stand up to follow him.

Locating their friends, as it turned out, wasn’t particularly hard. They had apparently all returned to the picnic area to talk to Mari, and Aubrey seemed to be in the middle of convincing Mari to come and play while Kel and Hero roughhoused over… Something.

“Uh… Hi, guys,” Basil said, raising a hand in greeting.

Aubrey turned on him. “BASIL!”

Sunny took a step back as Aubrey at Basil and dragged him forward towards Mari with her, continuing to talk. Mari looked mildly annoyed with her jaw set and her furrowed.

“Can you please help me convince Mari to come play?”

“Um-” 

“I said no, Aubrey.” Mari said firmly, sounding as if her patience was running thin. Sunny curled his trembling fingers into a fist. He didn’t like when Mari used that tone, and it was especially upsetting that she was using it with Aubrey of all people.

But Aubrey was stubborn, and persistent, and Mari was one of her favourite people. He knew she would want Mari around on her birthday instead of sitting on the sidelines to watch.

(He had no right to be bitter that Aubrey was putting more effort into convincing Mari to play than she had put in to convincing him earlier; he understood he wasn’t wanted. It was safer that way. Or so he tried to convince himself.)

(The sinking feeling in his gut told him that it was not working.)

“Please, Mari?” Aubrey begged. “You look so lonely over here! And it is my birthday! You don’t even have to play! Can’t you just come with us?”

“ No Aubrey!” Mari snapped. “Now will you leave me alone?”

Everyone went silent and stared at Mari. Kel fell from Hero with an audible “oof”. Aubrey and Basil both took a step back, with Basil grabbing for Aubrey’s hand. Sunny felt as if he had been struck, his eyes hot with sudden tears.

He wasn’t the only one crying. Aubrey pulled away from Basil and ran away without a word.

After a few more rapid heartbeats passed, Mari stood up and walked away in the opposite direction; leaving everyone to stare after her.

Kel stood up. “What the f-” 

“Kel!” Hero interrupted sharply.

“What? We were all thinking it!” Kel’s voice was defensive.

Sunny tensed and untensed his hands, desperately trying to keep himself calm in the face of Mari’s outburst. Once again, it was all his fault she was angry in the first place. Her anger was always his fault.

“Um… Should someone… Go talk to them?” Basil suggested timidly. His arms were folded across his chest and he was rubbing one of his arms as if to soothe himself.

“I’ll go talk to Aubrey!” Kel volunteered.

“No.. We should let Sunny go.” Hero said.

Why would they want him to talk to Aubrey? He couldn’t even talk! Sunny frowned and pointed at himself.

“Why Sunny?” Kel asked, echoing Sunny’s own thoughts. Kel didn’t sound mean, but he did sound disappointed.

“He does uh, have a s-sort of, calming energy?” Basil offered. “He doesn’t say much, y’know, but… He’s calm.”

“Exactly.” Hero nodded. “And I’ll.. Go talk to Mari.” He looked in the direction she had gone, his expression thoughtful, but his brow creased with worry.

Kel frowned, looking visibly tense although not quite upset . Basil bit his lower lip and stepped over to Kel, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll stay and talk to Kel.” He said.

“‘m fine.” Kel replied, but he didn’t shrug Basil off.

With their tasks decided, Sunny and Hero split up to find their respective charges.

Sunny found Aubrey by the lake in the back of the park. It was their secret hangout spot, a place they frequented for picnics, and swimming when the weather was warm enough. She was sitting on the dock, legs dangling over the water. Sunny sat down next to her and tried to suppress his anxiety about the proximity to the lake.

Wordlessly, Aubrey leaned into him for a hug, burying her face in his shoulder to cry. He awkwardly put an arm around her, but had no words to offer for comfort.

After what had to be a few minutes at least, Aubrey sat up and wiped her face with her arm. “Why… Why would Mari yell at me?” She asked Sunny.

He had no answer for her.

“I guess.. I was being a pest, but… She never…” Aubrey sniffled. “There was when she came back, you remember? She… She’s been different, since…”

Yeah. She had been. And it was Sunny’s fault. He looked away from Aubrey, scrunching his face up to keep from crying. He was supposed to be comforting her, not the other way around.

(Besides, he didn’t deserve comfort for what he’d done.)

“Is she… Like this when we aren’t around, too?”

Sunny hesitated, then nodded.

“Oh.”

He could practically feel Aubrey’s frown.

Aubrey leaned into him again for a moment, then she started to stand up.

“We should probably head back to the others, huh?” She said, offering Sunny a hand to help him up. He tentatively accepted, and hand in hand they walked back to the party.

Hero had already gotten Mari back, and the two of them looked to be deep in conversation. Kel and Basil notably sat a small distance away and seemed equally enthralled in their own conversation, whatever that might have been. Aubrey walked right past them and up to Mari, bringing Sunny with her as her emotional support friend. Mari and Hero both stopped talking as the two kids approached.

Aubrey began, “Mari, I-”

“I’m sorry.” Mari interrupted, and to her credit she did look apologetic, with her eyes downcast and her head bowed as much as it could be with the neck brace in the way. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

“I shouldn’t have been so annoying.” Aubrey said with a nonchalant shrug, though her tone was a little sad.

Sunny squeezed her hand. She smiled at him.

“Maybe not,” Mari agreed, “but that still didn’t warrant my reaction. I… Hang on. Basil, Kel, can you two come here?” Her tone raised slightly to call out to the other two, and everyone turned to look at them.

Basil and Kel exchanged a look, but both stood up and walked over anyway.

“Yeah?” Kel asked cautiously.

Mari sighed and pursed her lips as everyone turned back to look at her. Her hands were folded in her lap and she was twiddling her thumbs nervously. That in itself was weird for Mari; she was never nervous.

Finally, she spoke. “I should tell all of you… Ever since my fall it’s been.. Harder to control my temper. Apparently that’s common with this kind of head injury. But that doesn’t mean I’m not trying, I promise! It’s just going to take a little time for me to figure it all out. I promise you all though, I will try to figure it out.” Mari smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her sad eyes.

Sunny released Aubrey’s hand and shrank in on himself by hunching his shoulders and looking down at his shoes. This was his fault. Mari was struggling because of him. It wasn’t enough that he had broken her neck and her arm but he had altered her personality, too!

Why would she forgive him for this? He didn’t deserve it! He had done far too much damage for anyone to forgive him.

The world seemed to grow larger around him, his hands shook and his heart was beating rapidly in his throat and-

Aubrey picked up his hand again.

“Aw, it’s okay Mari!” Kel exclaimed with forced cheerfulness.

Basil nodded slowly, eyeing Sunny, which Sunny ignored. “Y-yeah.” He agreed. “We’ll be sure to h-help if we can.”

Sunny wanted to glare at him.

“Of course we’ll help.” Hero added. “And we’ll be patient with you in the meantime.”

Mari’s smile this time was happier and more genuine. “Thanks guys.” She said, sounding relieved. “And, Aubrey?”

“Yeah?”

“You know how we’ve always talked about dyeing our hair together? Maybe we should actually do that sometime.”

Aubrey grinned. “Really?”

“Yeah! I mean, we’ll have to ask our parents, and do a bit of research beforehand but-”

“YES! We absolutely should!” Aubrey was practically vibrating now. “I’m gonna dye my hair PINK!”

“Gross.” Kel said, sticking his tongue out. Hero elbowed him.

“U-um. Could I… Join you guys?” Basil asked shyly.

“You want to dye your hair too?” Aubrey replied, surprised.

“K-kinda, yeah. I think it’d be fun.”

“Of course you can join, Basil!” Mari said, then she leaned over and nudged Hero with her shoulder. “You could join too, you know.”

Hero chuckled. “Thanks, but I think mom would kill me if I tried.”

“One day,” Mari joked threateningly. “One day…”

“Hey,” Kel interrupted. “Could you guys make your plans while we eat something? Like, maybe, cake?”

“I think cake is um, Aubrey’s decision.” Basil said.

“It is.” Aubrey responded. “But I also want cake. We shouldn’t let Hero’s hard work go unappreciated!”

“Cake it is, then.” Hero said, and Kel cheered. “Let’s go, everyone.”

After several days of Mari, Aubrey, and Basil begging their respective parents and guardians, and making plans and doing research, the time finally came for them all to meet at Mari’s house to dye their hair.

Sunny, of course, was tucked away in his new room. Mari had attempted to convince him to join them once, but when she received no response as was the new normal, she quickly gave up.

He didn’t want to dye his hair, but he did want to see his friends. Or Aubrey, at least. Basil remained on thin ice.

But it was safer for them if he stayed here, away from them. It was safer for Mari.

“Sunny!” His mom called, knocking on the door. “I’m going out to run some errands and get something for dinner. Mari is in charge. Also, come and say hi to your friends!”

No response.

His mom sighed. “I love you, honey. Be good.”

As she walked away, Sunny crawled up to the door and sat against it with one ear pressed against the wood. He could hear Mari talking in the living room, laying out the rules of this endeavour; and he could picture Aubrey sitting on the couch, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, stars in her eyes, and a grin on her face. He could also picture Basil, sitting back on the couch fiddling with his fingers in his lap but still listening to Mari with rapt attention.

Were Hero and Kel here, too? He didn’t know, but it didn’t sound like Aubrey was arguing with anyone or like Mari was flirting, so maybe they weren’t.

Odd.

He chewed on his lower lip nervously. When did the thought of seeing his friends begin to make him feel dread? Why did he feel nervous to be around the ones that he loved? He knew it was better, safer , to stay away from them, but wasn’t this the reason why he had smashed his violin in the first place? Because it was keeping him away from his friends? He ground his teeth at the irony. His reach for freedom had only resulted in more isolation.

Wasn’t it better to be alone to keep everyone safe?

“Sunny!” Someone, Aubrey this time, knocked on the door. “I know you’re in there! Come out! We’re gonna go dye our hair now, don’t you want to help?”

“Just leave him.” He heard Mari say.

“Oh, okay.” Aubrey responded sadly, but to the door she said, “we’ll be in the bathroom if you feel like coming to join us.”

He didn’t respond, and after a moment he heard Aubrey retreat and the three of them thump up the stairs; joking together as they went.

Sunny thumped his head against the door anxiously. Idiot , he thought. Why was he wasting what precious time he had left with his friends? Sooner or later they would know the truth and then they would all hate him, he ought to spend as much time with them as he could before he lost them forever.

But was it worth jeopardizing them?

He stood up. And opened the door.

...Sweetheart had fallen in love with Hero (don’t tell Mari, she’ll be jealous!) and wanted to marry him, but they couldn’t let that happen, could they? Hero wasn’t interested in Sweetheart, anyway, he was just too polite to say so to her face...

      ...That was okay, though, because Omori and all of Hero’s friends would defend him…

             ...They got sent to the dungeon for their efforts…

                   ...But the cell door was unlocked…

“Sunny?” Someone was cautiously shaking him awake.

Sunny groaned and softly and lazily batted the hand bothering him away. Did he… Fall asleep? He hadn’t meant to. Last thing he remembered, he was going to sit on the couch to wait for Mari and their friends to come back downstairs, but maybe he must have been more tired than he thought…

He yawned and slowly opened his eyes only to startle awake. Standing over him was… Basil?

Basil with mint green hair to match his eyes. Basil as he appeared in Sunny’s dreams.

Was Sunny really awake? He wished for his knife so he could do a reality check, but in lieu of that he settled for pressing a hand to the cuts already on his stomach. The stinging ache confirmed his consciousness, but he still wasn’t entirely convinced.

“What do you think?” Basil asked, self-consciously putting a hand to his still slightly damp hair. “Aubrey and Mari say it looks great, but I’m not too sure yet… Suppose I can’t change my mind anymore, though, haha…”

Sunny, still trying to get over his shock, slowly raised one hand to give Basil a thumbs up.

Basil beamed . “You think?” It was more acknowledgement than he had recently been getting from Sunny.

No further response. Sunny lowered his hand.

“Ah..” Basil’s mouth twisted awkwardly. “I… We weren’t expecting you t-to... Can I sit down?”

When Sunny did not make room for Basil on the couch, he sighed and sat down on the floor with his back against it.

“Mari and Aubrey should be done soon.”

Still nothing.

Silence, broken only by whatever was on the TV and the distant sound of giggling from upstairs. Basil played with his fingers on his lap and Sunny thumbed the hem of his shirt, still longing for his knife, just to be sure ....

“Sunny? What happened to your stomach?” Basil was looking at him. How long had Basil been looking at him?

All too late Sunny realized that he had pulled his shirt too high and that Basil was staring. He was quick to yank his shirt back down, hide the evidence, a million lies forming on his tongue, oh it’s nothing , he would say, Mewo scratched me, that’s it , but he didn’t have the words. It didn’t matter, anyway, he was interrupted before he could do anything.

“Basil!” Aubrey came bursting into the room with Mari hot on her heels. “Oh! And Sunny! What do you guys think?” She did a little twirl.

Her hair was now an atrocious shade of hot pink that was a little patchy in some places, yet somehow she managed to pull it off. Mari’s hair was now a similarly slightly patchy deep purple that suited her.

Sunny gave them two thumbs up. A higher rating than the one Basil got.

Aubrey grinned and clapped her hands. Even Mari smiled.

“Not bad for a first try, huh?” She said, lightly elbowing Aubrey with her good arm.

“Not bad at all!” Aubrey agreed. “And Basil! You look great!”

Basil ducked his head shyly. “Th-thanks.”

“Kel and Hero are going to be so surprised.” Mari said, still smiling. “I can’t wait to see Hero’s face.”

“Yeah! I mean, Kel’s probably gonna call my hair gross , but, that’s because he has no taste.” Aubrey paused. “Where are they, anyway?”

Mari shrugged. “They couldn’t come tonight, their mom wanted to have a family game night.”

“Ah.” Aubrey frowned.

“They’ll have something to l-look forward to.” Basil offered. “And your hair isn’t gross, Aubrey! It looks cute.”

“Thanks, Basil!”

Sunny sat up, curling his legs underneath him to make himself small. Unnoticeable.

“Didn’t expect you to come out, Sunny.” Mari said, her tone was light, but there was something in her expression he couldn’t read. It made him uneasy.

He shrugged in response.

“Oh, Basil! Do you have your camera? You should take a picture of us!” Aubrey gasped. “Or give it to Sunny, so you can be in the picture too!”

“Um..”

Basil gave Sunny a nervous look, as if he didn’t trust him with his camera. Sunny struggled to decide if that was fair or not; but because Aubrey insisted, Basil handed Sunny his camera, and because Aubrey insisted, Sunny accepted it and hoped that Basil wouldn't notice his shaking hands.

Aubrey and Mari struck a pose with Basil smiling sheepishly between them and Sunny prepared the camera although he hated to immortalize all of Mari's injuries (that he caused) in a photo. It'd be a reminder of his guilt whenever they went through Basil's photo album.

Sunny took the picture.

The lock on the front door began to audibly twist and they all turned to look as Sunny’s mom came inside, her hands full of groceries. She stopped when she saw all of them.

“Oh, my goodness.” She said, surprised.

“What do you think?” Aubrey asked, bouncing forward excitedly.

“It’s… Different.” Sunny’s mom told her. “But it looks nice. You all look nice. And Sunny! You actually came out?”

Sunny shrank back into the couch and regretted his decision.

His mom shrugged and went back to addressing the group as a whole, “I picked up a pizza for dinner, so go wash up and we’ll eat, okay?”

“Can we stay over tonight?” Aubrey asked Sunny’s mom over dinner.

“I don’t see why not, but are your parents okay with it?” Sunny’s mom replied.

Aubrey snorted. “My mom won’t notice.”

Sunny’s mom frowned, but didn’t comment. “Basil?”

“My parents won’t notice either.” Basil said with a shrug. “But I uh… Should probably call Polly.”

“The phone is in the hallway whenever you want to use it.” Sunny’s mom said, her frown deepening.

With permission granted and phone calls made, that night they all packed together in Sunny and Mari’s room. Normally, Aubrey would sleep with Mari and Basil would sleep with Sunny, or they’d all sleep together in a pile, but tonight Sunny silently rejected Basil, and Aubrey declined sleeping with Mari before Mari could decline her, surprising everyone.

Aubrey said it was because of Mari’s injuries, but the slight discomfort in her voice suggested something else.

Instead, Aubrey and Basil slept on an air mattress and a nest of spare blankets cozily crammed between Mari and Sunny’s beds.

Sunny laid in bed for hours, staring at the dark ceiling and listening to his friends shift around and whisper to each other. Only when he was certain that they were all asleep and had been for a while did he get out of bed and quietly slip out of the room.

His absence wouldn’t be noticed until tomorrow, and even then he wouldn’t be missed.

He was about to descend the stairs when-

“Sunny?”

Basil stood a few feet away, looking oddly ominous in the pale moonlight that filtered in from the window behind him.

“Where are you going?” Basil sounded almost scared. Shadows seemed darker around him.

Sunny took a step back.

“Why are you leaving, Sunny?” Basil asked, taking a step closer. “Why won’t you talk to me?” Desperation leaked into his voice. He took another step forward. Sunny took another step back.

“I’m sorry, Sunny, I didn’t mean- I didn’t-” Basil was shaking. The shadows seemed to darken more as he stepped out of the light and closer to Sunny. Sunny could feel his heart pounding.

“Please say something!” Basil was coming towards him a little faster now, hands clasped together as if pleading. “Please! I know it wasn’t you, Sunny! You- you would never- and I… I should’ve- but it’s okay now-”

Sunny took another step back.

      And tripped.

“Sunny!”

Basil lunged and managed to grab him by the arm and pull him forward; Sunny stumbled on his feet, his free arm pinwheeling for balance, but he stayed up upright. As soon as Sunny was safe, Basil dropped his arm like a hot coal.

He had been backed against the railing. Would he really have gone over the edge? He didn’t know.

And as he stared at Basil he wondered, would Basil have done anything to help him? Or would Basil have left him to be discovered in the morning, just like he left Mari?

He didn’t know the answer to that, either.

They stared at each other, Basil looking as frightened as Sunny felt, but neither spoke. Sunny because he didn’t speak, and Basil because he didn’t know what to say.

“What’s going on?” A sleepy voice interrupted.

They both turned around to see Aubrey standing in the bedroom doorway, rubbing her eye with one hand and holding a stuffed animal with her other.

“N-nothing!” Basil lied. “We were just, uh, going to get a snack, a-and Sunny tripped a little, is all. Right, Sunny?”

He looked at Sunny for help. Sunny did nothing to confirm nor deny his story.

“Hm.” Aubrey seemed doubtful. “Whatever. Just keep it down.” Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Basil turned back to Sunny, his mouth open like he had something to say, but Sunny turned away

                                                                                                                                                                                              And

                                                                                                                                                                                                     Left

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Basil

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Alone.

                                                                                         “Do you blame yourself?”

         Omori sits up. He does not know where he is. His surroundings are pitch black and completely empty, void of thoughts and of feelings and anything that would make it familiar. He clambers to his feet yet feels no ground beneath him, not rock nor grass nor carpet to give even the smallest hint of his whereabouts. He could be in a tiny, restricting room, or in a vast field, and he wouldn’t know the difference.

                                                                      He stretches out his arms to feel for walls but his hands come up with nothing but empty air.

In front of him stands Basil, his green hair and multi-colored flower crown standing out in the emptiness. Omori can see him clearly, as if they were outside on a sunny day, but there is no light nor light source to speak of in this… place.

                                                But something is wrong, why are Basil’s eyes r

                        “What?” Omori asks, brow crinkling in confusion. His voice sounds slow and heavy, like he’s speaking through molasses.

Basil, or not, takes a step forward, and another, until he’s pacing a circle around Omori. “It’s quite common for people in this type of situation to feel a sort of… guilt ,” He gestures as he explains and Omori begins to grow dizzy turning in circles to trace his movement.

                                               Omori frowns, more confused than ever. “What situation?”

His voice is slow. So slow. And thick. And heavy. Omori feels heavy. Rooted to the ground by the dread blossoming in his belly, growing like a weed. When he looks down, the darkness has twined around his ankles like roots.

                                                                                        Like hands.

                    Reaching and grasping and holding on tight as they slowly climb up his legs to

                                     “You know,” Basil stops in front of him and when Omori looks up he does not break eye contact. “The accident.”

Omori gasps as images flash across his vision like a slideshow. The violin, broken. The stairs. And then, Mari, 

                                                                                                                                                                          broken.

                                He can’t move, can’t escape, the hands are up to his thighs now and he thinks he’s going to bruise from how tightly their fingers dig into his flesh to try to drag him down.

Basil’s eyes, blue like they always had been, are wide with panic and he stumbles back from Omori; his mouth moves like he’s saying something but before he can make a sound-

                                                    His head bursts

                                                                                 Splattering gore everywhere and all over S

Sunny woke up in a cold sweat, his heart pounding in his chest like a bird trying to break free of a cage. His chest and legs both ached and for a heart-wrenching moment he can’t help but wonder if it was all real.

Basil… That wasn’t real. But Mari? What Sunny had done to her?

He twisted out of his tangle of blankets and scrambled for his knife tucked away in the toy chest atop the broken violin (the reminder of his sin); the blade is stained with blood now and, though it had always been a little dull, was less sharp than it had been. That didn’t matter to him, he only needed it to serve its one purpose.

Sunny pulled up his shirt and drew a line with the blade below the others, each wound before the newest one in some state of healing, the oldest was already scarring and the others were in various states of scabbing over. The pain did not soothe his nerves, it never did, but watching the blood well up and roll across his skin was enough to distract him from all other thoughts.

Luckily, he had recently thought to smuggle a box of tissues into the room and now folded a few into a neat square to press against his latest cut. It hurt, but bleeding freely only served to stain his clothes and he really did not want his mom to ask him “ why is there so much blood on your shirt ?”

He didn’t like using tissues, they were too thin and they’d always stick to the edges of the wounds, he knew there were gauze patches in the first aid kit upstairs and he knew that those would be better to use… but if his family noticed the depleting medical supplies without any visible injuries on anyone, that would invite unwanted questions.

Someone came thumping down the stairs. What… time was it? From the weight of the footsteps Sunny could guess it was either one of his parents, maybe his dad going to eat breakfast before work? If so, that meant it was about six in the morning.

His friends wouldn’t wake up for a while now; they always slept late during sleepovers and especially during the summer which meant if he wanted to he could sneak back into his bed and pretend he spent the night there. He stared at the door, his lips pursed in thought. How badly did he want to keep up the ruse that everything was normal? They knew by now he was sleeping in here more often than he slept in his own bed but would it hurt their feelings if they woke up to see he abandoned their sleepover? Sunny was certain that he wouldn’t be missed yet a nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him to go back to bed .

Fine.

First he lifted the tissue to see if he was still bleeding. It hadn’t yet congealed which was annoying but not a lot of time had passed since it was created. He supposed he could just… take some tissues with him and keep them on the wound for a while. It wouldn’t be too difficult to hide. Probably.

He laboriously got to his feet, trying to ignore the ache of his joints. Sleeping on the floor so frequently had not been good for his bones but he imagined it was nothing compared to what Mari felt so he sucked it up and continued. As Sunny crept up the stairs to his bedroom he was afraid the creaking of his bones or the hammering of his heart would wake the rest of the household but when he got in the room no one stirred.

Aubrey and Basil were asleep in a tangle of limbs on their air mattress nest and Mari was asleep on her back, all but Basil oblivious to Sunny’s disappearance overnight. Relief swept over him as he quietly climbed into his bed but it did little to slow his pounding heart. He laid down on his back under the blankets, shivering from the chill of unused sheets, kept his hand pressed to his belly, and waited.

Sunny must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew he was waking up to the normal sounds of morning; yawning and shifting blankets and hushed whispers. He opened his eyes slowly to stare at the ceiling now fully lit by sunlight and listened to his friends adjust themselves, Aubrey and Basil were whispering but interrupted by Mari’s cheery if not dry “good morning!” and the two echoed it back.

“Is Sunny awake?” Aubrey asked, and he assumed she sat up.

Basil began nervously, “um, Sunny-”

“He’s awake,” Mari interrupted, not unkindly. He turned his head slightly to look in her direction and saw she was sitting up in bed and staring at him.

Aubrey sat up  and beamed at him. “Good morning Sunny!” Her messy pink hair was illuminated by the morning sunlight and looked similar to a halo. How was she so cheery first thing in the morning?

“Um,” Basil sat up as well, his expression a mixture of confusion and worry and… fear. “...Good morning.”

He stared blankly back at his friends but when he made eye contact with Aubrey, Sunny managed to show her the barest hint of a smile. He wasn’t much of a morning person and they were all aware of the fact; they wouldn’t be expecting too much from him.

Mari made to get out of bed and the other two moved to follow her. Sunny tightened his fingers around his stomach and watched as they all stood and stretched, exchanging morning pleasantries that he didn’t hear. He was afraid to get up, afraid that they would notice the bloody tissue crumpled in his fingers, afraid-

Sunny was on his feet. He didn’t remember standing.

They left the room, but he couldn’t remember moving, none of his steps felt like his own and although he knew his friends were talking he couldn’t hear what they said. When he looked around, things were wrong, too. Like holes in the ceiling revealing a starry purple sky (why were there holes in the ceiling? Should he tell his dad?), pastel green grass grew from the rugs and pushed up through the cracks in the floorboards, and whenever he looked outside he couldn’t be sure if he was seeing the Vast Forest, or the forest that surrounded Faraway Town. His head felt light and he felt dizzy, when he looked down to stare at the grass the ground swayed under his feet.

When he blinked he realized he was in the kitchen, sitting in the chair he always sat on at that small table in the corner; when he blinked again he was in the Neighbor’s Room, watching Kel and Hero make toast at the counter, but on a third blink he was staring at Basil helping Mari make pancakes on the stove.

He sniffled and realized he was shaking. His head felt light, foggy… His whole body felt foggy and unresponsive…

Aubrey was next to him suddenly, her expression concerned and confused. “Are you okay, Sunny?” She asked, then she turned away. “Mari, I think S-”

Sunny did not hear the rest of Aubrey’s sentence, the beginning of it was the last thing he heard before he tipped forward out of his chair and blacked out.

Omori wakes up in Neighbor’s Room expecting to see his friends, but they aren’t there. The TV in the corner buzzes with static but it’s the only sound there. He looks around, confused, and shudders. Where are all of his friends?

Slowly he stands up and with nothing else to do, he leaves to go and look for his friends, his first stop being the playground. Maybe they went ahead without him and are waiting at Mari’s picnic blanket. Or maybe they found Basil, and he told them…

...What?

A thick fog covers the Vast Forest and Omori shivers as he walks, rubbing his arms to try and stay warm. When he reaches the playground he’s met only with silence instead of the usual sounds of joyful play; Berly isn’t there to boss everyone around and he can’t see Sharleen anywhere even though she’s impossible to miss and-

Mari is on her picnic blanket. She sees Omori and her eyes light up; she rushes over to him and hugs him and explains that all of their friends have gone missing! They have to save them. Their friends are in the Deep Well, and Omori is afraid of swimming, but Mari assures him that she’ll be with him and everything will be okay.

Hand in hand, they begin to walk...

Mari was leaning over Sunny when he woke up, reminiscent of another time. His face hurt and she looked very worried but her expression lit up as soon as they made eye contact and her worried frown turned into a relieved smile. Her hand was on his arm and he could feel her shaking.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Mari breathed a shuddering sigh of relief. “I was so worried… Sunny, what happened?”

He wasn’t going to answer. She knew that. And even if he could, he didn’t have an answer to give anyway, he didn’t know what was wrong either, only that he felt so empty .

“Is he okay?” Aubrey leaned over Sunny from his other side, using one hand to hold her hair out of the way while her other hand hovered over him nervously like she wanted to do something but wasn’t sure what. “Are you okay?”

Sunny gave a small nod in response, but he was certain that none of them were convinced.

Basil appeared next to Aubrey. “Should I call someone?” He asked Mari.

And the irony of the offer was almost enough to snap Sunny out of his stupor enough to laugh.

Mari waved them both back then raised her hand to wipe her face, sniffling softly. “No, no, I think he’s okay… He hasn’t been eating well lately, I’m sure he only fainted because he’s hungry.” She smiled in a way Sunny thought was meant to be reassuring but it fell flat.

“Then we’ll be sure to make sure he eats br- Basil! The pancakes!” Aubrey’s voice escalated to a sudden yell.

“Oh no!” Jarred into action, Basil leapt to his feet and darted across the kitchen, muttering to himself frantically. Aubrey followed, presumably to help.

Mari helped Sunny to his feet (slowly, carefully. He shook like a newborn deer.), and when breakfast was ready they all watched him eat so closely it made him feel uncomfortable. He hated how much he ended up eating, hated how much better it made him feel, but… He couldn’t understand why.

He felt better after eating, his head stopped swimming and it was easier to focus now on everything, and all of the grass in the floors and holes in the ceiling were gone, everything was normal. Basil had volunteered to do the dishes, Aubrey helped him clean up, and Mari stayed at the table with Sunny up until they heard a knock-knock-knocking at the front door.

“I’ll get it,” Mari said and when she got up to answer the door, Sunny followed, Aubrey hot on his heels, the kitchen sink shut off as they left leading him to believe that Basil was coming as well.

As soon as Mari opened the front door Kel flung his arms open and yelled “Good morning!”

“Good morning,” Hero echoed in a calmer voice. “Mari… you look… different.”

Mari ran her hand through her hair self-consciously. “Do you like it?” She asked.

“Y-” 

Before Hero could respond properly, Aubrey ducked around Mari and out onto the front step to twirl in front of Hero and Kel. “What do you think?”

“It’s so… Pink ,” Kel said disdainfully, his face scrunching up. “Gross.”

Aubrey gasped. “You’re gross!” She pouted. “And mean!” She turned around dramatically and crossed her arms.

“Kel…” Hero said. “That was a little mean.”

“Yeah, yeah… Sorry, Aubrey,” Kel lowered his head.

She looked over her shoulder at him.

“I guess… It doesn’t look too bad,” He muttered.

“What was that?” Aubrey whirled around to face him again.

“Nothing! I said I don’t want you to be mad!”

Mari giggled and exchanged a look with Hero that Sunny didn’t quite understand; he didn’t have much time to decipher it because Aubrey was already moving on to the next topic: Basil.

“You guys should see Basil’s hair! He looks great!” Aubrey darted into the house and dragged a bashful-looking Basil outside with her.

“Woah! Basil, you look totally different!” Kel exclaimed, then, turning to look at Hero he asked, “do you think mom would let me dye my hair?”

“No,” Hero answered, shaking his head slowly. “But you do look good, Basil. All of you do!”

Aubrey preened, Basil blushed, and Mari smiled. Sunny hung back and watched all of them talk, taking note of how happy they were without him. He turned his gaze to the floor and tuned out as the conversation progressed until-

“What are we doing today?” Kel asked as he came bounding past Sunny into the house. He stopped abruptly. “Sunny! I didn’t even see you there!”

Of course he wasn’t noticed.

“Hey, Sunny!” Hero greeted.

Sunny shrugged slightly in response and looked away.

He heard Hero sigh, and everyone moved around him to go gather around the couch; when Sunny looked again, Kel had flung himself over the back of it, Aubrey was trying to pull him off and make him sit properly, and Basil was just trying to sit down. Sunny took a step forward but stopped. They wouldn’t want him there.

Kel, who had successfully fended off Aubrey but toppled to the floor, raised an arm to the ceiling. “We should go to the treehouse! We haven’t been there in ages!”

“You dummy! We can’t do that, Mari can’t get up there!” Aubrey gave him a light kick.

“Aubrey, don’t use mean names,” Mari chided gently.

“Uh, what are you talking about? Of course she c- Oh,” Kel cut off abruptly when he sat up and looked at Mari. “Sorry…”

Mari smiled, her expression tight. “It’s okay,” She assured him. “Why don’t you guys go play? Hero and I can make lunch and we can have a picnic under the tree later.”

“You just wanna be alone with Hero.~” Aubrey teased.

Hero ducked his head.

“No, I want you guys to have fun without worrying about me.” Mari made a shooing motion with her good hand. “Go on now, it’s a lovely day out, go play.”

Kel jumped to his feet and yelled “race you!” to no one in particular before bolting towards the back door, only pausing a moment to open it before he was gone. Not to be beaten by Kel , Aubrey took off after him, and Basil followed the two at a jog. Sunny turned to stare at Mari, but when she smiled encouragement to him, he trailed after his friends.

He would always be left behind. He would be left behind when they learned-

Sunny stopped beneath the big tree in the yard. His favourite tree. From one sturdy limb their dad had hung a tyre swing and it had been everyone’s favourite thing before the treehouse had been built. It was still Sunny’s favourite spot. It was quiet, and peaceful, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves and the sound and the sound helped to soothe him…

As he gazed up at the tree’s limbs, he found himself wondering how much weight they could support. Not that he weighed m-

“Sunny! There you are!” Aubrey was beside him. When had she gotten there? He turned to look at her, confused.

Aubrey took his hand. “We thought you weren’t going to come, come on!”

She pulled him away from both the tree and his thoughts and she would never know it but he was grateful for her impatience.

They reached the treehouse together and only then did Aubrey release him so that she could climb the ladder, triumphantly declaring along the way that she had successfully retrieved Sunny; Basil and Kel leaned out the window to stare, Kel waving at Sunny. Sunny stared at him blankly, and ascended the ladder after Aubrey.

Inside, his three friends began to decide what exactly they should do (“what do you mean you don’t have a plan, Kel? You wanted to come up here!” Aubrey yelled), so Sunny let them bicker and situated himself on the counter under the window, his back against the wall, content to bask while the others got out the craft supplies.

“Are you gonna join us, Sunny?” Basil asked, curious yet tentative. When Sunny didn’t respond, he hung his head and turned away.

“Yoo, look what I found!” Kel exclaimed holding something up in the air like a trophy. “Playdohn’t! I haven’t seen this in forever.”

“You think there’s a reason for that?” Basil asked, making a half-hearted attempt to get the plastic canister away from Kel.

Aubrey made a face. “Eww. I doubt it’s any good anymore. We should just throw it away.”

“And waste it?” Kel replied, sounding almost offended at the mere notion. “No way!” He paused. “I wonder what it tastes like.”

Basil sighed wearily. “There it is…” He muttered, tired.

“Why is it always food with you?” Aubrey asked, sounding bewildered. “And why is that your first thought?”

“I’m hungry!”

“You’re always hungry!”

“Dad says that’s because I’m growing, which means I’ll be taller than Hero one day, which means I need to eat a lot of food!”

“Yeah,” Basil interjected. “ Food . Don’t you remember, Kel? Hero hid that away ‘cause you kept trying to eat it.”

“I remember,” Kel assured him. “But Hero isn’t here right now-”

“Kel no-” Basil began, again raising a hand to stop him but Aubrey was step ahead.

“I dare you to eat it!” She yelled.

“Aubrey, no!” Basil cried. “Sunny! Do something!”

They all turned to him for judgement, and any other time Sunny imagined he would offer it. He would probably not dissuade Kel from accepting Aubrey’s dare, but he wouldn’t encourage him either if only so he could have plausible deniability if Kel got sick and Hero got mad. Unfortunately, today his mind was a million miles away and several more miles underwater ( Omori alone in the Deep Well, looking for his friends at the Last Resort - but Sunny’s friends were right here, why was he searching for them?), so he only shrugged at Basil.

He watched Kel pop the container open much to Aubrey’s delight and Basil’s dismay.

“Hero’s gonna be so mad…” Basil muttered, then added in a louder voice. “The slogan is ‘fun for playing, not for eating’ for a reason!”

“It’s not like it’s toxic, they couldn’t sell it to babies if it was,” Kel pointed out. “Plus it’s not like Hero will know .”

“Yeah, not until you barf rainbows later,” Aubrey said.

“Cool!”

“Gross!”

Kel pinched off a small piece of Playdohn’t. “Whaddya know, it’s still soft,” He said, then pointed it at Aubrey. “This one’s for you.”

Basil made a dismayed noise as Kel popped the Playdohn’t into his mouth, Aubrey sucked in a breath of anticipation… and Kel made a gagging noise and immediately spat it into the floor, sending Aubrey leaping backwards.

“ Kel ! What the heck!”

“ Bleh, ” His face was screwed up in disgust. “It’s really salty, and not even in a good way!”

Aubrey made a similarly disgusted face, but Basil visibly relaxed as soon as the topic of eating forbidden things was dropped; he was even quick to change the conversation and propose a game of cards, presumably to ensure that Kel would not eat anymore crafting supplies- at least for today.

Sunny stared out the window, eyes half closed against the sun, and listened to the start of a heated game of Go Fish ...

Kel is standing outside of the Last Resort acting as a greeter for all new guests; including Omori himself. As soon as the two make eye contact Kel bounces in place and grins, calling out Omori’s name and waving enthusiastically.

He explains that while Omori was gone, everyone got tricked into signing contracts and thus had taken up jobs, but Kel had grown bored of his job, so, he said to Omori, let’s get everyone to quit so we can keep looking for Basil!

Omori agrees, so Kel goes on to explain that they’ll probably be able to find Aubrey on the fifth floor, but first they would need a Cool Key Card. Exploring the Last Resort on their own is daunting, but even reduced to a duo they’re still strong and nothing could get between them and their friends!

… … 

It takes them some time, mostly due to all of the Gator Guys in the way, but Kel and Omori finally obtain their much needed key card. It’s time to go and get Aubrey from the fifth floor so she can help them find Hero…

                   ...They step into the elevator…

Mari is there. With a picnic blanket spread over the small square of floor and a basket set up. Omori… doesn’t know how she’s in there but he isn’t going to question it. Between floors, he and Kel have a quick snack but once the bell dings, they’re on their feet again.

“Thanks Mari!” Kel calls as they leave.

There’s only one door on the fifth floor and it’s blocked by Berly and her Gator Guys, no amount of convincing works to move her, but she does agree to let them through if they give her some water, which Omori has on hand already! How lucky.

Berly leaves. Omori opens the door...

“Guys! It’s time to eat!”

Sunny was so startled by the sudden voice he almost flinched right off the counter; when he regained his balance he peered out the window and saw Mari on the ground below, waving up at him. He did not wave back.

“Finally!” Kel exclaimed, throwing his cards on the table. “I’m starving!” He was already on his way to the ladder.

“You’re always starving!” Aubrey retorted, following him.

“We had this conversation! I’m growing !” Kel was halfway down the ladder, and Sunny turned to watch out the window as he ran up to Hero. “You hear that, Hero? One day I’m gonna be taller than you!”

“I’m sure you will,” Hero replied in that patient tone parents used when their young children said they would be a lamp when they grew up. He shifted the picnic basket he was carrying onto one arm and used his free hand to pat Kel on the head. Kel huffed and crossed his arms.

Basil had lingered to clean up the cards but now he was about to descend the ladder. “Are you… coming, Sunny?” He asked shakily.

Sunny stared at him, then looked out the window, then looked back at Basil. Below the treehouse, Kel and Aubrey were helping Mari and Hero lay out the blanket while laughing and joking about something or another. They were all happier without Sunny, and he wasn’t hungry anyway. His lack of response was all the response Basil needed; he sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped as he lowered himself down.

Another glance out the window showed that Mari had begun distributing food. She looked up at him and arched her eyebrows and Sunny knew then that he wouldn’t be able to avoid this, especially not after earlier… He sighed, swung his legs off the counter, got up unsteadily, and padded over to the ladder.

He figured he might as well enjoy what little time he had left with his friends before they left him. 

Or before he left them.

It was a bright and sunny day in Faraway Town.

The Endless Highway sure was endless; Omori and his friends had been walking for ages yet it felt like they weren’t getting anywhere. The side roads they had to take due to Mr. Jawsum’s exorbitant tolls weren’t helping either.

But finally, finally they reached the end of the Endless Highway.

Omori was almost inclined to find that funny, but looking out into the abyss gave him vertigo so he couldn’t find it in himself to laugh.

Wait, there, was that a continuation? Though it was covered by the deep, deep shadows of the abyss it looked like the highway stretched onwards. It wasn’t supposed to. There was a long red and white bar stretching across the road, blocking the way forward, but why should that stop him? Omori was curious. His friends didn’t object as he ducked under the bar and led them into the shadows, drawn by something unseen. Ahead of him stood a pair of white eyes. They blinked out of existence and appeared further down the road.

…Basil?

Weren’t they looking for Basil?

He started to walk, the soothing deep blue scenery of the Deep Well quickly faded behind him. There was no sound here. The eyes vanished.

“Omori?” Aubrey said from behind him, her voice shaking. “Where are we going? I-I’m scared.”

“Don’t be a chicken!” Kel teased, but he too sounded uneasy.

              Omori turned around.

                                                              His friends were gone.

In the playroom, wrapped in a tangle of blankets, Sunny awoke with a start.

His chest heaved as he tried to breathe, staring into the dark of the room that offered no comfort. Shadows pressed in on him. He couldn’t make out any details, any features, anything at all. It was so dark . Was he even there? He couldn’t be sure, he needed to be sure.

He scrambled for the toy chest to seek out something familiar. Every time he opened the lid he was reminded of what he had done but he still opened the lid.

Sitting on top of the broken violin was the steak knife Sunny had stolen from the kitchen several weeks ago. His mom had asked the family if anyone had seen it when she was trying to prepare dinner one night, but they all said no.

What a liar Sunny had become.

Sunny grabbed the knife, wincing as his fingers brushed against the splintered violin, but that didn’t matter in the moment. With smooth motions that only came with lots of practice, Sunny readied the knife with one hand and pulled his shirt up with the other, then he pressed the blade to his skin just below the other cuts to give himself a painful reminder of his existence. The darkness seemed to ease around him as the pain cleared his mind-

“Sunny!”

The sudden noise startled him so badly he flinched, accidentally driving the knife deeper into his skin. He winced and yanked it away while simultaneously trying to hide behind his back but it was already too late.

            Mari had seen everything.

“Oh no, oh no....” She swiftly crossed the room and knelt before him; he winced back but she caught him by the wrist and held him fast. He dropped the knife. He didn’t know what else to do.

He stared at her with tears in his eyes, too afraid to even breathe. She wasn’t supposed to see. No one was supposed to see. First it was Basil, and now Mari, and Sunny didn’t even have an explanation or excuse to offer. He wished, for once, that this was only a nightmare, that she wasn’t real, that he wasn’t real, but the pain in his belly did it’s job as a reality check too well. This was very, very real.

Mari was panicking. He could feel her hand shaking on his wrist and that only stressed him out more; Mari never panicked, she was always so level-headed and if could feel anything other than fear and pain in the moment he would be surprised. The fact that she wasn’t saying anything made it all worse. He wanted her to yell at him, wanted her to berate him for what he was doing, wanted her to say something but instead...

Instead she stood up, and she pulled Sunny to his feet.

She took a deep breath as if composing herself and then she gave him a very tight smile that fell short of being reassuring. “Let’s go get you patched up.” She said in a very strained and forcefully cheerful voice, as if Sunny had merely scraped his knee instead of cut himself with a knife.

Sunny tried to pull away but Mari held on tight to his wrist and practically dragged him upstairs to the bathroom, he could do nothing but wonder why she would help him at all.

Mari made him sit down on the edge of the bathtub and then began to rifle through the cabinet under the sink for their first-aid kit, shooting him nervous glances every few seconds as if she was afraid he might pull a second knife and get right back to carving his own flesh. He didn’t, and she found the first-aid kit.

Wordlessly she took to tending his wounds, cleaning them all with antiseptic on cotton balls and patching bandaids over each cut. Sunny was similarly silent the entire time, skin crawling with shame for both what he had done and for making his injured sister take care of him.

                  How dare he?

“Get up,” Mari said curtly when she finally finished pasting bandaids across his cuts. “Go get changed. We’re late for the picnic.”

Sunny had forgotten about the picnic. All of their friends had agreed to lunch at the park today, at their secret hang out spot by the lake. He started to refuse, he didn’t deserve to go to a picnic, didn’t deserve anything good after this-

“No,” She stopped him. “I’m not leaving you here alone. I can’t trust you.”

Her words were sharp and painful and they hurt more than any knife could. He hung his head and began to cry. It was what he deserved.

Mari did nothing to comfort him, but why should she? “Go,” She said. “And hurry up. I don’t need to watch you, do I?”

He shook his head, wiped tears off of his face with his arm, and trudged out of the bathroom; his shoulders shaking with barely contained sobs.

It was a beautiful day in Faraway Town, perfect weather for a picnic.

Sunny dragged his feet for the entire walk while Mari walked ahead of him at a brisk pace, only occasionally glancing back as if to make sure that he was still here. When they left the house they hadn’t seen Kel and Hero, which meant that the brothers must have gone ahead without them, which meant they must have gotten tired of waiting.

It was Sunny’s fault they had been kept waiting. They would probably be angry with him for that, and who could blame them?

Kel was the first to spot them when they finally arrived at the lake. “Mari!” He yelled, abandoning whatever game he was playing with Hero and Aubrey to charge over to greet her with the others hot on his heels.

They were all more excited to see Mari than they were to see h-

“Hi Sunny!” Aubrey smiled at him. Basil waved from behind her, Kel grinned and even Hero spared him a smile. Sunny felt sick.

Why were they all staring at him? Did they know? They had to know. Mari couldn’t have said anything so it must have been Basil who told them everything, everything about Mari and the violin and the self harm. Sunny wanted them to stop staring. Stop staring stop staring stop staring stop staring st-

“Hi everyone!” Mari greeted, smiling brightly. “Sorry we’re late.”

Mari apologized for being late a lot nowadays and it was almost always Sunny’s fault because he didn’t want to leave the house (he didn’t deserve to) and she had to convince him to leave. It was easy to imagine that, on the frequent days that she couldn’t get Sunny to come out, she would show up to their hangouts and apologize for being late then too.

“Haha, no problem!” Kel assured her. “Better you’re late than getting hurt again by rushing to leave.”

Sunny clenched his teeth.

“Kel!” Hero said sharply, but Kel only laughed and shrugged. Hero sighed and, ever the gentleman, turned to Mari, “Sorry about that- here, let me help you,” he reached for the picnic basket (which Mari gladly handed over), and the two wandered off to set everything up.

Meanwhile, Aubrey turned to look at Kel, her face screwed up in confusion. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean?’” Kel asked in return, similarly puzzled. “Didn’t Mari tell you what happened? She-”

Mari’s first lie was told during a rainstorm that had quickly overtaken Faraway Town. Kel and Hero were over at Mari and Sunny’s house, and it was only them because Aubrey and Basil had both been unable to join them that day.

It was a little lonelier without the full group, but they made due. Kel brought his gaming system over and they were all crowded around the tv watching Sunny attempt to beat a level that Kel and Hero found too difficult.

Sunny, focused on his assigned task, was not paying attention to the conversation around him until he died in the game and, frustrated, set the controller down for a minute to take a break.

“You know, Mari, I don’t think you ever mentioned exactly what happened when you fell,” Hero said conversationally.

“Ha.. Suppose I haven’t told you guys, huh?” Mari said, and Sunny could clearly picture her behind him, eyes boring into the back of his head as she worried at her lower lip; a nervous tick of her’s that Hero must have mistaken for discomfort.

“You don’t have to talk about it.”

Kel, next to Sunny, sat up and turned around to look at Mari. “I am kinda curious though.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Mari assured them, “I was so worried about being late for the recital that I was rushing around to get ready, so I wasn’t really paying attention and I slipped and fell.”

Sunny turned around to look at her, eyebrows drawn together in confusion, but Mari stared back at him evenly. He didn’t understand why she would lie for him, he didn’t think that she should have. After a minute, he looked away, a sick feeling settling in his stomach.

He was almost certain that that wasn’t what she told their parents.

Aubrey frowned, “That’s not what she told me and Basil.”

“Why… would she say something different?” Kel asked, tilting his head. “That’s what happened, isn’t it? Sunny you- oh, where’d he go?”

Sunny, still feeling sick, still feeling like the vast world was crushing down on him and like they would soon know all of his secrets, had retreated closer to Mari, although he didn’t dare get too close to her (didn’t want to be in the way), it left him standing somewhere halfway between the half-built picnic area and his friends. Alone. His shoulders hunched and his hands folded together in front of his chest as if in prayer.

Kel turned back to Aubrey and Basil, Aubrey who looked equally confused and Basil whose expression was growing increasingly nervous. His hands were trembling, but no one seemed to notice.

“What’d Mari tell you guys?” Kel asked.

“Well,” Aubrey began, “she said that-”

Mari’s second lie was told on a sunny day. It was one of those rare days where Sunny had been coaxed out of his hiding place to go to Basil’s house with Mari and Aubrey, because Basil had some new flowers growing that he wanted to show everyone. Kel and Hero weren’t able to make it; their mom had insisted on having family time that day, but Basil said that it was fine and the flowers would be there for them to see tomorrow.

The very thought of being at Basil’s house made Sunny sick with anxiety and he wanted to back out but Mari, who didn’t know why, refused to let him. The pair met Aubrey at the corner and they walked to Basil’s house together; Basil met them out front.

They spent the morning roaming the yard and admiring the flowers as Basil explained each one in detail; he had a lot to say about each plant, supplying both facts and anecdotal stories about his favourite flowers. After a while, Polly came outside to offer them all some lemonade, and they all sat down in the grass to enjoy.

The conversation was idle; Mari and Aubrey kept asking Basil about flowers and Sunny stared blankly at the sky to ignore Basil. All in all, the day was going well until the topic managed to turn to Mari.

“Mari.. I um, can I… ask how you fell?”

Surprisingly, it was Basil who asked. Sunny grew tense and took a deep, shaky breath, giving him a sidelong glance that he either didn’t notice or intentionally ignored.

“Yeah,” Aubrey added on, frowning thoughtfully. “You never told us what happened.”

“I didn’t, did I?” Mari said, giving Sunny a strong sense of déjà vu . “It isn’t too exciting. I was getting dressed in my room, when I heard a loud noise downstairs. I thought Mewo had knocked something over or something so I went to investigate, and… fell.”

“Oh,” Basil said in a small voice, “I see.”

Sunny finally turned to look at him, but he was staring at Mari with a hard-to-read expression.

They both knew she was lying.

“Huh,” Kel said. He looked stumped.

Aubrey looked between Basil and Sunny. “Sunny, you were there ! What happened?”

Sunny’s gaze flickered nervously between all of his friends and his hands were shaking. Basil stared at him with wide eyes and gave the barest hint of a head shake when he caught Sunny’s eye. Sunny’s nausea grew stronger and his mouth went dry, and-

“Guys, come eat!” Mari called, waving them over from the picnic blanket.

How much had she and Hero heard from over there? Was this an intentional intervention? Did she know that everything, her story, their stories were falling apart? He continued to shake even as his friends abandoned their conversation in pursuit of food.

Sunny walked slowly after his friends with his eyes fixed on the ground and his arms wrapped around his chest. When he finally sat down to eat, he didn’t actually eat, managing to take only one bite of the sandwich offered to him; trying to swallow it felt like trying to swallow a rock and he quickly gave up on any hope of actually eating.

He wanted, no, needed to be away from here, away from the prying eyes and uncomfortable questions of his friends, he needed-

Omori kept walking, kept chasing those white eyes that blinked in and out of existence to lead him down a dark, dark path. Why was he here? He didn’t want to be here. Where were his friends? He wanted to be with his friends. Did they leave him? Did they know? They had to know.

He had always been afraid of the dark, of shadows, of being alone. It was cold here but he couldn’t really feel it, it was more like an absence of warmth than a presence of cold and his skin pricked like goose flesh but he didn’t know why.

                                                                                 After all, he wasn’t r

A beam of light suddenly appeared in the center of the road. A spot light. A stage light. It illuminated the black space yet didn’t shed any actual light, didn’t ward off any of the deep, deep shadows.

                   Omori walked into the light.

                                                                 He had nowhere else to go.

Mari’s lie (one of many, too many to count now) was told on a sunny afternoon.

Everyone was at Sunny and Mari’s house. Apparently, they had been at Hero and Kel’s but came rushing over when they saw Mari and her mom get home from Mari’s doctor appointment.

“We came by earlier, but we thought no one was home,” Kel explained to Sunny. “We thought you were out with Mari… But I guess you just didn’t hear us!” His voice was cheerful but his expression wavered as he realized that Sunny must have been ignoring them.

Sunny felt a small pang of guilt, but he didn’t say anything.

“Where were you, anyway?” Aubrey asked Mari.

“A doctor’s appointment. Gotta make sure all of this,” Mari gestured loosely at her cast and neck brace with her good arm, “is healing properly.”

“When do you get your casts off?” Basil asked.

“Soon, I hope,” Mari responded, “They’re starting to get annoying. I’ll have to be in physical therapy for a while once they’re off, but the doctor suggested I practice at the piano in the meantime to try to prevent my arm muscles from atrophying too badly.” She paused, “I don’t think I’ll be too good, though.”

“Don’t worry, Mari! We can help you!” Kel offered.

“Yeah!” Aubrey exclaimed. “And even if we’re not around, you’ll have Sunny to help!”

Sunny declined to comment, and ignored the look Mari gave him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to play music with her again.

(But didn’t he owe her this much, at least?)

“It’d be nice to hear you two play again,” Hero commented with a soft smile that faded thoughtfully, “Come to think of it though, I haven’t heard any music from here in a while… Are you still practicing, Sunny?”

He stared at Hero and thought of the broken violin, splinters and split strings piled in a nest of bloodied and crumpled sheet music, locked away in the unused toy chest like the dark secret that it was.

His parents hadn’t asked about it. They assumed it was safe in its case.

Mari answered for him. “Sunny’s been so upset about the recital and what happened that he’s taken a break from music for now,” she lied, “but I’m sure that he’ll start again when I get better, right, Sunny?”

Sunny nodded without meeting her eyes. It was easier to lie without words.

“Hey Mari,” Kel started as they all lazed about on the blanket after lunch, “how, uh, how did you fall down the stairs?”

“Kel!” Aubrey hissed, appalled by his blunt question.

Mari sat up slightly and shot Sunny a look he couldn’t quite read. “Didn’t I tell you?” She asked, cocking her head.

“You did,” Kel replied, “but Aubrey thinks you told her something else, so… I just want to know I’m right.”

Aubrey glared at him, then said to Mari, “you don’t have to retell it if you don’t want to!”

“What about Sunny?” Hero asked, turning to look at him. “He was there, wasn’t he?”

Sunny’s heart stopped as all eyes turned to him. He stared back and tried to breathe but air would not move in his lungs. Mari was staring at him with wide eyes and shaking her head slightly. She was mouthing something but Sunny couldn’t read her lips or understand what she was saying. All he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears.

Omori stepped out of the light and it disappeared behind him as if someone or something hit a switch. Omori was alone. It was quiet. There were no eyes anymore, there was nothing but darkness. Suffocating darkness that was slowly closing in on him with a noise like static buzzing from everywhere. Omori felt like static. His arms and legs and everything hurt and buzzed and he was all alone.

Another light appeared some distance away. Automatically, without any thought into his actions, Omori began to walk towards it.

His first lie, the first of many, was told during a dark evening. The sun was low in the sky and cast an eerie red glow and long shadows through the windows of the house, the lights hadn’t yet been turned on.

It was the day of the recital. All of Sunny and Mari’s friends would be over soon, they were all going to go to the theatre together-

                        -Mari was yelling at Sunny. Why was she yelling? No, he deserved it; he broke the violin that everyone had bought him. He was signing. She grabbed him

                                                            And he-

                                                                               And Mari-

                                                                                                She fell.

                                                                                                               No.

                                                                                                                        She was pushed.

                                                Pushed by Sunny.

And he lied.

                                        Omori kept walking with nowhere to go.

  Sunny was getting tired of lying.

                        It was too stressful.

                                    His friends would find out eventually. Everyone would.

                                                They would all hate him eventually.

Even Mari. Even Basil.

                                                                                     Wouldn’t it be better to rip the bandaid off?

                                                Sunny was tired of lying.

                                                Sunny was tired.                                           

            They were all staring at him, they were all waiting. He was stuck. He was in a wide open area yet he was stuck, frozen to the ground to this spot because they knew . They had to know.

And if, or when things got bad, then he could always…

Sunny’s fingers curled around an invisible knife at his side. He wanted to be home. He wanted to be secure in his dark room, cozy in blankets and entirely alone, without eyes on him. He wanted to be nowhere . He wanted all of this to be over.

                             His friends were waiting.

                                                                 Mari was waiting.

He stared back at them. Was he crying? When had he started crying? He shuddered, chest heaving as he panted, tried to breathe because he needed to breathe , but he couldn’t calm down and he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t stop crying and he couldn’t-

                   Sunny opened his mouth,

                                                             (his face was crumpled, his friends stared on with concern)

                   And told the truth.

Kel wanted to forgive Sunny.

No, really, he did!

Sunny said it was an accident. Mari said it was an accident. And, sure, they lied to all of their friends, and sure even Basil lied about it but, they had a good reason to! Probably. Right?

He trusted them. Or he used to. He wasn’t sure anymore.

Nevertheless he wanted to forgive them.

But Hero wasn’t ready to. And that was okay! But… It did keep Kel away from his friends. Any mention of Sunny and Mari was practically blacklisted, if Kel said one of their names even in passing Hero would get this dark look in his eye and just… walk away.

But that was okay.

He tried to get in touch with Basil, but Basil had “pulled a Sunny” and was refusing to leave his house. He couldn’t find Aubrey despite how noticeable her pink hair was. She was never at home and her mom didn’t know or didn’t care. He did see her once, with a group of kids, but… She didn’t look at him, and seemingly disappeared when he turned his back.

But it was okay! Because Kel knew that this would all smooth over eventually, right? It had to.

Kel tried to visit Sunny and Mari on his own once, unsure of what their parents knew, but when he did their mom was the one to answer the door and she told him that Sunny and Mari were “unavailable”, whatever that meant, and looked a little sad and a little apologetic as she closed the door in his face.

Later that day, Kel and Hero’s parents called them into the living room, and, without giving a reason why, told them it’d be best if they stayed away from Sunny and Mari for awhile.

Sunny… Kel could maybe understand. But what did Mari do? Why were they being warned away?

It wasn’t an issue. Sunny and Mari didn’t want to see them, and Hero didn’t want to see Sunny and Mari. Or Kel, for that matter.

Nevermind that it meant he was alone.

With nothing to do except wait.

But he didn’t know what he was waiting for. Maybe for someone to say that this was all a prank? Or for Aubrey and/or Basil to come visit? Or Sunny and Mari themselves to come visit. Nothing happened, though, and no one came.

So he was alone. But that was okay! Because everyone had a lot to work through, right? There was a lot to come to terms with and, when they worked it out, Kel would be there. Waiting, and ready to forgive them with open arms.

(Even if that meant being alone in the meantime. It didn’t matter, as long as his friends were okay, right?)

(Right?)

“Hey Hero,” Kel cautiously said one day. “Have you thought any more about M-”

“Stop.” Hero replied firmly.

Kel stopped.

But who else was he supposed to talk to?

As it turned out, the answer was no one! Aubrey had found herself some new friends, Sunny wasn’t in school anymore, and Basil seemed intent on avoiding all of them. Kel tried to talk to Aubrey once, but she brushed him off. The only other time she would acknowledge him was in PE, when she would specifically aim each of her throws in dodgeball at him.

He decided that, between the two of them, Basil would be the safer and more approachable option. He was more or less correct, although Basil wanted little to do with him. Kel was lucky if Basil would speak two words to him. It wasn’t like he was angry, instead he seemed… Scared. Did he think that Kel was mad at him?

How could he be mad at him? It wasn’t like he did anything.

(Except run away when Mari needed him. And lie about what happened. But Kel understood and was ready to forgive him.)

(Kel had always been a terrible liar.)

He had also been annoyingly tenacious. So he managed to wear him down and convince him to hang out sometimes. It was hard to get together, though, because any mention of Basil would upset Hero, so Kel couldn’t mention his plans or his day without Hero getting all angry.

At least Hero was paying attention to him at all.

Still! Basil was a start. At least. He was determined to keep at it until all of his friends were back together, including Sunny and Mari, but at this rate, it seemed like it would take a long time for that to actually happen.

“Kel?” Basil asked one day as they were walking home, holding his left elbow with his right hand. “Wh-why don’t you, y’know… Hate me?”

“What do you mean? You didn’t do anything worth hating!” Kel replied. That was the problem, really. Basil hadn’t done anything. According to Sunny, instead of getting help or, helping in general, Basil had just run. But he was just a kid, and he was scared, so he couldn’t blame him for that, right? It wasn’t like he wanted Mari dead or anything. He was just scared. And lying about what happened? Well, Basil was really close to Sunny, it made sense that he would want to protect him.

(From Mari’s expression when Sunny told the truth, it was easy to guess she hadn’t known Basil was there. Kel didn’t know what to make of that then, and he still didn’t know what to make of that now.)

“Oh,” Basil said as if that hadn’t occurred to him. “A-are you, sure?”

Kel glanced at Basil and took note of how tightly he was gripping his arm. He knew Basil was prone to scratching himself to bleeding when he got too anxious and wanted to intervene before he could reach that state, but considering the fragile state of their friendship at the present, would that be a bad idea?

“Of course I’m sure!” He settled for lightly bumping Basil’s shoulder with his own. He was not sure. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Basil relaxed his grip on his arm, then slowly lowered his hand and went fishing for Kel’s hand instead. He pursed his lips. “I-I guess I don’t know… I- Sunny, he- he hates me. And Aubrey, a-and Hero, even.”

“Pft. Hero couldn’t hate anyone. He’s too nice,” Kel couldn’t tell if that was a lie or not. Hero was pretty angry right now. “He just needs some time to process things. They all do! Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.”

He was reassuring himself as much as Basil, but as bad a liar as he was his words still made Basil relax a little. At least he was helping someone.

Several more days passed with Kel slowly chipping away at Basil’s newly built protective wall, and while he was successful with one person, he still couldn’t get through to Hero or Aubrey. Hero didn’t want to talk and Aubrey avoided him by surrounding herself with new friends.

But that all changed one day when Kel's mom got tired of Hero's refusal to leave the house aside from going to school and sent him on an errand with Kel. She said she needed him to escort Kel so that he would stay on task and get the right things, which hurt, because while Kel knew he was easily distracted he always did manage to get whatever his mom requested.

Whatever. It was probably just a ploy to get Hero to leave the house.

Hopefully.

Hero was hesitant to go but had little say in the matter overall, so after some foot-dragging he and Kel left the house, and they left just as Sunny’s mom’s car pulled into the driveway.

The brothers stopped and stared. Or rather, Kel stopped because Hero stopped and stared.

Mari got out of the car and waved when she noticed them staring, offering a tight smile as well before she was called into the house by her mom. As soon as she disappeared inside, Hero shook his head and started to walk again, leaving Kel to follow.

“Are you ever going to talk to her?” Kel asked.

“No,” Hero answered quickly. Then, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Well. That was a start.

“You should!” He tried to sound encouraging.

“Or maybe she should talk to me, ” Hero snapped, fingers curling into fists at his sides in a display of restrained anger that Kel had never seen in him before. “I don’t- I don’t get why she didn’t … But it isn’t my responsibility to fix her mistake. I can’t believe Sunny would hurt her like that, and I can’t believe she would lie about it. She’s always protected him, but even this? He could have killed her, and they lied about it.”

He wasn’t talking about Sunny at all, all of his ire seemed to be directed at Mari. Kel knew that they were close and he could imagine the strain this sort of thing could put on whatever their relationship was. Hero was saying more to Kel now than he had in several weeks, and for once they were talking about it , Kel didn’t want to lose this opportunity.

“I’m sure they had a good reason-”

Hero shook his head. “Just drop it, Kel.”

“NO!” Kel stopped suddenly, throwing his hands down at his sides. “I don’t want to drop it! You haven’t spoken to me at all, we haven’t spoken about this at all! All you’ve done is sulk and I’m tired of it! I’m tired of everyone ignoring me!”

This display was all so abrupt and Kel felt like he was going to cry but he couldn’t help it. Hero had just given him a tiny crumb of hope that maybe, just maybe things were on the mend, only to tell him once again to drop it and move on, to pretend that nothing had happened and that Mari and Sunny didn’t exist, that none of this was happening, and Kel was so tired .

None of his friends would talk to him anymore. His own brother wouldn’t talk to him! He didn’t want this to be swept under the rug, he didn’t want to lose his only friends over this. Aubrey might be able to move on and pretend they didn’t exist but Kel couldn’t give up on them that easily, he wouldn’t , but it was getting harder and harder every day to try and keep it together when no one else was putting in the effort to make things better .

It was selfish, he knew, to expect people to care about him when there was so much more to worry about, like that Sunny almost killed his own sister and that Basil had done nothing but run away, and Mari had lied to cover all of it up because apparently she and Sunny didn’t trust their own friends, and Kel was the one everyone depended on, anyway, he was meant to cheer people up, to be there for them!

But who was ever there for him?

His face crumpled as he struggled to hold back tears he had been holding back for weeks already. “I just want everything to go back to normal! But- but you won’t let it! No one will!”

“Stop it, Kel,” Hero said. “This isn’t getting resolved until Sunny-”

“This isn’t getting resolved because you won’t let it!” Kel lunged forward to grab Hero’s arm. “We- we have to talk! You can’t just ignore this, Hero! Y-”

“I said, stop!” Hero yanked his arm out of Kel’s grasp, unbalancing him and sending him tumbling

                                                                                                                                                       down

                                                                                                                                                                 into

                                                                                                                                                                        the

                                                                                                                                                                              street.

Aubrey felt betrayed by Sunny and Mari both. She trusted them dearly. How could they lie to her? How could Mari lie to her? And how could Sunny hurt Mari? It didn’t make any sense.

She was angry, too. Or upset. Was there a difference? When Sunny told them all what happened, he and Mari just… Left. And everyone else left, too. They left her all alone. They seemed to forget that she didn’t have anyone to go home to. To talk to. They were all she had.

And they left.

Alone, Aubrey sat by the lake for quite a while simply trying to process what she had learned and her friends' reactions to it. Didn’t they know that she was processing it, too? Did they not care about her? She decided later that she could no longer sit by the lake, yet still didn’t want to go home, and wound up sitting on the swingset at the playground as the sun began to set.

Had hours really passed? She wasn’t sure.

“Hey,” An unfamiliar voice said from above her. “Are you okay?”

Aubrey had been staring at the sand for some time and even now that didn’t change so she didn’t know to whom she was speaking, however she was aware that she was a mess, all tearful and alone. Who cried alone on a playground? Losers, probably.

Also her, when she had been younger and hadn’t met Sunny and everyone else yet.

“I’m fine,” Aubrey mumbled.

The swing next to her creaked as the stranger sat down. “You don’t uh, look fine.”

She rubbed at her face with one of her arms. What did she look like? Like someone whose friends had abandoned her after learning their other friends had been lying to them for a long time? Was that a distinguished look?

“You wanna… talk about it?” The stranger asked, kicking her feet in the sand. “My mom’s a therapist. I know all about talking.”

“You’re doing a great job,” Aubrey joked dryly.

“Thanks,” The stranger preened. “But, really, are you okay? Like, “fine” people don’t sit all alone and sad-like on swings for… Hours.”

“Have you been watching me?”

“Saw you when I was running errands for mom earlier. Saw you again when I was done… Thought I’d uh, ask,” She paused. “I’m Kim, by the way.”

“Aubrey.”

She looked up at Kim then, and saw that she was very small, with deep red hair and red square glasses, and she was staring at Aubrey with an awkward sort of smile on her face.

“Listen, uh, Aubrey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wanna, but like, I don’t wanna leave you here alone, so, you wanna go do something?” Kim tilted her head slightly.

Aubrey thought about it. Her mom wouldn’t miss her at home, and given their recent behaviour she could assume that her friends wouldn’t miss her either, and although Aubrey had a lot on her mind (and how did she explain all that she had learned to a complete stranger? She may have been angry, but not enough to slander Sunny), she was rather lonely and had no friends to lean on. Kim seemed nice enough, so Aubrey couldn’t think of a reason to say no.

“Sure.”

They became fast friends after that; Kim introduced Aubrey to her older brother, began to form around the three of them as they managed to make friends with all sorts of weirdos; like Mikhael whose family owned the Othermart Bakery, and Angel, who, like Kel, never really shut up. They were fun to hang out with, but Aubrey never felt quite right about it. It felt like a betrayal to her other friends, but the longer they went without talking, the less she felt like a traitor; after all, they were ignoring her , so why shouldn’t she make new friends?

But because she couldn’t tell her new friends what had torn her old friend group apart, and because she definitely couldn’t tell her mom, all Aubrey could do was bottle up all her feelings and try to pretend that everything was fine and normal, while growing more and more upset.

(When they played dodgeball in PE she always aimed her throws at Kel. She didn’t understand why he didn’t understand the message she was trying to send. But she also wasn’t entirely sure of what message she was trying to send. It was all very confusing and upsetting and she didn’t know what to do about it.)

(She knew she should talk, but she didn’t know who to talk to. Basil, who was avoiding her? Hero, who she never saw anymore? Kel, who seemed more focused on Basil than her?)

(Or maybe Sunny, who almost killed his sister, her friend, and lied about it. Or Mari, who helped cover it up.)

(Why should she pursue conversations about feelings with people who didn’t care about hers?)

“Hey Basil!” Aubrey said one day when she managed to chase him down after school. “Mind if I come over to study today?”

“Uh-” Basil’s expression reminded her of a frightened animal, but why was he scared of her? Did he think she was mad at him?

Was she mad at him? Looking at him like this, it was hard to really conjure any anger. Sunny said that, when Mari fell, Basil had just run off, but he was Basil , and he was probably just scared, and maybe he meant to go get help! She wanted to believe the best of her friend, even if it meant ignoring the other things Sunny had said about him.

“I… Guess,” he said finally, voice halting and uncertain, “Polly isn’t uh, really expecting guests, though, so she might not-”

“Great!” Aubrey interrupted with forced cheerfulness, looping an arm through Basil’s if only to prevent him from escaping. “Let’s go!”

They walked to Basil’s house in awkward silence; Aubrey tried, at first, to be friendly, to make casual conversation, but he kept his distance from her and gave monosyllabic answers until she gave up. It was disappointing, Basil was her friend and she wanted to stay his friend even if he had left Mari to die, even if he had seen what happened to Mari and lied about it like Sunny, even if-

Polly greeted her warmly, saying she could stay but Basil’s grandma wasn’t feeling well and they had to be quiet; Aubrey assured her they were just going to study together and that she wasn’t Kel and wouldn’t make a lot of noise.

They studied in silence for about an hour, with Basil shooting furtive glances at her that she pretended to notice while she laid on the other side of the room (he sat opposite of her, as far as possible, which did not go unnoticed), but Aubrey quickly grew bored of that. All of her homework was uninteresting and she didn’t even want to study, she wanted to talk to Basil! Especially because he seemed to be getting more and more anxious the longer she was around, he kept fidgeting; either bouncing his leg or drumming his pencil on his notebook or chewing on his lip, constantly moving.

Aubrey looked around the room, twisting her lips together in thought. She wanted to talk to Basil but she didn’t know about what; bluntly asking him about The Incident seemed the wrong way to go (especially with how anxious he was!) but there was no gentler way to address it…

Her eyes fell on Basil’s camera and photo album, both resting on his nightstand, suspiciously accompanied by a marker. That would be a good way to break the ice, right? Basil always liked to talk about his photography, and Aubrey did like to look at pictures of herself.

“Hey Basil, mind if I look through the photo album?” Aubrey cast aside the homework on her lap and stood up on cramped legs (ouch) to get it without waiting for an answer.

Basil looked up at her with wide, frightened eyes. “Aubrey, wait-”

He was a little too late with his warning, or maybe Aubrey just didn’t listen. Either way, she was already flipping through the pages of the album but each turn of the page made her more and more confused; her brow furrowed and she frowned, unsure what to make of what she was seeing.

Several photos had been scribbled over with marker, particularly those featuring Sunny. She squinted and raised the album to her face for a better look, disbelief and anger and shock all making a hollow home in her belly.

Maybe Basil was angry at Sunny for what he had done?

But if that was the case then why would he have lied about it to cover for him?

“Basil, what-” Aubrey lowered the photo album as she began to speak only to cut off abruptly and with a start; while she hadn’t been looking, he had crossed the room and now stood in front of her at an uncomfortably close distance.

“What did you do ?” She managed to finish, voice rising a little as she scooted backwards. “ Why ?”

“I- I didn’t- I didn’t do anything!” Basil exclaimed. “It- I-” He took a deep breath to compose himself but it did not seem to work.

“It wasn’t Sunny!” He said, voice a little quieter now but very insistent. “See, l-look! There was something behind him!” He pointed at one of the scribbled-over pictures, but Aubrey couldn’t see anything.

“What are you talking about?” Aubrey asked, her face contorting in confusion. “Are you feeling okay? Should I get Polly?”

“No!” 

His outburst startled Aubrey, and made her think that she really should get Polly… But if Basil was on about what she thought he was on about, maybe it was best to leave her out of it?

Basil continued, “The incident, see! It-it-it-it wasn’t Sunny who pushed Mari, he-he-he would n-never! It was something else, I-I saw it!” He was getting more frantic now.

Aubrey’s eyes darted towards the door. She didn’t know what to do or what Basil was on about or why he had scribbled over the pictures, nor did she know how to help him, or… stop him? She wanted to get Polly, tell her that Basil was having some kind of meltdown but she didn’t know what Polly knew or if she knew about The Incident or if she should know and…

He was still rambling but she was only listening with half an ear, her mind elsewhere. She felt like she ought to tell someone, but if not Polly, then who? She would have to figure that out later. Aubrey’s grip tightened on the photo album and she made the quick decision to leave .

She ducked around Basil, who flinched away from her sudden movement, and bolted from the room; ignoring Basil’s call for her to wait and listen . She was too confused and frightened by Basil’s sudden erratic behaviour to want to stay. Aubrey passed Polly on her way out who asked her why she was leaving so suddenly? She stammered out an excuse about needing to get home for dinner and left.

Outside, all of it felt like an overreaction. Basil had always been a little weird, but something about that interaction rubbed her the wrong way and all the scribbled over pictures were really upsetting; she had to tell someone, but, who?

Hero. Hero would know what to do, wouldn’t he?

Aubrey glanced at the door to Basil’s house, once again considering telling Polly herself, but she shook her head, and set off to find Hero.

Arriving just in time

                               to watch him push Kel.

Hero was angry.

Angry at Sunny for hurting Mari. Angry at Mari for lying. Angry at Basil. Angry in general.

He didn’t want to leave his bed.

Kel wouldn’t leave him alone. His parents wouldn’t either, for that matter. at matter. All Hero wanted was to be alone at least for a few minutes so he could work all of this out in his head but no one would grant him any peace.

What Sunny said, what he did , was beyond simply being not okay , it was criminal, and he and Mari, and Basil apparently, had been sitting on it for weeks. Did their parents know? Surely they didn’t, given how normal they acted whenever the gang went to visit Mari and Sunny; had Mari and Sunny lied even to them?

Of course they did. Hero remembered when Mari fell, how Sunny’s parents said that he said that she had fallen. He had lied then and he had been lying ever since. Would they tell their parents now?

After Hero had stormed off from the picnic, Kel following at his heels but too stunned to speak, he locked himself in his room and only felt slightly guilty at locking Kel out . He needed time to think, and his younger brother, bless him, would not allow that to happen.

Sunny pushed Mari down the stairs and lied about it to them for weeks. Mari lied about it to them for weeks. Mari lied about it to him for weeks.

How could she do that? How could they do that?

It was a bit of a shock to think that Sunny, as frail as he was, would be capable of doing that to Mari, and capable of covering it up! They should have known something was wrong though, should have caught on to the lie much sooner, Sunny’s behaviour over the past few weeks had been weird even for him; he had been spacing out a lot more often, he had gotten jumpier and more anxious, he had stopped communicating and started shutting himself away from his friends .

Hero felt stupid for not noticing sooner.

There was nothing he could do now, though. And in the following days with no sight of either Mari or Sunny and no news aside from a suspicious sit-down with their parents while they told the boys that maybe it was best to avoid their neighbors for now (Sunny and Mari’s parents must have called them and told them what happened), Hero didn’t know what to do.

Kel seemed to be fine; he tried to bring Sunny and Mari up once or twice but Hero shut that down every time because he didn’t want to talk about it, but it didn’t seem to bother Kel, he would continue on with his life, talk about school or whatever else was on his mind. Hero didn’t see Aubrey or Basil around anymore (and he was slightly thankful for the lack of the latter’s presence as he wasn’t sure he could deal with Basil at the moment), but he figured they were dealing with things on their own.

They would be fine, he convinced himself, they would come around in a few days and then they could all work together to figure out where to go from here. In the meantime, Hero could try and figure out what he wanted to do; they were all kids and he was barely more than a kid himself so he had no idea how to cope with this kind of information.

Instead of thinking, he was just angry , and because he was angry he didn’t realize that Aubrey and Basil didn’t come around at all anymore, or that Aubrey had made new friends entirely, and he didn’t notice Kel withdrawing from him and everyone, he didn’t notice anything .

He saw Mari at school sometimes yet always avoided her. The first few times they saw each other she tried to approach him but he turned and walked away, and while they normally ate lunch together in the library he instead took to eating in the cafeteria with some classmates. He didn’t like it, he much preferred eating lunch with Mari, but right now he couldn’t be near her. 

She always looked hurt when he turned away but after those few times she must have gotten the message because she stopped trying. He wasn’t sure where she went but he stopped seeing her around as much, too, which was a difficult feat to pull off considering how small their school was.

Sometimes Hero would see her staring at him from the corner of his eye, but every time he looked she would turn and walk away.

Mari didn’t want to talk. Even now, even after lying to him for so long, she still didn’t want to talk.

Maybe, Hero thought, just maybe she was waiting for him to approach her to talk, but why should he? Why shouldn’t she make the first move and rectify her mistake? It only made him angrier that she wouldn’t talk to him. It wasn’t like it was hard! They lived next door to each other, but even then he rarely saw her aside from glimpses of her out in the yard for small things.

(Of course, that was his own fault; he wasn’t keen on leaving his house either.)

Part of him did long to talk to Mari, but he still squashed it down and waited for her to come to him.

He didn’t know what else to do.

“Hey Hero,” Kel tried one day when Hero walked in their room. “Have you talked to M-”

“No.” came the curt response, cutting Kel off before he could really get into it.

Kel was across the room at his desk although Hero knew he was not doing homework, and though Hero couldn’t see Kel’s face he knew he was frowning.

“Wh-”

Hero scowled and turned away to sit at his own desk. “Just drop it.”

That was that. Kel grumbled but he went back to whatever he was doing. That was how all of his conversations with Kel had been going, lately. He didn’t realize how badly that had been affecting Kel until it was almost too late.

One evening, Hero’s mom asked, or rather ordered, Hero to go with Kel to the Othermart to pick up some things she needed. Hero tried to refuse, he didn’t want to go, he had homework, and he knew that Kel was more than capable of running errands on his own but she insisted and there was no point in trying to argue.

They had only just left when they saw Mari and her mom. Outside for only a few moments before she disappeared into the house, leaving Kel and Hero to stare. Hero, of course, stuck to his new routine of avoiding Mari and began to walk. Kel stuck to his routine of pushing at things that were better left alone.

They argued and it was only then that Hero realized exactly how badly this was affecting Kel too. Kel wanted to talk but Hero didn’t. He tried to keep walking but Kel grabbed him and when he pulled his arm out of his grasp-

Kel came unbalanced. He fell into the road.

He hit the asphalt with a yelp.

“KEL!” A voice cried, and Hero turned to see Aubrey. She was a little ways up the sidewalk with a book clutched tightly against her chest and her expression screwed up in shock.

Hero turned back to Kel and hauled him up out of the road, just in time, too; a car was coming their way and Kel seemed a little too stunned to have gotten himself up.

“Are you okay?” Hero asked Kel, brow furrowed in concern as he fussed over his brother.

Kel didn’t respond, instead he collapsed into Hero’s arms and sobbed. Hero, a little stunned himself, only patted Kel on the back as he turned to look at Aubrey, who still stood there, watching. It was hard to tell from the distance but… was she crying?

“Aubrey-” Hero began. What are you doing here? How are you doing? What do you have? So many questions were on his tongue yet he couldn’t get any of them out because she interrupted.

“You-” She shook her head. “You- you pushed him! L-like Sunny and Mari and- and you would have lied about that, too? Wouldn’t you? Just like them!” Aubrey was definitely crying.

Hero reached out towards her, one arm still curled around Kel, but Aubrey backed away a few steps and then turned around and bolted.

She was afraid.

And he had let her down. He had let all of his friends down and most importantly he had let down his own brother .

He hugged Kel a little tighter.

“I’m sorry,” Hero said sincerely, his voice teary. “Kel, I’m so sorry. For shoving you, and for ignoring you all this time, and-”

“It’s okay,” Kel interrupted, sniffling loudly.

“No it isn’t. I… You’re all kids, and I… I’ve been a shitty brother to you lately-”

Kel gasped and leaned back to stare at Hero with wide eyes. Hero never swore and that aside swears were banned in their house, yet he felt that it was the only thing that really lended the right emphasis to his recent behaviour.

“It’s true!” Hero insisted, slowly sinking to the ground and taking Kel with him. Kel sat back and stared at Hero as he continued to speak.

“I should have paid more attention to you and Aubrey and Basil…” Hero shook his head slightly. “We’re all dealing with the same thing, after all.. I.. I should have done more for you guys.” He was only a kid himself yet Kel and their friends were also children and instead of talking to all of them he focused on himself.

Selfish.

Kel sniffed and wiped at his face with his arm. “You’re dealing with it all too,” He pointed out.

“Not well,” Hero responded, pursing his lips. He sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face unable to help feeling like he had let them all down. “Tomorrow we can go and talk to Aubrey and Basil, try to work all of this out.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t try to find Aubrey now?” Kel asked.

Hero frowned and glanced in the direction Aubrey had run off in. “Tomorrow,” He said finally, looking back to Kel. “She probably needs some time to calm down, and we do still need to go shopping for mom.”

“Oh right,” Kel snorted a laugh. “I forgot… What are we gonna tell mom about this?”

“Maybe we, uh, shouldn’t tell her?” Hero scrunched an eye shut awkwardly.

“Hero! Are you suggesting that we lie ?” Kel’s voice, although still slightly tearful, was playfully scandalized.

He held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Only to mom! You know how she is.”

“Haha, yeah…” Kel made a face and slowly got to his feet.

Hero followed suit, and dusted his pants off with a sigh. Tomorrow, he promised, he would try to fix things.

Basil had been having a rough couple of weeks.

It should have all been fine, Mari was fine and she would recover, no thanks to Basil! Who had seen her lying there broken at the base of the stairs as a result of S- Something and had, instead of getting help, run. Run, and realize that he was willing to kill her to protect Sunny. Guilt constantly gnawed at him for that, it plagued his nightmares and made him sick but he shouldn’t feel guilty! Mari was fine! There was no reason to feel bad!

Right?

He carried on his shoulders a secret that would ruin Sunny if anyone else knew but he carried an even greater secret on top of that- it hadn’t been Sunny who pushed Mari! Sunny would never do anything like that, he would never hurt Mari and he certainly wasn’t strong enough to do so even if he wanted to! No, it wasn’t Sunny, it was that thing, that shadow behind him! Basil even scoured his photo album for proof, and he found it! There, in the pictures behind Sunny lingered a shadow. Something was behind him! It was always behind him, and it was what hurt Mari, because Sunny would never hurt Mari!

Basil wanted to tell someone but he knew when they all told him that Mari had fallen that they couldn’t see it, the shadow that lurked behind Sunny like a dark rain cloud, they thought Mari just fell, which was a lie, was Mari lying? Of course she was lying, she always protected Sunny, but maybe she didn’t see the shadow either. Did Sunny see it?

His friends had never seen things quite like he did and usually that was okay and even now that should have been a good thing, because it meant that they could all go on believing that Mari had fallen down the stairs and that Sunny had no involvement in anything other than getting Mari help, and it would fade into their obscure childhood memories years down the line that they would only bring up in the future when they shared stories of the worst injuries of their youth.

It would have all been fine, it would have all gone away if Sunny had just kept his mouth shut.

Sunny had been ignoring Basil since the accident but Basil couldn’t tell if he was angry or not; his ever empty gaze never met Basil’s eyes and when it did Sunny seemed to stare right through him like he didn’t want to see Basil, even when he tried to make conversation and talk like they used to; they always used to talk, used to be so close, but now Sunny hated him because he didn’t help Mari.

That made the guilt worse. And the anxiety. Basil wasn’t sleeping well anymore. He was too scared of everything, of the consequences of his actions and those of S-

He tried to be normal. He really tried. He tried to be the Basil that everyone knew and everyone loved (because they didn’t love the coward who ran when his friend was hurt and needed help, wouldn’t love him), he was there for things, unlike Sunny, he visited Mari in the hospital (to make up for not helping her, but she didn’t seem to realize he had been there at all, had Sunny not told her?), he even gave her flowers! And when the group wanted to hang out Basil was right there with them even if Sunny refused to join them.

If Sunny did join them he was quiet, not his usual quiet, he was an unsettling kind of quiet. Nervous and spacey. It was that shadow that haunted him, it had to be. But it would go away if they all pretended that everything was normal. Mari’s injuries would heal and with them Basil’s guilt and Sunny’s shadow would fade and all would be normal once again.

Mari’s occasional angry outburst made it difficult to play at normalcy, especially after Aubrey’s birthday, but... That would fade too, right? She would get better. She had to!

She would get better and then Sunny would stop hating Basil and would talk to him again, he had to! It all would go back to normal.

It had to . Right?

That was all Basil wanted, normalcy; to go back to the quiet calm of the days before Mari’s incident that had been filled with the group’s wacky hijinks, like Aubrey and Kel’s arguments and the hours spent in the music room listening to Mari and Sunny practice their instruments and cooking with Hero and all sorts of small adventures. He didn’t want to carry the crushing weight of all that he knew on his shoulders.

When Sunny opened his mouth for the first time in weeks and finally told the truth through tears, Basil was shocked. He didn’t know if he ought to feel angry or relieved or terrified. After all, Sunny hadn’t spared any details and he especially hadn’t spared Basil when he told them all about how Basil was there and did nothing , Basil would never forget the stares he got then, confusion from all of them and anger and surprise. He hated it.

He left almost as soon as Sunny did, dragged off by Mari. He wasn’t sure what Hero or Kel or Aubrey did, but he figured they stayed behind to talk about them. To talk about him and what a coward he was. He didn’t go to school for a week.

When he did go to school again he avoided everyone yet Kel was persistent and made them hang out. Kel said he didn’t hate Basil but Basil couldn’t bring himself to believe him. Why wouldn’t he hate him? He left Mari to die, after all. But Kel insisted so, even if Basil didn’t believe him he had to listen as Kel tried to absolve him of his guilt.

And then Aubrey, who had made new friends who were not particularly… nice to Basil, cornered him one day after school, and asked to come over and do homework. He really couldn’t think of a reason to say no but he should have because she saw the photo album and she got… Scared? She didn’t believe him when he said Sunny hadn’t pushed Mari, she looked at him like he had grown an extra head, wouldn’t she want to believe that Sunny was innocent? So why didn’t she listen to him?

She left. And she left Basil alone without even his photo album.

Hero came around a day or two later, but he wasn't there to see Basil, he was there to talk to Polly. Basil knew this, because he crouched next to the living room door and listened to Hero talk to Polly about him, something about Aubrey and the photo album and that they were concerned. He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t stick around to listen to all of it. Shortly after Hero left, Polly came to Basil’s room to talk to him, and a few days after that he had a newly scheduled doctor’s appointment, and a few days after that he had an appointment with a therapist.

And then another a week later.

And another.

It helped a little bit to alleviate all the weight from Basil’s shoulders but obviously Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Basil’s mental health. It didn’t help that his friends didn’t come to visit him anymore; Aubrey avoided him at school and stuck with her new friend group and even Kel, who had tried so hard to maintain a friendship ever since that day seemed to be ignoring him now. Basil figured they hated him fully now, for vandalizing the photo album and for lying about Mari’s fall and for not helping Mari and for- 

“Basil!” Polly called from the living room one day. “Your friends are here!”

Basil was laying in his bed and staring at the ceiling that day, like anyone would if their only friends had decided to up and ignore them and left them without anything to do because anything they would do was usually done in a group and they were lost without that group- but Polly’s voice brought him back into his own head and he sat up and blinked at the door.

Friends?

What friends?

He had a decision to make then; he could either hide in his room (like Sunny often did) and wait to see if Kel would break down his door as he was wont to do, or he could stop being a coward and go out there and face them. Neither of those options were ideal, but what else could he do? Climb out the window and flee? Polly would get mad at him for that and he wasn’t sure he could even fit through the window. He sighed heavily.

There was really only one thing to do, and that was get out of bed and face his “friends”. Basil swung his legs over the side of the bed, stood up, and padded out to the living room with dread blossoming in his belly.

Hero, Kel, and Aubrey were all talking to Polly when Basil finally creeped into the living room but they all turned to look at him when he entered, the creaking hinges on the door announcing his arrival. Polly was quick to smile and excuse herself to go and check on Basil’s grandmother, who hadn’t been feeling well these past few days, leaving him alone with his friends.

Sunny and Mari’s absence was well noted.

“Hi Basil!” Aubrey greeted him with a warm smile.

Kel bounded over and slung an arm around Basil’s shoulder. “How have you been, bud?”

“We know it’s been a few days,” Hero said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “We thought it’d be nice to check in on you and uh… talk.”

He didn’t quite know how to react at first; because of all the scenarios he had spun in his head in the minute long walk from his room to here, none of them involved such a warm greeting.

“I-I’m fine,” Basil replied, hating how his voice shook and sounded like he wasn’t fine. “I’m.. Doing better.”

“That’s good!” Hero smiled.

Aubrey approached Basil as he was wiggling out from under Kel’s arm; she offered his photo album to him with a sheepish expression.

“Here- I’m sorry for taking it. I was just worried, and a little scared, but,” she glanced at Hero, who gave her an encouraging smile. “I still shouldn’t have taken it.””

“O-oh!” Basil reached out tentatively and accepted it from her, then opened it and flipped through the pages. Everything was the same, including the deface pictures all still scribbled over. He frowned deeply. “Thank you, um-”

“Eesh,” Kel, looking over Basil’s shoulder, then up at Aubrey, sucked air in through his teeth. “You weren’t kidding about the pictures.” He didn’t sound angry, just, disappointed, but his tone still made Basil want to wilt.

Aubrey opened her mouth to retort, likely something about the false implication that she was a liar, but Basil cut her off before they could get into an argument.

“Would you guys… mind helping me clean them?” He asked softly, nervously looking between his friends.

There was a brief pause and in that silence Basil’s anxiety grew thricefold; this was his peace offering, his attempt to invite them all in and to talk and if they didn’t accept it he didn’t know what he would do. He would understand ( no he wouldn’t ) if they rejected it, rejected him, made the decision to leave him and Sunny and Mari behind for good, but-

Hero smiled warmly. “Of course we’ll help.”

Sunny told the truth.

Mari gave him no time to field questions when he finished speaking, and she didn’t take any questions herself; instead she wordlessly got to her feet, grabbed Sunny by the arm, and pulled him all the way back home at a clipped pace, her mind a cocktail of emotions.

Everything she had done to protect him had been for naught and now… what? Was she angry at him? She couldn’t tell. She knew he had been struggling with the truth ever since her fall, it was obvious in the way his behaviour had changed, he had stopped talking, tried to shut himself away, he didn’t even seem to like or trust her anymore, she should have known that he would have told the truth eventually, but why now ?

Sunny didn’t say a word for the entire walk. It was funny, Mari thought bitterly, considering how chatty he had been just minutes before.

As soon as Mari opened the door, Sunny twisted free of her grip and ducked around her to get inside. She knew exactly where she was headed and felt a pang of panic that drove her to take a few quick steps forward and grab him by the arm again; he spun to meet her with a panicked sort of anger on his face and for a moment Mari was reminded of that evening’s oh-so-similar events and began to choke on fear.

“No,” She said, managing to keep her voice firm. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. I can’t trust you not to hurt yourself again.” It hurt her to say but what hurt her more was Sunny’s expression; his face immediately fell and his eyes scrunched up like he was trying to hold back tears.

“I’m sorry,” He choked. “I’m sorry!” Sunny’s voice rose to a wail and in one sudden motion he flung himself into her, thin arms wrapping tightly around her waist as he buried his face against her and sobbed, each cry shaking his shoulders.

Mari stumbled back a step from the impact but she stayed on her feet and wrapped her good arm around him as tightly as she could manage, tears welling up in her eyes as she listened to her brother’s pitiful sobs; any anger she felt towards him dissipated in an instant and she tucked his head under her chin as best as she could.

“It’s okay,” she assured him tearfully, speaking into his hair like she could imprint the words directly into his thoughts and soothe his mind. “It’s okay.”

He had been agonizing himself over this for so long and on some level she understood; what he had done was horrible , but she knew it was a mistake and she knew he never meant to hurt her. Her first acceptance of his lack of apology had done little to soothe him and if anything it must have made him feel worse and now she was kicking herself for that, why hadn’t she noticed sooner how poorly he felt? Why hadn’t she noticed earlier that he was hurting himself? She wished she could go back to when it all began and act differently, do things differently if only to spare them both the pain.

But there was nothing they could do now except learn from their mistakes.

So Mari held Sunny tightly and wished instead that she could scoop him into her arms and soothe him like she always did because she understood now why he had said what he said, why he had told everyone what he had done. They were questioning her anyway, the stories she had given (and wasn’t it stupid of her to tell conflicting tales?) were falling apart, Sunny was already stressed she knew… It was the straw to break his back.

She understood, and even if she was mad about it (how could she be, holding her brother as he sobbed over his guilt?) there was no going back. Sunny had chosen their path and all she could do was be there for him as they traveled it, hand in hand like always. Protecting him, like always.

When their parents came home from work that evening, Mari got all of them to sit down in the dining room and she explained everything that happened while Sunny sat sullenly next to her, staring at the woodgrain of the table instead of meeting anyone’s eyes. Although she choked on the words, and although Sunny’s betrayed look made her heart ache, Mari even told their parents about his self-harm. He shied away when she tried to show them the bandages she had applied earlier, but did not try to deny what she said.

Understandably, their parents were horrified and excused themselves to the kitchen to talk. Sunny and Mari sat silently in the dining room, she thought he was mad at her but that fear was negated when he reached out to take hold of her hand for comfort.

In the end their parents admitted they didn’t quite know what to do with the two of them, and they were both sent to their room while their parents “looked into some things”. Dinner that night was tense and Mari and Sunny were quick to flee when they finished eating; at bedtime, Sunny, no longer allowed in the playroom, buried himself under his blankets and curled up into a tiny ball with his back to Mari.

Seeing him like that made Mari’s heart ache more, especially when she ascertained that he was crying but… something stopped her from getting up to comfort him, she didn’t know why but she felt like it would be unwelcome.

Eventually, she rolled onto her back and fell asleep.

The next day was tense; their dad went to work and Sunny went silent again and their mom spent her morning in the kitchen making various phone calls while the kids slunk around to avoid disturbing her; Mari did her best to fix her and Sunny a small breakfast but he wouldn’t eat, she gave up on trying to make him after an hour and retreated to the music room to sit at the piano and attempt to plunk out a song with one hand.

It sounded as sad as she felt.

Surprisingly Sunny followed her in, but he sat on the floor with his back to the wall against the door and knees drawn up to his chest and ignored her attempts to get him to join her on the piano bench to play together.

None of their friends came to visit.

When their dad came home from work that evening he was immediately called into the kitchen by their mom and the adults spent some time arguing in the kitchen. Not talking- arguing. They rarely fought and Mari didn’t quite know how to handle it, especially because she did know they were arguing about her and Sunny. She herded him up to their room to avoid the noise because she could tell it was stressing him out more than he already was.

The children were called into the dining room and sat down while their mom explained that there would be “some changes” around here; both Sunny and Mari would start individual therapy sessions, and Sunny was no longer allowed in the house unsupervised, even supervised he wasn’t allowed to be alone or to handle sharp things, basically if he spent a minute too long in the bathroom someone would have to go and check on him.

Mari knew that the responsibility of looking after him would fall mainly upon her shoulders but a look at Sunny’s wilted frame made her think that it was a burden she didn’t mind bearing as long as it kept him safe.

Furthermore, their mom continued, they weren’t going to punish Sunny- while they were extremely disappointed in both children for lying about such a serious event it was clear that Sunny had punished himself quite enough already but that wasn’t going to spare him from future scrutiny and that he would be kept under close watch henceforth.

Sunny wilted further at this but nodded in understanding, staring at his lap instead of anyone in the room.

Finally, they had come to the similar conclusion that while they were upset with Mari for lying they understood that she was only protecting her little brother and didn’t need to be punished as she had also suffered enough. She wasn’t off the hook entirely, her parents were still awfully upset with her, but she was better off than Sunny and to herself Mari promised to be there for him even if he didn’t want her.

Dinner would be ready in two hours. The kids were dismissed.

The days passed quickly after that, Sunny’s first therapy appointment was later that week and Mari’s was soon to follow, between that, school, homework, and doctor appointments for Mari, they had little free time; not that it mattered, none of their friends came by to see them.

Mari saw Hero in school but he always turned around when she tried to approach him, and he stopped eating lunch with her entirely; they didn’t share any classes so their lunch period was the only thing they had together and now he didn’t even want that. He must have been angry at her for lying and she could understand that but she longed to talk to him, to explain why she did it, and wouldn’t he do the same for Kel?

Sunny, when he spoke at all, told her that when he went to school (days that were few and far between) his friends didn’t talk to him or acknowledge him at all. He said Aubrey had new friends, and Kel had new friends, and Basil was hardly there at all, and when Mari grimaced at Basil’s name, Sunny stopped talking again.

Mari had known the full truth, but what she didn’t know was that Basil had been there that evening, and that he had done nothing, and that he thought she was dead and wanted to hide the body . She was able to reason with herself that he was just a kid, and when kids made mistakes they were wont to hide them to avoid getting in trouble, yet the news that he had been ready to find some way to… get rid of her was disorienting and downright upsetting. At least Sunny had the sense to get help instead of listening to Basil.

Who knows where she could have ended up if he hadn’t.

He was only a scared kid and Mari supposed that, because no harm came of it, she would be able to forgive him eventually. It was something to bring up with her therapist, for sure.

For now, Mari persisted; with little else to do and little ability to do anything, she did her homework, plunked away at her piano, and tried to keep Sunny distracted whenever their parents began to argue (they had been arguing a lot more lately and it was stressing him, and admittedly her out a lot). Sunny followed her like a lost puppy, not that she minded too much, but he was still distant; he wouldn’t talk too much and was monosyllabic when he did open his mouth, and he refused to let her touch him, he had always been weird about physical contact but rarely with her and now it was odd because he shied away from her whenever she got too close.

Was he afraid, she wondered, of hurting her again?

Without their friends or much else to do (and their pseudo-grounding keeping them contained to the house, and school), the days crept by at an unbearably slow pace. Mari would go out to the treehouse every now and then and drag Sunny with her just so that they could both get some extra sunlight, but the treehouse wasn’t the same without all of their friends to fill it; Aubrey and Kel weren’t there to argue, Basil wasn’t there to stop them, and Hero wasn’t there to exchange fondly exasperated looks with Mari.

She worried for them and she worried for Sunny. Would they never see their friends again? Hero still avoided her at school, and the others supposedly avoided Sunny (Mari wondered if he was avoiding them yet couldn’t bring herself to ask), had they all decided to cut their losses and move on without the last two members of their friend group?

Late one night Mari awoke from a dreamless slumber to a familiar weight settling against her side, carefully snuggled under her good arm.

Mari blinked blearily and stared at the ceiling, then unsuccessfully twisted her head to look at her visitor; she couldn’t see much due to both the darkness and her limited movement, but she knew who it was all the same.

“Sunny?” she asked, voice heavy with sleep. “What are you doing up?”

Sunny wiggled into her more and mumbled something, then sniffled. Was he… crying?

“Sunny?” Mari repeated.

He made a noise through his nose. “... Nightmare.”

“Oh,” Her brow furrowed in concern, she tried to sit up but was unsuccessful for several reasons so instead she settled for using her good arm to rub his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“...No.”

She frowned slightly. “Okay.”

There was no point in pushing for details, if he didn’t want to talk then he wasn’t going to and she ought to be happy that he was coming to her at all; even though this had been an almost nightly thing, he hadn’t come to sleep with her ever since her accident.

“...Why are you here with me?” Mari asked gently, which only prompted Sunny to attempt to sit up but she was quick to stop him, yet still kept her hold loose in case he really wanted to go. “I don’t mind! It’s just that… it’s been awhile since you’ve done this… I thought you didn’t like me anymore.”

He whined low in his throat, the noise an unwavering whine that suggested an unwillingness to answer or perhaps a drawn-out thought process to come up with the right words- it was hard to tell. When Sunny did answer his words were hardly more than a mumble again, hard to distinguish and said into her side. Mari thought she heard the word “deserve” in there but she couldn’t be sure.

Her frown deepened and her hand shifted on his back. “I can’t hear you.”

More mumbling came as the reply, then he finally spoke up: “...I don’t deserve it.”

“Deserve… what?”

“Comfort.”

“Oh,” Mari’s brow furrowed deeply, her tone conveying the weight of her concern. “Oh Sunny, come here, sit up.”

Sunny hesitated and Mari got the sense that he feared he was in trouble but he complied anyway and sat up with his hands tightly bunched in his lap and his head turned away from her; with her arm now free Mari was able to push herself upright as well, then reached out to gently rest her hand on his knee.

“Why do you think that?” She asked him. “Here, look at me, let’s talk-”

He whined again and slowly looked at her, keeping his head lowered. ‘You shouldn’t. .. likeme.” His last words were said quickly and cramped together.

“And why not?”

“I- you-...” Sunny looked away again. “It was an accident, I pushed you, and- I-”

“Shh, I know,” Mari said gently. “I know, and I forgive you, Sunny-”

“Why!?” His outburst was sudden and enough to startle her; it was so unlike him to raise his voice and when he did-... “Why?” Sunny repeated in a softer tone. “I- I don’t understand, you shouldn’t-” His voice broke. “You should hate me.”

“Why not?” Mari asked in turn, shrugging slightly. “Why shouldn’t I forgive you, Sunny? Accidents happen, I know you and I know you would never hurt me… I am mad, was mad… But you’ve been punishing yourself for so long… You’re my little brother, Sunny, I could never hate you.”

He continued to stare off to the side but Mari couldn’t imagine the wall was all that interesting; in his laps his grip on his hands tightened and she frowned.

She had never admitted properly that she was angry about it. But she was. How else was one supposed to feel when their little brother shoved them down a staircase and onto a broken violin? A violin that everyone in their friend group had scrimped and saved for to get as a present for him; of course she was mad! But Sunny was just a kid, a kid she had pushed too far without offering any respite, a kid who took up a new hobby to spend more time with her only to be pushed and pulled and scolded for every mistake. They were both mad and when emotions ran too high it all came to a head and resulted in…

He was just a kid. She should have treated him better, yes, but his actions weren’t her responsibility; she recognized her part in this awful play and because of that she recognized that he was scared, of hurting her, of lying, of everything , and the remorse was eating away at him like rot on wood.

“Look,” Mari continued gently. “Everyone makes mistakes; some certainly worse than others but it happens . My wounds will heal, I’ll get better, and we’ll get through this together; you’re not alone, Sunny, and you don’t punish yourself any longer.”

Sunny looked at her finally, his expression was difficult to make out in the dark but his face looked scrunched up and he was sniffling gently, was he crying? She couldn’t blame him, tears were welling up in her own eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Sunny’s shoulders shook as he began to sob. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry-”

“Shh… Come here,” Mari beckoned for him to come closer and obediently he crawled forward on the bed to tuck himself into her side; she curled her arm around him and rested her cheek on his head. “I forgive you, Sunny… But you need to forgive yourself.”

“I can’t-”

“You can,” She paused. “If not now, then eventually, and I will be here to help you get there.”

“...Promise?” Sunny twisted to look up at her.

Mari smiled gently, unsure if he could even see. “I promise.”

He began to sob harder.

“Shh shh shh,” Mari again pressed her cheek to his head. “You’re okay, take some deep breaths, okay? Breathe with me, inhale, one… two… three… Exhale…”

They breathed together until Sunny’s sobs subsided and his shoulders stopped shaking, Mari hummed to him and when he began to settle sleepily into her side she convinced him to move so they could both lay down, tucked under the sheets and mostly calmed down.

“Mari?”

“Hm?”

“Will… the others… forgive me?”

Mari grimaced, taking comfort in the fact that he couldn’t see her face. She knew exactly who he was talking about yet she didn’t have an answer for him; it had been so long since any of their friends had come around and none of them seemed inclined to approach any time soon… She sighed.

“I’m sure they will,” She assured him. “They probably just need some time to think, that’s all.”

Sunny hummed in response and went quiet, leaving Mari alone to her thoughts.

She wasn’t quite sure she believed her own words.

Sunny’s birthday came around, and he had been dreading it for quite some time.

After everything that had happened and everything that he had done he didn’t feel like he deserved any sort of celebration yet Mari and his therapist both convinced him that he was wrong and he did, in fact, deserve nice things. He trusted them both, so he went along with whatever Mari was planning.

Things were difficult for Sunny yet they were getting better all the same; it was easier to talk now and much easier to sign though he was still hesitant to do so around Mari. His dreamworld began to fade as he visited it less often yet his friends were always there, always smiling when Omori did come to play; it was a small comfort and it was more than his actual friends had done in… weeks.

Aubrey had made new friends at school, and Kel had too, but Sunny saw the two of them hanging out together occasionally and even Basil would join them sometimes… They never saw him, though, or sought him out; Mari said that they would need time and Sunny was giving them time, so much time that he hadn’t even invited them to his birthday lunch.

Without any friends it wasn’t going to be much of a party but Mari proposed a picnic by the hidden lake and he had no reason to say no (aside from arguing that he didn’t deserve it but she was quick to shut that down), so that day Sunny helped Mari prepare some sandwiches and snacks and pack them all away in her picnic basket and they made their way to the park.

It was a bright and sunny day in Faraway Town. Perfect for a picnic.

The lake was lonely without all of their friends and the day was a little too hot to comfortably spend a lot of time outdoors so Sunny and Mari settled for a brief lunch before heading back home, with the possibility of a detour to Hobbeez in the cards.

Lunch was eaten uneventfully and afterwards they were left to bask in the sun. Mari’s casts had come off and she was taking full advantage of her regained mobility as she sat on the picnic blanket propped up on both arms, face reclined towards the sky. Sunny lay flat out on his back, his head in her lap and his eyes closed as he enjoyed what was, for now, the comfortable warmth of the sun. When it became unbearable they would leave.

“I think mom said we could go out for dinner tonight if you wanted,” Mari said.

“Mm,” Sunny opened his eyes and squinted against the brightness. “Maybe.”

Mari sat up and looked down at him, blocking the sun from his face and favouring her previously broken arm by folding it over her chest. “Where would you want to go?”

“Dunno. Gino’s?”

“We eat there all the time, though.”

“Nowhere else is good.”

“Hmm,” Mari pursed her lips. “Maybe you’re right. But I wish-”

She cut herself off, but Sunny was willing to bet she was going to say something about Hero and his cooking. To be fair, he also missed Hero and his cooking. Mari sat back again and looked up at the sky.

“Suppose we should head home now,” She said.

There wasn’t much else to do.

“Hobbeez?” Sunny suggested hopefully as he sat up.

“Maybe,” Mari chuckled. “Here, help me pack up.”

“WAIT!” A familiar voice cried, drawing Sunny and Mari’s attention over to the path leading up to the lake. “You’re not leaving without us, are you?!”

“Ouch! Kel! Watch it!” Another familiar voice whined.

Aubrey and Kel came crashing through the underbrush together, shoving at each other and clearly in the middle of some kind of spat, yet when Aubrey stumbled and threatened to fall Kel caught her and kept her on her feet- only for her to immediately shove him away. Behind them came Hero, looking exasperated but doing nothing to stop them, and behind him trailed Basil, wringing his hands nervously.

Sunny squinted at them, fingers curling into fists as his throat dried. He glanced at Mari then shifted closer to her to whisper, “do you see-?”

Mari nodded, then raised her voice to address the group. “Hi guys!” She called, waving with her previously broken arm, now uncasted.

Everyone returned the greeting with smiles all around and warmth in their tones yet Sunny was still wary and shifted ever closer to Mari; his throat felt tight and his words were escaping him so he tugged at Mari’s sleeve for attention and when he got it looked between her and the others rapidly, hoping she’d get the message.

She did.

“What are you guys doing here?” She asked casually, conversationally. “I mean, we weren’t exactly expecting-”

“What! You didn’t think we’d forget Sunny’s birthday, did you?” Kel asked, sounding scandalized at the implication.

Admittedly, Sunny had thought they would forget his birthday; after all, why would they want to celebrate a monster?

“We stopped by your house first,” Hero explained. “But you weren’t there, your mom said you had gone to the lake though, so-”

“Now we’re here!” Aubrey interrupted to finish, throwing her hands wide to indicate the area and almost definitely intentionally hitting Kel in the process.

Basil cleared his throat. “But um, we can leave… if you want us to…” He stared at his shoes.

“But like, why would you?” Kel asked, his cheerful tone sounding only slightly forced,as if he was nervous Sunny might reject them, and was trying to hide it. “Whaddya say, buddy?”

Sunny looked at Mari, had she planned this? She looked as confused and surprised as he felt so surely she hadn’t. Why were they here after weeks spent avoiding him? He didn’t understand, why now? Was it only because it was his birthday or did they genuinely care about him?

Mari caught his eye and gave him an encouraging smile, mouthing “ your choice ”.

He looked back at his friends; Kel with a wide grin, Aubrey with a bright smile, Hero’s warm expression and Basil, half-hidden behind Hero’s legs… They were all here. They had all tracked him down because they wanted to spend his birthday with him. They didn’t say it, but Sunny realized that this was their forgiveness, their extended olive branch, the peace offering so they could begin to mend everything-

All he had to do was reach out to take it.

(And pray that he wasn’t misreading the situation.)

He swallowed the lump in his throat and forced himself to meet Hero’s eyes… and smiled.

“Stay, please.”

Kel and Aubrey cheered and Basil visibly relaxed. While the other two immediately got into a new kind of argument, Hero abandoned Basil to join Sunny and Mari on the picnic blanket, careful to toe off his shoes before stepping foot upon it as was the rule.

“I brought cake,” He offered almost bashfully.

Mari smiled, thanked him, and set it near the picnic basket where it wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Hero-” She began, but he interrupted.

“It’s okay,” Hero said, smiling. “We can talk later.”

Her smile widened into something more warm and genuine and Hero returned it with a stupid grin of his own as he settled on the blanket next to her; one hand over her own.

“Sunny!”

At his name, Sunny turned around to see Aubrey and Kel standing directly in front of him, toes just before the line of the blanket, they were holding hands and smiling and he assumed they had solved whatever argument they had been having.

He tilted his head questioningly.

“Wanna play tag?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny thought about it for a moment. He looked at his socked feet, then his shoes resting on the grass a few feet away, and raised a hand to point at them. “Shoes.” He responded simply.

They got the message. Kel cheered and pulled his hand from Aubrey’s to smack her on the arm while yelling “ you’re it! ” before bolting off. Aubrey shrieked in outrage and took off after him, yelling something about how he was a cheater but he only laughed. Sunny reached for his shoes and began pulling them on.

When he finally stood up Sunny noticed that Basil was still standing off to the side, exactly where Hero had left him. After a glance at Aubrey and Kel, Sunny decided they would be fine without him for another minute and padded over to Basil first; he was quick to notice Sunny’s approach and looked startled, but Sunny didn’t comment.

Instead, he offered Basil his hand. “Tag?”

Basil looked at Aubrey and Kel (Kel, who slowed down to let Aubrey catch him, yet immediately sped up to tag her again), then at Sunny. He smiled hesitantly … and took Sunny’s hand.

Sunny offered a small smile in return, and dragged Basil into the fray.

Over an hour later the kids had run themselves to exhaustion and fell asleep in a heap on the picnic blanket. Sunny and Kel lay parallel to each other on their backs, one of Sunny’s arms over Kel’s chest and one of his legs over Kel’s. Basil was draped across them diagonally, his head on Sunny's chest, and Aubrey lay on her stomach on Kel’s other side, her legs over Basil’s, one of her hands in Kel’s, and her hair in his face.

(Later she would whine about Kel’s spit in her hair, and he would complain about her giving him cooties, but for now it was blessedly silent.)

Soon it would be time to rouse everyone and trudge home before they got too dehydrated or sunburnt, and water and showers would be in order for everyone before they resumed their nap in the comfort of an air conditioned room, but for now they could rest.

Mari leaned her head onto Hero’s shoulder and Hero rested his cheek against her hair and her hand covered his as they quietly watched the kids doze. Nothing was said if only to avoid waking them, but the silence was comfortable so neither minded.

There was still a lot to talk about and even more to work through, but that could be saved for another day because there was peace in this moment and it was worth preserving for a little while longer.