《Last Call Before Hell》 Chapter One It¡¯s a long way down¡­ Do you want to jump? Yes Omori looked down at his pale hands, which were trembling, though only slightly. Black grit lined the insides of his fingernails, a mixture of dried blood, dirt, and dead skin cells. Grayish patches of rash dotted his skin and he found himself wondering if Sunny would be happy. He looked up at the sky, a feeble attempt at some sort of answer. The dull, cloud-filled sky stared back down at him impassively. ¡­ ¡°Forget.¡± Omori took a small step towards the ledge. His body, or rather, Sunny¡¯s body, felt as weak and frail as a blade of grass. A cold breeze, the slightest of pushes, a blink, and it would be done. His job would be done, he would finally be allowed rest, and Sunny¡­ Sunny¡­ Sunny would forget. Omori closed his eyes and jumped.
Basil¡¯s eyes shot open. Wrong. Wrong, all of it, so, so wrong. He gasped, choking on strings of spittle that sent him into a rough coughing fit. Heedless, he shot up from his bed, propping himself up with his tired arms which were suddenly bearing the weight of his body, screaming in agonizing protest. His heart drummed loudly in his chest, pounding against his ribcage with enough force to break bone. He tried to scream, tried to rend his vocal cords and claw at his throat with his fingers, fingers with jagged nails that were worn and uneven from constant nail-biting. Three figures surrounded him. Dark, staring, incomprehensible. Flickering avatars of Something, with hunger and demand glowing boldly within their pupils. What did they want? What did they want? ¡°Basil, Basil, Basil, Basil, Basil...¡± They repeated in their monotonous chorus. Chanting, morphing into liquid and disfiguring the sound of his name until it was an unrecognizable garble of white noise that pierced his eardrums. They reached out to him with black tendrils, cold and barbed, pushing him back down to the bed. They hooked onto his flesh and sunk in deeply. Basil tossed and turned in a silent tantrum, trying to scream but not quite having the willpower to do so. He heaved himself against the restraints, trying to force his body to pass through the deadly mass of limbs crushing his body. The bed below him groaned and Basil groaned with it, sharp, spotty pain lighting his nerves alight. It was wrong. It was all wrong. His brain felt like it was melting, melding with his skull and burning from the inside out as every thought, feeling, and memory he ever retained exploded into an indecipherable mess of words and images, meaningless jumbles of flashing neurons tainted deeply by the raw stinging of pain washing over him. He burned and drowned and died until finally, something clear. First, the sound. Sounds of sirens. Panicked shouting. Ringing phones. And then it came into focus, a sprawling scene of gray concrete. Expansive and uniform in its position as the background, but imperfect in its design, with cracks and specks of random color splattered about. And in its center, the catalyst to his suffering, disgusting and horrible and red. So, so red. A lake of red, bold and thick and viscous and oozing and spreading everywhere, breaking off into thin streams that seeked to further taint the ground it traveled on. And of course, the source for the affront to his eyes, a body. Face down, limbs stretched out and bent at their joints. The thin body had pale skin, almost unnaturally so when contrasted against the mass of messy black hair on their head. A hospital gown clung to their frame, a meager shield to the desecrated corpse¡¯s dignity.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Of course. Of course this was what happened. Basil stopped struggling and finally let out a weak exhale paired with a crooked, wavering smile. A smile that could only appear in the face of complete and utter misery. At this, the figures surrounding him loosened their hellish grip on him and backed away, though reluctantly so. Basil didn¡¯t care. He didn¡¯t care about the numerous lacerations in his skin, didn¡¯t care about the bloody stained bed sheets below him, didn¡¯t care that he was in hell. ¡°Sunny¡¯s dead.¡± Basil thought. ¡°And it¡¯s my fault. It¡¯s all my fault.¡± His numerous sins and failures weighed on him, threatening to crush him completely. He wanted to die, but couldn¡¯t. There was no way out of this one. A complete sense of paralysis afflicted him from the neck down, leaving him unable to do anything except writhe at the complete and utter sense of exhaustion and self-loathing that overtook him. ¡°Basil, are you okay? Say something.¡± And then it was over. Basil blinked and sat up from his bed once more. This time he rose easily, tears in his skin gone and forgotten. Slowly, the black figures in front of him faded until more familiar faces took their place. Aubrey, Kel, and Hero all stood next to his bed with concerned, almost fearful looks plastered onto their faces. He hated it. He wanted to shrink under their gaze until he was invisible. But instead, he simply sat there, gaping like an idiot. ¡°Basil¡­¡± Hero started. ¡°You-¡± ¡°Sunny. W-Where¡¯s Sunny? Basil interrupted, unable to keep the wavering desperation out of his voice. ¡°Huh? Sunny?¡± Hero frowned. ¡°Basil, do you remember what happened last night? We found you two in the morning, and, well¡­ It wasn¡¯t pretty.¡± ¡°Please. Please, where¡¯s Sunny? Where¡¯s Sunny?¡± ¡°Hey, chill out Basil!¡± Kel piped up. ¡°Sunny¡¯s like, just a few rooms down. He¡¯s totally fine! Well, fine except for¡­ uh¡­¡± ¡°Let me see him. I need to see Sunny. Now.¡± Basil started to get off his bed and thankfully, no one tried to hold him down this time. Something tugged at his scalp and all of the sudden, the light in the room was too harsh, too bright. He winced and blinked rapidly. ¡°C-Can you bring me to his room? I need to see him. Please, it¡¯s important. His three (friends?) turned to look at each other, silent, questioning glances that expected one another to say something. After a moment of awkward silence, Hero finally cleared his throat. ¡°Well, the doctor said that you weren¡¯t very badly injured. So¡­ If it¡¯s just for a bit, I guess it¡¯d be okay.¡± ¡°Thank you. I just need to see Sunny. Quickly.¡± Basil stood up, doing his best to quell the overwhelming sense of foreboding settling on him. Taking a shaky breath, he followed Hero out of the room. The echoes of their footfalls echoed through the empty hallway, sending harsh shivers through his body. He could feel the stares of Aubrey and Kel drilling holes into the back of his head as they followed behind him. With every step he took down the hall, it got harder and harder to breathe, becoming colder and colder. The familiar presence of Something appeared. It materialized, wrapped around his body and tightened its hold on him, twisting and turning uncomfortably. No one commented on it. An eternity passed until finally, Hero stopped. He opened a door and looked inside. A second. Two. Three. Then Basil felt something in him snap harshly, sending bounding reverberations through his body. It was the culmination of all of the anxiety, worries, and doubts building up inside of him for the past four years. His body jerked forward and pushed past Hero as he ran into the room to see exactly that he expected to see. An empty bed with an overturned blanket. Along the walls of the room, various bouquets of flowers. Untouched. Dying. Dead. ¡°No¡­ N-No, Sunny. Sunny, why?¡± Basil gasped as tears, boiling, began to form in his eyes. His knees gave way and he collapsed onto the blaringly cold floor as tremors overtook his body. He wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to still his shakes, but the effort was fruitless. His teeth chattered and he looked around as the room vanished and was replaced with a bright, brutal red. ¡°Why? You left me, again? Without saying anything? And¡­ this time. This time, you¡¯re... ¡° ¡°You¡¯re not coming back for me, are you Sunny?¡± Something stretched itself over his body to provide a dull comfort. Sinister, foreboding, but comforting nonetheless. ¡°your fault your fault your fault it¡¯s all your fault Sunny¡¯s dead you¡¯re useless so useless.¡± Something whispered in his ear. Its thorns embedded themselves into his skin. It hurt, but he didn¡¯t care. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it anyway. ¡°Your fault but i don¡¯t care i don¡¯t care i¡¯m here i¡¯m always here and your fault sunny¡¯s dead your fault i¡¯m here i won¡¯t leave you not ever useless useless useless.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Basil said. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Sunny.¡± Chapter Two Time was stagnant. Basil spent days in solitary contemplation, millions of thoughts running through his head at every second. There, in that red box, he sat in silence. Unmoving, unblinking, and on a wooden bench that was inexplicably out of place. Somewhere in the real world, Something had its tendrils wrapped around his body. It moved and jerked him around like a puppet on strings, using Basil¡¯s voice to speak. It spoke to Polly. The police. A doctor. A psychiatrist. His (friends???). It danced his body around, happy to fill a role that Basil could not. Something had grown exponentially in the past few days. Basil blinked, breaking out of his stupor to look around him. No matter where he looked, Something looked back. Its many eyes dotted the red walls of the room, bulging, and never in pairs. Basil made the wise decision to close his eyes, though it was useless. There it was, staring at him through the back of one of his eyelids. It seemed to have wormed itself into his body, not that he was surprised about it. It wasn¡¯t fair. Basil tightened his grip on the steak knife. Where did it come from? Basil forced himself to open his eyes. The tip of the knife hovered over his right eye. Without a second thought, he brought his head forward to meet the blade head on. Immediately, his vision flickered as a spray of warm, red blood splashed onto his hands. It didn¡¯t hurt. Curiousity getting the better of him, Basil decided to twist the knife around in his eye socket. It created a strange sound, a sort of soft scraping that wasn¡¯t entirely unpleasant to the ear. A small stream of blood made its way down his face and dripped onto the floor. It was a darker shade of red than the floor, so it stuck out sorely. When Basil looked up from the floor, he found himself face to face with someone. A thin, gaunt man with dark hair and skin so pale that it could have been bleached. A sharp pang shot through Basil¡¯s head as he struggled to comprehend the figure in front of him. Why was he so familiar? Why couldn¡¯t he remember? The more he thought about it, it seemed, the more it hurt. The sharper the pain, the brighter the room. The man had an eyepatch covering his right eye and was dressed in a hospital gown. His face was the very definition of neutral. Basil started shaking. His legs and arms wouldn¡¯t stop trembling. Forward facing and with an unbreakable stare, it seemed like he had an ultimate poker face. Basil¡¯s breathing grew more laboured. The shaking kept getting worse and worse. Tremors overtook his entire body, as if there was an earthquake happening. Behind the stranger, Something began to manifest. Basil wanted to scream. He wanted to warn him. He wanted to jump up and pull him away from Something. He wanted to save him. ¡°stop shaking stop shaking stop shaking STOP SHAKING¡± Both of his legs bounced up and down, terribly out of sync. He pressed his arms down on his legs, but that didn¡¯t help at all. Out of the corner of his left eye, he could see the handle of the steak knife bouncing up and down, still stuck in his other eye. The stranger stared at him. Silently. Judging. He was disappointed in him, wasn¡¯t he? No, more than that. Basil could sense it. The aura of utter resentment that emanated from the figure was so intense that it bled into the air. Despite his blank expression, it was clear that he held nothing but utter contempt for him. Basil started crying. He didn¡¯t want to be hated by him. It tore at his very being. ¡°P-Please. Don¡¯t hate me. Don¡¯t hate me, I just wanted to help you. I¡¯m sorry! Forgive me.¡± Basil choked. ¡°Forgive me¡­ I¡­ I need you.¡± The stranger turned around. Something wrapped itself around him, obscuring his figure from view. ¡°No! Please, n-not again! Don¡¯t leave me¡­ I¡¯m sorry!¡± Basil screamed. His voice echoed within the confines of his red chamber, his useless apology repeating itself hundreds of times. He could feel it. The hatred. The sheer weight of it pressed on Basil, oppressing him, destroying him. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He couldn¡¯t see. Why couldn¡¯t he remember who that person was? Why did he feel such an utter, overwhelming need to remember? His life depended on it. With a strangled sort of yelp, he yanked the knife out of his eye and threw it at Something, who remained impassive, continuing to hide the stranger¡¯s body from sight. The knife simply went through it, not affecting it in the slightest. ¡°Wrong. So wrong. This is wrong.¡± Something vanished. The stranger stared at him. The steak knife was embedded into his stomach. The stranger stared at him. A dark, almost black liquid dripped from his mouth. The stranger stared at him. Trails of blood dripped from his scalp, leaving behind smoking crimson stains that burned. The stranger stared at him. Something reappeared behind him. The stranger stared at him.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Basil tried to apologize. Basil felt the bench that he was sitting on begin to burn. Smoke filled the room. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He dug his fingers through his blonde hair, scratching at his scalp and pulling out loose strands. The fire burned. His skin began to melt into the bench, which was already turning black. It melded and stuck to the wood at an alarming rate. And yet, it did not hurt. ¡°Wrong. It¡¯s wrong.¡± The fire spread to his clothes, flames jumping and dancing at the fabric, at the fuel. It didn¡¯t take long for his hair to get caught as well. His entire body was burning. It was burning, and the room was red, and Something stared at him, and the stranger stared at him, and it was still wrong. He looked at his hands. The flesh was melting off, He could see small pools of blood through the holes in his skin. It was boiling. He was boiling. A picture. He was dead. His decapitated head sat in front of an elevator, surrounded with a pool of blood. He deserved this, didn¡¯t he? That¡¯s why the stranger was staring at him. The knife was still in his stomach. He wished, oh how he wished, that the stranger would pull it out. Basil needed to say something. Anything. But when he looked down, he saw that what remained of his jaw sat on his lap, nothing more than bones and flecks of curled flesh. He ran his hand through his hair and came back with a fistful of black, matted straw. When he brushed it off, a few of his fingers decided to come loose as well. It didn¡¯t hurt.
Aubrey knocked on the door. One knock, two knocks, three- The door opened. ¡°Ah!¡± Aubrey yelped and pulled her fist back, just barely managing to avoid slamming her fist into Basil¡¯s face, though she did manage to graze a few hairs. For his part, the boy didn''t even flinch. "B-Basil! You, uh¡­ I didn¡¯t expect you to answer the door so quickly.¡± Basil smiled. ¡°Oh, hi Aubrey! Can I help you? I was just about to head down to the Othermart and pick up some gardening supplies. Polly¡¯s there too, getting some ingredients for cooking so I was just planning to meet up with her. As of recently, my flowers haven¡¯t been doing too well¡­ I might be losing my touch, huh?¡± Aubrey stared at him as if he had just grown a second head. All in all, what he said seemed perfectly normal. That is, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that his best friend had jumped off a building less than a week ago. Basil seemed completely inconsolable at the hospital, remaining unresponsive and not eating or even drinking anything. And yet¡­ ¡°Right... I was just¡­ checking up on you?¡± Aubrey said cautiously. ¡°You know, after what happened¡­¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± Basil nodded. ¡°How are you guys doing, by the way? I haven¡¯t gotten the chance to get into contact with any of you-sorry about that, by the way-and to be honest, I¡¯m kind of worried about how everyone''s been holding up.¡± ¡°What-¡± ¡°You know, if any of you need someone to talk to, I¡¯m always here. I may not seem like it, but I¡¯m a great listener!¡± Basil suddenly gasped and stepped backwards. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I should have invited you in! Do you want to have a seat? A drink? I think we have some tea left, though we¡¯ve been running short¡­ ah, I¡¯ll probably have to grab some more when I go shopping.¡± Aubrey slowly stepped in, expression unreadable. She took a seat at the couch and looked on as Basil started boiling a kettle of water. ¡°Anyway, have you been doing alright?¡± Basil suddenly asks, back turned. ¡°Sunny was a good friend of yours. Of all of us. To just lose him so suddenly¡­¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Aubrey looked down. She hadn¡¯t been expecting this, at all. To be honest, she was anticipating to find a broken Basil, stuck locked in his room. She¡­ felt guilty. For a long while, she had been treating him like absolute garbage, and even getting her other friends in on the act. She figured that¡­ Well, maybe Basil would need some support, after everything that¡¯s happened. It was obvious that his mental state wasn¡¯t very stable even before what happened between him and Sunny. And in the back of her mind, she had that sneaking fear of ¡°What if?¡± What if Basil had enough? What if Basil decided to just stop trying and¡­ and¡­ No. She couldn¡¯t lose another friend. Not so soon. Not so quickly. She wouldn¡¯t let it happen. But¡­ She felt a familiar flash of anger strike her. She looked on as Basil took the kettle and poured the steaming water into two small cups. Carefully, he placed a teabag into each one before taking them and walking to the couch where she sat. She silently took the cup that Basil handed to her, though she kept staring at Basil who sat across from her. ¡°Why¡­ Why are you so calm about all of this?¡± Aubrey asked in a tone bordering on accusatory. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes, but at this point she was beyond caring. ¡°Sunny just¡­ Sunny is dead! And he jumped off a fucking building! Right after you two had a fight! Now he¡¯s gone! He and Mari, they¡¯re both gone! And you, you¡­ You look like you¡¯re doing better than before! Why? What happened?¡± Basil tilted his head. ¡°Aubrey¡­ Don¡¯t get me wrong, I cared deeply for Sunny, and still do. But I¡¯ve mourned. That isn¡¯t to say I''m over it or anything, but¡­ I¡¯m just trying to move on. That¡¯s what Sunny would have wanted right? And Mari too. We shouldn¡¯t get stuck on this bad memory forever.¡± ¡°Forever?!¡± Aubrey snapped. She slammed the cup down on the low table in front of her, hissing as the hot water splashed on her skin. ¡°Sunny stayed locked up in his room after Mari¡¯s death for four years! YOU spent those four years isolated and being a nervous wreck! No shit we should try to move on, but¡­ you¡­ It sounds like you don¡¯t even care!¡± He frowned. ¡°Aubrey, please calm down.¡± She clenched her fists. Closing her eyes she sat back down and breathed in¡­ then out. Right. Different ways of mourning, right? Like Kel. He looked like he got over Mari¡¯s death pretty quickly too, but that was just on the surface. He just had his own way of coping, which happened to be different from everyone else¡¯s. Don¡¯t make the same mistake twice. Basil definitely cared about Sunny, right? They were best friends. Don¡¯t be so rough on him¡­ again. She opened her eyes. ¡°But¡­ still.¡± Basil smiled at her reassuringly and took a sip of his tea. He met her gaze without hesitation, and held it unwaveringly. His posture was completely relaxed, as if they were talking about the weather or something. ¡°It just seems..." "Wrong.¡± Chapter Three The red was almost black. Basil played with the garden shears in his hands nervously, turning it over and over again, staring at how the unnaturally sharp blades mirrored his face at him. His skin was pale and clammy, and the look on his face was akin to pure terror. But why would he be scared? He was just in a room by himself. Though something told him that someone would be visiting soon. Someone would arrive and they would talk. Then, he would save Basil. There was something weird in his eyes. He frowned and looked closer, but his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn¡¯t quite make it out. He hated it. They just wouldn¡¯t sit still, not even for a minute. Really, at any second the shears could slip and fall from his sweaty grip and onto the floor. His grandmother always told him not to leave things on the floor. It was messy and left a bad impression. Besides that, what if someone got hurt? The garden shears were so, so sharp. It could probably break skin in a single poke. The thought of it made the shaking get worse. He gritted his teeth as the tremors spread to his chest and legs. Oh, the anxiety of it all! Bubbling, tossing and turning in his stomach, threatening to make him vomit right then and there. Shivers down his spine, yet he continued to stand there and stare at the shears and his trembling hands. What would he do when Someone arrived? Should he thank him for coming back? For finally putting aside time for them to talk, one on one? Maybe they could even talk about Something. Basil would let him know. He would reassure him that he knew about it, and that he could relate. He could even try to do something useful for once. He could protect him. Imagine that! Weak, frail, useless, scared. And still willing to defend Someone. That meant they were friends, right? Surely he was a good friend. Surely. ¡°Lies. Don¡¯t lie.¡± Basil whispered. The gardening shears really were sharp. The points gleamed in the red light of the room, and he could feel himself becoming more and more fascinated. Experimentally, he poked his thumb with it. Sure enough, a small bead of blood appeared on his skin. He dragged the tip of the blade across his forearm, watching in a scared awe as it left behind a trail of thin red in its wake. ¡°Why can¡¯t I do anything right?¡± Someone still wasn¡¯t here. Basil gulped and started scratching a second line on his skin, this one deeper. Why wasn¡¯t he here? He thought¡­ He thought that they would be here by now. Basil could sense him. He was nearby. So why? Why won¡¯t he appear? Was he ignoring him? Did he abandon him? His head was starting to hurt. The air, rank with the metallic stench of blood, suddenly became thicker. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He couldn¡¯t breathe. Something manifested behind him. It hugged him from behind, pressing its painfully cold body onto his back. He hated it. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He could feel it staring at him. Sharp fear stabbed through his heart as Something reached inside of him. Without thinking, he brought the garden shears forward, and stabbed it into his stomach. He couldn¡¯t breathe. Something hugged him tighter. He stabbed himself again. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He stabbed himself again. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He stabbed himself again. He couldn¡¯t breathe. He stabbed himself aga-
¡°Oh, Basil! And is that Aubrey behind you? What a surprise.¡± Polly smiled at them, waving at them over as they approached her. ¡°What are you two doing here? I was just about done shopping - Does chicken fried rice sound good for dinner?¡± ¡°That sounds great!¡± Basil said happily. ¡°I¡¯m just here to pick up some stuff for my plants, and I invited Aubrey to tag along. She visited me today to make sure I was doing okay.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s nice of her.¡± Polly glanced at her, nodding approvingly. ¡°The passing of a loved one can be something difficult to overcome. Sunny was always so quiet, but very polite. Why, I heard that he even went through the trouble of helping out everyone around town with odd jobs recently. It¡¯s¡­ just a shame that he passed on the way he did.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Yeah, it really is.¡± Basil looked back at Aubrey. ¡°You know, we haven¡¯t really gotten to hang out recently! Do you think maybe after this, you want to help out with my gardening? Like I mentioned, my plants haven¡¯t been doing very well¡­ But maybe you can help me out with that!¡± ¡°Yeah. Sure.¡± Aubrey said quietly. Truth be told, she wasn¡¯t paying much attention to the conversation in front of her. Instead, her focus was on trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with Basil. He seemed to have done a complete 180. All of the self-doubt and anxiety in his demeanor had vanished without a trace. Not only that, but Basil was able to carry himself in conversations easily, almost confidently. It seriously felt like he turned into a completely different person. ¡°Sunny died. Sunny died, and Basil¡¯s happy now.¡± Aubrey thought, robotically following Basil around as he chatted with Polly about god-knows-what. She didn¡¯t want to be angry. She really didn¡¯t. She¡¯s had enough of being angry at everything and everyone, of taking it out on Basil. But it was hard. No matter what she did, she couldn¡¯t control her feelings. She was mad at Basil, for moving on so easily, so quickly, even quicker than Kel. She was mad at Sunny, for just barging back into her life after all of those years, before just leaving everyone behind. Didn¡¯t that insensitive jerk ever think about that? She felt her eyes begin to water. They were getting better. They were healing. They were friends. Didn''t they spend those few days together promising that they would be there for each other? Why couldn¡¯t he just¡­ talk to them? Just let them help him. But no, he just jumped off a building without a word. He made everything terrible again. Just like what Mari did. She fought back as bile began to rise to her throat. What an obscenely horrible thought. Disgusting, cold guilt crept its way into her mind as she shook her head. She was useless, wasn¡¯t she? She couldn¡¯t help anyone so instead, she had to resort to petty rage. She couldn¡¯t help her mom, who didn¡¯t even bother coming to Sunny¡¯s funeral. In fact, she didn¡¯t even say a word to the news. Aubrey doubted that she heard her at all. The only time she would say anything was when she turned off the TV, which would cause her to go off on an endless tirade about what a disappointment she was, and how she never should have had her. Or when she ran out of alcohol and would yell at her to fetch another six-pack of beer. She couldn¡¯t help Kel, who kept insisting that he was fine, that they just needed some time, that everything would be ok. Whenever Aubrey tried talking to him, it would always end up with her ranting to him about how unfair everything was and him doing his best to cheer her up. She couldn¡¯t help Hero, who wouldn¡¯t listen to a word, who blamed himself for Sunny¡¯s death in much the same way he did Mari¡¯s. He would only rant about how much of a failure he was, about how he couldn¡¯t even protect Mari¡¯s brother. About how the signs were obvious but he didn¡¯t take action, about how much he wished that he just did something differently. She couldn¡¯t even help Basil, who apparently didn¡¯t need help. The fact that this disappointed her only fueled her guilt. Why was she getting so hung over about Basil actually getting better? Was she just jealous? What a shitty friend she turned out to be. She had to wonder, if she disappeared too, would anyone really care? She was just a delinquent after all. It wasn¡¯t as if her mom would stop her if she decided to just run away. Kim and the other Hooligans would be fine without her. After all, she really only served as a bad influence for them, getting them into trouble with her stupid antics. She was sure Kel would rebound quickly enough, maybe even be glad that she was gone. They always bickered with each other, didn¡¯t they? She wouldn''t be around to serve as an annoying contrarian to him anymore. Hero probably wouldn¡¯t care either - Mari and Sunny were way more important to him than her, and he would have enough on his mind already with college. And Basil... ¡°Aubrey? Are you okay?¡± Basil asked softly. She looked up to see both Basil and Polly staring at her with concerned looks on their faces. ¡°Fine.¡± She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. ¡°But-¡± ¡°I said that I¡¯m fine, didn¡¯t I?¡± Aubrey snapped, regretting her agressive tone at the very moment the words left her mouth. She sighed in frustration and looked around, only to be greeted by the sight of trees and the darkening orange sky. Since when were they outside? ¡°It¡¯s getting late. I think I should leave. See you, Basil.¡± ¡°Huh? Um, does this mean that you don¡¯t want to help me with my gardening?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡­ uh, said that you would be fine with helping me out earlier.¡± Basil said. ¡°But if you don¡¯t want to anymore, then that¡¯s totally fine, I was just-¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Aubrey said. She did agree to something like that, didn¡¯t she? ¡°Okay. Sorry, yeah. You¡¯re gonna have to guide me through it though, I¡¯m probably not going to be much help.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be like that!¡± Basil chided gently. ¡°You¡¯ll be great, I just know it.¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± Chapter Four Basil smiled tentatively as the stranger held his hand. They were sitting on a bench together, relaxing as the sun shined its warm rays on them. The golden light served almost like a spotlight for the stranger, giving him an angelic look. He was beautiful. At that moment, Basil was sure that he could happily spend the rest of his life simply staring at him. He wanted to study every detail of his face, to be able to close his eyes and reconstruct an exact replica of their body from memory alone. Maybe he should have brought his camera to preserve the moment. The stranger simply stared forward passively, giving no hints to any thoughts or feelings that may have been running through his head. Basil didn¡¯t mind, of course. He was used to this. The soft warmth that he was feeling through their joined hands was more than enough communication. It told him that this was ok. That they were happy. That no matter what, they would be together. ¡°I-I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re here.¡± The stranger turned to face him, tilting his head slightly. As they made eye contact, Basil could feel his heart jump in his chest as pink dusted his cheeks. The stranger smiled at that, though only slightly. Basil couldn¡¯t help but internally gush at how cute he was. The way his messy, tousled hair gave him the perfect ¡°Just got out of bed¡± look, his deep, dark eyes that were just too easy to get lost in¡­ He froze. Eyes? He blinked and the stranger was still staring. Only now, a large diagonal gash appeared on his right eye. Blood gushed out in pulsating intervals, pouring through the wound in a sickening manner. The trail of blood flowed down his face and dripped down to his pants, staining it red. Beneath the stranger¡¯s still expression, he could sense it. Fear. Basil was scaring him. Though he remained silent, Basil could still hear the resounding question ring in his ears: ¡°Why?¡± Strong, vile sickness rose within him, threatening to make him pass out as his vision was suddenly plagued with dizzying nausea. The bench he was sitting at vanished, only to be replaced with a ledge. Basil found himself sitting at the ledge before a very long fall. Waves of nerves and anxiety enveloped him as he looked down, shuddering. The end was nowhere in sight. Behind him, he heard a door open, then close. He looked back to see him. Barefoot, in a hospital gown, and with a white bandage over his right eye. Basil¡¯s heart lurched in his chest as he began to walk towards him. The look on his face told him that the stranger didn¡¯t see him at all. He looked completely blank - his one remaining eye seemed devoid of any thought or emotion, resembling a dull marble more than anything. Paralyzed. The stranger eventually reached the ledge. There, he stood so close to the void that even a gust of wind could have sent him over. Basil, still sitting next to him with his legs dangling over the abyss, looked up. He was looking down at his hands, which were shaking, though only slightly. Despite everything, Basil felt a touch of sympathy. ¡°Say something.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll follow you. I won¡¯t let you leave me again.¡± Basil said, his voice calm and collected. It was the voice of someone who knew exactly what was going to happen, and what he would do, with no regrets of what was to come. The stranger didn¡¯t react as Basil stood and took his hand. Despite everything, his grip was comfortably warm. It was amazing how that feeling of comfort softened the situation. It told him that everything was going to be okay, that no matter what, they would be there for each other. Maybe they could even apologize to her. The stranger jumped. Basil followed.
They were dead. Aubrey could only stare as Basil kneeled down and began watering his plants, which were all obviously completely dead. It was kind of jarring to see, the prosperous garden that was once so colorful and fragrant, was now a graveyard of weeds and blackened petals. Despite this, Basil didn¡¯t seem to care, or notice. He simply hummed to himself as he applied mulch to the soil and sparingly sprayed pesticide at the dead flowers. Skinny brown stems that resembled sticks were stuck to his gloves. It made her feel sick, for some reason. ¡°What¡­ What the hell happened here?¡± Aubrey finally asked. ¡°Basil, all of your plants are dead.¡± ¡°Can you pull some of the weeds over by that flower bed?¡± Basil asks, pointing at a row of wilting tulips. Overgrown weeds had ravaged it, almost seemingly consuming the flowers altogether, which were left with dry, brittle leaves that looked like they would snap off at the slightest touch. ¡°They¡¯ve been appearing a lot recently. It¡¯s been a pain removing all of them.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Basil. They¡¯re dead.¡± Aubrey repeated, slightly raising her voice. ¡°Look at them!¡± He looks away from her. Slowly, and with trembling hands, he puts down his watering can. In a robotic fashion, he took off both of his gardening gloves and placed them neatly next to the watering can, picking off the dead stems and thin twigs stuck to it. ¡°W-What do you mean, Aubrey? They¡¯re fine. They¡­ they just need some care, that¡¯s all.¡± Aubrey frowned, unconvinced. ¡°Basil. I¡¯m obviously not as knowledgeable about plants as you, but they looked burned. Or like someone watered them with acid.¡± He didn¡¯t respond, electing instead to continue facing away from her. ¡°Basil.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Basil! Come on, talk to me.¡± ¡°S-Stop... Please.¡± Basil said quietly. She felt her blood freeze as he finally turned to face her. He looked almost unrecognizable from just a few minutes before. His eyes were completely bloodshot and had dark, heavy bags under them, as if he hadn¡¯t been sleeping at all. There was a shaky, obviously forced smile plastered on his face that looked like it would collapse at any second. Beads of sweat dripped down his face as he stared through her lifelessly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You know, I probably shouldn''t have dragged you into this. I think I can handle this myself. You can leave now.¡± ¡°What? Basil, seriously, are you okay?¡± Aubrey asked, taking a step closer and trying to ignore how he flinched at that. She couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty though; Did he still see her as a malicious bully? If so, it wasn¡¯t as if she could blame him. She really needed to find a way to properly apologize to him. ¡°Yes. I-I¡¯m okay. Please leave.¡± Basil said bluntly. ¡°... No. You¡¯re clearly not okay, actually.¡± Aubrey decided. She couldn¡¯t say that she was too surprised about this. No matter how normally he acted, she just couldn¡¯t shake off the suspicion that something was wrong. There was just no way. All of the sudden, Aubrey felt grateful that she hadn¡¯t gone home after all. Basil¡­ he needed help. This was her chance to do something right for once. ¡°Come on. We¡¯re still friends, right? You don¡¯t need to be by yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m okay.¡± Basil closed his eyes and started muttering. His fists were closed so tightly that she was afraid that he might burst a vein. ¡°Just leave. Leave me alone. Leave me alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not gonna leave you alone.¡± He stood up, eyes snapping open. She backed up a little as he glared at her with wide eyes. There was a sort of unhinged look in him that made her think for a second that he was about to attack her. ¡°Shut up! Why aren¡¯t you listening? Leave me alone! What was I thinking, trying to be nice to you? You hate me. You¡­ No, everyone hates me. The only thing I¡¯m good for is gardening and even that¡¯s gone wrong.¡± Basil feels STRESSED OUT. ¡°Just leave me alone. Please, j-just¡­¡± Basil shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, leaving behind bright red streaks. His palms were bleeding. Badly. He barely even noticed it though - It was just another layer of pain left for his brain to try and process. Everything in his body had begun working overtime. He felt it. Something. It wanted control. It wanted his body back. It hated him for ruining everything. ¡°I¡¯m fine, okay? I-I¡¯m fine. I know what it looks like but really, I¡¯m just a little tired, that¡¯s all. That¡¯s all! I didn¡¯t get much sleep last night. A-And¡­ it¡¯s¡­ fine. I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m okay. Everything¡¯s okay. Y-You don¡¯t need to pretend like you care. I know we used to be friends, but...¡± He began backing away from her, stepping on the beds of flowers and talking faster and faster all the while. His eyes were on fire. With every step he took, the sickening crunches under his feet grew louder and louder. The sound of it was disgustingly painful. He could feel each broken stem, each torn petal, each crushed plant. He was stepping on corpses. Crushing the dead bodies of Sunny and Mari. White tulips and lilies of the valley. Pictures flashed in his eyes. A picture of Mari, hanging from the tree. An eye looked out from under her hair. It was bulging, seconds away from exploding. A picture of Sunny, body broken, with red cracks dancing along his skin and laying listlessly on the pavement. Blood poured out from his opened wounds, wounds that he caused. Aubrey was just staring at him with what looked like regret in her eyes. Why? What did he do wrong this time? He tried so hard. He did so much. Everything was to make things better. To make things right. And yet, the exhaustion wouldn¡¯t leave. Something wouldn''t leave. He cringed as he felt his eyes begin to water. He felt it. Something. It was behind him. It was annoyed. Disappointed. He knew what it wanted. Pain, sickly pain, beyond anything he had ever felt began circulating through his body like poison. Somehow, he managed to choke out a short laugh. It was a broken, raspy sound that physically hurt his own ears. ¡°E-Excuse me. I just need to go to the bathroom.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± ¡°Basil. I¡¯m sorry. For everything. I¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have bullied you. I shouldn¡¯t have blamed you like that.¡± Aubrey said. ¡°That didn¡¯t help anyone. It just made things worse. I-¡± ¡°Stop. STOP IT!¡± Basil screamed. ¡°Just leave me alone! I¡¯ve told you so many times, just leave me alone! I don¡¯t care about that!¡± Aubrey¡¯s hand shot forward and grabbed his arm. She was crying too, and she looked absolutely pissed at herself for it. ¡°No! Like it or not, I¡¯m not going to leave!¡± ¡°Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up¡­¡± Basil sobbed, punching her with his free hand over and over again. This didn¡¯t last long as eventually, Aubrey pulled him closer and embraced him in a surprisingly gentle hug. The physical contact made him feel like he was choking. Everything hurt. Everything burned. Each individual muscle in his body kept tensing and untensing and it just made everything blurry and he was so tired and it hurt so bad and why the hell couldn¡¯t he ¡°stop that shaking I can¡¯t move so STOP IT¡± He couldn¡¯t do anything except stand there and take it. Chapter Five Basil stood in his restroom and stared at himself in the mirror. Despite everything, Aubrey permitted him (why do I have to get permission to use the bathroom in my own house?!) to be by himself in there, though only after some insistence. He strove to look only at himself, and not at the two shadowy figures just behind him. He was, to put it lightly, disheveled. Dark, deep bags hung under his eyes, dragging them down and highlighting the absolute, undeniable exhaustion that plagued his entire body. It hurt to move; At any moment, he was sure that he could collapse as the weight of literal days of no sleep sat on him. It was almost impressive how he had managed to stay awake for this long, but he had experience with sleep deprivation so it wasn¡¯t all too bad. Well, that wasn¡¯t true. It was bad. In fact, Basil was very, very sure of the fact that he might go insane, that is, if he wasn¡¯t insane already. He almost laughed at the thought, but the reality of the situation crashed down on him hard enough to choke out any humour he might have found at the moment. For one, the tremors plaguing his body had gotten severe enough to the point that he was struggling to walk, speak, write, or really anything that required motor function. He imagined that if one were to drink ten cups of coffee within the span of a minute, then it would be a similar experience. In fact, he wished that that¡¯s what he did, as at least then he would have some sort of energy, no matter how depraved or manic it was. It was all Basil could do to not faint right then and there. He opened both of his hands, lifting them up to the mirror. Back at the garden, he¡¯d pressed his nails down hard enough that he was drawing blood. He even got some of it in his hair, which honestly was just annoying to wash off. His hands didn¡¯t hurt too badly, but they were still bleeding by the time they were inside so he bandaged them up. For some reason, he couldn¡¯t get used to the sensation caused by having fabric wrapped around his hands so tightly. It was just¡­ strange. Itchy, kind of. ¡°Basil¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡± He froze as Something spoke. All of the sudden, he didn¡¯t like that he could see his reflection. His terror-stricken eyes. His thin, wiry hair sticking to his forehead. Shifting his eyes downwards, he started repeating a mantra to himself; ¡°Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.¡± It was an endless tumble of repeating words, mixing and jumbling with each other as he whispered to himself. They became meaningless sounds, falling on top of one another to form incoherent sentences being said for nothing but the slightest feeling of comfort, no matter how fake it was. If he focused hard enough, he could lie. He could pretend that it was okay, that he wasn¡¯t on the verge of a very, very long drop. It didn¡¯t matter that his fingertips were numbing, or that the room was becoming darker and darker at every passing second. ¡°BASIL!¡± Aubrey shouted from just outside the door. ¡°What are you doing in there?!¡± He yelped, jumping and turning around so fast that he might as well have gotten whiplash. The silhouettes of Something lingered for a half second, and then vanished completely. Her voice was so loud that it effectively tore through the trance that he had set upon himself, leaving behind a confused and slightly panic-stricken Basil who was still recovering from a mini-heart attack. ¡°Basil! It¡¯s been like thirty minutes, did you fall in or something?¡± For a moment, he could only stand there and stare at the door like a deer caught in headlights, completely unsure of what to do. Maybe if he ignored her, she would give up? ¡°Don¡¯t make me break this door down, or I''ll-¡± ¡°A-Aubrey! Calm down!¡± Basil quickly opened the door only to find Aubrey gripping her baseball bat menacingly. He tried not to imagine what sort of property damage she was capable of as he awkwardly scooted past her, carefully avoiding eye contact. ¡°You scared me half to death¡­¡± She scoffed and lowered her bat. ¡°Yeah, well you were in there for way too long. What were you even doing? You didn¡¯t even flush the toilet or anything.¡± He stopped and gave her a confused look. ¡°W-Were you just... standing out here and listening the whole time? That¡¯s¡­ kind of weird.¡± ¡°Weird?!¡± Aubrey asks indignantly, face turning red. ¡°I was just worried about you, okay?¡± ¡°Worried?¡± ¡°Well, yeah. You looked so tired that you might have passed out and cracked your head on the floor or something.¡± She frowned. ¡°You should take a nap or something. Seriously.¡±Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Aubrey¡­ Y-You don¡¯t need to worry about me, really!¡± Basil said. Despite his exhaustion, the idea of taking a nap was repulsive. Besides, how could he sleep when every time he closed his eyes, he could feel them? The two Somethings, manifesting above him, staring down with their unrelenting gazes? ¡°I¡¯m really, really sorry for worrying you, but I f-feel much better now. You don¡¯t have to stay here¡­ It¡¯s getting late anyways.¡± Aubrey glanced through a window; give another thirty minutes or so and it would be pitch black outside. After some contemplation, she nodded. ¡°I guess it is late. I want to see you again tomorrow though, okay? I¡¯ll be here.¡± ¡°Um¡­ okay¡­ I-I guess.¡± Turning on her heel, she gave a wave as she walked away. ¡°And get some sleep! You look like a zombie.¡± ¡°I-¡± Before he could respond, she was already gone, the door closing behind her. The words died on his lips as he looked around, suddenly aware of the air around him growing cold. Already, it had become too quiet. Stifling a sigh, he went to the kitchen and grabbed the plate of food lying on the countertop that had been wrapped in plastic. Polly¡¯s cooking - She¡¯d prepared it earlier for him before going to sleep. It was still warm. He promptly unwrapped it and scraped it into the garbage. It wasn¡¯t out of distaste or malice, rather that he was simply not hungry. That, and if Polly saw that he wasn¡¯t eating, then she would start getting worried. He tried not to feel guilty about wasting it. At about the pace of a tortoise, he made his way into his room and closed the door behind him. He sat on his bed and wrapped a blanket around himself. It made him feel a little better, but ultimately it did nothing to repress the heavy atmosphere settling down to choke him. There, with the Somethings behind him, he waited for morning.
Aubrey watched glumly as Bun-Bun lazily nibbled on a straw of hay, carefully picking a glass shard out of her hair. When she came home, she was greeted by her mother hurling a beer bottle at her, narrowly missing her head by inches and showering her in broken glass. Frankly, she was lucky that she didn¡¯t get cut. Her mother had started shouting at her for coming home so late; she wasn¡¯t sure whether or not to be glad she even noticed her coming home at all. She had run to her room before her mom could throw anything else at her, scrambling up the ladder to the attic while fighting off the angry tears that had sprung to her eyes. She grabbed a handheld mirror and gave herself a quick once-over. Satisfied that she wasn¡¯t going to wake up to a puddle of blood, she made herself a note to remind herself to sweep the floor of the glass tomorrow. With an exhausted groan, she collapsed into her bed. She would have changed into pajamas, but she was down to her last few sets of clothes; every other piece of clothing she owned was either too dirty or too ragged to comfortably wear. These days, whenever she wanted to clean her clothes, she would have to hand-wash them in the sink and even then, she had to be frugal with her water usage. Their laundry machine broke about a month ago, and she didn¡¯t have the money to get it repaired. In fact, they barely had enough money for the water and electricity bills. She wondered half-heartedly if she could ask to borrow someone else¡¯s laundry machine. Just pop up at Kel¡¯s or Basil¡¯s or Kim¡¯s or whoever¡¯s house with a laundry hamper full of clothes and go: ¡°Hey! I don¡¯t have a working laundry machine and I can¡¯t afford to get it fixed because my deadbeat mom lives on welfare checks and food stamps. So, can I borrow yours?¡± ¡­ Nah. To make her living situation worse, people were starting to ask questions. I mean, who wouldn¡¯t? She was a teenage delinquent who ran around town doing stupid shit all day while her mom stayed indoors. The fact that the pile of trash outside their house grew more every day didn¡¯t help matters. Even at church she would have to ignore those hushed whispers of gossip from everyone around her. If she was lucky, she could find a secluded area to sit at. Most of the time though, the church was packed enough so that she would have to sit next to someone. Though she supposed she somewhat deserved all of the gossip and nasty side-eyes. Not only has she spent the last few years being a general nuisance, but she managed to rope in several other people along with her antics, the worst of which was relentlessly harassing and teasing Basil whenever he showed his face in public. She cringed inwardly at that. God, what a jerk she¡¯s been. Was she still mad about him defacing that photo album? Maybe. Was she mad at herself for doing things that were way worse than anything Basil¡¯s ever done? Definitely. There was no denying that Basil had turned into a nervous wreck ever since Mari died. She only questioned how much she had to do with that transformation. The way he looked at her sometimes, almost as if he were expecting to be shoved or screamed at¡­ It used to give her a sense of wicked satisfaction. Almost as if she were committing an act of rightful retribution. Now though¡­ it only made her heart twist up with guilt. She hated that feeling with every fiber of her being. She supposed that was part of the reason why she felt so inclined to try to help him through Sunny¡¯s death. ¡°Sunny¡­ Damn it.¡± She shivered and curled up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest. She only considered herself lucky that she didn¡¯t see his body, unlike Hero. As soon as he saw that Sunny was missing from his room, he took off running to look for him, shouting at them to take care of Basil, who was lying on the floor having what could only be described as a complete mental breakdown. She heard the news from him later - It took him an eternity to push out those three words: ¡°Sunny jumped off.¡± Aubrey thought that her world would collapse that day. She barely remembered anything else that happened besides the soul-crushing sensation of regret. Regret that she couldn¡¯t stop yet another friend from comitting suicide. Regret that she didn¡¯t stop and think to herself that hey, maybe someone should keep an eye on Sunny for when he woke up. Regret for nearly every damned word she uttered to him since he came out of his house. ¡°After you move, promise me you''ll go outside more often, okay?¡± She wiped her eyes as she began crying freely. What a pain. Chapter Six Basil gently blew at the piece of string tied to his finger, watching intently as it swayed in the air. The string had come from his blanket; a small strand was poking out of the fabric, so he had simply pulled at it until it came out. He¡¯d tried to tie it into a small noose, but found that the string was entirely too thin and delicate, at least for a classic hangman¡¯s knot. So instead, he simply wrapped it around his fingertip until it was secure. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a sort of serene calmness as he stared at the dangling string. The act was almost meditative. Taking a peek outside, he saw that the pitch black sky had started to shift into a soft blue, with clouds appearing to obscure the fading moon, which had already begun falling past the horizon. He took his phone from his bedside dresser and checked the time: 6:28 AM. Figuring that was a reasonable time to be awake, he stood from his bed and tugged the string off his finger, carelessly dropping it to the floor without a second thought. As light began to gently filter into his room, he noticed it. Somethings, or at least, their shadows. He looked down at the floor as their silhouettes danced. Perhaps ¡°danced¡± was putting it too kindly. Their shadows, the disgusting amalgamations of fading darkness, seemed to shift and fold upon themselves, jerking about in a bizarre fashion as their shape morphed. Still though, Basil found that he was able to just barely recognize the crude shapes being formed. A noose. A hanging body to go with the noose. An eye, peering out from under the body¡¯s hair. A boy with an eyepatch. He stopped looking. Without really thinking, he walked out of his room, not bothering to close the door behind him. He found his way into his kitchen and grabbed a banana before heading outside to his garden. He unpeeled the banana and tossed both the peel and fruit itself into a compost bin. Really, he doubted that any amount of composting would fix the depressing state of his garden, but he needed an excuse to actually do something. He sat down and put on a pair of gardening gloves as he began pulling at some weeds. Frankly, it was astonishing that they were growing at the rate that they were. If he pulled out one patch, three more would take its place. Herbicide didn¡¯t work, and not even the potted plants, which were spared from the infestation, were healthy. ¡°So, what¡¯s the point of doing this then?¡± Basil¡¯s hands slowly came to a stop as he looked around him. Not a single plant was alive, aside from the weeds. ¡°Why am I even trying? Nothing I do works.¡± Right. But he needed something to do. Anything. ¡°There¡¯s no reason though.¡± He stood up, wincing as a spell of nausea briefly overtook him. It, along with a piercing painful headache, suddenly took up every part of his brain. As soon as they appeared though, they vanished. Shaking his head, Basil stumbled back inside of his house and collapsed on his couch. He used to keep plants inside as well - various shades of tulips and an array of sunflowers. Of course, they had all died too. It didn¡¯t matter that he watered them regularly, that he provided home-made fertilizer, that he ensured that they got enough sunlight. One by one, they had simply dropped dead. Basil turned on the TV, ignoring the two empty vases that flanked it. He tried to focus on whatever he had tuned in to, but it seemed like his mind decided to filter it all out. No matter how he tried to concentrate, the screen remained a jumbled mess of shifting colors and incoherent sounds. ¡°Captain Spaceboy¡­¡± Sunny muttered. Basil turned to see with mild surprise that right beside him, Sunny sat. The boy yawned lazily, scratching his cheek with a limp hand as he slumped back on the couch. ¡°They¡¯re doing reruns again, huh?¡± Basil nodded. ¡°Getting tired of him? I¡¯m surprised they¡¯ve kept the show on air for this long. The latest episode aired, like, four years ago.¡± ¡°Eh.¡± Sunny gave a noncommittal grunt as he scooted closer. Yawning again, he closed his eyes and snuggled up to Basil, letting his head drop to rest on his shoulder. ¡°Why do you have to be up so early? It¡¯s basically still night.¡± Basil laughed softly as he started to pet Sunny¡¯s head, letting his hand run through the mess of tangled hair. He couldn¡¯t help but marvel at how soft his hair was; it was almost exactly like petting a cat. The fact that Sunny almost seemed to purr and lean into his hand, silently asking him to continue, only strengthened the comparison. ¡°It¡¯s early morning Sunny, you¡¯re just lazy.¡± ¡°So? You don¡¯t even sleep anymore, so what would you know about that? It¡¯s kind of disturbing, actually.¡± ¡°S-Sunny¡­ Why would you¡­ Why would you say that?¡± There it was. The painfully familiar twisting sensation that always started in his chest. The kind of feeling that made him wish he could just curl up into a ball and die. The kind that filled him with the overwhelming urge to just be alone. To get away from it all, to escape the expectant stares of everyone around him. The TV switched off, leaving behind an empty black screen in which Basil could only stare at his own reflection. He was sitting completely still, unable, unwilling to move, as Sunny sat next to him. Except, there was something wrong with all this, wasn¡¯t there? Yes, an undeniable contradiction that stuck out like a sore thumb. Why would Sunny be acting so affectionate when he clearly hated him? For ruining his life, for breaking up their circle of friends, for being an ugly stain on his life?This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Basil felt his heart drop as Sunny scowled and sat up, pushing himself away from him. The soft warmth that had so comfortably settled on him just seconds prior was replaced with a jarring coldness. They sat on opposite sides of the couch now, with Sunny looking offended for being even in the same room as him. He opened his mouth to try and say something. An apology. A beg for forgiveness. Anything. But nothing came. Still, this wasn¡¯t right. A slight detail that didn¡¯t make much sense. He still had both of his eyes, which were filled with frightened disgust, as if he were recalling all of the horrible acts Basil had done. One blink and the disgust left, leaving behind pure, acute terror as his right eye suddenly burst in an explosion of blood. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he covered the gaping wound with his hands, chest heaving as blood spilled out from in between his fingers and onto the couch. Still. It was wrong. Sunny was dead. Basil shook his head. Sunny was dead. None of this was even possible. Finally regaining control over his body, Basil tore his eyes away from the TV screen and looked beside him, where he saw nothing. Nothing but an ordinary couch, nice and tidy other than a thin layer of dust that had accumulated from disuse. When he looked back at the TV screen, all he saw was his own reflection staring back at him. He looked sick, with dull, gloomy eyes that couldn¡¯t seem to focus on anything and lethargy that tainted his every movement. It was probably just the screen warping his reflection, like some sort of twisted funhouse mirror. ¡°Oh, good morning Basil! You¡¯re up early, even earlier than usual!¡± Polly said cheerfully. Slowly, he turned his head to see Polly emerging from the hallway, dressed in a blue nightgown. Judging from the serious case of bed-hair she was sporting, she probably only woke up minutes ago. Despite this, she managed to maintain a chipper attitude, smiling at him as she made her way to the kitchen, doubtless to prepare coffee, or breakfast, or both. ¡°Good morning.¡± Basil said. ¡°I already ate, don¡¯t worry about making me anything.¡± ¡°Huh? Well, alright then.¡± Polly shrugged. ¡°How are you feeling? If you don¡¯t mind my saying so, you look a bit tired. Maybe you should try to get some more shut-eye? I promise I won¡¯t make too much noise.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± He said firmly, getting up from the couch. And really, he was. Despite everything, he didn¡¯t feel that tired. In fact, he felt less sleepy than yesterday. All in all, an improvement. ¡°I-I¡¯m gonna go out. See you later.¡± Whether Polly responded or not, he couldn¡¯t tell.
Basil blinked, body jerking as he quickly looked around him. He squinted as a harsh light filled his vision, putting a hand up to shield his face as he started blinking, eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden influx of brightness. One second, he had been closing the door behind him as he walked out of his house, the next¡­ ¡°Where¡­ am I?¡± It took a few seconds, but recognition eventually hit him like a truck. He was at the old hangout spot, where he and Sunny and all of the others used to get together. He stood at the docks just before the small lake, which unfortunately seemed a bit¡­ dirty. Bits of random trash littered its dull blue waters, making it quite a long ways from the beautifully pristine body of water it once was. What was once a crystal clear lake, seemingly free from imperfections, was now a hole in the ground filled with murky water and garbage. Slowly, he sat down at the edge of the dock and dropped his feet into the water, not bothering to take off his shoes. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself the small comfort that came with the coldness of the water. Despite almost having drowned here recently, it still felt nice to return here, where he could rest easy knowing that no one was around. If he really tried, he could even pretend that everything was okay. That Mari and Sunny were both still alive and having a picnic behind him, along with Hero. Kel and Aubrey would be taking turns jumping into the lake, laughing and teasing each other as they always did. He opened his eyes and stared down at the water, at his own reflection. Sunny was sitting next to him, hand gently placed over his. It brought upon him a startling sense of nostalgia, one that almost seemed to make him happy. It only made everything hurt more, only reminded him of everything he destroyed. ¡°N-Not real. You¡¯re... not real.¡± Basil whispered. ¡°Leave me alone. P-Please.¡± Sunny frowned at him, confused. ¡°Basil?¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re not. You don¡¯t have to keep following me around like this, I know I messed up, okay?¡± Basil snatched his hand away from Sunny¡¯s, wincing as a flash of confused hurt washed over the former¡¯s face. Why did it have to feel so real? ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I-I¡¯m sorry. About everything. Really.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Say something¡­ Say something or just go away!¡± "We could have been happy, you know." Sunny said quietly. He produced a pebble out of seemingly nowhere and tossed it into the lake. It made a small splash, and sent out waves of ripples that were just barely visible on the waters of the lake. "But Something pushed her down. If only... If only I could have stopped it." Basil gulped. "But we can still be happy. Despite everything." "What do you mean?" Basil asked. Wordlessly, Sunny scooted over the edge of the dock, gently lowering himself into the water. Something was below him. In the water. Something, with its shifting, dark face and countless tendrils that moved to wrap themselves around his legs. Sunny didn¡¯t seem to mind though. He only looked up at Basil with a silent question on his face: ¡°Join me?¡± His heart dropped. ¡°I¡­ Can I? C-Can I, really?¡± He nodded once. Extending one arm forward, he held out his hand to Basil in an invitation. The shaking wouldn¡¯t stop. Every single part of his body was buzzing with anticipation, like a jackhammer gone haywire. It made it hard to think, hard to see. Everything was blurry, everything save for Sunny, who stood as an unmoving statue, bathed in the sunlight in a way that framed him as an angel. Here, right in front of him, stood a chance. One last chance to be happy again, to be with Sunny again. He knew that none of this was real. He knew that everything about this was wrong. But did it really matter anymore? Basil grabbed his hand and smiled. Sunny smiled back. He began to move backwards, pulling Basil into the lake. ¡°Everything¡¯s going to be okay.¡± Chapter Seven Aubrey was beginning to think that the lake was cursed. She groaned as she yanked Basil out of the water, pulling on the back of his sweater hard enough that it started to tear some of the fabric. The harsh ripping noise it produced was loud enough to drown out everything else, screaming at her with such vigor that she could barely breathe. The flower-boy himself was soaked, muddy water from the stagnant lake clinging onto his hair and clothes, adding a couple thousand tons of weight onto him. It stuck to him like a brown, disgustingly slippery film, coating his body in a dark shadow that almost made him grey. This wasn¡¯t even the first time Basil almost drowned here, of course. Aubrey herself had pushed him into the lake with blind, panicked rage that she had instantly regretted, and still regretted to this very second. If Hero wasn¡¯t there, then would he have drowned? He, along with Sunny who dove in to help his best friend? The disturbing thought of that possible outcome had plagued her ever since then. She knew that she shouldn¡¯t think about it, that she should just be happy that a crisis was averted. But still. What if? "Don''t think about it, it doesn''t matter." And of course, before all of that, Sunny had almost drowned after attempting to dive off the statue. She could still recall the memory in vivid clarity. Despite obvious apprehension, Sunny seemed oddly set in trying to dive into the water. He had climbed up the stone pillars with some cheering by Kel and herself and once he reached the top of it, he just¡­ stood there. Stood over the edge, unmoving and with his eyes fixed staring down at the water, though it looked more like he was trying to focus on something in the water. He must have stood there for a full minute before taking a single step back. Looking back on it, she still wasn¡¯t entirely sure on how it even happened. The stone statue was sturdy and provided more than enough flat ground to maintain steady footing. Even with Kel and herself taking turns climbing up there and jumping down over and over, it wasn¡¯t very wet either. And yet, Sunny still managed to slip. He had taken one, solitary step, an action as focused and precise as anything else he did, and he slipped. Down into the water he went, a slightly bewildered look plastered onto his face as he fell, limbs flailing in an almost half-hearted kind of way that made it looked like his mind hadn¡¯t even fully registered he had slipped yet. He sank like a stone. It must have only been a few seconds before he became nothing more than a faded, shadowy blob beneath the surface of the beautifully calm waters. She couldn¡¯t understand it, not back then. She wasn¡¯t sure if Kel or Basil or even Hero could either. They had all stood still, frozen statues in time with gaping mouths as their brains lagged behind, trying to process what they had just witnessed. All while Mari jumped into the water herself. ¡°It was a lot like how Sunny jumped in for Basil, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°God fucking damn it Basil, what the hell are you doing here?¡± Aubrey whispered angrily to herself. It was a stupid question. She knew what he was trying to do, and she hated him for it. With one final shout of effort, she heaved backwards with all of the strength she could muster, dragging both herself and Basil back onto the dock. She could only count herself lucky for catching him before he sunk too deep, literally launching herself into a dive that could have been seen in Major League Baseball games and catching the hem of his shirt with her fingertips. Flecks of dirt, blood, and even some splinters dotted her arms and legs, though thankfully the adrenaline pumping through her kept any sort of pain at bay, at least for now. Doubtless that she would be feeling the stinging burns that came with sliding on an old wooden pier in no time though. To think of it, she really was lucky. What if she hadn¡¯t decided to visit the hangout spot? What if she woke up a minute later than usual, or took a quick detour to the Othermart? ¡°Don¡¯t think about it, don¡¯t fucking think about it.¡± Aubrey scolded herself. ¡°Don¡¯t think about stuff that hasn¡¯t happened, it¡¯s useless.¡± She was jerked back to reality by a concerningly rough coughing noise coming from the half-drowned body laying next to her. That he was conscious at all was somewhat surprising, though she wasn¡¯t complaining. She scrambled to his side and looked down at Basil, being met with dulled eyes that looked straight past her, trying to focus on something that wasn¡¯t quite there. The flower pin that he always wore was adorned with a cigarette butt and a fresh coat of paint, courtesy of the dirty lake. It almost matched with his hair; once golden blonde, it now resembled dry grass more than anything, in both color and consistency. ¡°Sunny¡­?¡± Basil muttered. ¡°Y-You¡­¡± She gritted her teeth. ¡°I¡¯m not Sunny. Basil, what the fu-¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Basil said softly. It was only two words, but it was more than enough to drown out anything she was going to say. Tears welled up in his eyes as he hiccupped and put a hand over his forehead, repeating those two words over and over again in a desperate prayer. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± For a while, she just sat there as Basil cried quietly to himself. There was nothing to say.
¡°A-Aubrey, this really isn¡¯t necessary. I¡¯m not going to-¡± ¡°Shut up and turn on the water, flower boy. You stink.¡± Aubrey scoffed. ¡°Shower curtains exist for a reason, right? I¡¯m not gonna see anything and trust me, I don¡¯t want to see anything.¡± After an extremely tense walk back to his house, Basil sheepishly mentioned that he should probably clean himself up. And she wholeheartedly agreed, so naturally she decided that she would literally wait inside of the bathroom while he took a shower. Was she being a little bit paranoid? Maybe. But how else should she be acting when the last time she left Basil alone, not one full day passed before he tried to drown himself? Did she really think that he would try to do it again in a bathtub right after being saved by her? Not really. Was she willing to risk it? Not at all. ¡°Aubreyyy¡­¡±Basil whined. ¡°Really¡­ I-I¡¯m fine. I just had a weird daydream or something back there. There¡¯s no way I would try to¡­ erm, k-kill myself. Not after¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hear it. Hurry up before you stink up the whole bathroom.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. With an exasperated but defeated sigh, Basil turned on the showerhead. His clothes laid in a messy pile in the corner of the bathroom, completely defiled, delegated to a heap of rotting garbage. They could be washed, so it wasn¡¯t as if it was unsalvageable, though she wasn¡¯t sure if his sweater, which had a giant hole that she personally tore herself, could be saved. Not that she cared all that much. A ruined sweater was a small price to pay for Basil¡¯s life. A warm mist gradually began to fill the room as steam rose from the bathtub. Without anything else to do, Aubrey turned to look at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible. Her hair jutted out in random places, which when paired with her red eyes and purple blisters dotting her skin, made her look somewhat like a junkie. Despite this, she managed to smile. A real, genuine smile, the first to appear on her face for what felt like forever. Basil was alive. Alive. She was finally atoning. She wondered if Mari was proud of her. She wondered if Sunny was proud. Or maybe he was angry. Even after everything, she still didn¡¯t quite know what happened that night between Sunny and Basil. The question had been burning a hole in her mind for the past few days, but she couldn¡¯t ever seem to gather the courage to just ask. No one knew anything about their fight. Well, no one besides some police officers, that is. They had taken him to a small locked room, to be interrogated. As if he was a criminal. ¡°We just need him to tell us what happened, that''s all.¡± One officer had said with an unempathetic look on his face. Uncaring, stern. Just there to do his job. The thought of it made her blood boil - Basil went through all of that trauma, and the police decided it would be a good idea to make him relive those memories? It made her want to hit something with her bat, to just swing the thing with enough force to break through a brick wall. The worst part was that Basil actually told them. At least, that¡¯s what she gathered from the officer¡¯s satisfied looks as they left the interrogation room, with a gray Basil walking silently behind them. No matter how she or Kel tried to comfort him after that, he remained entirely forlorn. He moved and spoke with apathy, being practically unresponsive to anything they said to him, only giving slight nods or shakes of the head in response. When they finally arrived home and Basil walked into his house, closing the door behind him, she thought that it would be the last time she would see him. He would become a recluse, just as Sunny had, refusing to speak or go outside at all. Doomed to an eternity of self-imprisonment from within the walls of his room, stuck with whatever demons lived inside of his head and a feeling of abandonment. Well, that gave her the idea. Kel had managed to drag Sunny out, hadn¡¯t he? Maybe she could do the same. And now, just a few days later, all of this was happening. She blinked as the pitter patter of water suddenly stopped. ¡°W-Well, I¡¯m done¡­ Can you, erm¡­¡± She grabbed his towel, which was green and adorned with stitches of various flower patterns, and tossed it over the shower. Basil yelped as it landed on his head, nearly slipping in the bathtub as he had a brief struggle with the sudden attack and loss of vision. ¡°Aubrey! Don¡¯t scare me like that¡­¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Muttering an obscenity under his breath, Basil dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his body before pulling back the shower curtains. He certainly looked much better than fifteen minutes prior, though Aubrey noticed with some concern that the dark bags hanging under his eyes seemed to have only emboldened. There was a shakiness in his movements as he stepped out of the bathtub. Something was definitely wrong with him; that much was obvious. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get you dressed. Then, we can go and get you set up.¡± Aubrey said with an air of finality. ¡°Set up? W-What do you mean?¡± ¡°We¡¯re gonna get you a therapist.¡± Aubrey replied bluntly. Frankly, this was long overdue and she figured that if neither Polly nor his parents were going to take initiative, then she would. ¡°We can call you parents about all of this and get them to book one for you or something, or maybe Polly-¡± ¡°No.¡± Basil shook his head, causing water droplets to fly everywhere. He stared at her, dull blue eyes widening as he hugged his shoulders tightly. His shaking got worse - with the way he was shivering, she would have thought that he had just taken a plunge into arctic waters. ¡°No. You can¡¯t. You CAN¡¯T. P-Please¡­ Anything but this.¡± ¡°Basil¡­ You need help. Really.¡± ¡°NO! You can¡¯t do this to me!¡± He shrieked at Aubrey at a startlingly loud volume, drawing a wince from her as she took a step back. A deep, instilled fear flashed in his face as he moaned and shook his head again, cowering from her like an abused dog. The reaction was far worse than anything she had seen from him back when she was bullying him. ¡°Can¡¯t. Can¡¯t can¡¯t can¡¯t can¡¯t can¡¯t can¡¯t can¡¯tcantcantcantcantcantcant ¡± ¡°H-Hey! Calm down Basil!¡± Aubrey said, panic clear in her voice. ¡°Um, okay, look, we can try something else besides seeing a therapist. Just calm down, okay?¡± But something was wrong. Rapid, short gasps bursted from him as he frantically breathed in and out, hyperventilating as he brought his hands up to his hair and began pulling. As he met her eyes with his own, panic-stricken and dilating, all she could find was raw terror. It was the look of someone facing down all of their deepest fears combined into a singular entity, a singular thing that threatened him joyfully while insisting it was all for his own good, that he should be thankful. Anything. He would do anything to escape. Quick, look. Find a way out. Everything will be okay. You can¡¯t leave, not now. Something blocked the way, Something held its bat over its head, prepared to swing. Prepared to knock him out and drag him to hell. To the dissection table, where his secret, Sunny¡¯s secret, will be revealed for the world to see. He can¡¯t let it happen. It simply could not, would not. But it threatens. It grins. Look around you, damn it. There must be something. He snapped his head to the right, to the porcelain sink. Cabinets. Cleaning supplies. A few used rags, Polly¡¯s hair dryer, toilet paper, shampoo, spare towels, bars of soap. Bleach. The light, it burned. He could feel it, the blinding light burning his retinas, melting him in its heat. The room turned red. It was never a bathroom. It was never Aubrey. All around him, Something¡¯s eyes looked on, taunting. Teasing. It thought him weak. Escape. His right eye was missing. In its place, an eyepatch. He had to keep it safe. Something¡¯s form had been thrust into the light, nasty plan revealed. Basil had failed in every other aspect of his life. Couldn¡¯t keep up with its cunning. Couldn¡¯t keep up with its evil, its killings. The only thing left to claim was the secret. Unspeakable, horrible, a terror that would ruin everything they tried to put behind them. It would do anything to reveal the truth, to pry the secret out from him, beat him with its bat until he confessed to his sins. Oh, it would love to do that, wouldn¡¯t it? ¡°Can¡¯t. Won¡¯t. Sunny, I won¡¯t fail again. Not again. Not for the hundredth time. Not for the last time. Never.¡± Reach, grasp. TAKE. Dive past it, take it by surprise. You¡¯re stressed out. Afraid. Focus and persist, you can do this. Down the fucking bottle and finish the job. It¡¯ll fight. Basil, Something will fight. Simply persist. He couldn''t move. He could only feel. Paralysis crippled him from head to toe, and he was useless for it. The hurt, the pain, it¡¯s nothing. He barked a short fit of shrill laughter, finally yanking his hands from his hair, tearing off two thick handfuls of wet hair. The red flickered as everything started to dim. Something stood in front of him and screamed. Was it anguish? Fear? It didn¡¯t matter. It didn¡¯t matter. The dark red, it consumed his mind in a complete forest of fire, burning and raging as it incinerated him from the inside out. He cried tears of blood, shouting in an inarticulate spew of random words that didn¡¯t quite mean anything. It was rust. Red. A row of dead flowers. Burning. Smoke drifted up from them and filled his lungs, making it impossible to breathe. His body tried anyway, lungs pumping out nothing and receiving nothing in return. Can¡¯t stop now, can¡¯t. Need to die. Need to help Sunny. His eyes darted around the room. Then it focused on the sink again. The clean porcelain sink. Something was holding his body, his writhing, useless body. ¡°Can¡¯t.¡± His vision filled with charred black, and then white. Chapter Eight Sunny stared at him with his singular eye, contempt clear on his distasteful expression. His gaze was accusatory, angry, and disappointed all in one sharp glare. In a way, Basil was almost touched that Sunny cared about him at all, even negatively. At the same time, he almost wished that he didn¡¯t care. He doubted that he was really worth the emotional baggage and worry that came with him. Really, his sole remaining purpose in life was to ensure that no one knew about what happened that day, about what happened to Mari. Sunny had done his part already, taking the secret to the grave. So why couldn¡¯t Basil do the same? The guilt of his inaction ripped through his heart, and it only intensified whenever he thought about Sunny. He understood, of course, why Sunny had done it. No matter how much it hurt to think about, or how much he wanted to deny it, Sunny had done the right thing. He should have done it a long time ago. Basil should have done it a long time ago. But now, here he was, stuck in a different world from Sunny, and left alone with the sole task of keeping the secret buried. The only thing was, how long could he hold up that weight? For how long would he act as a metaphorical Atlas, just barely keeping that impossibly heavy truth from crushing him altogether? How much longer would he live like this, he wondered. Constantly searching for a way to die, but never finding the courage to go through with it. He needed Sunny. He needed Sunny. The sheer, crushing desire overwhelmed him to the point of suffocation. But he was dead, and Basil was not. Not yet, anyway. Shame flushed in his face as he remembered what he had done at the lake. Sunny had appeared and given him a chance. A chance to escape, to finally be with him again. To leave the life he had ruined behind and start over again with no secrets to weigh him down. But that didn¡¯t happen, did it? No, he hesitated. He got scared. Allowed himself to be saved by Aubrey. He didn¡¯t know whether to be mad at himself, or Aubrey, or both. Sunny scowled at that. Wincing, Basil nodded his head in agreement. Aubrey didn¡¯t know any better. He couldn¡¯t get mad at her. He only wondered why she would even bother saving him. Did she just feel guilty about bullying him for all of these years? Why? All of those things she said about him being a creep was true anyway. If only, if only he could tell her the truth. Then, perhaps she would understand. Hell, she would encourage him. Cheer him on as he dragged himself to the finish line, maybe even jumping in to give him the shove that he needed. The scene formed beautifully in his head, like a time-lapse of an artist at work. He¡¯d tell her to follow him to somewhere secluded, somewhere in the middle of the woods. Not the hangout spot or the treehouse, but rather this one spot that he sometimes visited that was full of spiders and beetles, where the sunlight couldn¡¯t quite reach through the thick leaves of the trees that somehow grew together, branches and stems intertwined with each other and forming a singular entity. This one spot that he never showed anyone, not because he didn¡¯t want to, but because he knew how uncomfortable everyone else was with insects. Aubrey would follow him there, no doubt. Then she would see all of the insects and want to leave. But first, he would tell her. Tell her about how Something pushed Mari down the stairs and tried to frame Sunny for it. Tell her about how he convinced him to hang Mari outside. Tell her about how he constructed the noose with a jump rope and left her there to rot and never told anyone and left Sunny alone as he stewed in his guilt all alone in his room and even when he finally left couldn¡¯t do anything and just made everything horrible again and cut his eye, god he stabbed his eye with shears, fucking stabbed his best friend¡¯s eye because he was scared of Something. There would be a moment of disbelief. ¡°Basil, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°This¡­ This is some sick joke, Basil.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you, Basil?¡± But it wasn¡¯t a joke! It was the truth. It was the truth that ate away at him for all of these years, the truth that Sunny escaped from. Maybe he would exaggerate a little. Perhaps, take Something out of the story altogether? It couldn''t be so easily understood anyway. No, he could be the one to push Mari down the stairs. Then convinced poor, confused Sunny to help him in hanging the body. The pure, unadulterated rage on Aubrey¡¯s face as he retold his story made him smile. She would forget about the spiders, forget about everything except for him. The one behind Mari¡¯s death. The one behind their friend group breaking away from each other. The reason why Sunny jumped off that hospital rooftop as soon as he woke up. She would kill him. Club him over the head with her bat, on the side with all of the nails. She would leave, though not after spitting on his carcass. Then he would quickly decompose as all of the spiders and flies and beetles and worms ate his corpse. He would feed the ecosystem around him. He smiled weakly at that. Yes, but then that would defeat the whole purpose, wouldn¡¯t it? Then she would know it wasn¡¯t a suicide that took Mari away from everyone. Alas, it was okay to dream every once in a while. No, no one could help him with this. Not even Sunny, from wherever he¡¯s at right now. This was something that he needed to do himself. He had relied on others for his entire life, it was time for him to just suck it up and do something right by himself for a change. Sunny vanished, and his heart dropped. Squeezing his eyes shut, he told himself that it was okay. Everything was okay. Everything will be okay. Maybe they would be able to meet again after all? Even if Sunny hated him, that would be wonderful. He smiled in spite of himself. He looked at where Sunny used to be and said that it was okay. He just wanted to let him know that everything was okay. Even if he hated him, that would be fine. Basil would always follow him. He owed that much to him, didn¡¯t he? Even if Aubrey tried to stop him, even if she tried to talk him out of it¡­ He wouldn¡¯t be swayed. Hopefully.
¡°What the fuck just happened?¡± Aubrey found herself completely speechless as Basil walked out of the restroom and closed the door behind him without a second thought. One minute, he was having a complete and utter meltdown, screaming nonsensically and tearing his hair out. She could see the small tufts of hair on the ground where he was sitting. Then, he just¡­ stopped. Stopped struggling and looked at her with an unsettlingly empty look in his eyes, completely glazed over. Thirty seconds passed, and Aubrey had begun to wonder if he was having a stroke. She had almost gotten her phone out and called 911 when he just got up. Told her he was fine, and then left. Blinking, Basil looked around him. He was still in the restroom, sitting on the floor with nothing but a towel wrapped around his body. Coughing awkwardly, he stood up and brushed past Aubrey who stared at him uncomprehendingly. ¡°Basil? Are¡­ uh¡­ you alright?¡± Basil slowly turned and looked at her with what he hoped was a reassuring grin. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine! Sorry, I think I¡¯m just a little tired. I don¡¯t know why I got so worked up anyway. I¡¯m gonna go get dressed, it¡¯s getting a little chilly. We can talk after, ¡®kay?¡± Aubrey stared at Basil with an extremely concerned look on her face. The way she looked at him, it was like he was a fragile and expensive vase in the middle of an indoor soccer game. And could anyone blame her? She didn¡¯t want to admit it, but Basil seemed kind of¡­ unhinged. It reminded her of a horror movie she had once watched after Kel dared her. It was a few weeks before Halloween, and they - Aubrey, Kel, and Hero - were hanging out at his house, discussing costume ideas while Sunny and Mari practiced for their recital. Kel got the idea of dressing up as some crazy serial killer he had seen in a horror movie he rented out.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°It¡¯s gonna be, like, the scariest costume ever! I bet I can even get one of those fake blood thingies too!¡± Kel laughed. When he noticed Aubrey staying silent, a mischievous grin snuck up on his face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Aubrey? Scared?¡± ¡°H-Huh?!¡± Aubrey pouted. ¡°No way! You can¡¯t be scary Kel, I bet that even if you dress up like a huge spider, not even Hero would be scared. What¡¯s so creepy about some old guy in a movie anyway? He¡¯s just an actor, it¡¯s not like he actually kills people.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Kel retorted. ¡°If you¡¯re so confident, then why not watch the movie? All by yourself with the lights off at night! Bet you won¡¯t, scaredy cat.¡± ¡°AM NOT!¡± She yelled back. ¡°Scaredy cat! Scaredy cat!¡± ¡°Guys, guys. No need to get so worked up.¡± Hero sighed tiredly. ¡°Kel, stop it with the name-calling. It¡¯s rude. And Aubrey, keep your voice down. It¡¯s late, I don¡¯t want you to wake up our neighbors.¡± They had stopped after that, of course. They knew better than to continue fighting with Hero around. But then Kel leaned over while Hero wasn¡¯t paying attention and sneakily handed a VHS tape to her, eyes lighting up in a silent challenge. So of course, she snatched it from him and later that night, she had plucked the tape in, turned on the TV, and got comfortable next to her Mom, who had fallen asleep with the remote still in her hands. The serial killer Kel wanted to dress up as¡­ well, he definitely lived up to his title. There was a lot of blood, and she had almost thrown up multiple times at all of the gory scenes. And the worst part, whenever the killer was slaughtering his victims, there was this deranged, manic look on his face. Like he was both having the time of his life and suffering at the same time. In other words, acting completely insane. But when all of the killing was said and done, he just turned back to normal. Happy, outgoing, kind¡­ Basically, a regular person. It was one of the worst nights of her life. She only watched about half of it before turning off the TV and running to her room, turning on the lights and locking the entrance. She never admitted it to Kel, but she didn¡¯t sleep at all that night. She only sat there in her bed hugging Mr. Plantegg and jumping at every slightest noise. Of course, it doesn¡¯t scare her these days. In fact, she had even rewatched it last year; she stopped watching halfway through again, not because it was scary, but rather because it was so mind-numbingly awful that it physically hurt to watch. With thick, gooey blood that was most definitely literal kitchup, and cringy acting coming from people who clearly never been in a movie before, it was the very definition of a 0/10. Still though, she had to admit. The way that the serial killer was able to switch moods so completely and easily in the blink of an eye¡­ It unnerved her, just a bit. ¡°Aubrey?¡± She blinked as the mention of her name brought her out of her thoughts. ¡°Aubrey? Hellloooo?¡± Basil frowned and waved a hand in front of her face. Frowning, she backed away and instinctively swatted at the hand. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake. You were spacing out pretty hard there, just staring at me for like a full three minutes. Everything okay?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah. I¡¯m fine¡­¡± Aubrey paused and deepened her frown. ¡°Wait, that¡¯s what I should be asking you. What happened there? You had, like, a complete breakdown and now you¡¯re suddenly all better? You know, you don¡¯t need to pretend like you¡¯re okay. I understand if-¡± ¡°Pffffft, don¡¯t worry about that .¡± Basil scoffed. In lieu of his usual outfit, he was dressed in a soft pair of oversized plaid pants and a basic white t-shirt. He backed off and plopped down on his bed, putting his hands behind his head. All in all, he was the splitting image of someone without a care in the world. ¡°I think my brain was just messed up from the near-death experience I had at the lake. Thanks for pulling me out of there, by the way. I¡¯ve always been a poor swimmer.¡± ¡°Nuh uh. Hold on, time out.¡± Aubrey shook her head. ¡°We¡¯ve done this before, come on Basil. Remember when we went shopping together with Polly? You acted all happy back then but you were just trying to hide your feelings, weren¡¯t you? You don¡¯t need to do that Basil, really. I¡¯m here because I want to help you.¡± Basil smiled brightly at that. It was the kind of smile that reminded her of those good years, back when they were still a group together. It was the kind of smile that told her that he felt lucky to have such good friends, that he was glad that they were being nice to him. ¡°Aw, that¡¯s so sweet Aubrey! But I¡¯m fine, really. I¡¯m definitely feeling a lot better now, so don¡¯t worry about a thing.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re not.¡± Aubrey insisted. If she looked closer, she could see through his mask. His hands still had that anxious tremor, as if he was nervous that something was about to happen. His frame, which was always skinny and frail, had shrunken even further, giving him the appearance of a walking stick. ¡°Basil, you don¡¯t have to act like this! We can¡­ we can help each other out, you know? Sunny-¡± Shockingly, Basil rolled his eyes, smile dropping in an instant. Out of all of the years Aubrey has known him, she hasn¡¯t seen him do that once. He had always been too polite, too mild-mannered. ¡°Act? You¡¯re the one acting here. Why are you even here? Just leave. You act like I¡¯m trying to hide my feelings, and that you care about me, but you¡¯re just doing all of this because you feel bad about bullying me, aren¡¯t you? Well, nothing you do is gonna change that. So instead of trying to make it up to me by being annoying, why not do something like community service? Or donating to homeless people? You know that old hobo guy out there who always hangs out at the park? Why not do some actual good?¡± ¡°...¡± Sighing, Basil sat up on his bed. ¡°Look, I¡¯m thankful and all that you helped me out at the Lake, but you don¡¯t have to feel obligated to hang around. And you especially don''t have to feel obligated to just stand outside my shower like some weirdo. We can still hang out or whatever, but don¡¯t keep pretending you¡¯re trying to save my life.¡± ¡°Do you think I¡¯m stupid?¡± Aubrey crossed her arms. ¡°You almost drowned yourself Basil. I saw you just fall forward into the lake. And before that, you had a complete nervous breakdown in your garden.¡± She pointed at his hands, which had tattered strips of gauze wrapped around his palms. ¡°Are you telling me that it¡¯s normal for someone to just cut their own palms like that with their nails?¡± Basil flinched and looked down, hiding his hands beneath his blanket. ¡°That¡­ I was just¡­¡± ¡°And that¡¯s not to even mention what just happened! You were ripping out your own hair, and I was shouting at you to stop, but you just kept going and going and¡­ It was horrible, Basil.¡± Aubrey sniffed, blinking back unshed tears. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you like that ever again.¡± ¡°So, what? What are you gonna do? Just hover around me for the whole day? Hang out and act all friendly and pretend like we want to even be with each other?¡± He asked. ¡°We can¡¯t go back to the way things were, Aubrey. It¡¯s too late for that. Hero¡¯s trying to work himself to death, Kel keeps hiding behind his happy-go-lucky attitude, and both Mari and Sunny are dead .¡± He stood up from his bed and gave her a miserable glare. Trying to be angry, but not quite having enough energy to pull it off convincingly. ¡°So here I am, trying to be a better person, trying to move on, and then you show up as if you hadn¡¯t been antagonizing me for all of these years, and think that we can just be friends again? Just like that?¡± ¡°... Heh. You know, I never thought that I¡¯d see you arguing back like this.¡± Aubrey said quietly. ¡°What even happened? Just yesterday, you were acting like a nervous wreck, like you normally do. But now, all of the sudden, you¡¯re like this .¡± He looked away from her, the slightest tint of red showing up on his pale cheeks. A few moments in silence came, and when it became clear that Basil wasn¡¯t going to say anything, she sighed. ¡°Back when we were kids, you would try to avoid any disagreements with anyone. Hell, you avoided any type of confrontation at all costs. You just wanted everyone to be happy, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Things can¡¯t go back to the way things were¡­ But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m trying to do here. Basil, you¡¯re not fooling me. I¡­ I know you¡¯re hurting inside. I¡¯ve done some pretty shitty things to you, I know. So won¡¯t you let me try to make it up with you? Even after everything, Basil. I still want to be friends.¡± Aubrey rubbed her arm awkwardly, avoiding eye contact as he turned back to look at her. ¡°Why?¡± Basil muttered. ¡°W-Why are you¡­ Why are you trying so hard to make me feel better? What¡¯s the point?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose you too.¡± Aubrey said. ¡°So come on. Let me help you out here.¡± ¡°...Do whatever you want.¡± She exhaled, finally. She was so relieved that she didn''t notice the contempt in his eyes as he stared at her. Chapter Nine ¡°Basil, I¡¯m home! I brought back some Gino¡¯s for dinner!¡± Basil looked up from the photo album to see Polly coming through the front door, a large pizza box in her hands. She looked at Aubrey, who was sitting next to him on the sofa and smiled. ¡°Oh, Aubrey! I didn¡¯t realize you were here. How are you? Do you want some pizza? It¡¯s veggie tofu. Basil always asks for it whenever I go to order some.¡± ¡°Ugh, tofu? Seriously?¡± Aubrey wrinkled her nose in distaste. ¡°Who in their right mind would pay money to put that stuff on pizza? No thanks, Basil can have it.¡± ¡°Thanks Polly! But I¡¯m not very hungry right now.¡± He looked back down at the album, which sat open-faced on his lap. ¡°I¡¯ll eat it later for dinner.¡± Looking at the photo album was weird, to say the least. He¡¯d visited Sunny¡¯s house at one point after his death and just found it lying on the ground in the middle of the living room. The memory was foggy¡­ he wasn¡¯t entirely sure as to why he even visited in the first place. He remembered walking up to the front door and just staring at it for a while. Then when he tried to open it, he found that it was unlocked. Sunny¡¯s mom wasn¡¯t there. He had no idea what even happened to her. He hadn¡¯t seen her once since he died. Apparently they were supposed to be moving, but everything was still there, almost exactly like how he remembered it from the last time he visited, so many years ago. The situation didn¡¯t interest him much though, so he just picked up the album from the floor and left. When he got back home, he threw it into a closet and promptly forgot about it until now, when Aubrey asked about it. ¡°A part of me wants to just rip out all of the photos. And then just burn them. Destroy them. Forget they ever existed.¡± Aubrey said quietly. ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t think I could bring myself to do that. Not now, after everything.¡± Looking at the photos now aroused conflicting emotions in him, ones that he couldn¡¯t even begin to understand. He had no idea how he was even supposed to feel. At one moment, he would be DEPRESSED, knowing fully well that his best days were behind him, and that he wouldn¡¯t have any more happy memories to cherish. A few seconds later, he would be AFRAID when he saw a photo focusing on Mari and Sunny, their happy and care-free faces almost accusatory and blending together to form Something. Then, he would find himself ENRAGED at everyone. At himself, for not taking more photos when he had the chance. At Aubrey, for asking about the album in the first place. At Sunny, for leaving him again. Leaving him with this mess. No, he couldn¡¯t be mad at him. It wasn¡¯t his fault. Sunny didn¡¯t have a choice. He did the right thing anyway. Sunny wouldn¡¯t leave him unless he had to. Why, they were best friends weren¡¯t they? They did everything together, confided in each other with things that they wouldn¡¯t even talk about with the other members of their group. They understood each other, sympathised with each other, they were practically brothers. Why would Sunny leave him unless he didn¡¯t have any other choice? Backed up into a corner like that, with only one escape¡­ How horrible it must have been. What kind of best friend was he for leading him into such a situation in the first place? What kind of best friend was he for hanging his sister¡¯s corpse? What kind of best friend was he for not bothering to check up on him for four years? What kind of best friend was he for stabbing him in the eye with a pair of gardening shears? He blinked. The photographs with Sunny and Mari in them had been altered, their figures scribbled out with a marker. Completely blacked out, save of course for a singular eye. Staring, glaring. Something, an everlasting reminder of what he¡¯s done. This isn¡¯t right. The room around him flickered red. Since when did everything get so heavy? He could barely sit up. ¡°This isn¡¯t fair.¡± Why had he been allowed to get away? Mari fell down the stairs and died. Sunny was stabbed in the eye before jumping off a hospital rooftop and dying. But he? He was fine. Oh, he was just perfectly fine. Some cuts and bruises inflicted by Sunny¡¯s Something, maybe. But he¡¯s had worse before. How could it be that he escaped unharmed while they lost their lives? It just wasn¡¯t fair. He stood up from the couch, causing the photo album to fall down onto the ground. He didn¡¯t care. With stiff determination, he walked into his room, not noticing the confused questions coming from behind him. Was someone there? He couldn¡¯t quite remember. It felt like he was doing something unimportant, something that could be forgotten without consequence. So be it. Without a second thought, he plunged his right hand under his mattress and brought out a large steak knife. Ah, now he remembered. He took this from Sunny¡¯s house too as well, didn¡¯t he? But why? It had just been sitting out on the counter, sticking out like a sore thumb with its unnaturally shiny blade. As if someone had taken the time to clean and sharpen it every day, taking great care to maintain it despite years of disuse. It was special. Special, unlike the painful memories that came with the photo album. So he had stuck it under his mattress. Basil drove the knifepoint into his left arm as hard as he could, feeling great satisfaction as it slid through his flesh and skin as smoothly as butter. At least, for a moment. He managed to dig it in half an inch or so before hitting bone. Red, beautifully red, glistening and fragrant. It poured out of his arm, painting the world around him red. Just as it should be. So familiar, so comforting, it was like returning home after a long road trip. But still, he needed more. More. He took the knife out and prepared to stab himself again, this time determined to make it all the way through. ¡­ ¡°Why can¡¯t I do it?¡± Frowning, Basil looked at his knife-wielding hand and saw something wrapped around it. Another hand, gripping onto his wrist so hard that its knuckles were turning white. He turned around. Someone was standing behind him. No, not just someone. Aubrey. Of course, she hated him. She even told him straight to his face. His escape wouldn''t be so easy with her around. A thought popped up in his head.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "Why don''t I just get rid of her?" It sounded so simple. Just pass the knife onto his free hand and let loose. Tell her exactly what he thought about her trying to block his escape. His one and only path to redemption in his sinful life. Just stab Aubrey, stab and stab and stab and stab and stab until there was nothing left. He''d already killed Sunny and Mari, what was one more body to his kill count? And this time, it wouldn''t be ambiguous. No, he would just be a murderer. Finally, a definitive title to the madness. He would kill Aubrey. Aubrey? ¡°Wait, kill... Aubrey?¡± NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO He blinked a few times and she came into focus. It was her hair that became clear first, a screaming weave of finely woven threads that glared at him with its almost obnoxiously bright color. Then the rest of her body, tense and with muscles taut, as if it were exerting as much strength as it possibly could in order to survive. Lastly, her face. Her mouth was moving, saying something that he couldn¡¯t make out. And¡­ tears? Why would Aubrey be crying? She wasn¡¯t the type of person to cry over nothing. That would be more like something he would do. Something must be wrong. The room around him darkened splashes of red vanishing from the walls. A sudden bout of nausea overtook him as he looked down and saw a sickeningly dark puddle of blood, growing slowly as more of the stuff dripped from his arm. It didn¡¯t hurt, though. He wasn¡¯t sure whether or not to be thankful for that. Why did his head hurt so much? ¡°A-Ah. Aubrey¡­? What¡­ W-What happened? What did I just do?¡± Basil muttered. His voice was barely above a whisper, but sounded like a shout amidst his ringing headache. Any louder and his eardrums would surely burst. ¡°No¡­ N-No, that¡¯s a dumb question. Sorry. I did something stupid, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Basil, drop the knife. Now.¡± She said carefully. Despite the firmness in her words, she looked absolutely terrified. It was almost comical, how scared she seemed of him. It didn¡¯t make much sense, considering she was much stronger than her. Maybe it was the knife? It could be that she thought that he was going to stab her or something. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t do such a thing. He never did have a stomach for violence. Even a small paper cut would make him feel queasy. She should know that, shouldn¡¯t she? So why? None of it made any sense. Still¡­ he should probably try to make his intentions clear. ¡°Aubrey, don¡¯t worry. I-I¡¯m not going to try and hurt you or anything! Y-You¡¯re my friend¡­ So¡­ So, you don¡¯t need to be scared. I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Basil tried a smile. ¡°Basil.¡± Aubrey gritted her teeth. ¡°Drop. The. Knife.¡± He dropped it. It fell to the ground and at once, Aubrey let out a small breath of relief. She then pulled him closer and looked at the gaping wound on the side of his arm. There, a thin slit faced them as it sporadically spewed small streams of crimson that poured down his sickly pale skin, staining it in the process. He could scarcely remember how it got there. He knew that he did something bad, and¡­ and then he got hurt. Except, not really. It was more of a numbing sensation that while somewhat uncomfortable, didn¡¯t bother him all too much. Still though, it was rather ugly, and contrasted badly with his skin. She gulped and looked back up at him with a look that was somehow both fragile and hardened at the same time. ¡°Basil. Do you have a first-aid kid in your home?¡± ¡°H-Huh? Oh, y-yes¡­ I think.¡± Basil gave her a small nod. ¡°I¡­ I used it not too long ago, didn¡¯t I? For my hands. Erm, palms. I-I had to use the last bits of gauze we had left to patch up some b-bleeding¡­ Ah, I should buy some more at Othermart, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± Aubrey swore under her breath and took a short glance around the room. Then, after the slightest moment of hesitation, she grabbed at the blue bow in her hair, quickly untying it to reveal a rather sizable handkerchief. With nimble fingers that moved in a blur, she managed to wrap it around his arm and tie it off as a makeshift bandage. Blood continued to seep through his wound anyway, obviously unimpressed with her efforts as it bled through the light blue silk. ¡°Aw, Aubrey¡­ Your bow.¡± ¡°Who cares about that? Basil, you¡¯re hurt!¡± She snapped back. Grabbing his hand tightly, she pulled him out of his room, slamming the door open. ¡°Wh- Oh, you two? Jeez, that startled me! Please don¡¯t slam the doors, Aubrey. You¡¯ll damage the walls.¡± Polly glanced at them from the dining table. ¡°Gotta go! Basil, come on. Hurry.¡± Aubrey practically sprinted as she dragged Basil behind her, who could only barely keep up. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure as to what was happening, but she seemed worried about something. He supposed that it was about his stab wound. The stab wound that he was responsible for. It was quite painful for him to continue seeing people pay for his own mistakes. Clearly, something was wrong with him on a fundamental level. Time and time again, he kept screwing up. And time after time, he would find a way out of the hole he dug himself into, at the expense of others of course. What a burden he was, finding new ways to fuck up everything around him and then standing idly by as he allowed others to fix the problem for him. He was a terrible person, wasn¡¯t he?
¡°Um¡­ A-Aubrey? Can I ask you something?¡± Basil panted as he jogged next to Aubrey. He was completely out of breath, with wobbly legs that felt like they would collapse at any moment. Meanwhile, Aubrey seemed like she could run for another twenty miles without breaking a sweat. If anything, she was only impatient for having to let him follow along at such a leisurely pace. Great, now he was a literal burden. A human ball and chain. ¡°What?¡± She looked at him. Her hand was still clasped firmly around the wrist of his uninjured arm, not showing any indication of letting go. Truth be told, she was holding on so tightly that his hand was beginning to feel numb. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°What? Seriously?¡± She asked incredulously. ¡°Basil, you just stabbed your arm. You¡¯re bleeding. We¡¯re going to the hospital. Look, we¡¯re not that far off. See?¡± She pointed at a large, white building that was just beyond their reach. ¡°Oh. S-Sorry about that¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t apologize. We can talk about this after we get you some help.¡± When they finally reached the hospital, Basil had to take a second to catch his breath. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was from blood loss, or exhaustion, or both, but he was feeling very light-headed. Aubrey took the opportunity to take a look at his wound, pinching the handkerchief and pulling it up slightly to peek under it. Whatever she saw, it must have been ugly; she looked away and grimaced, quickly sliding the handkerchief back over the wound, which was now crusted with multiple layers of dried blood. He would have to apologize once this was all over. Maybe scrounge up enough money to buy her a new one. ¡°Um, A-Aubrey?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If¡­¡± Basil paused to take a deep, shuddering breath. God, how long has it been since he had actually ran? How people could do physically demanding activities like this for fun, he couldn¡¯t imagine. It felt like he was dying. It was probably because he was just so weak. ¡°If you were in such a hurry¡­ Um¡­ Couldn¡¯t you have just a-asked Polly to drive us here?¡± ¡°... I didn¡¯t think of that.¡± She groaned and smacked herself in the face. ¡°God, why am I so fucking stupid? I guess I just panicked with everything that was going on. I really screwed that up, huh? We could have gotten you here a lot faster.¡± ¡°O-Oh, that¡¯s okay¡­ I should have brought it up earlier.¡± Basil said. He looked towards the hospital entrance, ignoring Sunny¡¯s corpse which laid in a broken heap just before him. The body was face down, but it was undoubtedly Sunny. His dead body smelled hideous in the hot sun, a half-decomposed pile of flesh and blood with maggots crawling all around him, feasting on the sickly sweet meat before them. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± ¡°And I slowed us down so much on the way here¡­¡± Basil felt like he was going to throw up. But what? He hadn¡¯t even eaten anything for the past few days. He¡¯d probably only manage a few mouthfuls of saliva mixed with stomach acid. ¡°W-Why can¡¯t I do anything right?! You¡­ And you¡¯re just trying to help me too.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that¡­¡± Her voice trailed off as she suddenly gave him a strange look. Only a few seconds passed before Basil started to get a bit anxious. Why was she staring at him like that? With intense, wandering eyes that scanned him from head to toe? Did he do something wrong? What did he do this time? God, he was such a fuck up. He¡¯s done so much wrong in his life that it was becoming habitual; he was starting to lose track of all that he¡¯s done. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry!¡± He sputtered. ¡°Please don¡¯t be mad...¡± Aubrey looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she shook her head and started towards the hospital, walking through the corpse as if it weren¡¯t there. As Basil stepped over it to follow her, he saw that chunks of flesh were sticking to her shoes. With each step she took, red footprints trailed behind her. She didn¡¯t seem to care. Her grip on him tightened. Chapter Ten Aubrey sat in a chair just outside of Basil¡¯s hospital room, anxiously staring down at the floor as her leg bounced up and down restlessly. Even when she asked, the doctor (what was his name again? whatever, who cares) just shook his head and told her to wait outside. With everything that¡¯s happened, it didn¡¯t feel safe to let the frail boy out of her sight. What if he tried something while the doctor was distracted? Anything could go wrong. ¡°Come on, stupid geezer. Open the door already.¡± Aubrey shot a quick glare to the locked door, as if pure frustration alone would open it. Alas, nothing came of it except a quick mix of anger to go with her feeling of helplessness. All she could do was sit there and hope Basil didn¡¯t try to off himself again. Why did this type of stuff keep happening to her? Why were all of her closest friends so damned determined to kill themselves? One after another it went, it seemed. Well, she wasn¡¯t going to let the chain continue. As soon as Basil got out of that room, she was not going to let him out of her sight ever again. Not only that, but she was going to be prepared. She was caught off-guard by his blunt (and successful) attempt to stab himself, and she hated herself for it. Just minutes prior she had told him that she wanted to help him. So why did she just let him do that in front of her? Was she that dim-witted? Still, that lingering shadow of doubt cast itself over her. It tainted the facade of bravado, of determination, and laid in front of it a singular fact that she couldn¡¯t bring herself to accept. That she couldn¡¯t keep watch forever. Not even close. There would be a moment where Basil would be alone again, and she couldn¡¯t help that. And if he seized the opportunity? And if she happened to walk into his room and find a body? ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. Stop. STOP.¡± Her mind wandered anyway, creating a sickeningly realistic scenario in which she found his corpse. How would Basil do it? Would he try to stab himself again? Slash away at himself until he struck a vital artery and every drop of blood drained from his body. Or maybe he would hang himself. Do as Mari did and find a spot away from the rest of the world, a spot where he was truly alone before ending it all. ¡°stopstopstopstopstopstop¡± Basil knew how to tie knots; in fact, he was very good at it. She remembered watching in awe as he almost effortlessly tied together a flower crown with one hand when they were kids, as if a spectator to a particularly impressive magic trick. She almost found herself jealous at the ease he tied them together while she held a tangled mess in her hands. Wouldn¡¯t it make sense then? She couldn¡¯t stop him. If he really wanted to, he could just sneak away, or wait until she was forced to leave him alone. It would be so easy then. Just quickly find a spot in the woods, and¡­ No more Basil. Just a limply hanging corpse waiting to be stumbled upon. ¡°STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP¡± The door clicked open. She sprung from her seat and found herself face to face with the doctor, a middle aged and balding man who looked at her with mild surprise, eyes wide yet somehow blank through the lens of his horn-rimmed glasses. He blinked a few times before clearing his throat and speaking. ¡°Ah. Miss, I know you¡¯re very concerned about your friend, so-¡± ¡°Let me see him. Is he okay? Will he recover? He didn¡¯t lose too much blood, did he?¡± ¡°Settle down. Your friend¡­ Basil, was it? Basil will recover, but¡­ There are other pressing concerns that I must speak to you about.¡± He adjusted his glasses and looked down on a brown clipboard, which seemed old and battered enough to have come from prehistoric times. ¡°Basil, is, ah¡­ Incredibly underweight. Signs of malnourishment as well. He weighs only thirty-six kilograms¡­ about eighty pounds.¡± ¡°W-What?¡± Aubrey blinked once, unsure if she heard that right. Eighty pounds? She knew Basil hadn¡¯t been eating as much as he should be; that much, she could guess. The way his cheeks seemed to be slightly sunken, how almost all of his clothing had begun to get baggy¡­ She supposed the signs were there, as far back as before Sunny started going outside again. It was just that for some reason, she never thought about it too much. Perhaps it was the fact that even when they were kids, he had a tendency to skip meals. Or maybe it was that certain other things needed to be addressed first. ¡°Yes. Even for a person of small stature such as himself, he is worryingly underweight.¡± The doctor said, glancing back into the room. ¡°There is a very strong possibility that he has some sort of eating disorder, though we would have to perform a more nuanced checkup. Your friend has declined that however, expressing the sentiment of wanting to leave as soon as possible¡­ As he is eighteen and an adult, he has the right to refuse medical treatment. However, I strongly, strongly suggest that he stay for a while longer. Perhaps you can convince him? It¡¯s for his own good.¡± ¡°Eighteen?¡± Aubrey thought as she stared at him uncomprehendingly, mouth open in a slight gape. ¡°That¡¯s not right¡­ Basil¡¯s sixteen. His birthday isn¡¯t even coming up. Did Basil lie about his age? Why? And this guy seriously fell for it?¡± ¡°R-Right!¡± She stammered, just before the silence was beginning to get awkward. She walked past the inquisitive stare of the doctor, trying her best to not seem suspicious. ¡°Convince him to stay. Yeah. I¡¯ll get to that.¡± As she entered the room and closed the door behind her, she found Basil laying in a hospital bed, looking as small and fragile as a puppy out in the rain. A wave of deja vu hit her as she did a double take. Was this the exact same room that Basil had been taken to? On that day that Sunny¡­ She shook her head. No, all of the rooms were probably alike. Carbon copies of one another, built for the sake of consistency and with that unimpressive blandness that encompassed each room, not out of lazy design, but rather a serene calmness that was both comforting and worrying at the same time. A sanitized chamber that did it¡¯s best to invoke a sense of NEUTRAL in its patients. ¡°Basil.¡± She sighed in relief and held a hand to her chest. Finally, the crashing waves of anxiety had begun to recede. She wouldn¡¯t be drowning today, no thanks. With much less urgency now, she walked up to his bedside and pulled up a small wooden chair, sitting down next to him. Everything suddenly felt okay again, like they would actually make it through this. What was she worried about again? It seemed so unimportant now. Basil was okay, and that¡¯s all that mattered, right? ¡°Thank fuck that you¡¯re okay. Did that quack out there treat you alright?¡± Basil sat up and gave her a fully-fledged smile. ¡°Hey Aubrey! Yeah, everything went alright. He said that my condition was stable, and that it wasn¡¯t ¡®life-threatening¡¯. To be honest, I was just kinda bored. I mean, all I could do was sit here and stare at the walls. Most of the stuff just blended together, really. Anyway, we can leave now, right? I really just want to get back home.¡± ¡°O-Oh.¡± Aubrey frowned. Again, Basil was back to being all happy and carefree. She found herself hating this side of him more and more as time passed. Why? Why did he have to pretend? He should know by now that she would accept him, accept his negative emotions. She just wanted to help. Being shut out like this by a friendly facade, it was disheartening. As if they hadn¡¯t really made any progress at all. As if they were just doing the same things over and over again, and expecting things to get better. ¡°What if he really is happy? What if he¡¯s not pretending?¡± A cynical voice whispered in Aubrey¡¯s mind. ¡°It could be you, you know. Who do you think you are, barging into his life and forcing yourself on him like this? You¡¯re a bully, a ruthless psycho who tortured him for years. Nothing but a bottomless well of negative energy. You¡¯re the one making him so miserable.¡± ¡°Shut up, me.¡± ¡°What?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Nevermind. Basil, did you¡­ tell him that you were eighteen?¡± ¡°Hah, busted.¡± He scratched the back of his head, grinning cheekily. White bandages were wrapped tightly around his arm, looking brand new next to the old, dirty gauze still hugging his palms. Small tears in the worn fabric were visible, and she couldn¡¯t help but wonder if they were from his nails. ¡°Yeah¡­ If I told him that I was a minor, he would have wanted to call Polly, or maybe even my parents. He was a bit skeptical at first but I convinced him, and even then he wanted me to stay longer. To monitor my health or whatever. Anyway, thankfully no one who treated me last time saw me, so I¡¯m safe.¡± ¡°He also told me that you were super underweight and, like, malnourished.¡± Before he could respond, Aubrey reached over and pinched the hem of his shirt, lifting it up to be greeted with a prominent set of ribs poking out from tightly stretched and incredibly pale skin. Wincing, she let go. ¡°Yikes. I guess that part¡¯s definitely true.¡± ¡°Aw, it¡¯s nothing¡­ I¡¯m fine.¡± Basil looked away. ¡°I just don¡¯t get hungry that often.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Still though, you should eat something so that you don¡¯t look like a literal skeleton. When was the last time you ate anyway?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Basil?¡± She prodded, only to be met with harrowing silence. Realization dawned upon her as she took in the frail boy laying in front of her. ¡°God damn it. Basil, when was the last time you ate? ¡± ¡°Can we talk about this later?¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°Later. Not here. At home.¡± Basil spun to face her, this time with a deadly calm in his eyes. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ve rested enough so that I¡¯m not gonna die or anything. Let¡¯s just check out.¡± ¡°... Fine.¡±
¡°Red.¡± ¡°red red red red red red red red red red red red red red¡­¡± All that he could see was red. Basil was walking, though he wasn¡¯t entirely sure where he was going, or why. Something walked in front of him, a slick tendril grasping his wrist tightly enough for it to be uncomfortable, but only just. On its head, a bloody bow sat. Somehow, he was sure that it was his own blood. Of course, that was what all of this red was about, wasn¡¯t it? He was bleeding. Dying. ¡°red red red red red red red red red red¡­¡± He was getting sick of the color red. Behind him, he heard the sound of faint laughter. Turning around, he found himself facing Sunny. Or was it the stranger? The two looked alike, and neither one talked very much, so they might as well be the same person at this point. Either way, the one-eyed boy trailed behind them at a distance, smiling as he twirled a knife around in his hands. It wasn¡¯t in a menacing way or anything, rather just fidgeting he was doing to give his hands something to do. It was entrancing, in a way. Basil found himself staring at those quick and agile fingers, moving to spin the blade of the knife around in the palm of his hand. The silver gleam of the knife was shiny enough that Basil could see himself through the reflection, and even Something still leading him forwards. And of course, the red. Who could forget the red? Everything around him was red. The sky, the ground beneath him, the walls, all of it was red. Sunny stabbed himself in the stomach. Thankfully, nothing red appeared. Not a single drop of blood appeared as the raven-haired boy fell to his knees with his hands still gripping the knife, now embedded in himself. Basil blinked, and then he was gone. As if he was never there to begin with. Maybe he was never there to begin with. ¡°Please, just stop already. Let it all out, let everything come to a stop. I¡¯ve had enough.¡± To wish was to cry upon deaf ears. Basil knew that, and yet he still decided to wish. For what? For a world where Sunny never jumped off that hospital roof? For a world where Sunny never came out in the first place, and just moved away quietly? For a world where Basil never came up with that terrible plan to hang Mari? Or maybe, maybe, a world where Basil woke up before Sunny. A world where he ran to find Sunny laying in his hospital bed. What a joy that would have been! Stop the plasma, stop the red, it corrupts from the inside out. A dozen nooses to hang you and your friends with, walls of blood and walls of red. Walls that shift upon themselves and fold to contain the memories you suppress, to allow the veil of normalcy to save you from yourself. Basil nodded. One night, he would drift. Then, he wouldn¡¯t wake. Would not let himself wake. He would let the blood of his wounds water the flowers around him, and then maybe they would finally start to grow. Was that what it took? Basil tried to avert his gaze as Sunny stared at him from his one singular eye. He had done that. He had stabbed his eye out, had crippled his best friend for the rest of his life. And yet, he found himself unable to break away. Something was coming. He could feel it. Sunny smiled. There, the most important person in Basil¡¯s life, so weak and exhausted and hurt and wrapped in bandages and lying in a hospital bed, Sunny smiled. He was beautiful. Basil couldn¡¯t breathe. All at once, he understood. He didn¡¯t want to, but he did. Sunny forgave him, didn¡¯t he? Despite everything he¡¯s done, Sunny¡¯s forgiving him. A part of him wanted to reject it; he wasn¡¯t good enough for forgiveness, an irredeemable psychopath who turned his best friend¡¯s life into a living hell. But another, much stronger part of him wanted to accept it. To finally crumple and let Sunny hug him and to hug him back and to cry into his shirt and to feel so happy but so sad at the same time at the fact that he knew that once and for all, everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. He turned around and saw the concerned looks on his friend¡¯s faces. They had questions, but remained respectful of their space. He was glad. He turned back around and saw Sunny sitting up, yawning and scratching his head as if he¡¯d gotten up from a nap rather than a spell of unconsciousness following a disastrous fight. Blinking groggily a few times, Sunny looked at Basil, then to his friends standing behind. A pang of anxiety struck his previously peaceful countenance and Basil found himself scared again. No, this nightmare wasn¡¯t quite over, was it? Something was wrong. Something was wrong. So wrong. Sunny looked at him and shook his head. Basil felt his heart stop. He was going to tell them, wasn¡¯t he? The secret. Something. Mari. The stairs. No. Basil stopped walking. Around him, the red began to dissipate. He wasn¡¯t sure whether or not that was a good thing. In front of him, Something¡­ In front of him, Aubrey stopped and turned around with a look of concern on her face. She wasn¡¯t wearing her bow, of course. It was probably still covered in dried blood after all. ¡°Basil? Why¡¯d you stop? Come on, we¡¯re almost home.¡± ¡°H-Huh?¡± Basil looked around. They were at the park, as lively and noisy as usual. He could see some kids talking to each other near the slide; it looked like they were arguing about something. Probably the deflated dodgeball that lay next to their feet, which looked about as pathetic as he felt right now. ¡°Home? Oh¡­ Sorry. Y-Yeah, let¡¯s go.¡± Again, she gave him that look. The look that he couldn¡¯t find any meaning in, a look that was so blankly curious and worried that it made his anxiety palpable. It made him feel like he¡¯d done something wrong again. Terrible. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden and very loud scream. ¡°HEEEEEY! AUBREY! BASIL!¡± Out of literally nowhere, Kel materialized next to him, gracing him with a smack on the back that had about enough force to break his spine. Aubrey cursed and jumped back, flinching as Kel¡¯s obnoxiously bright face suddenly barged into their vicinity. ¡°You two! I haven¡¯t seen you guys in ages! What¡¯s up? How¡¯re things?¡± ¡°Wh- Kel! Jeez, where the hell did you come from?¡± Aubrey scowled. ¡°You nearly gave me a heart attack.¡± ¡°Heh, sorry! I was just playing at the basketball court when I saw you guys! And at first I wasn¡¯t even sure if it was you cuz like yeah, you have that pink hair and everything but you guys were kind of far away and with the sunset, it kinda looked like maybe it could have just been blonde hair? And also you don¡¯t have that bow you always have on and I was like, ¡®Oh Aubrey always wears that so no way it¡¯s her¡¯ but then I was like, ¡®But doesn¡¯t that guy next to him look like Basil?¡¯¡± ¡°Kel-¡± ¡°But you¡¯re wearing that weird pajama outfit and like I¡¯ve literally never seen you wearing anything like that before plus your hair was kinda long so like maybe you weren''t even a guy at all so I still wasn¡¯t sure but I was still kinda suspicious so I stopped playing for a bit to take a closer look and then I saw that it really was you guys so-¡± ¡°KEL!¡± Aubrey snapped. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Eh? Sheesh, calm down, Aubs.¡± Kel frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°I was just checking up on you guys! It¡¯s been like a week since we¡¯ve talked. I don¡¯t want all of us to drift away again like last time, so¡­ I just wanted to say hi, you know?¡± Kel looked away and in an instant, all traces of bravado vanished, leaving behind apprehension, strangely enough. ¡°Like, are you two doing okay with everything? I¡¯m worried, y¡¯know?¡± Aubrey seemed to calm down a little, exhaling. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ doing okay, I guess. But Basil-¡± ¡°Fine! I¡¯m doing f-fine, haha¡­¡± Basil smiled nervously and put his hands behind his back, hiding his bandages from Kel. The last thing he wanted was to have even more people start worrying about him and his stupid mistakes. ¡°H-How about you? Have you been¡­ erm, I mean¡­ A-Anything going on?¡± ¡°Eh, I¡¯ve been better, I guess.¡± Kel shrugged. ¡°Hero¡¯s being rude and not answering any of my calls. I guess he¡¯s still working through some stuff. Literally! Last time we talked, I heard that he picked up two part-time jobs. He¡¯s gonna drop dead from exhaustion if he keeps this up.¡± ¡°Hero...¡± Aubrey sighed. ¡°I hope he¡¯s doing alright. Being a workaholic can¡¯t be a very healthy coping mechanism.¡± ¡°Oh! Waitwaitwait, there is something cool coming up!¡± Kel piped up excitedly, eyes sparkling. ¡°One of the guys from my basketball team is hosting a party and he said that I can invite other people! You two should totally come! It¡¯ll be fun, plus we haven¡¯t hung out in a while! Isn¡¯t this the perfect opportunity?¡± ¡°Party?¡± Aubrey paused hesitantly. Would it even be right to party so soon? It almost seemed disrespectful to hang out together and have fun at this point. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be up for something like that¡­¡± ¡°Aw, come on. Basil? Come on, you know you want to.¡± Kel spun to face him, puppy-dog eyes already set in place. ¡°It¡¯ll be soooooo much better with you guys over there, I know it. Pleaseeeeeeee? Just this once?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Basil said simply. He couldn¡¯t find it in himself to refuse him, especially not when it seemed so important. Hadn¡¯t he had enough of disappointing his friends? He had to do something right for once. ¡°Aw¡­ Well, it was worth a shot.¡± Kel blinked. ¡°Wait, what? Did you¡­¡± ¡°Um¡­ Y-Yeah. Yeah, I¡¯ll go.¡± ¡°Seriously? Awesome!¡± Kel cheered happily and held up a hand for Basil to high-five. For a second, Basil could only stare at the open palm, completely unsure of what he should do. A moment passed before Kel rolled his eyes and grabbed Basil¡¯s arm and high-fived himself with it. Yelping, Basil quickly withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back again. Thankfully, Kel didn¡¯t even seem to notice that anything was wrong, only giving them a wide grin as he walked back to the basketball court. ¡°I¡¯ll text you guys the details! The guys are probably getting tired of waiting for me, so I¡¯m gonna dip for now. See you two at the party!¡± ¡°W-Wait, I didn¡¯t even agree to go!¡± Aubrey shouted. ¡°Ugh. That bone-head. Basil, why¡¯d you even agree to go? Now you¡¯ve got me roped into this.¡± ¡°H-Huh? Oh, I¡¯m so sorry! I-I wasn¡¯t even thinking, really.¡± Basil stammered. ¡°Ugh. It¡¯s whatever, let¡¯s just go to his stupid party. I wouldn¡¯t have let you go alone anyway. I doubt that I can trust Kel to keep you safe.¡± Aubrey pulled out her phone, which was buzzing incessantly. ¡°Great. He¡¯s already spamming me with messages. Does he seriously have to send walls of text one word at a time?¡± Basil laughed nervously. Already, he was beginning to regret agreeing to go. But what could he do? There was no other choice. Chapter Eleven ¡°Eat this.¡± Aubrey handed Basil a small apple, still dripping with water from being rinsed at the sink. He could only stare at it with a mixture of fear and apprehension, as if she were giving him a live grenade instead of a harmless fruit. With shaky hands, he grabbed it from her, but made no motion to take a bite, instead opting to continue tightly grasping it between his clammy hands. ¡°Red¡­¡± he muttered. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing¡­ Um, Aubrey? I-I¡¯m not really hungry.¡± She shook her head and shot him an unsympathetic look. ¡°Nuh uh. I don¡¯t care. You said it yourself, didn¡¯t you? You don¡¯t even remember the last time you¡¯ve eaten. You must be crazy if you think I¡¯m just gonna sit here and let you starve yourself to death.¡± Aubrey was careful not to show it, but she was terrified. Basil had nearly collapsed twice on the walk back home from the hospital; she had offered to carry him back herself, but he had vehemently declined. It physically hurt to see him forcing himself to go on like that, a sickly pale skeleton with all of the looks of a nervous wreck. She found herself fostering a growing resentment for the doctor that had treated him. What kind of gullible idiot would believe Basil was eighteen? Even ignoring that, he should have known something was up, considering Basil¡¯s terrible state. He should have done something. He should have been more responsible. Gulping nervously, Basil finally moved the apple closer to his mouth. He took a small bite from it before immediately setting it down, face scrunching up as he chewed slowly. When he finally swallowed, he looked at her with what could only be described as abject misery. ¡°A-Am I done now? I¡­ think I¡¯m going to be sick.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not. And¡­¡± She glared at the apple in front of her, sitting on the tabletop innocently. ¡°No, you¡¯re not.¡± Blinking rapidly, Basil took up the apple once more and took another bite. Once again, he chewed at it slowly, taking time to grind the fruit between his molars until he could bear it no longer. Then, he took another bite and repeated the process. Over and over again, he bit into the apple, chipping away at it at a sluggishly slow yet consistent rate. With each¡­ ¡°Oh.¡± Basil smiled and began to eat it with renewed vigor, chomping away at the apple at blazing speed, savoring the sweet taste. Within seconds, there was nothing left but the core. He turned to look at Aubrey, a smile still plastered onto his face. ¡°Well, there we go. I guess all it took was some food to give me an appetite again, huh?¡± She looked at him with a hint of suspicion in her eyes, but nodded anyway. ¡°Well, see? That wasn¡¯t so hard, was it? There¡¯s gonna be a bunch of food at that party, so I better see you eating more.¡± Basil laughed. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry so much! I¡¯ll eat as much as I can, I pro-¡± Promise. With each bite he took, more and more nausea piled onto him, the bleeding head in his hands staring back up at him lifelessly through a half-lidded eye. Its right cheek had been gored, pale skin torn by his teeth. Basil licked his lips and found the taste of blood ever-present in his mouth. It burned. ¡°What? What¡¯s the matter with you?¡± Aubrey asked. She peered at him through her bloodshot eyes, her form obscured by static and uncertainty. Something, now solid and unwavering, stood before him and enveloped her. It made her look almost human, with long, burning hair. ¡°Eat. Eat it, god damn you. Quit acting like a child, you¡¯re too old for that.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m trying.¡± Basil took another bite at the exposed flesh and grimaced as his stomach cried in protest. It was an incredible mixture of sour and salty, an overwhelmingly bold taste that coated his tongue and spread through his body like a blanket of fire. It was Sunny¡¯s head. Of course it was. ¡°P-Please. I¡¯m trying¡­ I¡¯m trying.¡± ¡°You¡¯re disgusting. Why did you kill Sunny? He was your best friend. Keep eating.¡± Aubrey¡¯s hand shot forwards and struck him on the right side of his face. Basil cried out, dropping the head to the floor and brought his blood-covered hands up to the stinging wound. His ear was ringing horribly, an echoing high pitched scream that made everything worse. Pain, dull and uniform, cradled his weak body, scratching at his skin and opening blisters as it went. ¡°You killed Sunny. You hung his sister. You loved him. You loved Sunny, and you killed him. Keep eating.¡± Basil sobbed and closed his eyes, hundreds of thoughts crowding his exhausted mind as he shivered horribly amidst the cloudy sea of agony he found himself drowning in. He couldn¡¯t move. He couldn¡¯t speak. He could only wish that everything would end. Just a minute of rest, a minute of nothingness so that he could pull himself together, so that he would stop hurting so badly. Aubrey stood from the table and shoved him. Basil fell limply from the chair and onto the solid red floor, cringing at the new layer of pain. An object was forced into his hands; immediately, he recognized it as the half-eaten head. ¡°Eat. You killed him, so eat. You loved him. Why? Why did you kill him? You loved him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! ¡± Basil screamed. ¡°Because I¡¯m horrible? Because I¡¯m a failure? Because I don¡¯t deserve to live anymore? I don¡¯t know! So stop! Please!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you why.¡± Aubrey said. She kicked him in the stomach and Basil coughed roughly as all of the air was forced out of his lungs. He managed to choke out a few sobs before vomiting onto the floor, an acidic stream of bile and blood ejecting itself from his mouth. He shuddered a few times, the sharp scent of stomach acid and copper mixing together to burn his nostrils. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on Sunny¡¯s head, causing more blood to ooze out of it. ¡°It¡¯s because you never loved him at all. It wasn¡¯t love. It was obsession. You sick bastard.¡± Aubrey grabbed him by his hair and pulled his head up from the floor. ¡°Hey. Hey, look at me. Look at me.¡± Basil looked at her. Something stood with her. ¡°I loved him. And Kel. And Hero. And Mari. Not you. You never loved him.¡± She smashed his head back onto the floor. He tried to scream but no noise came. What were those bright spots? And darkness? Dancing shades of white and black, mixing with the red to create a disgusting amalgamation of angry colors. Groaning, he brought the head to his mouth and took another bite. He was eating. See? Look, he¡¯s being good. He¡¯s being good, he¡¯s trying his best. Just ignore the static. Ignore the clumps of dark hair littering the floor, ignore how Sunny¡¯s eye rolled in its socket, ignore how Basil was crying without tears. ¡°Useless. You¡¯re useless. Why are you even here?¡± Aubrey kicked him again, this time at the back of his head. He felt like he might throw up again. ¡°You¡¯re so fucking pathetic. Look at yourself. Tell me, why do you keep yourself alive when all you do is hurt everyone around you? Look at this mess. You haven¡¯t done anything good in your entire life, and you still think that you should keep living?¡± ¡°No.¡± Basil whispered. It stung, the thin puddle of blood and vomit that spread itself across the floor. It was sickeningly warm and just sticky enough for the bright red liquid to cling to his skin whenever he tried to move. ¡°Nononononono.¡± ¡°Then what? Why are you still alive?¡± ¡°I-I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t know ¡­¡± ¡°Such a simple question and you can¡¯t even answer it?¡± Aubrey retorted. ¡°If you don¡¯t know, then just die already. You should have just drowned at the lake instead of letting me save you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying, please, I want to but-¡± ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re lying now? You¡¯re lying to me?¡± Aubrey kicked him again. He could barely feel it. ¡°You¡¯re not trying. You want to be saved, don¡¯t you? You¡¯re scared of meeting your victims again, scared of facing them. Coward.¡± ¡°N-No, I-¡± ¡°Stop lying!¡± She screamed. ¡°What do you want?¡± Basil cried hoarsely, throat raw and aching. ¡°P-Please¡­ No more. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. It hurts. It hurts.¡± ¡°What do I want? Oh, come on. Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Aubrey grinned horribly and picked Basil up from the floor, grabbing the collar of his shirt with one hand. ¡°I just want what¡¯s best for you.¡±
Kel winked and opened the cooler, a smug look of satisfaction messily painted onto his face. Aubrey had half the mind to wipe it off herself, but curiosity won over her need for senseless violence. Moving as one, she and Basil moved to take a peek inside of the stark white container. She soon found herself staring at various bottles and cans tossed haphazardly on top of each other with what looked like a thin layer of ice at the bottom. Taking a bottle out, she noted that it was only slightly below room temperature. As she read the label, her nose wrinkled in disgust as the words on it affirmed her suspicions; alcohol. ¡°Kel¡­ Why do you have this stuff? And how?¡± He laughed and slammed the cooler down on the table, causing Basil to flinch as the bottles clanked noisily with each other. ¡±Oh, I have my ways. Now come on, Hero isn''t here! We can go wild!¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. They had arrived at the address Kel texted them to find an incredibly noisy house that was entirely too small for any sort of social gathering. As soon as they appeared, Kel found them and forced them to take a thirty minute tour, taking the time to introduce them to each and every other person present. Thankfully, most of the other partygoers didn¡¯t have much to say, otherwise it would have taken hours. ¡°Kel, we¡¯re all underage. This is illegal.¡± He pouted at her. ¡°Don¡¯t be such a stick in the mud, Aubergine. Since when were you such a stickler for the rules, Ms. Troublemaker? Come on, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re chugging down hard vodka, or doing drugs. Relax a bit, huh? Besides, aren¡¯t you curious about the hype? Like, what¡¯s the big deal with this stuff, am I right?¡± She frowned distastefully. Of course she was curious. But it was more of a horribly morbid curiosity than anything else. How else should she feel about it, when she had grown up watching her mother become slowly corrupted from the inside out? Her mother, who would become synonymous with alcohol? What was it about that stuff that corrupted people to their very core? The damned drink tore her family apart and left her to fend for herself. Kel grabbed a beer can from the cooler and opened it. ¡°Oh man, Hero would totally flip if he knew I was doing this! I kind of want to call him and tell him about all this, maybe even send him a few pictures. He¡¯d get mad, don¡¯t you think? Probably start shouting a whole bunch.¡± He took a sip out of the can and made a sour expression. ¡°Eugh. Man, adults actually drink this stuff for fun? It¡¯s like drinking the sweat from old gym socks. You guys should try it!¡± Aubrey rolled her eyes. ¡°Gee, after such a glowing review? I¡¯ll pass.¡± Basil, on the other hand, looked into the cooler for a few seconds before grabbing another can, one that was identical to the one Kel was holding. With one swift motion, he opened it and tossed his head back before proceeding to chug the entire thing. For a moment, the rowdy noise of the party seemed to die as Kel and Aubrey stared at Basil, loud gulps drowning out any background noise. He finished and placed the empty can on the table. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty bitter.¡± He said nonchalantly, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. ¡°What the hell.¡± Aubrey snatched the can and turned it upside down. Not a single drop was left. ¡°Basil, seriously. What the hell.¡± ¡°Um¡­ S-Should I not have done that? I¡¯m sorry¡­ I-I guess it was pretty rude of me to-¡± ¡°Oh my god Basil, that was awesome!¡± Kel shouted. ¡°Dude, have you done this before? Dang, I never thought that Basil out of all people would be a drinker. How long have you been doing this for? Oooh, you wanna take a photo with the both of us drinking and send it to Hero? He would get even angrier if he knew that you were drinking too, oh man this is going to be great! Here, take another one. We have plenty!¡± ¡°I¡­ Um¡­ N-No, I haven¡¯t before¡­ Erm¡­¡± Basil could only stammer helplessly as Kel shoved a tall glass bottle in his hands and brought out his phone. ¡°Nuh uh, hold on. I¡¯m borrowing him for a sec. Come here, Basil.¡± Aubrey grabbed his arm, pulling him away while ignoring Kel¡¯s protests. Maneuvering around several jocks that she could vaguely recognize as belonging to Kel¡¯s basketball squad, she finally found the exit to the house¡¯s porch. She found a pair of rocking chairs left out, one of them filled with fast food wrappers. She brushed them off and forced Basil to sit down. She noticed with disbelief that the bottle in his hands was open and already half empty. ¡°Basil, what¡¯s gotten into you? Trust me, you really don¡¯t want to be drinking that stuff. It¡¯s horrible.¡± Aubrey took the bottle from his hands with no resistance. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to get hungover or something.¡± ¡®Rocking chairs¡­ Do you think that there are elderly people who live here? I-I feel kind of bad for them¡­¡° He said mildly. ¡°I mean, w-what if they come home to just a giant mess? It won¡¯t be easy to clean up all of this.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°O-Oh, sorry!¡± Basil stammered. He had begun rocking back and forth in the chair with manic energy. Not knowing why, Aubrey backed up from him. ¡°I-It¡¯s just¡­ My mind wanders sometimes, you know? Haha, I must have picked that up from Sunny¡­ Um¡­ Kel said that he wanted us to try it, so, I-I¡­ I just did. Was that the wrong thing to do? I messed up again, didn¡¯t I? A-Are you mad? I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± He stopped rocking suddenly, retracting his legs from the ground to tuck his knees to his chest. Wrapping his arms around them, he suddenly looked about ten times smaller. ¡°Sorry¡­ I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°H-Hey, I¡¯m not mad at you or anything!¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Calm down. Look, why don¡¯t we just get out of here? It¡¯s too crowded anyway. Here, I¡¯ll just text Polly to pick us up.¡± ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± They both turned in unison to find Kel standing there in the open. He was still holding his beer can. With the porchlight illuminating him, he gave off a somewhat ominous vibe, something that Aubrey didn¡¯t even think was possible with him. ¡°You guys just got here not even an hour ago. Why are you leaving me already?¡± ¡°L-Leaving¡­ you?¡± Basil muttered. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. Basil is just¡­ feeling sick. I need to get him home.¡± Aubrey said. ¡°What¡¯s with you two lately? Since when did you become best buds?¡± Kel advanced, a bit of foam spilled over from the top of the can. It splashed down onto the floor, darkening the wooden boards under him. ¡°You know, I ran into your gang the other day and they told me that you¡¯ve been hanging out with him, like, twenty-four seven. Is there something going on that you¡¯re not telling me?¡± ¡°What the fuck, Kel? Stop snooping around, nothing¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Oh really? Because it seems like you¡¯re trying to exclude me, for some reason.¡± Kel¡¯s face started to redden. ¡°You didn¡¯t even want to come here! Come on, I¡¯m putting up an effort here to stay friends, like what they would have wanted! And you¡¯re just pushing me away, just like Hero!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot!¡± Aubrey snapped. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Basil get up from the chair, though the brewing clouds of rage were beginning to fog her vision. It seemed like an unimportant detail, a silhouette that flickered on the wall. ¡°I told you, Basil¡¯s not feeling well. That¡¯s it. We¡¯re not trying to push you away or anything like that. And what¡¯s the big deal about that anyway? You¡¯ve got your other friends here, you¡¯ll live.¡± ¡°He¡¯s sick? Don¡¯t give me that! He downed an entire drink in like five seconds and seemed fine! Besides, why do you both have to leave? You¡¯re not his caretaker, you know.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more complicated than that. We¡­ Basil¡­ I need to watch him.¡± ¡°Watch him? What¡¯s that supposed to mean? Come on, stop keeping secrets from me. I¡¯m a part of this too, you don¡¯t have to act like I¡¯m some stupid outsider. We¡¯re supposed to be friends, and you¡¯re just treating me like a stranger!¡± ¡°Well, maybe you are an outsider to all of this!¡± She shouted. What was Kel¡¯s deal? He was trying to pry into Basil¡¯s private life. If he knew, he would just make things worse. Kel always made things worse. How could she get it through that thick skull of his that it wasn¡¯t any of his business? ¡°Basil¡¯s obviously uncomfortable about all of this! You know, the only reason why he went, and the only reason why he drank that stupid beer was because you told him to. He didn¡¯t even want any part of this. You must not be a very good friend if you can¡¯t understand that.¡± ¡°Hey! Speak for yourself, you¡¯re just talking for him at this point! Basil has his own voice, you know.¡± Kel said. ¡°Why are you being so protective of him anyway? Did he tell you something about what happened? About their fight? He did, didn¡¯t he? And you¡¯re trying to keep it from me.¡± ¡°What? Where¡¯s the fuck is this coming from now?¡± Aubrey asked. ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me anything about that, and I never asked. It¡¯s because I have tact Kel. He¡¯s still trying to deal with everything that¡¯s happened, I¡¯m not gonna force him to drag that stuff up! See, this is your problem. You¡¯re so dumb and oblivious that you just say and do whatever shit you want. You don¡¯t even care about what we¡¯ve gone through.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend like you¡¯re the only one suffering! You think I¡¯m having a good time trying to keep everyone happy?¡± Kel shouts, jutting a thumb to his chest aggressively. ¡°You think I¡¯m just being oblivious when I¡¯m the only one putting in effort to keep our friendship alive? We¡¯ve barely even said anything to each other for a week, so duh I¡¯m gonna be worried about what you guys are up to. Did all of that stuff we said to each other when Sunny was gonna move mean nothing? It was supposed to get better. We were supposed to get better.¡± ¡°God, you¡¯re just being so impatient! Like always, you¡¯re just trying to rush into things. Kel, normal people need time when someone close to them dies. Especially when that someone jumps off a fucking building. Don¡¯t you get that? Not everyone can just get right back to their schedule like nothing¡¯s happened. We¡¯re not all like you.¡± ¡°Stop doing that. Stop doing that!¡± Kel was shouting now, the can in his hand forgotten and crushed underneath an iron-clad grip. A slightly crazed look appeared on his face, one that Aubrey didn¡¯t like at all. Bright, flickering lights danced in his eyes, dangerous and bound to explode. ¡°Stop treating me like I¡¯m a moron! You¡¯re saying all of this stuff about me but you¡¯re doing the same thing! I¡¯m telling you straight up that I care about you two, and you¡¯re just taking the high ground! What¡¯s your deal? Do you just hate me or something? Maybe you just got tired of bullying Basil and need a new punching bag.¡± ¡°What did you just say?¡± Aubrey asked quietly. She felt an eye twitch as she took a single step towards him. That¡¯s it. At this point, Kel was just asking for a fight and honestly, she felt happy to oblige. He couldn¡¯t ever understand. No one could. ¡°Fine, come on. Beat me up. Whatever. You know I¡¯m right.¡± Kel crossed his arms. ¡°I knew you changed Aubrey, but dang. This is just messed up. Why do you and Basil have to be alone together? Why can¡¯t you let me help?¡± ¡°Because Basil doesn¡¯t want your help! And neither do I! This¡­ This is too sensitive for you.¡± ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re just talking for him again! I want to know what Basil thinks, not what you think.¡± He leaned over to take a peek behind Basil. ¡°... Um, where is he anyway? Wasn¡¯t he just like, right there?¡± ¡°What?¡± Aubrey spun around to find an empty rocking chair, and an even emptier porch with Basil nowhere to be found. She groaned and slapped her forehead. ¡°Fuck. He¡¯s gone. Great, look at what you¡¯ve done!¡± ¡°Me? I didn¡¯t do anything! You¡¯re the one trying to babysit him, don¡¯t blame it on me.¡± ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck. This can¡¯t be happening. This can¡¯t be happening.¡± She ran her fingers through her hair and began pacing around. Where the hell did he go? Did something happen? Why did he leave? He wasn¡¯t planning anything, was he? Damn it, she should have searched him. Maybe he brought a knife with him, or a rope. What if she was too late? ¡°You got distracted so easily, and now he¡¯s dead. He killed himself and you¡¯re responsible. Weren¡¯t you trying to keep him safe? Kel¡¯s right, you¡¯re just acting crazy. You can¡¯t do anything right.¡± ¡°Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!¡± She screamed, pounding her fists against her head roughly. The sudden force of it was dizzying, and she stumbled on her feet. Falling backwards into the chair, she groaned and pressed her palms against her temples, trying to ease the painfully loud pounding that had begun to echo in her ears. ¡°W-Woah, Aubrey¡­ Um, take it easy. L-Look, why don¡¯t we just search for him together?¡± Kel suggested hesitantly. Remnants of their argument still lingered in his expression, but he seemed to have pushed them aside for now. That was Kel for you. ¡°I¡¯ll ask around inside.¡± ¡°Ugh. Okay. Whatever. I just need to find him¡­¡± Aubrey trailed off as she looked to her left. The house the party was being hosted in was right next to a large, expansive patch of woods. Bare trees, dark and lanky, were packed together tightly enough that she could barely see anything beyond the first few layers of trees. If Basil had snuck back inside, he would have had to gone past both her and Kel without either of them noticing, so it seemed likely that he was still outside. ¡°There. I¡¯m going to look in that forest. If you find him, call me. Bye.¡± Ignoring Kel¡¯s confused protests, as well as the sense of foreboding welling up inside of her, she stood from the chair and jumped off the porch, grunting as she landed a few feet onto the ground. Without looking back, she walked into the forest, ducking under the sharp branches and wading through the thick layer of dead leaves littering the ground. Chapter Twelve Basil gazed down at the bottle of beer; this one was thin and went down easier than the others, with a hint of sweetness that was barely noticeable, but there nonetheless. He took a small sip and looked at the neatly organized row of empty containers that he had accumulated over the past fifteen minutes, a straight and kept line of bottles and cans that ascended in order of height, highlighted within the petulant bask of rotting light. There were five in total now. For reasons beyond his reckoning, his throat still felt brittle. For every breath of air he took, dry warmth would scratch at his irritated tongue. Maybe it was the dilapidated room that he stood in, a claustrophobic box being dimly lit by a single, hanging lightbulb that he had turned on with a pull chain. The air here was horribly musty, its smell culminating into a sour taste in his mouth that was only amplified by the lingering scent of alcohol that had long since merged with his breath. From the looks of it, he was in the laundry room; two white cubes were sitting amidst a maze of rusted pipes and valves, sticking out sorely against the dirty background with their surprisingly well-kept appearance. Kel¡¯s cooler sat on top of one of them. Next to it, the wall of empty drinks that he had built up. Somewhere, amidst the dusk, Something stared. Basil took another sip, and it didn¡¯t blink. ¡°Because.¡± He said, calmly. Somehow, he found that the sound of his own voice was soothing. A soft break from the harrowing silence that had bore down on him in isolation, the rust. Something reached forward with a barbed appendage and rubbed his shoulder gently. A slow winding, the lifting of his arm, and then he struck his fist against the side of his face. A high pitched buzzing filled his ears. ¡°Because. Because.¡± He was so, so thirsty. Taking another drink, he found that the brew had turned black in his mouth. A disgustingly thick sourness that ate away at his tongue and gums, biting into the sensitive flesh like chewing a mouthful of tacks. With one swift motion, he finished the rest of the bottle and then threw it on the floor. It didn¡¯t break, only making a harsh noise, jarring and unpleasant, before rolling away. Not missing a beat, he bent down to pick it up and tried again. It broke this time, fracturing into several segmented shards of brown glass. Basil grabbed one of the pieces of broken glass; it was small enough to easily fit in his palm, but big enough to actually be tangible, just slightly larger than his thumb. An object, gleaming and deadly under the light. With slow, measured movements, he unwrapped the bandages around his left arm to reveal a small slit of dried skin, dark red and obscene. His hands shook terribly as he tucked the shard of glass between the pads of his middle finger and thumb. The index finger on his right hand jutted out and began moving towards the scab, the nail on it long and uneven, with opaque gray dirt tucked underneath it. Mouth hanging ajar, he stared unblinkingly as the fingernail dug underneath the scab. It worked its way through, wriggling horribly as he enveloped itself within the familiar cloud of pain, reawoken from its slumber of inaction. His whispering moans filled the empty room. Eyes bulging, he found it in himself to stare through the clouds of red and look, really look as he peeled barely-formed scab off his arm through pulls and scratches. The dried piece of skin stuck to the underside of his nail, though when he absent-mindedly shook his hand, it fell loose easily. A small string of drool fell from the side of his mouth and pooled on the top of his arm. There. If he pulled at the skin hard enough, he could see the thin cut begin to expand, to open. If he drew his arm muscles taut and squeezed his fist until his veins popped, he could see the small drops of blood begin to gather. He brought forth the piece of glass and touched the freshly bleeding wound with it. An undeniably exhilarating coldness spawned from the contact, breaking off into webs and bringing his nerves into high alert. Basil pushed the blade further into the wound, There was resistance at first, though it did not take much effort to overcome it. The shard of glass squeezed in between the gap in his skin and settled within the pocket of flesh with ease, now painted a glossy red that gave it the appearance of glowing, even in the faint gleam of the lightbulb. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his mind sputtered to comprehend the radiant sense of hurt that had spawned and begun its journey throughout his body. His mouth moved and sounds came, but they were utterly nonsensical, half-words and whimpers and groans and silent wheezing. He twisted the glass some and shivered as the pain brought his lungs to a screeching halt. He couldn¡¯t breathe. ¡°It goes, it goes, it goes, don¡¯t drop it don¡¯t drop it hold on to it don¡¯t let it slip¡± Brilliant, burning, a shard of metal embedded into his flesh that sent spasms through his body. The pain that spawned from the reopened wound was bright and flaring, overloading him with a sort of agony that was just short of electrifying. Because. Because, he deserved it. Because, how could he still live with the knowledge that such obstruction of justice would go unpunished, unknown? The unfairness of it was black and rotting, an obscene stain upon life that left a strong sense of distaste within him. Unable to bear it any longer, he pulled the shard out from his body and stuffed it in his pocket. It was disgusting, warm. He picked up what he could that remained of the glass bottle and dumped them in the empty cooler. It was only then that his breathing resumed. Because it was the next best thing. Because it was all he could do in the face of the never ending loop that presented itself to him, a self-perpetuating cycle of fear, pain, and cowardice. Panting, he rewrapped his wound, sealing the bandage with a small tab of medical tape that he had stolen from a first-aid kid he found in the restroom. The pain had ebbed now, though it left an incredibly dense weight hanging in the back of his throat. His fingertip was red. The repetition of it all was red. He was red. Where did his exhaustion go? He wanted it back. He wanted to close his eyes and feel the comfortable heaviness settle upon him. He wanted for his mind to grow sluggish and for his limbs to beg weakly for a moment¡¯s rest. He wanted to lay down on his bed and bring a heavy blanket over his body and to just be enveloped in warmth, to allow himself to be lulled into a state of sleep and never wake up. The frigid cold haunting him wouldn¡¯t let him. The shaking, the trembling, it wouldn¡¯t let him. Whenever he closed his eyes, he wouldn¡¯t be brought under the spell of drowsiness. He would see it. Something. Or Sunny. Or Aubrey. Or simply an intertwining mass of veins, pulsating thinly in weaved webs of disgusting, dripping red with organs entangled within. How could he be inclined to allow his body a good night¡¯s sleep when all it brought upon him was pain in the form of hellish nightmares that would rob him of any energy he had by the next morning? It seemed counter-productive. ¡°Hey! Basil, there you are!¡± Basil looked up to see Kel, slightly disheveled and panting with the looks of someone who had just ran a marathon. Kel was staring at him from just outside the door frame, blocking the outside light with his body; Basil hadn¡¯t even noticed that the door opened. In fact, he wasn¡¯t even sure if he had closed it at all to begin with. ¡°Jeez, where the heck did you run off too? We were looking for you, man. What even is this place? And¡­ um, did you drink all of those?¡± ¡°You¡­ were? Oh. Sorry, I just¡­ had to get away from the shouting.¡± Basil said sheepishly. After they had started arguing, Basil had got up and left, finding a glass sliding door just on the other side of the porch. Their voices felt loud enough that if he were to stay for any longer, his eardrums would shatter. Unfortunately, the party going on inside of the house didn¡¯t make things much better. Somehow though, he managed to find the laundry room, tucked away in the basement next to some teenagers playing pool. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t ask questions as he awkwardly snuck into the room with the cooler.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Holy crap, did you finish off the rest of the drinks?¡± Kel stared at the row of bottles and cans incredulously. ¡°Were you just chugging away in here for the past fifteen minutes? You¡¯re not gonna start throwing up or anything, are you? You gotta be careful man, you¡¯re pretty skinny so this stuff gets to you easier.¡± ¡°Um¡­ I¡¯m okay, yeah.¡± Basil scratched the back of his head. ¡°Well, you should probably carry a plastic bag around just in case you get sick. Anyway, Aubrey was freaking out when she found out you were missing.¡± Kel explained as he grabbed onto Basil¡¯s arm - his wounded arm - and pulled him out of the room. He bit down on his lips just in time to choke back a scream as his arm muscles spasmed in protest of the unexpected burst of pain. ¡°She just jumped off the porch and ran into the woods. Like, I guess she thought you were hiding there? I dunno why though, it would be kind of weird if you decided to go there.¡± ¡°A-Aubrey? Ugh, I¡¯m worrying her again¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m such an idiot.¡± Basil groaned. What a burden he was, making them search for him like that while he locked himself in the laundry room and hogged all of Kel¡¯s drinks for himself. Why they would even consider him as a friend at this point, he had no idea. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll go find her. The woods, right?¡± ¡°Uh, maybe not a great idea. It¡¯s getting dark out, you might get lost. I¡¯ll just call her.¡± Kel whipped out his phone, a thick brick-like device that was just barely modern enough to have a touchscreen, and quickly called her from his contacts list. Ten seconds passed, and he frowned before redialing. Then he recalled again, and again, and again. Finally, he shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s not answering. Huh. Maybe there¡¯s no signal out there or something.¡± ¡°What? Aubrey¡­¡± Basil¡¯s breathing quickened. ¡°This¡­ This is all my fault. Aubrey¡¯s lost and it¡¯s my fault. W-What if she gets hurt? Or worse? I need to find her. I need to find her! I can¡¯t let this happen¡­ Not again, please not again¡­¡± ¡°What? Oh no, now you¡¯re freaking out too?¡± Kel complained. ¡°Wait. Maybe you¡¯re just drunk... Huh, drunk Basil. Never thought I¡¯d see the day! You know, I always thought that you would start smoking weed someday but you never struck me as - hey, where are you going?¡± Basil ignored him and stumbled his way outside. Retracing his steps, he managed to get back to the porch where Kel and Aubrey had their fight; the various burger wrappers and empty plastic cups that Aubrey sweeped off the rocking chair were still there. Kel caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Basil didn¡¯t even notice. ¡°Hey, Basil! Seriously, chill out. Oh wait, I know! What if we look for her together? In fact, I¡¯ll get some of my friends to help too. Wait here, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Without even a glance back, Kel left as soon as he had appeared. Basil promptly walked down the porch steps and approached the web of bare trees, beckoning him with their dark, crooked limbs. Aubrey was there, somewhere. He had to let her know that he was okay. That he was sorry for everything. That he wouldn¡¯t leave her again.
She walked and listened to the crackly crunching of leaves produced by every step she took. There was no life here, no light, no hope, only the dark, and the never-changing scenery of looming trees surrounding her as well as the faintly foul stench permeating the chilling air. All she could think about was Basil, Basil hanging from a tree, Basil laying face down in a bed of leaves, Basil with his back against a tree and a knife stuck in his chest; every now and again, she saw it. Him. Dead, his corpse brutally wounded or otherwise generally lifeless and with a crown of frail twigs stuck to his hair. When she approached these mirages with spikes of fear stabbing into her heart and found that they were just malformed shadows playing tricks on her panic-stricken brain, there was no relief. Only a sense of dread that told her she had been lucky, that the next time she saw an odd shape or silhouette, it wouldn¡¯t be any sort of illusion. ¡°Basil. Basil, come out. I¡¯m not mad at you, we can go home. Let¡¯s go home Basil, come out¡­ please.¡± Whether she screamed or whispered, she did not know. All she could hear was the crunching. Of the leaves, of the dead leaves, of the bones of Basil, the bones of Sunny and Mari and her mother dead on the couch from a brain aneurysm or a heart attack or stroke and rotting with no one to notice or care. Her nail-studded bat crushing the skulls of strangers. Why was it so dark outside? Something moved in the corner of her eye and she leapt at it, an arm outstretched and with a strangled yelp. It was nothing, of course. Simply a trick of the light, the shadow of a shadow of a shadow of a branch waving in the air from a slight breeze. She laughed, once, and contemplated whether or not she was lost. She was. It was so cold. When she looked up, she couldn¡¯t even make out the moon; the sky had been blotted out with layers upon layers of branches, some with nooses hanging from them, some dripping thick, coagulated blood. ¡°Get ahold of yourself, Aubrey. You just need to find Basil and make sure he stays safe. He isn¡¯t dead. You would know if he died, that¡¯s a fact. Just calm down and stop jumping at every shadow.¡± ¡°But what if he is dead? What if he just fucking ended it? He¡¯s suicidal, he¡¯s hiding from me, and it¡¯s all my fault because he¡¯s still scared of me. Why did I bully him? Over that photo album. That damn album.¡± ¡°He isn¡¯t dead. You would know. You would know, we would know. Find him, make sure he doesn¡¯t get a chance to even try anything.¡± ¡°How? How would I know?¡± ¡°...¡± Unsurprisingly, Aubrey couldn¡¯t provide a reason and neither could her imaginary counterpart. Because really, she would have no idea. That simple fact shook her to the core, the sheer uncertainty of it all, the possibility that all of this was just to find the remains of yet another suicide. She stared at it, the unfolding scene built upon the path of leaves and twigs and moss and bark ahead of her. Basil was sitting on the ground, staring up with lifeless eyes that looked at her without recognition. Something, something dark and twisted and with a single, bulging eye loomed over his corpse, which had a giant, bloody gaping hole in his stomach. Laying on top of a pale hand, gardening shears sticky with thick blood coating its blades. He wore his ruined green sweater, stained brown and torn from his near drowning at the lake. Repressing the urge to vomit, she looked away, though what was that in the distance? At first glance, it appeared to be an oddly shaped mound of dirt with some sort of plant growing on it, and above it, a snapped branch that clung on to a tree through only a string of bark sinew. The crumpled corpse of Sunny, body broken and battered from his deadly jump. With his uninjured eye still closed, his expression could have almost been peaceful were it not for the awkward angles his limbs were bent in and the ugly stains of bright red trailing over his pale skin, pooling under his body in a thin puddle of blood spawned from reopened wounds. Above him, inexplicably, was the body of Mari, dug up from her grave and practically zombified, with starkly white maggots eating away at her rotting skin and with worms wriggling within the black nest of wire that was once her hair. Her head hung at a crooked angle from the brightly colored jump rope from which she hung; her body, lightly swinging back and forth in the wind, was completely bare. Dark purple, almost black bruises colored her naked corpse in a bizarre act of body painting, complementing the various other forms of gangrene rot that marred her once angelic beauty. Her phone rang. She dug it out of her jacket pocket and held it up to her ear and muttered, ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Hey Aubrey, this is Kel. Hero¡¯s dead. He suffered a heart attack, the doctors said it was from prolonged stress. He hadn¡¯t slept in days and had been running on coffee, juggling a bunch of jobs with studying for his college stuff. His funeral is in thirty minutes.¡± She wasn¡¯t holding her phone. ¡°Fuck, I need to get out of here.¡± ¡°Gee, you really think so?¡± ¡°Shut up, me.¡± ¡°Make me.¡± She suddenly pistoned her fist forward to punch a nearby tree. The bark splintered and at once, her fist was alight in a haze of burning pain. She grinned nastily as her voice grew silent, though the grin soon died out as she slowly realized what she had done. Cursing under her breath, she pressed her limp and bleeding hand against her shirt and began sprinting aimlessly, bat dragging roughly along the ground behind her. She had to find Basil and get out, get out of whatever field of nightmares she had found herself trapped in. A plan, simple but definitive, had formed. She would find Basil. If he was alive, they would find a way out. If he was dead, she would carry his corpse out of the woods. If she couldn¡¯t find him, she would look some more. She would just keep on looking until she dropped dead. Chapter Thirteen Basil found himself walking between two worlds, the flickering red and the cold gloom of the woods. When he paused to look down at his feet, to make sure that he really was walking, he would sometimes see thick piles of twigs and leaves that snapped under his steps. Other times, he would be wading through a pool of blood, still warm and even flowing, as if he were inside of an artery. His right hand was shoved firmly inside of his pants pocket, fingers dancing over the smooth surface of the glass shard, feeling its rubber slipperiness and allowing himself to take comfort in its cool, solid feel. Occasionally, he could catch glances of Something, darting behind trees and spying on him with its unblinking eye, always judging but never speaking. How much had it grown over these past few days? If it wished, Basil imagined that it could stretch itself to encompass the entire forest, trapping both him and Aubrey inside forever. Aubrey. Hesitantly, he took out the piece of glass from his pocket and looked at it. It was covered in red flecks of dried blood; even so, he could just make out the distinct silhouette of Sunny trailing behind him, his reflected silhouette warped and disfigured and tainted with dark, swirling colors. In his hand, of course, was a large steak knife, stained with Basil¡¯s own blood. Unconsciously, Basil unwrapped the gauze on his arm, peeling off the medical tape without so much as a single thought behind his actions. ¡°Sunny. You came back for me after all.¡± Sunny didn¡¯t respond. Basil quickened his pace, and Sunny did the same in turn. ¡°You¡¯re probably sick of hearing this from me by now, but¡­ I¡¯m sorry. And I¡¯ll make it up to you, I promise. Soon.¡± Sunny didn¡¯t respond. Distantly, somewhere behind him, shouting could be heard, panicked and somewhat desperate in its tones. It only took a few more steps for the shouting to be drowned out, to be replaced with an eerie air of silence that was only tainted by his own footsteps. He wondered if Aubrey was okay, if she would ever forgive him for leaving her. He wasn¡¯t so sure if he could forgive himself, but what did his own opinion matter at this point? ¡°They don¡¯t. Sunny, are you bored? Do you want to do something else? It¡¯s okay if you do, I don¡¯t mind. After all we¡¯ve been through together, I¡¯ll go along with whatever you want, really.¡± Sunny raised his knife. His reflection was shaking terribly, form barely more than a shifting puddle of putty. Basil turned the glass slightly and looked at himself, finding a pale and gaunt face, aged with years of exhaustion that clung to his skin stubbornly. A single damp strand of hair hung over his face; it was gray. The sight of his reflection sent a sudden wave of sickness over him, filling his lungs with a thickly acidic air that brought stinging tears to his eyes and scalded his throat. Doubling over, Basil held his hands to his chest as he vomited, a sickly thin spew of clear liquid, little more than bile and the repugnant stench it brought. Basil spat at the ground to clear his mouth of the awful sourness before straightening himself, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn¡¯t notice how within his clenched fist, a small torrent of blood began flowing, squeezing through the crevices between his fingers. Lengthy lacerations marred his palm, deep cuts brought upon by the shard that he held. Somewhere ahead of him, uncertainty beckoned. Basil and Sunny followed, trudging through the pool of red without paying heed. Their palms bled.
Aubrey cried out and swung her bat at nothing. It collided with nothing, and nothing fell to the ground in an unmoving heap. She shouted again, and swung her bat down again at the nothing. Her bat made a solid thunk as it bounced off the nothing and nearly rebounded to her face. She could hear them, the whispering gossip of the trees around her. That unwelcoming, harsh noise that grated her ears with sad, almost pitiful intonations. ¡°Get me out, get me out! Where the fuck is he, tell me! Give him back, give him back right now or I swear to fucking god none of you will live to say another word!¡± In the thick cloud of laughter, Something. ¡°Basil!¡± She screamed. ¡°Where are you?! Let me find you!¡± A footstep sounded out from behind her and the voices died. She froze, taken aback by the sudden silence that the footstep brought with it. Gripping her bat tightly with both hands, she turned around, expecting to find exactly what she saw. Mari, with a noose (wasn¡¯t it a jump rope before?) hanging loosely around her neck. The length of it trailed behind her, the tip splintered into hundreds of thin, frayed hairs, as if the rope had snapped. Her eyes were open and completely white, yet Aubrey knew that she was staring right into her eyes. Aubrey held the gaze for a few seconds before breaking eye contact and turning around. ¡°Just a hallucination. You¡¯re stressed, you haven¡¯t gotten much sleep, you¡¯re traumatized¡­ All perfectly natural, just ignore it.¡± She looked back at Mari again. She grinned, revealing a mouthful of blackened teeth and buzzing blowflies, wriggling and walking on her gray lips, flying in and out of her throat, feasting on the sweet taste of decaying meat. ¡°It¡¯s a long way back, Aubrey. But don¡¯t be scared! We¡¯ve been through so much together. We can take on anything!¡± Aubrey didn¡¯t know whether she should cry or bash the reanimated corpse in the head as hard as she could. In the end, she chose neither, instead turning back around and continuing walking, speeding up a bit in the hopes that she could leave it behind. The soft echo of Mari¡¯s footfalls behind her told her all that she needed to know. Face flushed, she called out for Basil once more. No response came. Behind her, Mari began to hum.
¡°... know, and that¡¯s why¡­ That¡¯s what I told them. They were so loud, I tried to ignore them but they kept pushing. They said that I could go to juvie. They said that I might have to see a therapist. What if they found out, Sunny? What if they found out what happened to Mari? That¡¯s why¡­ I had to form a truce. With S-Something. I hate it. It¡¯s evil, it killed Mari¡­ It got us all into this mess. But it knew how to hide things. It knew, it knew Sunny. It put me in some room called RED SPACE. A lot of weird stuff happened in there. It was almost like a dream, though it wasn¡¯t a very nice one. I saw someone there who looked a lot like you, Sunny. He even had the same eye wound that¡­ Oh. I¡¯m really sorry about that, Sunny. I¡¯ll never forgive myself for doing that to you. Maybe, one day, you could take one of mine? An eye for an eye right? What¡¯s with that look you¡¯re giving me? D-Did I say something wrong? Of course I did. Sorry. And, I tried to help Sunny, I really did. If we were both gone, then no one would ever know. Not now, not ever. Our friends could go on with their lives and we would be forgotten¡­ Wouldn¡¯t that have been nice? Almost like heaven, I think. No one to remember you, no one to disappoint, no one to ask questions, no one to accidentally hurt. I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯d really like that. T-Though if you would prefer to be remembered, I totally understand! I¡¯m not saying that you should be forgotten, I was just¡­ Oh, what¡¯s wrong with me? Everything¡¯s going to be okay, isn¡¯t it? I can¡¯t ruin this for you. Sunny, I love you. She said I was just obsessed, but I really do love you. You¡¯re my best friend¡­ Well, maybe not anymore. You must not think of me as a friend, right? Not after all of this. That¡¯s okay though. I deserve it. I mean, even after everything that¡¯s happened, I left Aubrey. Can you believe that? How stupid am I? She¡¯s done nothing but try to help me and I abandoned her. Maybe that¡¯s why everything hurts. Maybe that¡¯s why I have a headache and my hands hurt and I¡¯m bleeding everywhere and¡­ I-I¡¯m not sleepy. I don¡¯t feel tired, Sunny. I¡¯m not hungry either. What does that mean? Why can¡¯t I see straight anymore? Sunny? What¡¯s wrong with me?¡± Basil stopped walking and looked at the piece of glass. There was nothing but red. Frowning, he wiped it on the sleeve of his shirt before holding it up again. Though somewhat smudged, he could once again make him out in the reflection. A faint smile danced on Sunny¡¯s lips as he met Basil¡¯s stare. ¡°I hear Mari.¡± Sunny said.
¡°It¡¯s not real. I¡¯m just stressed out. Or having a nightmare. Or both.¡± Aubrey said to herself as she ran through the woods, weaving in and out to avoid tripping on the various sorts of decrepit debris scattered in her path. Behind her, Mari followed her pace, panting with tired exertion all the while. Aubrey didn¡¯t want to look, afraid of what she might find. A shambling, crooked corpse sprinting at her with clouds of flies and a crown of worms? The thought of that thing chasing behind her was enough to make her speed up.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Nightmare, it¡¯s a nightmare. Everything¡¯s a nightmare.¡± ¡°Aubrey, slow down! My knee¡­¡± She tripped over something and gave out a small yelp as she tumbled to the ground, arms outstretched to catch herself. Her bat slipped out of her grip as harsh, stinging pains streaked her exposed skin, which was now stained with an ugly combination of dried red and scattered brown. Groaning, she pulled herself up and tried to ignore the screams of protest coming from her injured hand, which was now coated in a thin layer of blood. She grabbed her bat. Behind her, the footfalls came to a halt. She didn¡¯t look. Something was in front of her. A single bulging eye stuck out, bloodshot and furious. Despite this, it grinned at her. Grinned at her with its horrible mouth of immaculate, white teeth, sharpened to points and taunting. Behind her, Mari said something, though she couldn¡¯t make out exactly what. It didn¡¯t matter. She was dead. She wasn¡¯t real. Aubrey tightened her grip on her bat, and took a step forward.
Basil heard them clearly, the screams of anguish coming from his right. They were savage, horribly guttural noises that pained him more every second. The voice was unrecognizable. Barely human. Brutal. Behind him, Sunny nodded. Basil didn¡¯t see this, but he felt the air around him shift and he understood. He approached the screams.
¡°Leave me alone. Leave me alone! You think you can take me on, huh? A fight¡¯s what you want?¡± Aubrey swung her bat and Something crumpled, its body disfiguring further as it sunk to the ground with a deep hiss. It still grinned. It still stared, stared that accusatory look to peer into her soul and judge every sin that weighed upon her. Basil¡¯s torture, her anger, Sunny, her mother, all of it. Aubrey screamed, shamed and violated. Turning her bat to the side with the nails, she swung as hard as she could at the taunting figure in front of her. ¡°Take that!¡± She shouted as Something oozed black blood. It stared. She adjusted her aim and struck it directly in its unblinking eye. There was a quiet popping noise, unimportant and nearly unnoticeable. Finally, finally, the eye vanished in a sea of black and red, and all that remained was a hollow socket. But it still smiled. ¡°You fuck! Just die already, die and leave me alone!¡± ¡°Something behind you. Something in the woods. Something in the dark.¡± Aubrey whirled around to find herself facing Something. It extended a black, jagged appendage and she was wholly unsurprised to see Mari¡¯s decapitated head, cut cleanly from the neck down and bleeding dull, coagulated blood that poured out of her throat in chunks, almost like expired milk. She swung her bat and it cut cleanly through the tendril. ¡°I hate you! I hate you!¡± ¡°Hey Aubrey, what¡¯s the matter? Are you okay? It¡¯s me, Basil. Just calm down, okay? Deep breaths. Everything¡¯s going to be okay.¡± She shivered and saw that Something had appeared. It held an arm out to her and she swung her bat down at the open hand. It cleaved it in two. What was that noise? The rustle of thin branches above her, the clicking of teeth chattering together. She looked above her to find nothing. An empty, moonless sky free from obstruction. Sharp prickles, hot and itching terribly, danced on her scalp and she cried out in frustration. She raked her free hand through her hair, dragging her nails through her head roughly. A few strands of hair came loose and she began to cry. Something stared at her and she bashed it with her bat. Something smiled, and she killed it.
Was that really Aubrey that he was looking at? That disheveled, crazed monster, screaming and shouting in an incomprehensible jumble of words? Stumbling around like an old drunkard and swinging at empty air with that bat? Strong, reassuring Aubrey, the same who saved his life and took care of him while he wallowed in self-pity and wished for an end? The same Aubrey who he left so selfishly? The same Aubrey who made him suffer for so long, and still made him suffer? His friend? He looked out from behind a thin wall of trees in a sort of awe. Sunny took Basil¡¯s hand and squeezed it. It hurt, but in a nice way. A way that made him feel grounded, more alert. Basil''s hands stopped shaking.
¡°Why is this happening to me? Why can¡¯t I wake up? Where¡¯s Basil? Am I going crazy? Is this what going crazy feels like?¡± Aubrey took a single, shuddering breath and glared bitterly at Something standing in front of her. As if her withering glare alone could break down the ghost haunting her, make it leave her alone, make it bring Mari back, make it keep Mari dead and buried six feet under in that birchwood coffin behind the church where she belonged dead as a doornail never to be seen again left to be decomposed by the bacteria living on her cold, lifeless corpse. It was an open-casket funeral. Aubrey wished that it wasn¡¯t. When the coffin was being lowered into the ground, it was entirely possible that Mari opened her eyes. ¡°Morticians sew the eyes shut so that stuff like this doesn¡¯t happen.¡± She pulled her fist back and punched Something right in its eye. It disintegrated and Aubrey felt no satisfaction. Just a terrible anger at the unfairness of it all, because it appeared again. Unharmed, smiling, staring, and god fucking damn it just die why won¡¯t you die haven¡¯t you done enough you stupid thing what¡¯s your problem what even are you why are you trying to do all of this why can I even see you you¡¯re nothing you¡¯re a ghost this is all a nightmare i want to wake up now please wake me up i can¡¯t stand this anymore i just want to see Basil again see him smile see him act like himself again i just want to wake up and see Sunny again and Mari and Kel and Hero and everyone all together and happy and just leave me alone please just die what do I have to do to just make you die? She swung her bat. Something fell to the ground lifelessly and turned into a cloud of black smoke. Panting heavily, she gripped her bat with both of her hands and propped it against the ground, a sort of walking stick to put some of the weight off of her aching legs. In, out. In, out. Dirty, frozen air, but air nonetheless.
Aubrey stopped swinging at the air and became still, the only movements being her tired breathing. Slowly, Basil walked out from the small enclosure of trees. He pulled Sunny by the arm, who followed without protest. ¡°A-Aubrey? Are you¡­ okay?¡± Aubrey turned around. ¡°Aubrey, I¡¯m sorry. I¡­ I was still at the house, I just left because¡­ I don¡¯t know. I just wanted to be alone. I¡¯m really sorry. K-Kel found me and he told me, told me that you were looking for me. So¡­¡± Aubrey straightened up and tightened her grip on her bat. A tired, resigned look descended upon her. ¡°Aubrey?¡±
A distinct ear-splitting whistle filled the air, complementing the resounding ringing of tinnitus that had already settled in his ears. Black smoke began to fill the air, only to dissipate as the sheer cleanliness of the atmosphere filtered it out. Still, he could see it through his closed eyelids. The hints of life. The red, the pink, the black. Or was it death? Either one was a much preferred alternative to the muteness of nothing, so it really made no difference. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at Sunny. Basil¡¯s bleeding palm was held firmly against an expansive white wall, staining its immacualte beauty with red. Sunny looked at him. An angel. Beautiful. The pain faded and Basil sighed in relief, the enormous weight finally being taken off of his shoulders. What was he ever worried about?
When they found her, she was kneeling down next to Basil¡¯s corpse with a faraway look in her eyes. Her bright, harsh hair only served to augment her countenance, which had gone ashen gray. She was muttering something under her breath. She limply held a blood-splattered bat, the side with nails resting against the ground. Basil was nearly unrecognizable; his face was reduced to a brutal mutilation of twisted skin, flesh, and blood. One of his eyes had been punctured, and sat in its socket as a sagged, deformed pouch that oozed some sort of pinkish liquid. Deep, dark red stained his clothes and formed a small puddle around his head and neck, framing his mauled features. ¡°Why? Why does this keep happening?¡± Kel stepped next to her and took the bat from her hand. She didn¡¯t resist or say a word otherwise. A sharp, raking fear had taken hold of his heart and it was all he could do to not break down right then and there. With sweaty hands, he took his brick-phone out of his pocket and dialed Hero. He didn¡¯t know if it was the right thing to do or not, but he needed something to do. A distraction, something to, even if just for a little bit, get him away from it all. But of course, Hero didn¡¯t pick up. It went to voicemail. He wanted to scream. At Hero, at Aubrey, at Basil, at the people who were now crowding around, talking in hushed whispers and standing around doing nothing with their hands shoved in their pockets. He wanted to break down and start crying, he wanted to shake Aubrey by the shoulders and make her say something, he wanted to run away from it all and hope that all of this was just a bad dream. Instead, he just dialed 911 and brought his phone up to his ear. He began to talk in a quiet, composed voice that was entirely unlike his own.
She took a deep drag from the cigarette held between her fingers and spared a glance at her reflection in the black screen in front of her. There was a moment of consciousness, of self-pity and disgust, and then it was gone. Around her, the foul stench of garbage and rotting food. Lazily, she lifted her arm up and turned it on with the remote. The remote, thin and caked in grime, coagulated brown slime from cold rotisserie chicken and sticky, melted ice cream eaten straight from the pint. The screen flickered to some sort of documentary. She didn''t know or care what it was about. Upstairs, locked in a barren prison, there was a small bunny that sat curled up in a tight ball, relatively motionless; the gnawing pains of hunger had sapped its energy. In a few days, it would be reduced to a rotting carcass. No one would be around to care or notice until too late. Sinking into the couch, she settled in and allowed herself to feel comfortable. The next day, she would awaken to her door being broken down. She would be incarcerated and questioned about her daughter before being prosecuted for gross negligence and child abuse. She would be found dead in her cell before the trial even started, having died from severe cardiac arrest. But for now, the drifting away, the background noise pulling her mind to some far away depths, it let her feel sane again. Somewhere behind her, she heard knocking on the door. It continued for a while, the unwelcome rapports that gave her the starting pains of a headache. With a tight-lipped scowl, she increased the volume on the television. Whoever it was, they could wait.