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As the landscape became more and more familiar, a soft smile was drawn on Sunny's lips, his long-awaited summer vacation had finally arrived, and there was no better way to spend it than by visiting his childhood friends in Faraway, his hometown. The sun was already setting on the horizon, and he was worried about not being on time for dinner.
There had been difficult days, but in the end, his friends had matured enough to understand. It was not easy at first, there was crying and pain, but as did the injuries that Basil obtained that decisive night, their own wounds also ended up healing and becoming scars. Scars that were still there, but at the same time not, they were the remains of what was once their suffering, as a constant reminder that no longer haunted them.
It was not easy for Sunny either, but in spite of everything, he persisted, the ghosts of his past followed him from time to time, but not in the same way they once did.
They had agreed a few months before that he would stay at Kel and Hero's house, it would only be three weeks, but that was more than enough. When the cab arrived at its destination, he noticed his friend sitting on the sidewalk, drinking a can of Orange Joe, that drink that only he seemed to like, his favorite since they were just kids.
Kel turned his eyes straight to the car, and got up so quickly that his drink fell to the floor, which didn't seem to matter to him at all.
"Sunny, you're here!,” he yelled excitedly. “Hero, come here!”
The tallest boy came out the front door with a warm smile on his face, behind him, Hector, his dog who wagged his tail happily as he recognized the boy who used to play with his owners in the front yard years ago.
“You're early,” he said as he offered to carry the pair of bags. “The others are already in the room, they will be very happy to see you.”
As he had said, inside the house were his old friends, some older than others. Basil and Aubrey sitting on the couch seemed to be having a nice conversation, and on the floor, Kim and Vance had dusted off their old deck of cards and were having a friendly game with Angel.
“Sunny.” smiled Basil, drawing the attention of Aubrey who crossed eyes with him but without saying a word.
“Welcome home.” she finally said, twisting her lips into a little smile.
“Yeah, nice to see you, nerd” added the girl with glasses.
Kel's mother appeared with little Sally in her arms, calling the group to go to dinner.
“Woah, second dinner this week,” shouted Angel. “My sister only cooks me that horrible vegan food.”
The older ones laughed at the kid's words, he was right, it had only been a few days since Hero came home from college to spend his vacation with his family and friends. Turkey leg with mashed potatoes and peas, despite the heat of summer, everyone was happy to eat a delicious home-cooked dinner, no doubt Hero had inherited his cooking skills from his mother. The group sat down at the table and between nice talks and a few jokes, they caught up, summer vacation was just beginning, and there was a lot to do.
“Mikhael said he was going to be late, can you believe it Sunny? He ended up joining his family's business.” commented Kel turning to his friend.
“It's a shame that The Maverick can't spend a lot of time with us anymore,” Angel said with a downcast expression.”But that's okay! Now Kel is my new mentor, right?”
“Y-yeah, sure,” the boy chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, at least the kid was interested in sports now that he insisted on being like him. “Anyway, he is supposed to be here sooner or later.”
“By the way, guess who cooked again!” smiled Basil, who was sitting on his right, in the last few months the light-haired boy had slowly regained his joy, after all, he had his friends on his side this time.
“Dude, I dare say his cookies are even better than candies” claimed Vance.
“Ergh, it's not like we have a choice since we’re banned from the candy store" grumbled his sister.”
“Oh, come on, I just helped Mom with dinner tonight, you guys are exaggerating”
“So modest as ever.” laughed Kel.
While the others were laughing, Sunny could feel the look of a certain girl with dyed hair on him. He wasn't sure if they were on very good terms, when he decided to tell them the truth about the day Mari died, Aubrey seemed upset, her initial reaction was to scream, as if the yell had been lodged in her throat for a long time and she really needed to get it out. Right after that, the girl stormed out of the hospital room. Probably if she had had her baseball bat at the time, she would have smashed something.
Basil remained silent, waiting for the others to have a better reaction than the girl, Kel kept his head down, without daring to say a single word, they kept a silence that was only able to be broken when Hero finally took the word.
“You were just kids,” said the tallest of the brothers, in an effort to keep the tears inside. “Thank you... for telling us, even after so long.”
The silence returned for a few moments, until Hero took a breath and spoke again.
“I-I'm... I really need time to process this, excuse me.” then he left the room, covering his mouth with his hand, he was the oldest, he had to be strong.
In the hallway he found his friend, who was sitting on the floor, with her head hidden between her knees, he thought of stopping and calming her, but he wanted to allow himself to be a little selfish, at least for once in his life not to be the big brother. In the hallway he found his friend, who was sitting on the floor, with her head hidden between her knees, he thought of stopping and calming her, but he wanted to allow himself to be a little selfish, at least for once in his life not to be the big brother. But just before turning the corner of the corridor, but he really couldn't leave her like that, not this time, he wouldn't make the mistake he did years ago, if there was one thing they had learned, it was that they had to be together.
“He's going to be fine,” Kel said, once only he and his friends were left in the room. “He just… needs some time by itself.”
Back in the hall, Aubrey raised her face to look at Hero for the first time since he sat next to her. Both teenager's eyes were glazed over, and their throats were too worn down from hold back their tears to give each other a word of comfort.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Like shit.”
For a moment he thought about correcting her for the bad word, as he used to do with his younger brother, but clearly this was not the time to worry about her vocabulary.
After a few minutes, which none of them was able to count, the five friends found themselves gathered inside the room again. Hero advanced with the girl behind him, who was just looking at Sunny, it wasn't a look of hate, in fact, there didn't seem to be a clear feeling in her eyes, she was just there, watching.
“I don't,” he began, stepping forward “I want you to know that I don't hate you for this, either of you.”
The boy gave him the most sincere smile he could, he was still hurting, but what he had said was absolutely true. He turned to look at the girl standing just a few steps away from him. Hero nodded slightly, indicating that it was her turn, which caused her to immediately look away. Then, he walked over to his brother, who was standing by Basil's bed.
Aubrey opened her mouth a couple of times, like she was trying to say something, but nothing came out. Her nose was taking on a reddish hue, but it was impossible to distinguish whether it was because she was about to cry, or because she had been crying recently. Whatever the reason, the words never came. Instead, from one moment to the next, Sunny found himself surrounded by the arms of his childhood friend, holding his body tight, though not tight enough to hurt him, even though she was quite capable of doing so. The hug left him frozen, unable to respond, so he just stood there, ready to receive the gesture from his friend. She kept her head on the boy's shoulder, and soon her tears began to flow, as her grip became stronger. After a few seconds, maybe minutes, Aubrey moved away from him, still wiping her tears with her jacket sleeve, and embarrassed, she walked away to join the rest of her friends.
Sunny turned her gaze to Basil, who smiled at him in a way he hadn't been able to smile in years. Then they both knew everything would be okay, maybe it wasn't then at all, but it would be.
The next thing he remembered was his mother arriving at the hospital, with a worried look on her face, and after explanations and paperwork from the hospital, the boy ended up leaving Faraway a couple of days later than expected, days that between medical treatments and other issues, he was unable to spend with his friends.
The group accompanied him that last day before his move, including Basil, who by then, despite still being quite injured, had been discharged from the hospital.
“We'll always be there for you, Sunny.” Kel said, before stepping away from the car window so the vehicle could leave.
Back in reality, Sunny was sitting there, in the house of who once were his neighbors, with his half-finished home made dinner, and a lot of friends around him.
He was so busy lost in his mind as usual, that he didn't even notice when Mikhael and his siblings arrived. In any case, in the last few times he had started to focus more on reality, on the people who were there with him, rather than on those who were in his mind.
Once everyone had finished eating, they decided to play some board games before returning to their respective homes. Everyone gathered in the living room, but Sunny noticed someone's absence, and the half-opened front door gave her an idea of where he might be.
Aubrey was sitting outside, luckily it was summer, so there was no breeze to keep her cold. She was sitting just like the first time he saw her, the day Aubergine came into their lives, they were just kids. Sunny pulled up her sister's sleeve, to let her know there was a little girl crying on the sidewalk, Mari immediately took him by the hand and led him to the little girl, ready to comfort her, when they realized about it, Kel and Hero joined her.
“Why aren't you with the others?”
The girl was startled by the surprise, to the point that she almost threw the cigarette she was holding in her hand to the ground.
“I'm sorry, it's just that... your voice, it's weird to hear it,” the girl said, as she recovered her composure. “I kinda missed it a little.”
The boy moved forward and sat down next to her on the sidewalk.
“Do you smoke?”
“What is this, an interrogation?” she laughed before continuing. “Since a couple of years ago, skip the discourse, Hero has already taken care of scolding me.”
Sunny didn't say anything, however, he had always been a guy of few words.
“I've thought about quitting,” said the girl. “God, I am glad that Angel's example to follow is Kel and not me.”
“Do you also drink?” he asked.
“Ugh, no, gross,” she replied, as he threw away his almost completely consumed cigarette to extinguish it. “I'm sick of coming home and seeing mom's empty bottles everywhere, I don't need any more of it.”
“I didn't remember your relationship with your mother that way,” he said, but immediately corrected himself. “I can't really remember anything about your mother at that time.”
“Pretty fucked up, right?” said the girl with chewing gum pink hair. “I'm sorry, I didn't used to talk like this, it must be weird for you.”
“You used to scold Kel when he swore.” he smiled a little.
“Yeah, he was pretty annoying,” she said with a laugh. “But he's a good boy, kinda.”
Silence reigned among them again; neither of them knew how to continue with that small and peculiar conversation.
“How...” she asked somewhat hesitantly. “How's your eye?”
“It healed well,” he said. “At my new school they think it is pretty dope.”
“Are you going to school?”
Sunny nodded.
“Woah, great.” said Aubrey, unable to hide the smile that formed on her lips.
“It's getting late,” he said. “You should go home soon, your mom will be worried.”
“Pfff, I'd be surprised if she did,” said the girl with dyed hair. “I don't think she's waiting for me.”
“I'm sorry.
“You don't have to” she pleaded as she stood up. “It's okay. Anyway I like to be out of my house, Hero's mom cooks delicious.”
She held out his hand to the boy so that he could also stand up.
“I'm tired of mom's instant soup and reheated pizzas,” she said with a smile. “Usually Kim lets me go eat at her mom's house, she's a really good friend, but eating at Kel and Hero's house isn't bad either…”
Aubrey's words were stirred by her friend's embrace; her arms felt fragile and thin, though not as thin as the last time she saw him. Melancholy began to run through her, causing her eyes to water, she wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words, so she simply reciprocated his hug. Their arms clasped around each other and pressed their chests together, as warm tears flowed down the girl's cheeks. Neither wanted to let go, and so they didn't. When they finally parted, she was wiping away her tears, which were not exactly of sadness, somehow she felt happy. He remembered when they were little, when she used to hold onto Sunny's arm all the time, it was a nice feeling.
“What was that?” she asked, sounding a little rougher than she would have liked.
“I didn't return your hug last time.” said the boy.
Aubrey laughed, Sunny didn't understand why, but he didn't really need to understand anything, she looked happy. He had never been a very affectionate child, so he understood that the sudden hug could be surprising, but his friend didn't seem upset by it.
“Let's go back inside,” she suggested, giving him a smile.
They returned to the living room, where they found everyone having a friendly game of one of the board games Kel's parents kept in storage.
“Guys, you finally showed up,” Hero said. “I was beginning to worry because I didn't see them anywhere, I was about to go looking for you.”
“Relax Hero, we were just... uhm... talking” said the girl.
“Yeah Hero, they were just talking.” laughed Kel behind his brother, as he simulated kisses with his hands.
“Cut it out, Kelsey.” she said irritably, trying to hide the slight blush on her cheeks.
Laughter invaded the room, and was then when Sunny knew that everything was fine, and that it would stay that way, at least for one more day.