Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A rainy day.

Typically Sunny didn't like rain. Which he supposed made his name all the more apt, but there was more to it than that. There was less time to play outside with his friends, he had to deal with wet clothes and feeling cold, none of it was fun. Today was a little different. He was sitting in his seat at school that was directly next to the window, looking out in awe.

The sky had grown so dark. Much darker than even his own shade of hair. The dark backdrop was perfect for displaying the rain streaking down the window. The rain was so heavy it was almost impossible to see beyond it. This was the kind of rain that made adults panic, but Sunny was enthralled. 

It made him feel as if he was trapped within a secret waterfall. Something straight out of a video game. A cavern hidden by the falling water, holding a treasure that had been lost to time. Only he could find it, the one true hero brave enough to venture past the boundaries of safety and into the unknown. 

The new school year had only just begun and Sunny was already lost in his own imagination again. Paying attention to his classes was growing more and more difficult. It was more fun to imagine a world that existed just for him, full of fun things to do. The real world was too boring and ugly. Sunny wished sometimes that he could stay only in dreams. 

Unfortunately, reality always came crashing back in. The rain let up. Class ended. Sunny had to go home. He took the bus back to his house with Aubrey, Kel, and Basil. Hero and Mari were older and got out of school earlier. That didn't mean that Mari always got home before he did, though. Since she was going to college next year, Mari was taking extra classes each day. Some days he hardly saw her at all, and even then it was only to practice violin. 

Sunny wished summer lasted longer. That there was more time before Mari's inevitable departure. He didn't like to think about her leaving, but it was going to happen. Each day marched forward towards a future uncertain. If only things could stay the same. 

At least in his mind he could keep a fraction of happiness alive.

Reality wasn't too bad today. They had all gotten off at their bus stop and Kel was already splashing in puddles. Aubrey was yelling at him for getting her all wet. Basil wasn't taking pictures today, probably afraid of ruining his camera, so instead he was walking right next to Sunny, rambling on about a new plant he was trying to grow. 

"Isn't it hard to grow plants this close to autumn?" Sunny asked, ignoring the commotion ahead of them as Kel and Aubrey splashed water at each other.

"Well." Basil smiled, a small shy smile that was hardly visible. "These are indoor plants, you can grow them year-round."

"Can I see?" Sunny asked. He didn't want to go home. Not if Mari wasn't going to be there. 

"Sure!" Now the smile on Sunny's face was huge. He probably couldn't smile bigger if he tried. He didn't have to go home!

First they parted ways with Kel, then Aubrey, who was still complaining about getting wet, even though she splashed in as many puddles as Kel at the end. Those two were always arguing about something, it was best not to get involved. Just nod and look sympathetic.

Thankfully Basil's house was right across the street from where they parted ways with Aubrey. His house was a quaint place, surrounded by greenery of all kinds. Once it started getting colder, those plants would die off, but for now they were still vibrant. Together they stepped inside, Sunny shaking off his umbrella before fully entering. 

"Grandma! I'm home! Sunny is here too!" Basil called out to the quiet house. 

"Okay dear!" Her voice came from upstairs.

Sunny hadn't seen Basil's grandma that often, despite her being his caretaker. She was a kind old woman though, and she made the best homemade dinners. Sunny spent a lot of time here lately. His family didn't seem to notice. His mom was always working and Mari was busy too. Too busy for Sunny. 

Sunny listened as Basil explained about his plants. Well, he tried to listen. He appeared to be listening. In his mind he could see himself exploring a distant planet full of exotic greenery. Man-eating plants! Toxic gases swirling around, threatening to poison those foolish enough to breathe it in. Pools of shimmering purple liquid, supporting the life of odd looking fish. An adventure to find an ancient civilization, filled with danger and fun.

"Sunny?" Basil's voice was concerned as he looked at Sunny. "Are you okay?"

He had become lost in his own thoughts again. He rubbed at his eyes while replying, "I'm fine. I think I'm just a little tired."

"You have been practicing for the recital a lot. It's this weekend, you must be excited." Basil was holding a plant in his lap, looking over the leaves.

The recital. Sunny didn't feel ready for it at all. He didn't even want to practice his violin anymore. It wasn't fun. It felt like too much work, but he had to. To spend time with Mari. To make sure his friends' money didn't go to waste. They had all pitched in to buy the violin for him, so he had to use it, right?

Basil looked up from the plant after several seconds with no response from Sunny. "Or are you nervous? I'm sure you'll do fine, I mean, I've heard you playing with Mari, you sound great and all…"

Speaking the truth was hard. Especially hard when the person you were talking to might be hurt by it. Sunny didn't want to hurt anyone. So he wearily shrugged. "I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it'll go fine."

"Well, it's normal to be a little nervous. Maybe you should go home and get some rest." Basil placed his plant down next to him. "You look really pale."

Sunny felt all color drain from his face at the suggestion. He didn't want to go home. Still, he didn't want to worry Basil. Worrying someone else was the worst. "Yeah. I'll head home. I should probably work on my English essay, anyway."

Basil's eyes grew wide. "I forgot about the essay! I better work on it too. See you tomorrow, Sunny!"

Sunny left Basil's house, back out into the cold rain. His imagination wandered as the rain pinged off his umbrella. He was deep in an undersea ocean, exploring where no human had ever explored before. The fish that lived down here were strange, bioluminescent, with huge eyes, watching his every move. His steps took more effort from the sheer pressure of the ocean above. It was worth it to explore such a fantastic place.

That is, until he found himself in front of the door to his house. Was it late enough for Mari to be home? Maybe? Sunny shouldn't just stand out here waiting. He might actually catch a cold and disappoint everyone when he couldn't play at the recital.

Part of him wanted to get sick anyway.

Pushing away his uneasy feelings, Sunny pushed open the door instead. 

"Oh, you're finally back."

The voice inside was angry. So his dad was drunk again. Lately he had been drinking a lot, ever since he lost his job. "I'm home, Dad."

His father stood up, marching over towards the door. Sunny felt too scared to move in case he angered him further. Then he was in front of him, towering over him, the overwhelming stench of alcohol coming from him. "You are so useless, you know that? Can't even come home on time to do your chores. Can't you be more like your sister? She gets up early to do her chores. What do you do? Nothing."

Sunny shook his head, wanting to defend himself, but knowing that trying might make things worse. "I'll do them now."

"Finally. Good for nothing child." His dad settled back on the couch and Sunny took a deep breath. Everything was fine. Everything was fine. He quickly set his backpack in his room and got started on his chores. 

Once Mari and his mom got home, the rain had let up and the world felt much brighter. That night Sunny had a nightmare that he forgot how to play his violin, standing in front of a huge crowd, all of them chanting at him that he was useless. He crawled into bed with Mari and tried to not cry. He failed. Without knowing what was wrong, Mari comforted him anyway. 

She really was the best.

It was the day of the recital. A busy day. No one was around, all his friends were out getting ready. Except for Basil, who had come over to listen to their final practice. 

Sunny was sitting on the floor next to the piano, his eyes closed as the music reverberated through him. Basil was sitting next to him. He should be playing along, but his stomach felt sick. He didn't want to do this, he didn't want to play violin anymore. Sunny was sick of it all, but Mari was depending on him. He couldn't fail her, right?

Why did Sunny feel so complex about all this? He wanted Mari to be happy. Yet, playing violin was horrid. And she was practically forcing him to do it. Why did he have to? He wished he could run away, live in his own mind where nothing was expected of him. Where he was a hero instead of being useless.

"Sunny, why don't you get your violin? We should play together." Mari's voice was sweet. It felt like a command. Sunny had no choice.

Nodding, he stood up to get his violin from his room. His steps were slow, padding against the clean hardwood floors. Then, slowly up each step, the stairs creaking beneath his feet. He reached his room and picked up the violin case. He took out the violin and bow, quickly using the rosin, as he didn't feel like carrying everything down with him, before leaving the room.

The trek back to the top of the stairs was only a few feet, but it felt like miles. Sunny stood there, violin in hand. 

If he didn't have a violin, he wouldn't be forced to play. 

Then he would be free of this curse.

Raising his violin above his head, he went to throw it down the stairs. 

Destroy the thing that hurt him the most.

But he couldn't. 

Mari appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She looked up at him with her eyes wide in shock. "What are you doing, Sunny?"

Sunny collapsed to his knees. He couldn't do it. He couldn't play his violin. He couldn't break it. There was nothing to do but cry.

His face scrunched up in agony as the hopelessness of his situation sank in. Tears streaming down his face. His ears felt like they had gone deaf and his chest felt like it had been smashed in with a baseball bat. It hurt, it hurt so much. 

Mari's voice barely reached his ears from the bottom of the stairs. "Basil, you should go home."

Then her footsteps pounded up the stairs and Sunny was wrapped in her warm embrace. Mari was too kind, why was she always comforting such a worthless person like him? He couldn't even play his violin. All he did was cry and cry and cry-

He wasn't allowed to cry.

"Sunny, what's wrong?" Mari asked him, smoothing out his hair. "Are you scared about the recital?"

"I, I can't do it." Sunny sobbed out. Showing emotions was wrong, that's why he stopped crying so much. It made his dad angry. He had to always pack his feelings inside. The fact that he was failing proved his father right. Sunny was useless, worthless, good for nothing.

"It's going to be okay. Let's talk about this." Mari lifted his face so he was looking at her. She was smiling despite his outburst. 

Sunny caught his breath, wiping away his tears from his face with the palms of his hands. Slowly he responded. "Okay."

Chapter Text

Sunny sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at the hardwood floor under his feet instead of at Mari, who was sitting opposite him. Beside him was his violin, and part of him still wanted to smash it. Yet instead he was forced into this conversation with his sister that he didn't want to have.

If only he could be somewhere else. Somewhere far away, so far that none of his problems could hurt him anymore. Off of Earth, on a different planet! A planet filled with unique plants and aliens. Colorful and wonderful.

"Sunny."

He couldn't escape into dreams now. Not with reality looking him in the face and expecting an explanation for his behavior.

How could he explain how exactly he was feeling? It didn't even really matter, did it? Nothing that Sunny felt mattered in the end. That had been made very clear to him, even something as simple as, "I don't want to play violin anymore."

"You don't? But I thought you loved violin?" Mari leaned forward to get a better look at Sunny, her long strands of hair falling into her face.

Sunny shook his head. No, everyone else wanted him to play. Sunny wanted… well he wasn't sure what he wanted, but he didn't want this.

"Alright." Mari scooted off her bed, and placed a hand on Sunny's shoulder. "You don't have to play anymore if you don't want to."

Sunny looked up. The warm glow of light coming from the window illuminated Mari from behind. She was smiling softly at him. Sunny smiled back, a warmth entering his heart. All it took was telling the truth! He didn't have to play violin anymore!

"But I think you should play the recital tonight. You worked really hard, it would be a shame to not play." Mari was still smiling at him. The sweet lilt of her voice betrayed the fact that he didn't have a choice again.

The meaning behind her words were clear. MY hard work. Don't ruin this for ME.

Sunny nodded his head. If it was for Mari, then he could play violin one last time. That would make up for his earlier show of emotions. A self punishment for daring to have feelings. After tonight, he would be free from it, so he could manage.

"Great! I know this will be fun. Why don't you rest for a bit while I finish up practicing?" Mari turned and left the room after a short confirmation from Sunny.

He fell over backwards onto his bed, looking at the source of his anguish beside him. He wondered if he was even capable of playing his violin. Perhaps when he pulled the bow against the strings, no sound would come out. Or better yet, maybe a meteor would smash into his house right now and destroy it. Sunny looked blankly up at the ceiling, willing it to happen. Nothing.

Of course.

He sighed as he pulled his legs up onto his bed and curled in on himself.

Sometimes he wondered if anyone even saw him as his own person. He felt like a tool that everyone used for their own gains. Basil was friends with him since Sunny always listened. His father just wanted him to do chores. His mother was never around so who knows what she wanted. Mari wanted him to play violin.

Like a puppet on a string he was pulled along. He went with it. It was easier than struggling from something he could never escape.

Once Sunny stopped playing violin, would Mari cast him to the side as well? If he wasn't needed anymore then…

It was too painful to think about, but Sunny felt the ramifications from his small confession, his one moment of truth, might be far worse than if he had just kept going with the flow.

It was time for the recital. Mari and Sunny were backstage, but they weren’t alone. Hero, Aubrey, Kel, and Basil were here too. They all looked fantastic, dressed up in new outfits. Sunny noticed how Aubrey had her hair pulled back with a pink pin that was in the shape of a bow. It looked good on her and complimented her pink dress that flowed out around her like petals on a flower. Speaking of flowers, Basil had one in his hair, a lovely yellow flower that complimented his hair. Hero and Kel didn’t have anything out of the ordinary on, but they both looked good in their outfits, although Kel kept fiddling with his sleeves. He was never one for long sleeve shirts.

Everyone was buzzing with excitement. The room felt lively. Sunny felt… like he wasn't even there.

He daydreamed a lot. His mind was always wandering. However, tonight he was present in the room. His mind wasn't somewhere else, but he felt like he wasn't there. It was as if someone pulled him into a deep fog and the surroundings had blurred until he could no longer tell where he was. Yet he was somewhere. He could see his friends. Hear their voices.

It was an unreal reality.

It was unsettling.

If Sunny daydreamed in this state, he might lose himself completely. That was an appealing idea, but for now he had to root himself and not let things get worse than this. He did have to play his violin, after all. Not just play, but play well. His music had to compliment Mari's perfect piano notes.

He really wished he didn't have to do this.

Basil was standing in front of him now, his face just barely clear of the fog. "Sunny, are you feeling better now?"

It took him a moment to remember that Basil had been there when he had his breakdown. How embarrassing. Sunny's throat felt too tight to speak so he simply nodded.

"That's good. Good luck, er, break a leg out there!" Basil grinned at him. It was hard not to grin back in the face of such optimism.

Sunny looked over towards Mari, hoping it was nearly time to perform so he could get this over with. (While simultaneously still hoping for that meteor to come.) She was chatting with Hero. He was holding her hands gently, encouraging her with his perfect smile. She was lost in his eyes, but eventually seemed to notice Sunny staring at her.

"Oh, it's almost time. You all better get to your seats before the show begins." Mari asked of the others.

Everyone left. The fog felt like it was closing in more now that Sunny was alone. He was going to drown in it. Swimming to the surface was no longer an option.

"Let's do this, little bro!" Mari faced him with a joyful sparkle in her eye. "Knock 'em dead out there."

Sunny followed behind her as they walked on stage, the loud clicking of her shoes the only sound he could hear. He felt like he was going far too slowly, fighting against the thick fog that was impeding his steps. He did make it to the front of the piano, looking behind him as Mari took her seat on the bench.

Mari gave him a thumbs up which Sunny couldn't return. He gulped down the seemingly infinite excess amount of water in his mouth and put his violin under his chin.

It was time to play.

The spotlights above felt so warm on his skin. Burning hot. Blinding his eyes.

Mari began to play but Sunny could only look up at those bright lights. Something was wrong. It was too hot.

In fact, he could hear a distant noise, growing louder until it consumed the concert hall. Mari's fingers paused on the piano keys as she looked up towards the ceiling.

Above him the roof was caving in. Sudden screams of terror rang out in the hall in lieu of music. People scrambling for their lives, but Sunny was frozen in place.

Ah, his meteor had finally come. It was going to destroy everything. Then he'd never have to play violin again.

The heat of the meteor blasted against his face. The roof cracked and shattered. Debris was falling all around him. The world was ending.

"Sunny!" Mari called out for him.

Sunny turned towards her, lowering his violin. Her bright eyes were rimmed with tears, her mouth pulled into a frustrated frown. "Why aren't you playing, Sunny?"

Oh, right.

There was no meteor at all. The concert hall was standing firm. The audience was before him, waiting for the show to begin. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the light, he could see his father in the audience, his eyes sharp and angry.

Sunny couldn't do this!

He ran off the stage, his stomach feeling queasy suddenly. He rushed towards the nearest trash can and hardly made it in time before he threw up. Sweat was pouring down his face, but he felt chilled to the bone.

Sunny had completely screwed up Mari's recital.

Still leaning his head against the trash bin, Sunny heard Mari's footsteps behind him. The last of her notes had settled into the evening air, the applause had ceased. The only noise was once again the rapid clicking of her heels against the hard floor.

"Sunny! Why did you do that?" Mari yelled at him.

He turned his pale face towards her, wiping off his mouth. Why had he run off stage? What happened? He didn't know.

"I worked- WE worked so hard for this! Why did you throw it all away?" Mari's eyebrows were knit in anger.

Sunny wished he could vanish on the spot. Imagining things too deeply got him into trouble, so he stopped the thought before it got further than that. Still, he had no words. Nothing to defend himself, since he was just as clueless.

Mari's face grew red, seething with a hate that Sunny had never seen before in his life. "I don't know what I expected from you anyway! I should've known this would happen!"

"Stop yelling at him!" A voice came from just off stage. Lifting his weary head, Sunny saw Basil and Aubrey, followed closely by Kel and Hero. Surprisingly, it was Basil who yelled. He knelt down next to Sunny, feeling his forehead. His hand felt so cold against Sunny's skin he recoiled back. "He's sick, Mari!"

"Sick?" The anger faded so quickly off Mari's face Sunny was almost convinced it had been a trick of the light. Concern instead flooded her features. "Oh Sunny, I'm so sorry!"

Everything else felt distant after that, but instead of eating out at Sunny's favorite steakhouse, they went straight home. Which was fine with him, he didn't think he could eat.

He didn't think he was sick either. At least not physically. Something was very wrong though. He had seriously messed up.

On the car ride home he leaned against Mari in the backseat. Up front he could see the reflection of his father's eyes in the rear view mirror. Eyes crossed with a barely constrained rage.

His dad always did like Mari more. He would not be pleased with Sunny messing up the recital no matter what the excuse. If Sunny fell down and broke both his arms, his father probably still would've expected him to play flawlessly. Those eyes though. Sunny would have to make sure he stayed away from his father for a while. Otherwise…

Sunny didn't want to think about that when he felt awful, so he closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep.

By the time he awoke he was in his bed. Sunny was drenched in sweat, not remembering any dreams, but having a lingering pit in his stomach. His mind felt less foggy, there was still a fine mist, but his thoughts were coming in clearer now.

Sunny had really messed up. He knew that all along, but the gravity of the situation really hit him. His inability to play violin had ruined the recital. There was no forgiveness for what he had done. Mari had been so angry with him, even more than when he messed up over and over at practice. Messing up so much made him useless. Utterly useless.

Earlier, when he had been thinking of throwing his violin down the stairs, he should've thrown himself down the stairs.

He pulled the sheets away from his damp skin, quietly getting up from bed. Mari was sleeping in her bed, her eyes screwed shut and her own blanket pulled up tightly around her head. It didn’t look like she was having a better time sleeping than he had.

Normally Sunny wasn’t a big fan of getting up in the middle of the night. It was dark, the floorboards creaked, pipes rattled in the house. Bravery wasn’t his strong suit, but with that mist that surrounded him, it was a bit easier to ignore everything that spooked him. Sunny made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

In the drawer there was a steak knife. It was larger than the others, sharpened to a fine point. Sunny pulled it up to see his own reflection in the metal. It was perfect.

What are you doing?

>STAB

Chapter Text

His palms were sweating, but the knife was held steady in his hand, pointed directly towards his chest. There was only one problem. He couldn't move it a single inch closer.

"I asked, what are you doing, Dreamer?"

Sunny gulped. That voice was familiar. Comforting. A voice of someone he held dear. Blinking a few times he could see her sitting across from him, a soft smile on her face, but her eyes looked closer to that of a question mark. Questioning him. Her limbs resembled tentacles, although she still had one hand, currently tightly gripping his knife, preventing him from moving it any closer. Her head had two additional tentacles, although those were more like pigtails than functional limbs.

"Abbi?" Sunny could hardly believe his eyes. It had been such a long time since he had seen his old friend.

"What were you going to do with that knife?" Abbi asked, the question mark blinking like a single eye.

"I don't know," Sunny lied.

"You do know. So the real question is why?" Abbi cocked her head to the side, her head tentacles bouncing along.

"I don't know," Sunny repeated. He wished she would let go of the knife.

Abbi kept her fingers wrapped around the top of the knife, far away enough to not slice her own hand. "Why do you keep saying that you don't know? Is it because you don't want to face the truth? It's too unpleasant. You feel like you failed your sister, you feel worthless, you don't see the point in living-"

"Shut up." Sunny curtly interrupted her. He didn't need to hear all that. He knew all that already! He didn't need Abbi here and now, stopping him from what was obviously the correct choice! "If I want to do this, then let me do this!"

Abbi's smile was very small, her question mark eye more resembled a simple line. "You wanted me to stop you."

"What? No I didn't." Sunny scoffed.

"Then why am I here at all?" Abbi brought her face closer to his. Even without a clear eye, her gaze was piercing. "If you really wanted to do this, you would've. Instead, you made me stop you. There is a reason, isn't there, Dreamer?"

"No!" Sunny closed his eyes. His hand couldn't keep his grasp on the knife and it went tumbling to the ground. The sound of metal on tile echoed around the kitchen. Even without using the knife, his chest hurt, it was painful, so painful. All he wanted was some relief, a break from everything, but he was too much of a coward. Just like how he couldn't throw his violin down the stairs. He couldn't do this either.

Sunny covered his face with his hands, trying not to cry again, not to be weak and worthless and everything else he wished he wasn't. The tears spilled regardless. If only he could be stronger. More like Mari. Then everything would be different. Then he could be happy, right?

No, it was hopeless for someone like him.

"Meow?"

A soft call from the doorway of the kitchen. Mewo was nearly invisible in the darkness, her black fur was good camouflage, but he could see her eyes reflecting back the dim light. Sunny motioned the cat over.

She was getting so much bigger than when Mari first got her. Mewo sat on his lap, purring, as Sunny pet her soft fur. The fluffy feel of her beneath his fingers grounded him back into reality. Mewo was real, here with him in the kitchen.

He stopped stroking her fur and Mewo looked up at him expectantly. As if she was saying, "Waiting for something to happen?"

Was he waiting for something to happen? Nothing was going to happen here in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Nothing was going to change drastically about his life. Sunny wasn't sure what he wanted to happen anyway.

His eyes caught the gleam of the knife on the floor. That was dangerous, sitting there! Mewo could've been hurt. Sunny snatched it up, scooting Mewo off his lap with one hand. Mewo mewed at him in displeasure while Sunny put the knife into the sink. There, now no one would be hurt.

With a yawn, Sunny picked Mewo up from the floor and headed upstairs. He was exhausted, even after sleeping for so long already. It felt like he had waged a war and lost it. Maybe he had. It didn't really matter. He snuggled onto his bed with Mewo. He looked over at Mari, her face still scrunched up as if in pain, before closing his own eyes.

Maybe this all would be a dream, one he would wake up from soon. Then everything could go back to normal.

Sunny fell asleep, but didn't dream.

Sunday went by quickly. Sunny hardly left his bed, feigning sickness. He honestly still didn't feel well, his stomach unable to keep down anything except for liquids. He spent the day in a hazy state, drifting in and out of sleep. Every time he woke up, he desperately tried to fall back asleep again.

Wouldn't it be nice if he could spend the rest of his life asleep? That seemed unlikely, but how he wished he could. Didn't he already escape to dreams whenever he could? Wouldn't it be better to stay there forever? In a place where he wouldn't burden anyone, a place that bended to his own will. A place of never ending happiness with all his friends?

Thinking about heading back to school the next day sent shivers down his spine. Facing all his friends again after what had happened, he didn't think he could do it. They all thought poorly of him now, ruining Mari's show and running away like a coward.

He didn't want to go back to school, but he also didn't want to spend the whole day alone with his dad. Which was worse? He debated in his mind as he stared up at the shadows slowly moving across the ceiling, steadily vanishing as dawn approached.

Mari was already stirring, so Sunny snapped his eyes shut, not opening them even after she left their room. Eventually his mother came into the room, he could smell her strong perfume before she even approached.

"Sunny?" She rested a hand on his forehead. Sunny gulped in response, she was checking his temperature, she'd know he wasn't sick and send him to school! He didn't want to go! (He didn't want to stay home either but that was besides the point.)

"Hmm, I can't tell. Sunny, wake up, I need to take your temperature."

Sunny opened his eyes, seeing his mom waving the thermometer in front of him. He nodded obediently as she placed it under his tongue.

"I'll be right back. I need to finish putting my make-up on." She just as quickly left the room.

Seeing a chance, Sunny took the thermometer out of his mouth, holding the metal tip up to the lightbulb in his lamp. That should heat it up, right? Then he wouldn't have to go to school! (But did he have to stay home?)

He heard her high heels clicking on the floor so he popped the thermometer back into his mouth. The metal burnt the tip of his tongue. Maybe he had overdone it? He didn't want to have too high of a fever, then he might have to go to a hospital, and they would see that he was lying, and then he would probably go to jail for lying? Was that something that happened? Sunny wasn't sure but he was sweating bullets.

His mom sighed as she took the thermometer out of his mouth. "It's still a little high. What am I going to do?"

Mari popped her head into the bedroom. "I can stay home with him, mom!"

"Huh? But you need to go to school, dear." His mother clicked her tongue. "I can't really take today off to take him to the doctor either. I have a big presentation today."

"And dad has a job interview! It's fine, I haven't missed any days of school in years. I can take one day off to take care of my little brother." Mari grinned broadly.

"I can take care of myself..." Sunny whimpered. He didn't want to bother anyone. Mari had a perfect attendance record… if he messed that up then he would be even worse of a person! He couldn't let that happen! If his dad was going to be out of the house then being alone was fine! He wasn't a kid anymore!

"Sunny," his mother brushed his bangs back from his forehead. "I'm sure you could take care of yourself normally, but your fever is still high. I don't want to leave you alone."

"See, it's fine mom!" Mari stepped into the room with that bright smile she always wore. "I'll take care of him for today."

"Right." His mom looked at the silver watch on her wrist with a grimace. "I have to go now, so I guess this will have to do. I'll call the school and explain everything."

They both left the room after that. Sunny sighed with relief. At the very least Mari was better than his father. He still felt guilty for making her do this. Everyone was always taking care of him. All Sunny did was… nothing. He couldn't take his thoughts of worthlessness, so he closed his eyes.

He could imagine a place where nothing could hurt him. A place where it was only him. A white space.

With nothing more than his sketchbook, computer, a box of tissues for all his inevitable tears, and Mewo, he would have everything he needed. No one would worry about him, because no one was here at all. It was just him. Just… him. The one without even a name. A person who hardly existed at all.

Above him was a bright white lightbulb. It shone forth with the sort of light that he wished he could possess. The bright light Mari had when she smiled. But he was nothing, no one, nobody.

Ah, he had almost forgotten. There was one thing he really hated, more than just about anything else. He hated being alone.

As that thought hit his mind, something else appeared in his solitary world. A huge, white door. He stood up, carefully inspecting the door. It looked ordinary, besides the blinding white. There was nothing behind it, but he had a feeling that if he opened it something would be there. That scared him even more than being alone.

He was truly hopeless, wasn't he? A hopeless person, too afraid of everything. He couldn't even find peace in his own world.

A sharp knocking came from the door. There was something on the other side. Friend or foe? Should he find out? He reached out towards the doorknob. The metal was cool to the touch. All he had to do was turn it, but he was faltering, and-

"Sunny!"

Someone was shaking his shoulder. His real shoulder. Sunny opened his eyes. The sun had risen further in the sky, brightening the room. He blinked several times, trying to recall what was going on.

Right, he was home sick and Mari was taking care of him.

"Oh good. I thought I was going to have to call mom. You weren't waking up." Mari sighed out, but she sounded relieved. "You really caught quite a cold, huh little brother?"

Sunny shrugged. Was he even really sick? It was probably a lie.

"I might've done something bad though." Mari winked at him as she sat down on the edge of his bed. "I was so worried about you all weekend that I didn't do any of my homework. So staying home with you was a little excuse so I can get caught up with everything." She giggled as she bopped his nose.

Oh, he had worried her that much? Mari never missed homework. Or school. He was seriously ruining her whole life, wasn't he? And this was after he ruined her concert!

"Don't look so upset! It's nice to have a day off, I hardly ever get to rest. I just wish you weren't so sick."

Mari was too sweet. It would be better for her if Sunny wasn't around though, right?

"Well I'm going to make some soup. Do you want tomato?"

Sunny stuck out his tongue and vehemently shook his head.

Mari laughed in return. "I know, I know. I'll make you the chicken noodle. The one with dinosaur shaped pasta! Don't run off anywhere while I'm gone!"

With that she left the room. Even though she was smiling bright and didn't seem upset at all, why did he feel so guilty?

The guilt upon his shoulders was so heavy he didn't even think he could move.

Chapter Text

The day passed without much else happening. Mari cooked some soup for Sunny. He became slightly lost in his imagination as he watched the dinosaur shapes swim through the broth. It was short-lived, he didn't want to make Mari worry about him again if he blanked out.

After lunch, Sunny settled against his pillow and tried to nap. Mari sat at the desk and worked on the homework she had skipped out on. Mostly, Sunny listened to the scratching of pencil against paper. In the past, when he wanted to sleep, he would start imagining some sort of fantastical story. It felt a bit dangerous to do that when he had so thoroughly blocked out the world when he went to White Space. It did feel appealing to go back again. A part of him never wanted to leave.

Despite being September, Sunny felt more and more hot as he lay in bed. The sheets were sticking to his skin in an uncomfortable manner. That made it even harder to try and rest. Feeling gross, Sunny tried to think of nothing at all, letting the sounds of papers being shuffled and pencil writing be his lullaby. He had almost fallen asleep when he was pulled right back into consciousness by a loud knocking at the front door. Sunny sat up abruptly in bed.

Mari grinned in his direction, "I'll get it!"

She rushed off, leaving the bedroom door open. If he strained, he could hear bits and pieces of the conversation going on downstairs. It sounded like Hero was at the door.

"...okay?" Hero asked a question of some kind.

"Yeah … sick …" Mari replied, but with a soft tone that made it hard to make out many words.

"... project…" Hero continued on.

"... forgot… Sunny …" Mari replied.

The conversation halted. The sound of footsteps came up the stairs. Sunny pulled up his blanket to hide most of his face. He was afraid Hero was coming up. The thought of seeing him sent dread through his body.

Hero wasn't with Mari when she came through the doorway. She looked over at Sunny, her brows creased. "Sunny, I forgot I had a group project! We were supposed to meet up today. Do you think you'll be okay by yourself for a bit? Mom will be home in a few hours."

It's not like he had a choice. Sunny couldn't ask for something as selfish as asking Mari to stay by his side. She had already missed a whole day of school for him. Sunny nodded his head.

"Thanks! I'll be back later! Try and get some sleep so you'll feel better." Mari gathered up her school books and neatly placed them in her backpack before leaving the room.

The house was quiet now that he was alone. Almost too quiet. Dreadfully quiet. The house creaked, there was a slight wind against the windows, but all that sounded so muffled. Sunny felt isolated. This is why he hated being alone.

He closed his eyes, trying to think of nothing. Clear his mind and stop stressing out. His own thoughts were too painful, and he had managed to avoid them for the past few hours. He'd like to continue that, if he's able. Last time he thought too hard he nearly stabbed…

No, no he wasn't going to think.

It had hardly been any time at all before the front door opened. Sunny opened his eyes again, searching for the clock to see what time it was. It was too soon to be his mom, unless she got out of work early. Mari had just left. That really only left one person.

Sunny dived under the covers and pretended to be asleep.

Don't move. Don't move. Don't move. Don't-

"Sunny?"

That was his father's voice.

The door to the bedroom opened. Sunny couldn't look. He didn't want to look.

His father didn't say a word. He roughly grabbed Sunny's shoulder and flipped him upright. It hurt! Sunny wanted to scream. He could see his father, eyes full of anger and the scent of alcohol lingering around him. No! This was what Sunny had been trying to avoid. He didn't want to be alone with this man, he didn't-

Welcome to White Space. You've been living here for as long as you can remember.

The monochrome world surrounded him again. Him. This person who barely existed. What was his name again? This thing that other people use? A thing that isn't human?

A flash of Mari's piano came to mind.

Omori. That was his name. It had always been his name, just as he had always existed here. He had to have a name. A name is the minimum needed to actually exist, right?

Clank.

There was a noise nearby, just outside the confines of his space. It sounded metallic. Omori stood up, searching for the source. It didn't matter which way he looked, since all directions lead back to the same place in the end. He walked in the opposite direction from the white door and found it.

A sharp knife. Never used before. He could see his reflection in black and white staring back at him. Omori pocketed the knife. It might be useful for later.

Omori turned to face the door. The whiteness of it nearly hid it from view. Last time he heard knocking from behind it. There wasn't any noise this time, but he was curious. It couldn't be anything bad. It had to be something more exciting and fun than the pure whiteness surrounding him on all sides.

His hand settled on the doorknob. His fingers curled around it. Omori held his breath, his heart beating quickly. Slowly he opened the door.

On the other side was a colorful room. It threw him off balance to see such colors after the White Space. That wasn't all that was behind the door.

"Omori!" Aubrey ran up to him, a huge smile on her face. "We were waiting for you!"

There were all his friends! Mari, Hero, Kel, Basil, and Abbi! They were all wearing pajamas, just like when they came over to watch cartoons on the weekends. Omori was happy to see everyone, and they all gave him the brightest smiles in return.

"Hey, Omori! We were about to play some card games, come play with us!" Mari waved him over.

The room was just like the tree house they all worked together to build over the summer. They hardly got to use it at all. But none of that mattered here, not for Omori. This room was his personal playground. A fun place!

He played a few rounds with his friends. Omori was studying his cards when a flash went off in front of him. He looked up to see Basil smiling, holding his camera. "Sorry Omori! I wanted to take your picture!"

"I want to see!" Aubrey scrambled over so she was standing behind Basil, both of them watching the photo develop.

"Cute!" Aubrey squealed out.

"See, this is why candid shots are the best." Basil turned the photo around so Omori could see.

It wasn't anything special, Omori was sitting with a look of concentration, his tongue peeking out just slightly. There was something cat-like about his expression, which Omori did enjoy. If he could be a cat, that would be amazing.

The game went on, but Omori found himself growing bored with it. He had played card games so many times, it didn't have the same fun spark anymore. Not to mention, he kept winning without really trying.

"Bored, Dreamer?" Abbi asked, placing a tentacle under her chin.

He shrugged in response.

"Why don't we play outside?" Abbi pointed towards the staircase leading upwards.

Omori didn't think there was a staircase there before. Maybe he had missed it? It didn't really matter. He wanted to go out there. He was certain that adventure was waiting for him just outside. An adventure that he couldn't wait to go on.

Omori moved towards the staircase, the colors of the rainbow cascading down it. He paused as he put his hand on the railing, looking upwards.

"You don't want to go alone, right?" Abbi's voice reached his ear.

No. He really didn't.

"I'll go with you!" Abbi cheerfully joined him by the staircase. She turned towards the others in the room, still playing the card game. "We'll be back later!"

"Be careful little bro!" Mari waved at him. "I'll have fresh baked cookies waiting for you when you get back."

Omori nodded, excited for his sister's cookies. Going on an adventure was fun and all, but having a comfortable place to return to was even better. A safe haven. He climbed up the steps and out into the world.

There was a forest around him. Four different paths were set up in the four cardinal directions, leading away from the tree he had exited from. The tree was familiar. It was Mari's favorite tree, growing tall with big boughs full of green leaves. It was perfect for reading books under on a hot summer day. Not so perfect for building a treehouse, though. This tree was too old. Almost wise. It wasn't suitable to build on.

"So which way did you want to go?" Abbi asked him, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Omori could tell what was in each direction without any signs guiding his way. He pointed towards the southern path.

“Oh, you want to see the dinosaurs, then?” Abbi’s one eye looked like an exclamation mark. Was she excited by that idea too? Omori really hoped so. He nodded back towards her.

“Excellent choice. Let’s go then!”

They walked together down the path. The trees had started out neatly and orderly, bordering the path, but the further they got the more overgrown it became. There were large ferns with leaves as big as Omori. Plants with huge flowers in pink, orange, and blue. In the distance, he could hear the roar of something. They had to be getting near.

After brushing aside some leaves, Omori was stopped dead in his tracks. There was a door up ahead. It was made of heavy stone and arched across the pathway. Omori looked to see if there was a way around, but he was completely blocked.

There was something there though. A puzzle of sorts? There were music notes carved into the stone in two different rows. A small piano keyboard was located at the bottom of the door, the keys spread the entire length of it. Omori did know about playing the piano and he definitely could read music. He had spent enough time on all that for a lifetime. This puzzle should be a piece of cake. He tried to play the song by pressing the notes in order with his feet, but it wasn’t working.

It was strange. It shouldn’t be that hard. Omori stared up at the door. He wanted to see the dinosaurs! Not be blocked by something insignificant like this.

“You should ask for help!” Abbi offered to him.

The way she said it made him think she wasn’t just talking about the door. He wasn’t sure what she meant exactly, so he looked to her for advice.

“Well, I don’t know much about pianos. You should ask Mari, right?” Abbi grinned at him, her eye a perfect question mark.

He should ask Mari for help.

Backtracking wasn’t fun, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped in this situation. As he turned back to go back in the opposite direction, a leaf hit him right in the stomach. It hurt more than it should.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.

Everything turned black.

Images flashed before his eyes. Of something. A something. He didn’t want to acknowledge the something. He didn’t-

Omori was back in the white space. It was fine. He was okay. Nothing hurt. Omori was fine.

He wasn’t fine, was he?

Omori remembered the knife in his pocket. The one that was shining so brightly, the one that was calling his name. He took it out. There was only one target for his knife to hit, so he chose that target.

>>STAB

Sunny woke up.

Chapter Text

It wasn't dark out yet, the sun was still lingering in the sky. Sunny glanced out the window, trying to clear his mind. His memory felt very fuzzy at the moment. It was almost like something happened, something he should recall, but he couldn't at the moment.

It probably wasn't important. Sunny looked towards the clock on the wall. It was nearly dinner time. Although he hadn't eaten much in days, he didn't really feel hungry. He should probably eat something. If he kept pretending to be sick, then his mom would take him to the doctors. Then everyone would know he'd been lying. At the very least, Sunny had to get out of bed.

Feeling sweaty and gross, he moved to get up. As he was sitting up, there was an intense pain in his abdomen. He pushed his shirt up and saw…

Nothing.

Sunny saw nothing at all. Everything was fine.

He quickly pulled his shirt back down. Enough stalling. He got out of bed and walked over towards the door. His footsteps weren't very steady, but he wasn't exactly feeling sick. Maybe he really did need to eat something, he was much weaker than usual. As he was approaching the door, he saw his mom in the hallway.

"Sunny! Are you feeling better?" She asked him. She had already changed out of her work clothes and into a sweat suit.

He nodded. If he continued the lie it would only get worse for him.

"That's good to hear! I was worried about you. Especially since your sister ran off and left you alone. I guess your dad was home so it was fine." She ruffled his hair and smiled. "Dinner will be done in a few minutes. Why don't you wash up?"

He nodded again, heading into the bathroom. As usual, the bathroom was the cleanest room in the house. The tiles on the floor almost sparkled. Sunny washed his hands and splashed some water on his face. He looked up at his reflection and for a moment he saw something lurking behind him. It was only a flash, but it was black, with writhing tentacles, and one staring eye.

Sunny jumped backwards, nearly slipping on the floor. He caught his balance and gazed back into the mirror. It was only him reflected back. His imagination was playing tricks on him. That was ironic, considering how much time he spent lost in his imagination.

For dinner they had chicken and rice. It smelled good and the chicken had the crispy skin like he liked. Sometimes Mari gave him some of her chicken skin too. Why was she always so nice to him? Well, it didn't matter, he could hardly swallow even a single bite. He tried, but his stomach was hurting.

No one really seemed to notice him anyway. Besides Mari apologizing for leaving him alone and asking how he was feeling, no one talked to him. Mari talked about her school project. His dad seemed upset that Mari had been hanging out with Hero again. He always said that Mari couldn't date until she was eighteen. He never made any rules like that for Sunny though.

His mom then talked about work. His dad didn't seem to like that topic much either. He gave a disgusted look and spat out, "That company I applied for didn't hire me. They keep hiring all these young kids. It's ridiculous."

"I'm sure you'll find something dear!" His mom smiled at him.

His dad shrugged and ate a piece of chicken forcefully. He still smelled of alcohol. Sunny excused himself from the table, he couldn't stand being there another second.

That night Sunny didn't get much rest. He felt paranoid about something. More than paranoid, actually. A fear kept welling up inside him and he felt a presence in the room that wasn't Mari. When he looked around the dark room, he swore he saw something moving. He was so scared, he wanted to cry, he wanted to crawl into bed with Mari. He couldn't do that. He didn't want to inconvenience her anymore than he already had.

Instead he slowly got up from bed and went downstairs. He opened the drawers and found the sharp steak knife. He looked at it in the dim light. It was a bit scratched up but still sharp enough to slice through meat like butter. He needed this knife for protection. That's all. Sunny took the knife with him back upstairs and hid it under his pillow. He didn't sleep after that, but he felt better than he had before.

Morning came once again. Sunny felt like he had been in bed for a long time. When he wasn't sleeping or daydreaming, time stretched out like an infinite void in front of him. It was almost a relief to have his mother come into the room to check up on him.

"You feeling up to school today, kiddo?" His mom asked him.

Sunny nodded. What choice did he have? He didn't want to go but there was no way he was staying home with his dad. Honestly, a part of him wished he could do neither. That part of him wished he didn't even have to exist anymore. He wasn't that lucky though.

After breakfast, Mari headed to school first since her bus arrived earlier. Sunny got his backpack ready to go for school. He put the steak knife into his bag. Just in case he needed it. Then he went outside and sat on his front stoop rather than stay inside, even though the bus wouldn’t be coming for another forty-five minutes. He looked around the neighborhood as he waited. The leaves were starting to change color on the trees. The tree across the street had bright yellow leaves. It reminded him of his daydream and the leaves on the pathway to Dinosaur Land…

Ah. Maybe there was a third option. He could go back to his Head Space. It wouldn't be easy if he had to go to school and interact with others. Kel hadn't emerged from his house yet. Sunny could find some place to hide and daydream the day away. That was fine, wasn't it?

His feet seemed to agree. Sunny walked briskly towards the park. He could hide out in their secret base! That's what he called it, at least. The hidden area beyond the trees with a small pond.

Once he arrived, Sunny dropped his backpack to the ground and leaned up against a tree. His eyes closed and the world around him vanished.

Welcome to White Space. You've been living here for as long as you can remember.

Omori opened his eyes. He was back here again. Last he could recall he had been in the forest with Abbi. Somehow he ended up back in White Space. That was strange. He should go and make sure that everyone else was okay!

The door was standing there, waiting for him to go through it. Omori felt uneasy about opening it. He looked towards Mewo, who looked back with an expression like, "I'm not the one you want to talk to."

That was true. Besides, it felt cold in this room. Omori wanted the warmth of his friends. He opened the door.

Everyone was sitting in the middle of the room. It was like they had been waiting for him to come back.

"Omori!" Mari jumped up and ran towards him. "I was so worried when you vanished! I couldn't even sleep! I'm so glad you are okay."

She wrapped him in a warm hug. Omori wasn't thrilled that he worried his sister so much, but he was comforted all the same. The others gathered around him once Mari let him go, chatting away rapidly.

"Omori! Kel ate all the cookies that Mari made!" Aubrey pouted.

"I didn't eat them all!" Kel retorted. "You had some too."

"Guys!" Basil tried to interrupt, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the others.

"I ate my share!" Aubrey stomped a foot against the ground. "You ate Omori's share too! Now he doesn't have any cookies to eat at all!"

Aubrey made a fist, swinging it in Kel's direction. She held back when Hero stepped in the way. "C'mon you two, don't argue. Omori just got back, we should be celebrating."

"I know," Mari clapped her hands together. "Why don't we all bake some cookies together? Hero was telling me about a new recipe he learned."

"That's a great idea!" Hero smiled at the younger children. "We'll have enough cookies for everyone then."

Omori nodded. It sounded fun and he loved Mari's cookies. The back counter of the room looked almost exactly like his own kitchen. Had it always looked like that? It didn't matter, he guessed. It was perfect for baking!

They all started to bake together. Almost all of them. Abbi was sitting off to the side in one of the chairs at the table, kicking her tentacles back and forth. Omori didn't pay much attention to her, he was too invested in baking.

It was a bit hectic to bake with so many people. Kel and Aubrey kept getting into minor squabbles. Basil took pictures of the group when no one was paying attention, but when he did he distracted everyone since they all wanted to see the new photo. The most recent one made Mari giggle. "Omori look!"

He took a look at the photo. In it he was stirring a big bowl of batter. There was some flour on his nose, which did look a bit silly. Feeling self conscious he rubbed at his face, trying to remove it. Mari laughed again, taking out her handkerchief. "I'll get that for you."

The rest of the baking went smoothly. They all took a break while the cookies were in the oven, playing a quick round of cards. The room filled with the heavenly scent of freshly baked goods. Omori could feel his stomach growling at him.

The timer dinged, letting the group know the cookies were done. Hero took them from the oven, "We have to let them cool before we can eat them."

"Ah man! I wanna eat them now!" Kel complained.

"It'll go by fast if we all work on cleaning up together." Mari suggested, pointing towards the dirty dishes that had built up.

"Do I have to?" Kel's eyes darted between the golden brown cookies and the sink.

"Just help us clean up!" Aubrey pushed him towards the sink.

It really didn't take long to clean up. The prize of cookies was waiting for him, so Omori didn't mind too much.

Once he got to take a bite of the warm cookie, he felt absolute bliss! It was so delicious! Making cookies with everyone was so much fun!

"There is something else you wanted to do, right Dreamer?" Abbi stood with the group, a tentacle wrapped around a cookie.

Was there something else he wanted to do?

It took him a moment to remember. Dinosaur Land! He had wanted to go but had been blocked by a puzzle he didn't understand. He looked towards Mari, his small voice just barely coming out, “Can you help me out with something?”

“You need help with something?” Mari grinned towards him, a cookie still in hand. “I’ll help you out with anything you need!”

“There is a puzzle at the entrance to Dinosaur Land that I don’t understand.” Omori shuffled his feet back and forth. It felt wrong to ask for help but what other choice did he have?

“Alright! I’ll come help you out once we are done eating.” Mari munched down on her cookie.

___

It didn’t take long to get back to the door. Abbi came with them, but she still wasn’t talking much. Omori wanted to ask if something was wrong, but talking took so much effort and he had already spoken so much today. Mari appraised the puzzle, looking at the notes on the door and the keyboard at the bottom.

“I think I understand.” Mari traced a finger over the top row of notes. “It’s a duet. We have to play both sets of notes in tandem.”

Oh. That would make sense. That was why Omori couldn’t solve it before, it was impossible to solve by himself. The solution was simple enough, he guessed. He had to play a song with Mari. It wouldn’t be that hard.

His stomach started to feel sick. Something was surfacing in his memory, something he didn’t want to think about. Maybe he really didn’t want to go to Dinosaur Land as badly as he initially thought he did. It would be better if they left. Although, if he left after bringing Mari all the way here, that would be a disappointment to her. He dragged her out for no reason. Omori glanced towards Abbi like she could help him.

“What’s wrong, Dreamer?” Abbi looked him up and down. “You seem troubled by something.”

“Nothing.” Omori mumbled to himself, looking back at Mari.

“You should ask for help!” Abbi waved her tentacle arm at him.

“She already helped?” Omori squinted his eyes at Abbi. He always thought she was smart, but she wasn’t acting the part lately.

“Not with that, I mean with your father!”

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. Omori glared at Abbi. How dare she bring that up. This world was sacred! It was an escape!

Omori didn’t get angry often, but he felt that emotion bubbling up inside him so rapidly it had no choice but to explode. “GET OUT!”

“Huh?” Abbi looked towards him with an exclamation mark for an eye.

“I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” Omori pushed Abbi away from him. She fell backwards. The whole word seemed to tilt at that same moment. Omori felt himself falling, falling, everything around him was vanishing and turning black. The darkness felt like it was filling his lungs, Omori couldn’t breathe. He wanted to scream out for help, or maybe just scream out in frustration.

And then-

He was back in White Space. His heart was still pounding in his chest, an uneasiness welling up inside him. It felt like something precious had been tainted. It was fine though. The problem was gone. The problem wouldn’t be back again.

Although, he didn’t really want to be here right now. If he stayed, he had a feeling he would remember something. Something. He didn’t want to think. He couldn’t stand it. He took out his trusty knife. It was so easy for him to do this.

>STAB

Sunny opened his eyes. The sun was still up in the sky, the light reflecting in the pool of water. He stood up, stretching out his arms and legs. His back hurt a bit from leaning against the tree for so long, but he wasn’t too worried about that. He was more worried about the time. He hadn’t thought to bring a watch with him, so he didn’t know what time it was. He looked up towards the sky, trying to gauge the approximate hour.

The clouds above were moving lazily against the azure sky. One looked oddly like a rabbit. Aubrey really liked rabbits, didn’t she? He was getting sidetracked, he wanted to know the time. Looking up at the sky really didn’t give him much information though. He decided it was probably late enough to go home. He picked up his backpack and headed back through the trees. The walk back home didn't take very long at all.

As he turned the corner for his street, Sunny paused, completely dumbfounded. There were several police cars parked right in front of his house.

Chapter Text

Sunny dropped his backpack on the floor and flopped onto his bed face first. A part of him really wanted to scream, but his throat felt sore after talking to the police and his parents for so long. He wasn't a big talker and he had a lot of explaining to do.

He should've thought of it sooner. Of course the school would call his parents when he didn't show up. And of course they would call the police when Sunny was nowhere to be found. They thought he was kidnapped or something else sinister like that. 

Sunny was not kidnapped. He had simply skipped school. He had to tell all that to the police. The officer looked rather annoyed with Sunny, like he was wasting his time, just another troublemaking kid. Sunny was wasting everyone's time, honestly. The police should be out there helping solve crime, not dealing with a kid who decided that daydreaming in the park was more important than going to school.

During the talk, his father kept looking over at him, as if to say, "Don't say a word about me."

Not that Sunny would. There wasn't anything to say, anyway.

Luckily, the police didn't ask to search his bag. Sunny hated to think what they might've done if they found that knife. It probably wasn't a good idea to carry it around with him everywhere, but it made him feel safer.

So now Sunny was grounded. For a week. Seemed a fair punishment for what he had done, but that also meant that he would have to be alone with his father and he hated that idea. There was nothing he could do. Sunny knew he had been a "bad child".

He had been very bad. He made his parents worry over nothing. His mom missed work. The family needed money and Sunny had basically stolen that money away. He truly was a bad child.

Sighing out meekly, Sunny buried his head into his pillow. It might be good to go back to his Headspace. At the moment he didn't want to think of the police or his parents or going to school tomorrow. He needed an escape from reality. 

"Sunny?" 

The door to the room creaked open. Sunny didn't have to look up to know it was Mari, so he kept his face hidden in his pillow.

"I want to talk to you." Mari sat down on her own bed. "Can you please look at me?"

Sunny didn't want to, but he couldn't say no to Mari. He sat up on his bed and looked towards her direction without making eye contact. 

"Is something wrong? I mean, this isn't like you, skipping school and everything." Mari ran a hand through her long hair, tugging on it anxiously. "Ever since the recital you've been acting differently. Is this because of me? Did I push you too hard?"

Sunny's mouth dropped open. Was his sister really taking the blame for what happened? He didn't want to accuse her of anything. It was Sunny's fault. He was the one who decided he didn't want to play violin on a day that was special to Mari. How selfish of him.

"I get so worked up about things. I want everything to be perfect all the time. Thinking about it, I might've pushed you too hard to practice with me. I wanted you to be perfect too. No, it wasn't a want, I needed perfection. That's not really fair to you, Sunny. I'm supposed to be your big sister and I couldn't even see when you were suffering." Mari let go of her hair, placing her hands into her lap. Her hands were trembling the smallest amount. "So please, if what I did hurt you, then I'm really sorry. I'm sorry if I ruined your enjoyment of playing by practicing too much. I won't make you play violin ever again, I want you to be happy."

"Thank you." Sunny breathed out. He had talked so much today his voice hardly came out at all. Gratitude overflowed in his heart. Someone noticed that he was in pain. Someone cared. He wasn't completely ignored. 

That wasn't the whole problem though, was it? 

"This is the perfect opportunity!" A voice came from the end of Sunny's bed. He shifted his eyes enough to see a girl standing there. A girl who shouldn't be there at all. A girl he thought he banished from his mind. "Tell Mari everything! She cares about you! She wants to help!"

No! Sunny couldn't do that! He couldn't! And that girl, he couldn't bear to look at her. It felt like his mind was being shaken up.

A dislodged memory came to the surface. Something Sunny didn't want to remember.

Recess wasn't Sunny's favorite part of Elementary School. If only he could stay inside and read, but the teachers insisted he go outside and get some sun. So he was outside, sitting in the sandbox, attempting to make a sandcastle. 

Attempting being the main word here. It wasn't going so well. He would fill his bucket with sand, put it upside down and when he lifted it back up, the sand fell down. It wasn't holding its shape at all. When he built them on the beach they held the shape. Was he doing something wrong? Maybe he had to pack the sand in tighter-

"That's not going to work."

Sunny nearly fell over backwards. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed someone approaching. He looked up to see a girl standing there. She had two pigtails, a t-shirt with an octopus on it, and most apparent at the moment, an eyepatch over one eye. She had several other bandaids on her arms and legs too. Sunny knew this girl very well. Her name was [the wisest].

"Sorry Dreamer! I didn't mean to scare you." [the wisest] giggled to herself. "You always have your head in the clouds, don't you?"

"I was trying to build a sandcastle." Sunny pouted, ignoring the slight teasing. "It's not working."

"The sun dried out all the sand." [the wisest] pointed up towards the sky. "Sand needs moisture to stick together. You need some water if you want the castle to stand."

Of course. The sand at the beach was wet. Why hadn't Sunny thought of that? "You are smart." 

"Not really. But thanks!" [the wisest] flashed him a grin. "Why don't we go get some water?"

"Wait a second." There was something that had been bothering Sunny all day. He had to ask. He tapped a finger against his cheek, right under his eye, "What happened?"

"My dad, err." [the wisest] turned away from Sunny. "I fell down. I'm pretty clumsy, you know?"

That was a lie. Sunny couldn't see her face, but he knew a lie when he heard one. "[the wisest]... that's not true, is it?"

[the wisest] turned to face him. There was a remarkable amount of sadness in her eye. "Can you keep a secret?"

He nodded. Sunny was pretty quiet in general. He really only talked with his sister, Kel, Hero, and of course [the wisest].

"My dad hit me." She threw up her hands in defense of herself. "It's not what you think though! I totally deserved it. I was acting out. So I deserved to be hit. It's not my dad's fault if he got angry with me. I shouldn't act like a know-it-all. Don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

Sunny slowly nodded. This felt like it shouldn't be a secret. He should tell someone, right? [the wisest] looked pretty banged up. It would betray her trust if he told though. If it was something really bad, she would ask for help. Sunny shouldn't butt into her family's private business.

"Anyway, let's not talk about that anymore. Tonight we are going to watch the shooting stars, right?  I don't want to be in a sad mood. So let's get some water and build an awesome castle!"

Sunny picked up his bucket and followed her towards the drinking fountain to get some water. His chest felt very heavy though.

Sunny clutched his head with both hands. He didn't want to remember that! He didn't! Make it go away!

"Sunny?" Mari bent down in front of him, her hand on his shoulder. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Sorry." Sunny had been acting strange. He needed to do better. "I got a headache."

"Oh yeah! You were outside all day. You probably got dehydrated." Mari stood back up. "I'll get you some water."

She was always taking care of him, yet Sunny couldn't do anything for her. His failures kept piling up. Now that Mari was gone, he looked around the room. No trace of anyone who didn't belong. The girl was gone. That was a relief.

Night fell shortly after his talk with Mari. He drank up the water and laid down on his bed. Tomorrow he had to go to school. No more running away. He didn't want to think about that, or rather, he didn't want to think at all. It was time to escape.

Welcome to White Space. You've been living here for as long as you can remember.

Omori was back here again. He always ended up here in the end. His perfect hideaway. The room felt much colder than normal. He wrapped a blanket around himself and looked over towards the door.

He hated being alone, but maybe today he needed to be alone. It felt like something had changed drastically on the other side and he wasn't ready to face it yet. Instead of going through, he looked at Mewo.

"What are you waiting for?" Mewo seemed to say.

Omori didn't know. 

There wasn't much to do in White Space. Omori had to make his own fun. He looked over his computer, played a few rounds of blackjack, but found that boring. Card games aren't the same without friends to play them with. Omori should do some kind of solo activity.

Right! He pounded a fist into his hand. His sketchbook. Omori liked to draw, although he didn't do it very often. That's why he brought a sketchbook in here, he could practice as much as he wanted. He opened up the sketchbook to the first page and tried to decide what he wanted to draw.

Actually, he always messed up the first page. That put a sour tone on the whole sketchbook. He turned to the second page instead. For practice, he started with something simple. Mewo! She was a little black cat, it wouldn't be hard. There, he drew a simple cat and colored it in black. It looked pretty blank with only one cat, so Omori kept sketching out more and more. He filled the page with cats. Cute!

Since that had gone so well, he moved onto a new page. This time he had a more elaborate design in mind. Omori sketched it out lightly before going in with more details. It took a long time, but once he was done, he was proud of the result.

It was a picture of a beach scene. Waves were difficult to draw, but Omori thought he pulled it off well. On the sand there was a sandcastle, a giant octopus wrapping a tentacle around it. 

Actually, this picture made him feel uneasy. Omori switched to another page. Since he had spent so much time on the last one, he wanted something more simple. What would be easy to draw?

An idea came to mind. Omori drew out a black night sky twinkling with stars. A single shooting star raced against the scene, the brightest star in the whole sky. Do drawn shooting stars grant wishes too? Not that Omori had anything to wish for. He had everything he needed here in White Space. He couldn't be happier. 

Omori kept drawing until fatigue took over and he fell asleep.

"Sunny!" Mari's voice called out beside him. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Was it really morning already? He didn't feel at all ready. Maybe he could play sick again? Or runaway forever? "Time for school!"

Sunny groaned. He didn't even want to hear that word. There was no escape. Today he had to go to school.

Chapter Text

"Sunny."

Sunny gripped the straps of his backpack tightly before slowly turning around to face his father. He had planned on going outside and sitting on the front step until the bus came, but it seemed his father had other plans for him.

"You know," his father leaned against the back of the couch, staring down at Sunny. In the background the sound of the morning news playing on the television could just barely be heard. "You caused a lot of problems, running away like you did."

"Sorry." Sunny mumbled, his eyes wandering towards the floor.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you." Sunny's eyes immediately went back towards his father. "You didn't run away because of the way I disciplined you the other day, right?"

Sunny shook his head. He couldn't remember being punished for anything. Had something happened? His stomach felt queasy when he tried to think so he stopped thinking about it.

"Discipline is necessary to become a proper man. My father disciplined me the same way when I was a child and I turned out well. I want the best for you, Sunny. You can't keep crying all the time, you have to grow up. And most of all, you can't run away from your problems, like you did at the recital. You have to face them like a man. Do you understand?"

Sunny didn't understand. What sort of discipline? Was he running away from his problems? Maybe he was. He was a disappointment of a son. He had ruined Mari's recital. He ran away. He couldn't face his friends. He ran away. Would he keep running for his whole life? A coward? Could he even be the man his father wanted him to be?

Probably not. He was a failure, right?

Sunny didn't say any of that. He just wanted to get away from his father before he decided to discipline him in whatever way he thought would make him stronger. His stomach throbbed in pain. Sunny nodded his head.

"Good. Now go to school. I'll be watching from the window to make sure you get on the bus. Don't wander away again."

Like Sunny would dare after the incident yesterday. He couldn't cause any more problems or his guilt would overwhelm him.

"Oh, and one last thing. You know how your mother doesn't share the same opinions on discipline as I do, so she doesn't need to know what happened the other day, right?"

It felt like it wasn't the first time his father had said something like that. He couldn't really remember though. His father's voice sounded like it was dripping with menace when he spoke those words. A threat. Sunny wouldn't say a thing. He couldn't. There was nothing to say because nothing had happened. Sunny gave a little hop and a nod before he readjusted his backpack and headed for the doorway.

His father's voice sounded more cheerful as he called towards his back, "Have a good day at school, son."

As soon as he closed the door behind him, a cheerful voice called out to him from next door. "Sunny!"

In all the confusion and chaos, Sunny had almost forgotten about how much he was dreading seeing his friends. He had made a fool of himself in front of everyone at the recital. His stomach dropped at the thought. He had really messed up that night.

"Hi… Kel…"

"What's with the gloomy look? Are you still feeling sick? Did something happen? How come there were like a hundred police cars here yesterday? I asked my mom but she didn't want to tell me anything at all." Kel bounced his way across his lawn and into Sunny's yard.

It was a lot to tell. Sunny wasn't even sure he wanted to tell. It felt so embarrassing. "I'm not sick anymore. I didn't feel like going to school yesterday so I went to the park. My parents thought I ran away."

"Woah! That's kinda badass." Kel grinned. "I didn't think you had it in you."

Kel thought he was cool? A small smile came across his face. Sunny might've been worried over nothing. His friends wouldn't suddenly start hating him because he messed up at a concert. It felt reassuring to have someone so cheerful next to him too. Maybe things would be okay? At least, going to school would be okay.

The bus eventually came and Sunny looked back at his house. His father was watching from the window. He quickly turned back around and boarded, sitting next to Kel.

Morning classes went by in a daze. Sunny could hardly pay attention. He was glad that Kel explained to everyone else what had happened, since he didn't think he could. His voice was tired. He couldn't really escape into daydreams either, but he did spend a lot of time looking out the window, his mind in a fog.

It seemed like he always thought too much or not at all. There was no in-between.

A touch on his arm caused Sunny to flinch back. He realized pretty quickly it was Kel. "You sure are jumpy today!"

Sunny shrugged. He hadn't really been expecting a touch. It shocked him a little.

"Anyway, c'mon it's lunchtime! I wanna read the new issue of Captain SpaceBoy with everyone and since you are grounded this is the only time we can do it!"

Kel moved four desks together into a square. Sunny sat at one of them, Kel next to him. Aubrey and Basil sat opposite them.

"Alright!" Kel placed the comic book on the table in front of him like a sacred artifact. "Let's read this thing!"

Kel opened up the comic book to the first page. Aubrey loudly complained, "I can't see! It's upside down too!"

"Maybe you should hold it up so we all can see." Basil offered.

"Good idea!" Kel held up the comic book. "Oh wait, I have another idea. How 'bout I read out all the panels too?"

"That sounds annoying." Aubrey wrinkled her brow in anger.

"It'll be fine! I'm pretty good at doing voices, check it out." Kel pointed towards the first panel, some narration. He read out in a bombastic tone, "In the year 2099, Captain SpaceBoy and crew set out on another daring adventure."

The next line was from SpaceBoy. Kel changed his tone to something more heroic. "Alright men, bring me the star chart. We are going to find the legendary treasure!"

"It's not bad." Aubrey relented, an amused smile playing at her lips.

"I think it's pretty good." Basil smiled as well. "Keep going."

Kel kept reading and Sunny felt himself becoming far more invested into the story than he typically did. Kel was good at this. He even came up with new voices on the fly. Not to mention he was reading the text upside down. Sunny was seriously impressed, but also super amused. This was a lot of fun.

Sunny missed having fun. It felt like his life had only been misery lately. Things weren't all bad. He still had his friends by his side and could laugh together with them.

It's almost too nice. Sunny secretly pinched his leg under his desk to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It gave him a jolt of pain. This was reality.

Was it okay for him to be happy? He'd caused so many problems over the past few days. He messed up the recital, he made Mari miss school, he had the police called when he skipped school. After all that, did he deserve happiness?

After all that, Mari had apologized to him. As if it wasn't him who had messed everything up.

Ugh. Why couldn't he enjoy a single moment without the negative thoughts drowning in? The only time they didn't was in Headspace. Sunny could only be happy when he wasn't Sunny.

I want you to be happy.

Mari had said that to him. She had meant it, too. Mari really cared about him. So did his friends. Maybe. Just a little. It was okay.

It was okay to enjoy a small moment of happiness with his friends, here in reality.

"That was really good Kel!" Basil clapped his hands like he was at a theater performance once Kel had finished reading the last panel. "You have a real talent."

Kel blushed slightly, placing the comic down as he scratched the back of his neck. "It's nothing."

"You should do that when you grow up!" Basil continued. "Like you could be a voice actor for cartoons."

"I dunno if I'm good enough for that." Kel laughed. "Besides, I wanna be a basketball player."

"Really?" Aubrey twirled her hair around a finger. "Can you even play? Aren't you kinda short?"

"I'm gonna get taller. Taller than Hero!" Kel sat up straight in his seat. "And I know how to play."

"Well I want to be a vet when I grow up." Aubrey dropped her hand, letting her hair brush against her shoulder. "I think my dreams are way more likely to come true than yours."

"Pfft, anyone can be a vet. Not everyone can play basketball." Kel stuck his tongue out at Aubrey.

Aubrey looked like she was about to jump across the table at him, but Basil waved his hands in front of them. "I want to be a photographer!"

"Huh? Really?" Aubrey, distracted now, sat back in her seat. "I thought you would want to be a gardener or something."

"That's an option too. I just like growing plants as a hobby. I don't want to have my job be my hobby. It might take away the fun. Plus I think I'm pretty good at taking pictures."

Kel nodded. "Yeah! I love looking at your photo album. So many great memories."

"Aw, thanks." Now Basil blushed, much deeper and red than Kel had. "What about you, Sunny? What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Grow up?

For some reason Sunny had never considered growing up. It always felt like he would never become an adult. Would he be one? Should he think of the future? What did he even want to do? He didn't have any passions or anything.

"I want to go to space." Sunny replied. He wasn't sure why. It felt right.

"Oh, like, um," Kel looked confused for a moment. "That girl we used to hang out with in Elementary School. She always used to say she wanted to be an astronaut. Whatever happened to her?"

A brief flash of a memory came to mind. Sitting on the dew damp grass, looking up at the night sky that was so bright it almost seemed purple, next to him, a girl who-

No. No no no no no no no.

Sunny's eyes grew wide and his stomach felt sick. A harsh wave of nausea swept over him and he started to gag and cough, choking on bile.

"Woah dude, you okay?" Kel pat his back. "Still feeling sick? Need the nurse?"

Sunny took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. There had been no such girl. She never existed. Nothing had happened. "I'm okay. I swallowed wrong."

"Alright." Kel tapped his fingers on his comic book. "If you become an astronaut, you can go on adventures just like Captain SpaceBoy!"

"Yeah." Sunny smiled again. He wanted to go on adventures. Being an astronaut wouldn't be as easy as the comics, but he still wanted to go to space. It probably wouldn't work out for him, though. He was small and not in shape at all. His grades weren't the best either…

Somewhere deep in his heart, he wondered if he even deserved to have any of his dreams come true. It felt like he didn't.

Be happy.

Sunny was trying. It wasn't easy. He had to try.

Sunny didn't want school to end. Going home felt like a harsh punishment after spending so much time with his friends. The whole bus ride home he was silent even though Kel was talking his ear off. It was a good distraction, but it didn't stop the impending sense of dread.

Outside was so bright, but after stepping off the bus and heading in the front door, the world descended into darkness. It wasn't actually dark. The lights were on. The television was playing. His father was sitting on the couch. There was an almost suffocating smell of alcohol in the air. It felt dark.

There was something else.

Something that brought a tiny bit of light.

The sound of a piano being played.

Ah. Mari was home. Sunny was going to be okay.

He hadn't heard the piano since the day of the recital. He thought hearing it might bring him dread, a reminder of his failings, but the melody was so peaceful.

Sunny didn't hate music. He hated the thought of being forced to play the violin, but he wasn't forced anymore. Mari had said it was okay.

He was a failure, he had hurt Mari. She still cared for him anyway. He was okay. For the moment. He was okay.

His father turned towards him, a beer in his hand. He grumbled, "Welcome home. Go to your room and do your homework."

Sunny felt his stomach clench up with fear, but he was okay. He took a deep breath. Mari was home so it was going to be okay. He headed up to his room quietly and placed down his backpack. He took out his homework. Inside, he saw the glint of metal. That knife. He had forgotten it was still in there. A knife he had taken to school. That was dangerous. He should be more careful.

He took it out and placed it under his pillow again. Just in case. For now he needed to focus on doing his homework. He had some make-up work to do as well. It might take awhile. Did he really have to do it right now? Couldn't he take a little break first? Go spend some time in Headspace?

Well he should think of the future too. If he didn't do his homework he'd get into trouble. He should try.

Little by little, Sunny had to keep trying.

Chapter Text

The soft sounds of the piano had stopped.

Sunny had been enjoying listening while he worked on his homework. The silence felt so much louder now. There was really only the constant ticking of the clock on the wall to keep him company. He didn't like that silence.

Sunny paused his pencil as a new sound came. The sound of footsteps on the stairs. If it was Mari then that would be one thing, but these sounded too heavy to be her. He froze up, turning slightly towards the open doorway. He should've shut the door behind him, why didn't he shut the door? He had wanted to hear the piano better, but now he was regretting his decision.

"Sunny." His dad grumbled as he appeared in the doorway.

"I'm doing my homework." He said that as a defense, but also in the hopes that his father would leave him alone. He was busy! He was doing as told!

"Yeah. Sure." His father leaned against the doorframe for support. "Your sister went out with that boy again."

"Hero?" Why was his father even telling him this? Although that meant Mari wasn't home anymore. His heart sank a bit at that news.

"Yeah. That Henry boy from next door. She's always hanging around with him. She should be here at home studying like a good girl. Instead she's always going out and acting like a little slut."

Sunny stood up from his chair so quickly he nearly lost balance. He knew his father didn't like Hero and Mari's relationship, but to call her that awful word. That was too much. His dad always praised Mari. It lit some kind of fire in him to hear him speak of his sister like that. "Don't say that about Mari."

"What are you gonna do about it?" His dad's eyes pierced through him. "Maybe I should discipline her too."

Sunny hadn't realized what he was doing. His body moved all on its own. Before he knew it, he had reached his bed, pulling out the knife and holding it in front of him with shaky hands. "No!"

"What's that? Where did you get that from?" His dad moved closer towards him.

Sunny held the knife up higher. "Leave Mari alone."

I want you to be happy.

You can't run from your problems.

He wasn't running! He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he couldn't let anything happen to Mari!

"Put that down, Sunny." His father glared at him. "You are in big trouble young man, you understand that, right?"

It didn't matter. He had to protect Mari. Because he couldn't protect-

"Aaaaaahhhh!!!!" Sunny ran towards his father, the knife still held out in front of him.

Just as he reached him. Just as he reached him. Just as he reached him.

His father grabbed his wrist. Sunny felt something painful as his arm was twisted.

It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts

The knife went clattering to the floor.

And then

And then-

Welcome to White Space. You've been living here for as long as you can remember.

Omori found himself lying on the floor. His sketchbook was open in front of him, a half finished piece on the page. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. That's right, he had been working on his drawings.

Today he really wanted to play with his friends. He had been hesitant to see them last time, but he couldn't recall why. It probably wasn't important, but he had to go see them today. He wanted to see their reassuring smiles, to feel comfortable and happy.

And safe.

He didn't bother doing anything but closing his notebook before heading towards the door. He twisted the handle and stepped to the other side.

"Omori!" Mari rushed towards him, wrapping him in a hug. Omori didn't smile much, but he smiled brightly at her touch. The warmth and bright colors were so inviting. Omori couldn't think of a better place to be.

She let him go and Omori looked around the room. All his friends were here. Hero, Kel, Aubrey, and Basil. There was something else that he couldn't recall being here before. There was a tentacle sticking out from the ground. As he looked at it, it wiggled like it was saying, "Hello!"

Strange. Well that wasn't anything to concern himself with.

"What did you want to do today?" Mari asked him, as if on cue.

"I want to go to space." Omori really wanted to go somewhere fresh and exciting. What better place than space?

"Oh yeah." Hero scratched his chin. "I heard that Captain SpaceBoy was in the forest East of here, working on his spaceship."

"What, no way!" Kel pumped his fists up and down. "That sounds awesome, we gotta check it out!"

The group all seemed to agree. It did sound like a fun adventure. Omori was always up for adventure. They all quickly exited out the large tree and headed into the forest.

This side of the forest was less exotic than the other direction. There were a few small flowers growing nearby. Omori bent down to examine them. Little white flowers all bunched up together.

"Those are Baby's Breath." Basil crouched down next to him. "They are pretty, right? They are commonly used in flower arrangements, but I think they look nice on their own too."

Omori nodded. Basil knew a lot about flowers, it was always fun to hear how passionate he got.

"C'mon, I wanna go to space!" Kel whined.

"Calm down." Hero put a hand on his head. "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey."

"But we are gonna journey to space!" Kel pushed his hand out of the way.

"We can stop and appreciate the flowers on the way!" Aubrey countered. "What are these?" She pointed towards some yellow flowers with a black center.

"Those are Black-eyed Susans!"

The group continued a leisurely walk through the woods. Omori felt so happy, his friends chatting around him. He never wanted this to end.

"Hey, look up ahead!" Kel bounced up and down, pointing towards a large clearing. He took off running.

"Wait!" Aubrey chased after him.

Omori watched them, looking up at the clearing. There was a large metal craft that was taller than the surrounding trees. Some people were wandering around, carrying boxes and other things. This must be the place!

Omori took off running towards the clearing too, Basil next to him. Basil was laughing freely. It warmed his heart to see his friend so happy.

"Don't trip!" Mari called out from where she was walking with Hero.

Omori waved back towards her, but kept rushing ahead. He was careful not to fall down though. He reached the clearing where Kel and Aubrey were already standing.

Kel was talking to one of the crew members. "What's that, what are you guys doing?

The crew member was holding a rather heavy box. "We are loading up supplies for our space voyage."

"Space voyage! I wanna go!" Kel threw a fist into the air.

"Hmm, what's going on here?"

There had been a man Omori didn't notice working on something under an open hatch at the back of the ship. Now he stood facing the group, his impressive cape billowing even though there wasn't any wind.

"Captain SpaceBoy!" Kel and Aubrey shouted simultaneously.

"That's right." He grinned at the group. "Do you all want to join my crew?"

"Hell yeah!" Kel cheered.

"Kel, don't swear." Hero had finally reached the group, Mari next to him. "We don't want to join, exactly, but we wouldn't mind accompanying you on a flight."

"Hmm." SpaceBoy scratched his chin. "I suppose I can let you do that. Under one condition."

"Condition?" Mari asked.

"Yes! I need a thing-a-ma-jig and a whats-it to finish building my ship. It would be a hassle to go and get it myself, but if you all help me out, I'd be more than happy to have you on board." SpaceBoy struck a pose, his cape continuing to billow out.

"I think we can do that." Mari remarked. "Where can we find those items?"

"They are in the junkyard." SpaceBoy made a big show of pointing towards his left.

"Alright, that seems fair. How about it everyone, do you want to help him out?" Mari asked of the group.

"Like you even need to ask! Let's go!" Kel started running off towards the other end of the clearing.

"That boy, always rushing ahead." Hero shook his head. "We better catch up to him."

They all took off again. The pace was more brisk this time as they were all so excited. It didn't take long to arrive at a gate. On the top it had the words "Junkyard" written out.

This gate looked familiar. It had musical notes and a piano keyboard, just like the one at Dinosaur Land.

Oh no.

Omori frowned slightly.

"Well, Omori. Shall we play together?" Mari placed a hand on his shoulder.

For some reason he could almost hear the reassuring sound of piano notes wafting through the air. He clenched a fist.

He wasn't scared anymore.

Omori nodded his head. He was ready. He could do this now. No one was forcing him to. He wanted to do this for himself.

"Ready? Let's go." Mari started to play out the top row of notes with her feet. Omori didn't hesitate. He followed along, playing his own notes. It sounded wonderful together. A beautiful melody.

Once they were done, the door creaked open.

"You guys did it!" Basil cheered. "I took a picture while you were playing."

"Oh yeah? I want to see." Mari rushed over where Basil was holding a polaroid. She looked it over. "This is great."

Omori wanted to see too. He took the photo from Basil. A picture of him and Mari playing a song together. It made him happy. "I like it too."

"Alright." Mari turned around, her hair following behind like a dark sheet. "Let's go get that thing-a-ma-jig and the whats-it!"

They stepped into the junkyard. There were rows of stacked up containers filled up with various scraps of trash. Mostly metal things that Omori could not identify. There was a path to the left that looked blocked off by a large compacted cube of trash. Another path in front wasn't blocked at all. That looked the right way to go.

They had just started down the path when a stack of papers wandered into the pathway. The papers seemed to have eyes and a frown floating in front. It looked like UNFINISHED HOMEWORK.

"An enemy?" Basil took a step back, stumbling into Hero.

Hero stabilized him by placing his hands on his shoulders. "I think we can take it on, don't worry Basil.”

"We can do it, right Omori?" Aubrey flashed him a grin.

He nodded. They could do this.

"You guys go ahead. I don't think I would be much help in battle." Mari said. "I'll get a snack ready instead!"

"Then let's do this!" Kel started to jump in place, tossing a basketball between his hands.

Oh, all his friends had weapons now. Aubrey had her stuffed eggplant, Basil a pair of gardening shears, and Hero had a frying pan. Omori had his knife. Together, he was sure they could beat any enemy.

They didn't have much time to think about it because the Unfinished Homework attacked!

With a combination of attacks, they were able to dispatch it fairly easily. Everyone smiled and cheered. Omori even gave a little grin. That wasn't so bad.

"I found a thing!" Kel held up an empty water bottle.

"Where did you get that?" Aubrey asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"I found it in the trash while we were fighting." Kel looked ecstatic about his find.

"That's gross!" Aubrey, on the other hand, looked disgusted.

"Well maybe we could recycle it later?" Basil shrugged his shoulders. "Recyclables shouldn't be in the Junkyard anyway."

"Whatever. Let's keep going." Aubrey started to walk down the pathway again.

After a few twists and turns, another enemy blocked their path. Much like the last one it seemed to have a face not exactly attached to its body. It looked like a large oversized pencil. It was a PAINCIL.

"I'm gonna erase you!" Kel declared as he dropped his basketball and kicked it while it was still in the air at the Paincil.

"Nice!" Basil's eyes sparkled. "Oh, I got one. I'll trim you down to size!" He snipped his shears at the enemy.

"Puns? Really?" Aubrey smacked the enemy with her stuffed toy.

"I think it's funny." Hero finished off the Paincil with a good wack from his pan. They all cheered for another victory.

The group headed forward. It was much of the same. Paths laid out by the large containers. Enemies blocking the way. It was a lot like the video games Omori played with Kel sometimes, but even better since all his friends were around.

They came to a dead end. There was another one of those strange tentacle things sticking out of the ground here. The tentacle wiggled, pointing towards an open container. There was something shining inside.

"I'll get it!" Kel rushed in, digging through the garbage, sending it flying in various directions. Aubrey took a rather large step back.

He eventually emerged, holding what looked like a metal spring over his head. "It's the thing-a-ma-jig!"

"Nice." Mari clapped her hands together. "We just need the whats-it now."

"Yeah." Kel handed the thing-a-ma-jig to Omori. "You hold onto it for now."

Omori nodded and placed it into his pocket.

"Where do we go now?" Aubrey looked around her. "We are at a dead end."

"I know!" Basil put a hand up. "I think if we can get over these containers, there is a path on the other side."

"How are we going to get over though?" Hero questioned.

"I can make us a way over!" Basil put his hands on his hips proudly. "Watch this."

He made his way over to the container. He pulled a packet of seeds from his pocket and quickly planted them. With that, he pulled out a watering can and watered the seeds. Before their eyes, a sturdy vine grew up. Almost like a rope. It was perfect for climbing.

"That's amazing Basil!" Aubrey pat him on the shoulder. "Now we can keep looking."

One by one they climbed up the vine. It didn’t take much time to find another path for them to follow. Together they hurried onward, going down many more paths and fighting some more of the same enemies. Somehow, Omori felt like he was growing stronger, if only a little bit. A bit of the sheen on his knife seemed to have vanished, though.

After another battle, Mari called everyone over to a small clearing. She had her picnic blanket and basket set out. “I think it’s time we took a little break. I made snacks!”

“Yes! A picnic!” Kel ran over.

Omori joined him, sitting on the blanket. He loved Mari’s picnics. It was always great to share a meal with his friends.

“I made sandwiches and lemonade.” Mari handed out the food to everyone in the group. They all started to chow down.

“I wonder what space will be like.” Hero said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

“Do you think we’ll float?” Basil asked in return.

“Hmm.” Kel took a gulp of his lemonade. “I don’t think so. Captain SpaceBoy has manufactured gravity on his ships.”

“I bet we’ll be able to see all kinds of stars!” Aubrey looked up at the sky with sparkling eyes.

Omori wondered if the stars would look so close he could touch them up there. Maybe he could touch them. Can you touch a star? He wasn’t sure, but he wanted to try.

Once they finished up eating, Mari packed up the picnic. “Alright, let’s go get that whats-it now.”

The path forward was rather short. In front of them was a much wider area, surrounded by the same containers. However, the wide area looked a bit like a section of street with a yellow painted line going down the center. That was strange, especially for a junkyard. On the opposite side of the road looking area was something that looked like a pedestal, a shining object on top.

“That must be the whats-it!” Kel started to run forward, only for Hero to catch him by the back of his shirt.

“Don’t run into the street!” Hero scolded.

It was a good thing he stopped Kel. Right before their eyes, a huge yellow bus came into view. It screeched to a stop right in front of where the group was standing. It turned in a way a bus shouldn’t, the front two headlights now blazing at them like angry eyes.

SCHOOL BUS ATTACKS

Chapter Text

"It looks angry!" Hero threw out his arms as if to protect the younger members of the group.

Angry. Hmm. Omori had a thought brewing in his head despite the apparent danger of the bus. It was revving its engine as the two headlights at the front seemed to glare at him. "I have an idea."

"Huh? What is it?" Basil clutched his arm as if desperate for any sort of support.

"I think I can make it less angry." Omori wasn't sure if this would work, but anything seemed better than facing down an angry school bus. "I'll read one of my poems."

"Alright. Go for it Omori!" Hero lowered one of his arms and Omori took a step closer so the bus was sure to hear.

He read out one of his poems.

"A purple night
A light shining
A sea of stars
A hand reaching out
A mistake
A smile vanishing
...
Gone forever"

The revving engine slowed as the bus seemed to contemplate the poem. After a few moments it's headlights turned dark and all the frenzied energy was gone.

>The bus became sad!

"Good job Omori. Now it's my turn!" Kel threw his basketball at the enemy. "Huh. That did less damage than I thought it would."

"Oh wait. I think I understand." Hero lowered his guard completely against the now dejected bus to explain to the group. "Emotions determine how effective an attack will be and Sad emotions always beat Happy ones."

"In that case." Aubrey rolled her shoulder, getting ready to attack. "Anger must beat Sad. And I have plenty of rage!"

She flew at the bus, attacking it full force. That did a lot more damage.

Hero and Basil both took their own turns. Before anyone could defend themselves though, the bus retaliated against them all. It blared its horn so loudly Omori wondered if his ears were bleeding. The attack hit the other four in the group as well.

Those other enemies in the Junkyard had been so easy. Omori shuddered slightly. It was clear now that the bus was going to be a much longer battle. He steeled himself for that possibility as he thought up what attack he should go for next.

He looked back at Basil. He had an idea but he needed help with it. "Can I borrow your shears?"

"Oh? Sure?" Basil handed over the sharp implements. Now it was Omori's turn to attack. He charged the enemy, both weapons in his hands. He stabbed the bus in its headlights, effectively blinding it.

That made him feel sick to his stomach, but now the bus couldn't see. That had to make the battle easier, right?

>The bus is now blinded!

Omori returned the shears to Basil. The rest of the group attacked again. The bus didn't seem to be taking much damage at all.

Of course blinding the bus didn't stop it from blaring it's horn once more. The loud noise seemed to rattle Omori's brain in his skull. They had to finish it off quickly or else they'd all be toast!

Hero called out towards Omori. "Let's all attack at once. I think we can beat it."

Omori nodded. He looked towards his friends with a small smile. Together they all attacked at once. It felt good to be so in sync with everyone else. The bus couldn't take the damage they put out and fell, defeated.

>The bus is defeated!

Kel jumped for joy. "We did it!"

"Great job gang." Mari stepped forward. "Is everyone okay?"

"That thing was loud but I think we're okay." Aubrey sighed, putting a hand to her chest. "It was scary but kinda exciting too."

Basil looked ahead of the group. "We can get the whats-it now!"

"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot!" Kel did what he did best and took off running towards the pedestal that held the whats-it. He held it over his head with a huge goofy grin on his face while the rest of the group caught up with him. The whats-it looked like a gear of some sort.

Kel handed the whats-it over to Omori once he reached him. Basil looked ahead, "Oh look, isn't that the entrance?"

"It is!" Aubrey grinned. "We don't have to back-track all the way through the junkyard!"

"It seems to be blocked by something though." Hero pointed out the cube of compacted trash that Omori had noticed on their way in.

"There is a wrecking ball over there, maybe we could smash it?" Basil pointed towards it. There was a wrecking ball, but also a slight problem. It was up on some containers that seemed too high for even Basil's vines to grow. "How will we reach it?"

"Oh I know!" Kel pulled out the empty water bottle he had been carrying earlier. Except it wasn't empty anymore. He had been filling it with various other trash along the way.

"Why are you still carrying that?" Aubrey asked.

"I dunno. I feel compelled to pick up stuff." Kel stared at the bottle like he was transfixed. "Anyway I bet I can throw this and hit that lever! Then we can get past!"

There didn't seem to be any reason not to try. Kel stood on the podium that the whats-it had been on previously and took aim. Since the bottle was full of junk, it was heavy enough to fly through the air. It hit the lever easily. With a loud clanking noise, the wrecking ball moved and smashed the obstacle out of the way.

"Great job Kel!" Hero smiled at his little brother. Kel looked even more proud of himself than usual.

"Now let's hurry and go! Captain SpaceBoy is waiting for us!" Kel started for the exit, everyone else falling in line behind him.

The walk back was even quicker than the walk there. At least that's how it felt to Omori. He was brimming with excitement at the prospect of going to space. It was going to be so much fun!

Omori handed over the thing-a-ma-jig and whats-it to Captain SpaceBoy as soon as they got to the spaceship.

SpaceBoy looked them over. "Yes, these are perfect. Give me a few minutes and I'll have this spaceship in perfect flying order!"

He ducked back under the ship. After some banging, thudding, and one loud, "Ow!" Captain SpaceBoy reemerged. "Alright, we are ready for take-off!"

"Let's get on the ship!" Kel raced towards the entrance. There was a small ramp that led to the inside.

Omori followed after him. He looked around in amazement at the interior of the spaceship. The walls were shiny and metallic with several large oval windows. At the front there was a command center. It had panels and buttons that looked complicated. Several of the crew members were fiddling around with the controls. The very front had one large screen, but it was black at the moment. In the back there were several rows of seats. The chairs looked comfortable and each one had a seat belt attached. There was a door that Omori assumed led to a captain's quarters and another that was definitely a bathroom. There was an elevator to another floor, probably with rooms for the crew, kitchen and storage. The ship was spacious enough for all that. It was like a flying house.

Captain SpaceBoy boarded the ship. "Alright crew! How are things looking?"

One of the crewmen up front looked up from his controls. "All systems are normal. We are ready for take-off."

"You heard him!" Captain SpaceBoy turned towards their group with a swish of his cape. "Everyone get strapped into a seat and then we'll get going!"

They all sat down rather quickly. In the first row Mari was next to Hero, the second row had Aubrey and Kel, the third row was Omori and Basil. Omori had the window seat, but it was big enough for Basil to see out as well.

Mari looked back at the younger kids. "Everyone have their seat belts on? I don't want anyone to get hurt."

She was answered by a chorus of "Yes!"

Seeing that the group was ready, Captain SpaceBoy laughed as he announced, "Today we are making our first trip into space in quite some time. Several components were broken after a run-in with an asteroid belt, but thanks to my crew and our new friends, the ship was repaired in no time. This will only be a test flight to the closest meteor, but it will be quite an adventure nevertheless! Are you all ready? Let's initiate the take-off sequence!"

Basil looked towards Omori. "I'm a little nervous. I sometimes get sick motion sickness."

Omori nodded, concerned for his friend. Kel turned in his seat with a better reply though. "Don't worry. There are stabilizers. It will be smooth sailing."

"Sit down!" Aubrey pulled Kel back into his seat.

Basil breathed a sigh of relief. "Well that's good. It's still a little scary, but I'm sure it'll be fun once we get into space."

Omori thought so too. He wasn't scared, not really. Fighting the school bus had been much more scary and they made it through that just fine. This would be the same!

"And now for!" Captain SpaceBoy took a seat in his Captain's chair. The screen at the front of the ship lit up with a large number ten. "The countdown!"

Omori smiled. The countdown was always the most exciting part. The anticipation that came with each number. It was thrilling! He couldn't help but to mouth the numbers along with the countdown. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Lift-off!"

The spaceship rattled as it was propelled upwards. Omori grabbed tightly onto the armrests at his sides, but he also had to look out the window and see what it looked like. The trees below quickly turned into tiny specks, and then the only thing around him was the sky. They broke through the clouds, up higher and higher. The sky changed into a much darker color as the ship flew further from land. It all happened so quickly too.

Just like that, they were in space. The dim light of the stars surrounded them on all sides. Below was the planet they had left behind.

"We'll be approaching our landing location momentarily!" Captain SpaceBoy announced.

Omori could see a meteor out the window. It was a rather large rock. The closer the ship got, the more the massive size was noticeable. It was probably as big as a whole town! The spaceship went in for a landing. Omori was nervous that the ship was going too fast, but it landed perfectly without any real issues.

"Alright, we have arrived! Feel free to unfasten your seatbelts and explore the meteor!" Captain SpaceBoy pressed a button which opened up the door on the side of the ship. Omori could feel a cold breeze coming from outside. Space must be pretty cold.

Omori wanted to go outside, but it seemed Kel had other ideas. He rushed up to SpaceBoy, asking him loudly, "Is there treasure here? Do you have any maps to hidden treasure? Have you ever found any hidden treasures?"

SpaceBoy seemed taken aback by the bombardment of questions, but started answering them one by one. The others were enthralled by one of SpaceBoy's stories, so Omori decided to go look outside by himself.

The meteor was a bit colder than he expected, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The meteor appeared to be made of a dark stone. He ran his hand against it. It was smooth, almost like glass. There was something else, a few feet from where the ship had landed. One of those tentacles Omori had been seeing was here too. It waved at him and he tentatively waved back.

That wasn't what he really wanted to see though. The thing he most wanted to try was to reach a star. There were so many of them shimmering up in the sky. It was a breathtaking view. The stars seem to shimmer in a cloudy sea of milk. Is that why they called it the milky way? Well, surely if he reached out he could touch one. Omori stood on his tiptoes, reaching out to the skies-

Oh no.

This had happened before.

Clutching his head, a memory came to the surface.

Sunny reached up towards the sky. Tonight, the stars seemed so bright in the sky. If he reached far enough, he could catch one. Wouldn't that be something? He could keep it in a jar as a nightlight!

He wasn't alone outside of course, although he had wandered away from everyone else. His family was here, along with Kel's and [the wisest]'s. Tonight there was supposed to be a meteor shower so it was technically educational. Not that any of his friends seemed to be taking it as an educational excursion, they were all rather rowdy. Sunny liked… quietness. It wasn't that he didn't like to run and shout too, but some moments called for quiet contemplation.

Sunny was rather proud that he knew a word like contemplation. He already had a sixth grade reading level! At least that's what the tests he took at school told him. He was smart, right? Sometimes he thought there must be some kind of mistake because he never felt smart at all. He was pretty sure he was stupid. Can a kid be stupid? Maybe he hadn't learned enough yet.

"Dreamer!"

Huh?

Sunny hadn't realized that this whole time he had been thinking to himself while reaching up to the sky with one hand. He must look pretty silly. He dropped his hand and looked towards [the wisest]. She had a bemused smile on her face.

"You really do daydream a lot, huh. I was calling for you for at least ten seconds."

Sunny nodded. He couldn't help it. It always seemed to happen. "I was trying to catch a star."

[the wisest] laughed. It sounded so sweet. Despite her laugh, Sunny felt that she must still be in pain. He couldn't help but to notice her eyepatch again. Knowing where it came from made his stomach feel sick. "You can't catch a star silly."

"No?" Well he knew that. They were too far away, right?

"No way. They are so far away that the light takes years and years to even reach us." [the wisest] explained. Sunny didn't know that light took time to travel. When he turned on a lamp the light happened right away. The stars must be really far if it took years for the light to reach Earth.

"Tonight is a meteor shower. Or in other words, a bunch of shooting stars. They aren’t really stars though, obviously. You can't catch them either!" [the wisest] continued. "Those are much closer to us, but they are only bits of rocks burning up in our atmosphere."

[the wisest] was smart. She knew all these things, almost like her head was packed with knowledge. "Oh. Can't I find the meteors once they land?"

"You could, although most of the time they burn up completely. In any case, it probably wouldn't look much different from a normal rock." [the wisest] rubbed her chin as she thought. "Maybe you've already come across a meteor and didn't even know it!"

That intrigued him. Mystery rocks. Any of them could've come from space. He reached down and picked up a stone. It was so smooth, almost like glass. He decided it was probably a meteor.

"Sunny look!" [the wisest] took him out of his thoughts with a shout. She was looking up at the sky that was so dark it almost seemed purple. Her hand was pointed straight up at a shooting star.

It was so bright. And beautiful.

It took him by surprise, but [the wisest] grabbed his hand. Her touch was so warm. He looked at her with curiosity.

"I need to make a wish! Help me make it. Wish real hard with me."

"What's the wish?" Sunny asked.

"If I tell you it won't come true." [the wisest] had her eyes shut tightly, so Sunny did the same. He wished with all his might for [the wisest]'s wish to come true, whatever it might be.

He really hoped it would come true. [the wisest] deserved whatever she wanted.

"What are you two doing?" A gruff voice came from behind them. Sunny turned to see [the wisest]'s dad. He looked angry.

"Huh?" [the wisest] had a flash of fear in her eye. "We were just wishing on the shooting stars."

"Why are you holding his hand?" Her dad grabbed [the wisest] by the arm. "You are too young to be hanging around boys like that."

"Boys? What? Sunny is my friend, you know that." [the wisest] flinched as his grip tightened on her arm.

"Don't talk back to me." He pulled her away from Sunny.

"You are hurting me." [the wisest] had tears in her eye.

"We are going home." He dragged her further away.

Further and further.

[the wisest] had her eye screwed shut, but before she was out of view, she opened it again.

It looked like. It looked like. It looked like.

She was asking for help.

Sunny felt a sudden fear rise in his throat so strongly he nearly vomited. What should he do? [the wisest] told him not to tell anyone. She said it was okay.

So why did she look so scared?

What should he do?

What should he do?

What should he do?

Sunny was frozen in place. He looked up at the stars in the sky hoping that some sort of miracle would occur. Maybe if he wished hard enough…

...

Wishes don’t come true.

A panic overcame Omori. He dropped to his knees, his head still in his hands. What was he supposed to do? What? What? He had to save her… He couldn’t save her… it was too late, it was far too late. He didn’t want to think about this! He wanted to escape.

RUN-

Out of nowhere, something giant crashed to the ground in front of him. It shook the entire meteor, sending dust and debris flying. It took a few moments for the dust to clear, with Omori fanning it from his face as he coughed several times. Then he could see it more clearly. It was in the shape of a bottle of alcohol, but it clearly had arms and legs. The face made up the label, but it wasn’t static. Two angry eyes flashed as they glared down at Omori.

Omori looked around for his friends. They had to be coming to help him, right? They had to feel the tremors and hear the loud crash. They had to.

Except when he looked around, the meteor was empty, there was no sign of the spaceship he had arrived on. His friends were gone. Omori was all alone and facing a terrible enemy. He couldn't fight this on his own! He was scared, so scared he couldn't even see straight. His eyes shook in terror as the enemy approached him.

Omori attempted to turn and run, but the bottle grabbed onto his arm tightly. With it’s other hand, it punched him in the stomach so hard he nearly threw up. It hurt. It hurt so much. Tears sprang to his eyes. He had to do something, but he was so scared, he couldn’t even pull his knife out. The world around him was shaking, but it wasn’t actually moving, he was just trembling so much.

The bottle pushed him away. Omori tripped over a rock behind him and went tumbling to the ground. His head bashed against the ground. Everything went black for a moment and he tasted blood in his throat. His whole vision came back after a few blinks. The bottle was towering over him.

"Please stop." Omori whimpered. He wanted to run away from this. There wasn’t anywhere for him to run to. He wasn’t even certain he could stand up. He wanted to run. He wanted to RUN.

>You can not run from this battle.

Before he could move again, the bottle harshly kicked him in the side. The pain made him gasp out loudly.

Someone save me, please save me.

"Dreamer." A soft voice. A friend? Next to him, with his blurry vision, he could see the tentacle waving at him. It could talk? "You can do it. Fight back!"

But he couldn't fight back. Omori was weak and worthless. He couldn't do anything on his own. He certainly couldn't fight this enemy. He was going to die here.

"You aren't going to die! Fight Dreamer! Fight!"

He couldn't do this anymore. He didn’t even deserve to be saved, did he? He was so powerless and stupid and-

In front of his eyes, the tentacle sprang up, wrapping around the bottle. It was crushed with the sheer strength of the tentacle. Tiny shards of glass sparkled in the sky just like the stars.

“You deserve to be saved.”

Omori didn’t deserve that. He shouldn’t have been saved. He should’ve let the monster defeat him. Well, it didn’t matter. He hated himself. He hated himself so much. He couldn’t save others when they needed it the most. So he didn’t deserve to be saved either. He didn’t deserve to… live. Omori found the strength to pull his knife from his pocket. The tentacle couldn’t react in time for what he was about to do.

>STAB

Chapter Text

The world felt far too heavy. Existence is perhaps the heaviest burden of all. Sunny could feel the weight of each limb, weighing him down. It was only after a few seconds that the sensation of pain arrived. 

Right. He was still alive. Even if he killed himself over and over in his mind, his real body would continue to exist. Unless he took more extreme measures. Living was hell and Sunny was tired of it. Dying though…

That felt like a bit much. Could he really end his own life? Hadn't he tried that before and failed before the knife could even cut? He was a coward after all. Weak. A disappointment washed over him when he realized that he had to keep living, at least for the moment. 

The first step was opening his eyes. His eyelids were heavy too, but he managed to open them and see the ceiling above. His bedroom. The ceiling was blank. Sometimes he dreamed of putting up those glow-in-the-dark stars up there. Then a feeling of dread would overtake him, so he never did. Strange, but now wasn't the time to dwell on such thoughts. 

Instead he sat up, his head aching. He wasn't sure why he was in so much pain, but his whole body was sore. He lifted a hand to his head, running it through his hair. He winced when it ran over a large lump at the back of his head. How did that happen? 

"Sunny?" 

A voice across the room called his attention. Relief swept over him once he realized it was Mari. She was sitting at the desk, looking at something on the computer. He looked over towards her with a small smile.

"Are you okay little brother? Dad said you fell down the stairs." 

The stairs? Is that why he was in such pain? "I can't remember that." Sunny tilted his head back, trying to think. He couldn't remember what happened at all today. He came home from school, did his homework, and then?

"Oh no. I told dad we should take you to the hospital. What if you have a concussion?" Mari stood, scratching the chair against the floor.

The hospital? Sunny shook his head even though it hurt to do so. He didn't want to go there. If he decided to end his own life he would have no way of doing so at the hospital! There would be no escape for him. That was a terrifying thought. He wasn't that injured, anyway. "I'm okay."

With a sigh, Mari sat back down. "Are you sure? I mean, hmm. Gosh, I wish mom was home. She had to go on some emergency business trip."

Their mom wasn't home? "When will she be back?"

Mari was looking at the computer screen as she spoke, "In a couple days. I think she said Saturday? It won't be long."

That felt like an eternity. Sunny didn't like it when his mother left. He wished she would come home. It felt safer when she was around. 

"Sunny." Mari twisted the chair so she was facing him. "You didn't. Like." She stopped like she was thinking. "I don't know how to ask this. Do you remember right before the recital when you were going to throw the violin down the stairs? You didn't throw yourself down the stairs, right?"

"No." He hadn't thrown himself down the stairs, right? There was no way. He had thought about it before, but he couldn't actually do something like that to himself. 

"I'm worried. You've been acting strange. First the violin, then you got sick, then you skipped school, and now this. Is something going on?"

It seemed like an innocent question. He was acting strange. Yet when she asked it, he swore he could see something writhing behind her. A something that desperately wanted him to tell her the truth.

There was no truth to tell. Sunny was going to die anyway. Probably. He didn't know when, but soon. Probably. Once he gathered the courage. He closed his eyes, avoiding looking at the something. "I'm fine."

"Alright, but I'm keeping an eye on you." Mari turned back to the computer. "Dad said we are ordering pizza for dinner. I told him you wanted yours with extra anchovies."

"No!" Sunny gasped out.

She stuck out her tongue and giggled. "Just kidding."

Although the night passed peacefully, Sunny kept discovering new aches and pains. His wrist hurt. It wasn't swollen so it didn't seem sprained or anything, but it was a little red. Although his ribs hurt significantly more, it wasn't enough to stop him from moving. He ate dinner in the living room with his sister as they watched some funny television show. Laughing hurt too, but maybe that's because he felt like he shouldn't be allowed to laugh. 

His father shot a sideways glance at him with a frown. Sunny tried his best not to laugh too much or call any attention to himself after that.

The look his father gave him. It was familiar. A strange thought came to him. A memory? Sunny wasn't sure. His father was standing over him, holding a knife. Words tumbling from his mouth, "Don't tell anyone what I did and I won't say a word about how you came at me with a knife. Try something like this again and you won't get off so easy."

Huh?

That didn't happen.

Sunny blocked it from his memory.

He should check to see where his knife was though. He needed that knife. Now more than ever. 

But honestly he was just glad he could eat dinner and watch TV. He was grounded and all, but he was allowed to do this. That was a small happiness. It didn't lift the heavy burden upon his heart though.

After he was done eating, Mewo came and sat on his lap. Sunny stroked her soft fur. Everything felt like way too much lately. He wasn't even sure why he was feeling like this. Like dying. But it felt hard to even breathe. Going on for another day. Then another. Then another. For weeks. For months. For years and years.

Exhausting. If only life could end now. If only he could be brave.

Sunny wasn't brave so he excused himself and went up to his room. He checked under his pillow to find that the knife wasn't there. A slight fear rose in his chest as he checked his backpack. The knife was gone.

He needed that knife. He needed it. He felt like he was going to cry. 

Sunny hadn't finished his homework but he decided to go to bed early. After a shower and brushing his teeth, he headed right to bed. Maybe all the heaviness on his body and heart grounded him to reality, because he found it hard to sleep.

Maybe he was just afraid of what was waiting for him once he did.

That was stupid. Nothing bad would happen. Mari had come upstairs and was sitting at the desk again. "I have to study a bit more because I have a test coming up. I'll be quiet so you can sleep though!"

Sunny nodded. It was fine. She was usually quiet anyway. He closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.

₩elcome to ■■■■■ $pace, y0u've be3n lイving んere f🔑r as l○ng as y¤u can r€member ///

Sunny sat up.

Sunny.

He was Sunny.

That wasn't right.

Sunny looked around himself, taking stock of where he was. This wasn't White Space.

Everything around him was black. It made it difficult to see anything around him at all. The darkness felt heavy. Real. 

So this was Black Space?

Next to him on the ground was a bucket. The kind used for making sandcastles. Sunny turned away, not really wanting to look at the bucket. Besides that, there was his box of tissues. Nothing else. Mewo wasn't even here now. The bright lightbulb was also gone. No wonder it was so dark. 

He checked for his knife.

With a sigh of relief he realized he still had that. His reflection was unclear in the metal since it was scuffed up. At least he had it though. He didn't want to think of what he would do without it. 

That's when he realized he had something else in his pocket. A key. A key? A key to what? The white door wasn't here anymore and it never needed a key to begin with.

He stood up, taking a better look around him. There were several doors. They looked similar to the white one he was used to seeing, but these were black. Sunny didn't want to think about where they might lead. 

He felt compelled to find out though. He wanted to know. There had to be a reason for so many doors. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.  

Although he did wonder why he had come to this Black Space as Sunny. A brief flash of a memory came to him of Omori stabbing himself. Sunny pressed a hand against his chest. There was no stab wound, unsurprisingly. So had Omori actually died then? Sunny felt a little jealous. Even if they were technically the same person and death meant nothing in this place. 

All that mattered little, he decided. It was time to get going.

The closest door was just past where the bucket was sitting. Sunny walked past the bucket, not looking down at it. Instead he placed his hand on the doorknob. It didn't twist, just as he expected. So he took out the key to unlock it. The door opened but the key vanished. Strange. Nothing to do now but to head on through.

Going through the door felt like heading to another world. The door shut behind him and vanished from sight. As strange as that was, it didn't worry him. Instead he looked at the room beyond the door. He was in a classroom that was familiar. This was the classroom he had in elementary school. There were desks all facing towards the front of the room. Each one had a ghostly figure sitting at it. Even the desk he sat at. He waved a hand at one of them, but they didn't respond, instead looking towards the chalkboard with unblinking eyes. 

Nothing was written on the chalkboard. There wasn't even a teacher up front. Sunny continued forward, mildly disturbed.

As he explored up and down the aisles, he found one desk that was actually empty. 

"She hasn't come to class in days." A voice told him.

Right. She didn't come to school again. Not after that night. Sunny ran a hand across the desk. The wood felt oddly cold. Ice cold. He shivered as he looked inside the desk. There was a key in there. He took it out and pocketed it. Nearly as soon as he did, he felt something pulling him backwards.

He was back in the Black Space.

Alright. That was fine. He hadn't seen exactly what brought him back here, but it didn't matter. What was beyond that first door made him nervous for the others. Still, it wasn't like he had any other choices here.

Sunny went to the door just beyond that first door and unlocked it with his key. He wasn't shocked when the key vanished again. Instead he headed through the door and into the next room.

This room was different. It was square, the walls were purple and painted with stars. It wasn't very big of a room at all. It was empty except for one large object resting in the center. A single eye that was bigger than Sunny. He approached it cautiously. 

Once he was in front of it, looking deep into the black pupil, he heard a voice again. 

"An eye for an eye and the world goes blind."

The eye seemed to blink.

"What do you see, Dreamer?"

See? What did that mean? He saw a giant eye, but he had a feeling that's not what the eye meant.

"It was the blind leading the blind then." 

The eye closed again, but this time it didn't open back up. Instead it shriveled up into nothingness. There was a clicking noise as a key fell to the floor. Sunny picked it up. This time he looked behind him and saw a hand wiggling towards him like a tentacle. As soon as it grabbed him he felt that pulling sensation and he was back in Black Space.

That door had led to a strange place. Sunny had no idea what the eye had been talking about. It hadn't made any sense, just spouting random proverbs. He should think too deeply about it. There were more doors to go through, after all.

The next door went into a place very familiar to him. It was the Neighbor Room, the first room in Headspace. It looked strange though. Distorted. None of the objects usually in the room were there, it was bare except for the carpet. He looked back and saw that the door was still behind him this time. It was locked so he peeked through the keyhole. On the other side he saw only blackness. The dark was moving somehow, like a river, rushing along. It startled him so much that Sunny took a step backwards and fell on his butt.

"Need a hand?" Sunny looked up and saw Kel standing behind him offering to help him up. The room had been empty before, so where had Kel come from? He shrugged it off and took Kel's hand. 

Now that he was standing, he could see the others in the room. Kel, Hero, Aubrey, Basil, Mari, and ■■■■. Who was that last person? Someone? He couldn't see their face at all, it was all black.

Sunny didn't want to be here anymore but Kel pulled him forward. "Let's play!"

They ran forward. The room in front of him grew longer and longer. No matter how far they ran they never reached the end. Sunny couldn't let go of Kel's hand though. He was forced into this never ending nightmare. 

Except suddenly they stopped. ■■■■ was in front of him. Where did they come from? The faceless person opened a crack in their face and let out a scream so loud Sunny had to cover his ears. The scream didn't stop, it was loud and anguished. He couldn't escape from it, he had to listen for forever and ever. That painful scream. How could he make it stop? Maybe he deserved to hear it, but it hurt so much-

Silence.

■■■■ vanished just as quickly as they came. The noise was gone but Sunny could feel it still. It was etched into his body. There was a key on the ground so Sunny snatched it up.

Back to Black Space. 

As much as he was hating this whole place, he had to keep going. The next door seemed to open into the beach. It was a bright and sunny day, the waves gently rolling against the shore. Sunny looked around the beach for any keys, but came up empty. There was nothing but sand. 

Out in the water there were several things floating. He should check that out, at least. He waded out into the water and looked down at the closest object.

It wasn't an object. It was a tiny octopus. Small and fragile looking. The creature looked up at Sunny with mournful eyes. "Help me! Please help me!"

Panic surged through his body. Help? How could he help? He attempted to pick up the octopus but it slipped through his fingers. "Help me! Help me!"

What should he do? He couldn't do anything!

The other octopus all floating in the ocean joined in the chorus. "Help me! Please! Dreamer help!"

There were so many! How could he save any of them if he couldn't save the one in front of him? The voices were so loud. Sunny was completely worthless and unable to do a thing. He blinked his eyes and-

No...

The octopus was gone. In its place was a single key. Sunny felt tears coming to his eyes, but he held them back. He had to keep going and the only way to do that was to pick up the key. So he did.

Black Space again. 

Did he really have to keep going though? He didn't like this place. He wanted to go back to Headspace and play with his friends. He wanted freedom from how awful every day was. A place to forget his worries and have fun. Black Space was making him want to die. He wished he could curl up in a little ball and cease his existence. Just stop.

As if waiting for him to reach this breaking point, a new door appeared. This door was bathed in purple light. Was that a real exit? It felt like it had to be. An end to this nightmare.

Sunny carefully approached the door. The key in his pocket felt hot. Burning. It wanted to be used. There was no reason to delay.

Sunny went through the purple door.

Chapter Text

Before he stepped through the purple door Sunny's vision shifted so drastically he nearly got vertigo. The way the door was facing was the opposite direction from the way he had pulled open the knob. It felt odd to suddenly change positions without moving at all. As for what the door was now facing? It was the hallway outside his bedroom. A faint purple light was shimmering from the window. That made him feel even sicker than the sudden movement had.

Sunny turned to look behind him and it was his bedroom instead of Black Space. So everything had changed when he opened the door. He paused for a moment, looking at his room. It was different from how it normally was. The computer was gone, as well as some of his stuffed animals from the shelves. There was softball equipment scattered about the room too. Mari had gotten rid of all that after she got injured. 

Now that he was thinking of that, Mari had been really good at softball. She wanted to play professionally. At least until a knee injury stopped her. That's when she picked up piano instead. And when she started to push Sunny into playing the violin perfectly. He had never thought about it, but maybe that was her way of coping? She only pushed so hard because she had nothing else she was good at anymore. Thinking of that made him slightly sad. He had ruined her recital… 

It wasn't time for guilt. Instead he had to figure out where he was. Or rather when he was. It was pretty obvious. This was the bedroom they shared from when Sunny was still in elementary school. A memory from long ago. Sunny felt his chest tightening. Although there was no calendar, he was sure he knew what day this was. A day he had locked away so deeply into his heart. 

Even though he had unlocked this memory, he didn't want to remember. He wanted to escape! He tried reaching for his knife in his pocket, but found he didn't have one. Of course he didn't. Sunny didn't start carrying a knife around until recently. He wouldn't have had one as a young child. 

There was no escaping. Sunny had to go downstairs and face what was waiting.

He stepped out of his room and headed for the stairs. There was a moment of hesitation before he took the first step down. Nothing good would come of this. Sunny was happier not remembering. 

He walked down the steps anyway. 

A voice filtered into his head. "■■■■ hasn't been to school in days."

"The teachers haven't said anything about ■■■■."

"Where did ■■■■ go?"

Sunny grit his teeth. Who was that again? The person haunting his memories without a name or face.

"Abbi."

That was her name. He couldn't forget. He never would. It's the one part of her he never really let go of no matter how he tried to block her from his memory.

Sunny had reached the bottom of the stairs. There were voices coming from the kitchen. He was always quiet as a child. Not on purpose, but he often spooked people on accident with how silently he moved. This time was to his advantage though. He wanted to listen in on this conversation.

It was his mom and Kel's mom. Sunny stood just outside the doorway, pressed up against the wall as he listened in.

"I can't believe it." His mom spoke, accompanied by the sound of her placing her cup on the counter. 

"I can't either." Kel's mom sighed. "I didn't think he was that sort of man. I can't… his own daughter…"

Sunny knew what had happened. He knew with startling clarity that she had died. He covered his face with his hands to keep himself from gasping out.

"That poor child." His mom picked up her cup and took a sip of something. "What are we going to tell the kids? They are going to wonder where she went. Sunny was such good friends with her."

Kel's mom paused for a long moment. "I don't think we should tell them the truth. We should tell them that she moved away."

"Yeah. That might be for the best. I think he's going to end up in prison for a long time, so they'll never see him again either."

Sunny might've been holding his breath. He wasn't sure. He certainly found it hard to breathe now. This memory he had hidden away so deeply, he wished he never recalled it. 

The room went pitch black. It felt like something was pulling Sunny under, deeper into some unknown depth. It was pointless to struggle. He didn't even want to struggle anymore. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him away.

He was in a different place. The floor beneath him was hard and cold. There was the scent of alcohol hanging in the air. His mind was spinning from the rapid changes. If he opened his eyes he was certain what he would see. He didn't want to, but what choice did he have?

His eyes opened. Above him his dad was standing. He had just pushed Sunny to the ground. The back of his head throbbed in pain.

"The hell is wrong with you?" His father was breathing heavily and with a swift motion kicked Sunny in the side, right where his ribs were. Sunny cried out from the sharp pain.

Sunny went into a fetal position to protect himself from any other incoming blows. Across the floor he could see the knife that had been knocked out of his hand glinting. Calling out to him. If he could reach it, then-

His dad kicked him again. As he curled up from the agony, his father reached down and picked up the knife himself. Sunny felt a cold sweat drench his body. This was it. He was going to die. 

(I am a little happy it is finally over.)

His father didn't stab him however. "Don't tell anyone what I did and I won't say a word about how you came at me with a knife. Try something like this again and you won't get off so easy."

Sunny gulped and nodded his head. He didn't want to get in trouble. Or get hurt again. He was so tired of getting hurt. He didn't want Mari to get hurt. That's why he went after his dad with the knife in the first place. He wanted the pain to end. 

(There is an easier way to make the pain end forever.)

"I'll tell your sister you fell down the stairs. Don't say anything else." His father took the knife as he left the room. 

He wished his father had left it. The pain could be over. How much longer would he have to suffer?

Sunny felt an aching loneliness in his chest. On top of that his whole body hurt. He wanted to die and yet… he couldn't do that, could he? Instead he pushed his sore body up from the floor and heaved himself into his bed. As he pulled the covers over his head he felt that pulling sensation again. He kept his eyes shut tightly as he was transported to someplace else.

There wasn't any light when he finally opened them again, once the strange sensation of being pulled had ended. He was back in White Space? Black Space? This room at least had all the signs of being one of those places, but the lightbulb in this room glowed black. Black wasn't a color so it shouldn't be able to radiate, yet it did. It was disturbing and Sunny wanted to be rid of it. He stood up and reached towards the negative light. He could just barely reach it. The light wasn't hot like he expected, instead it was icy. So cold it almost felt like it was burning his fingers. 

Before he could get a good grip on the bulb, it slipped from the socket and smashed on the floor. Sunny looked at the broken shards in a now much darker room than before. 

"Sunny." A voice identical to his own called from behind him. It had to be Omori. Sunny turned his head to see him there, all color drained from his body in this monochrome world. Omori was brandishing a knife, one that despite looking worn looked equally dangerous. 

"Omori?" Sunny reached for his own knife again. With a great sigh of relief he found it in his pocket this time. He took it out, just in case.

(Not that I could ever use it.)

Omori jabbed forward with his knife, Sunny just barely dodging to the side. The expression on his face didn't change at all from stony indifference. "What are you doing?" Sunny asked himself.

"I can't die as long as you are still alive, Sunny. Let me take over. I'll kill us for you." Omori calmly stated.

"No?" Sunny wasn't even sure why he was rejecting that offer. He didn't want to live anymore. Especially now. But something was keeping him alive. A worn string that was on the verge of snapping. 

"Why are you so insistent on living? What sort of future could you even hope to have? There is nothing. Dying would be easier. There won't be any more pain." Omori slashed towards him again. This time Sunny couldn't get out of the way in time. His arm was bleeding. 

"I want to be an astronaut." Sunny replied.

"That's what Abbi wanted. You are stealing her dream. Just like you stole her life." Omori stabbed Sunny once more, hitting his other arm, the one holding the knife. His arm dropped lifelessly to the side.

Sunny had nothing to say in response.

"If only you had told an adult then Abbi would still be alive. You killed her with your inaction. That's why you deserve every bit of punishment your dad doles out at you. Why should you get to ask for help when she couldn't get any? You deserve to be beaten." Omori's face changed only slightly. There was disgust behind his eyes.

Sunny couldn't say anything. Omori stabbed him in the side and kept the blade there, twisting it. The pain was nearly blinding. 

"You are so worthless, you know that? You even brought Abbi into this dream world so you could pretend she was alive and happy and still one of your friends. How pathetic. You can't even face the reality that you killed her. You even imagine her telling you to ask for help even when you know you don't deserve that help."

Omori pulled out the knife and stabbed Sunny in the side again. Sunny staggered, his expression as unreadable as Omori's was.

"That is until you banished her away for bringing up that your dad hits you. You keep running and running from the truth. There is no more running. No one is going to save you here, Sunny. Give up already. Let's die and finally make up for all our sins."

Sunny nodded his head.

"Good." Omori stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Sunny in a hug. The boy didn't even resist. He vanished in an instant. Now Omori had control. 

This was for the best. Sunny would never be able to kill himself. Omori had done it countless times. This would be the final time. Well at least, once he woke up. Omori took his knife and jabbed it into his own chest.

The dream was over.

Chapter Text

Omori opened his eyes.

The real world, this was a place he never expected to be. Living in dreams had been fun while it lasted, even if it had only been a very short time. Reality was a cruel place. Too cruel. A place where children are mistreated and suffering is rampant. Existing in this unjust world had no appeal to Omori. After all, because he existed he had inflicted suffering on others too.

The suffering would soon come to an end. 

Omori sat up in his bed. Mari had gone to sleep already, her books already packed neatly away in her backpack. Omori almost wished he could apologize to her for all the pain he had caused. She had caused him an equal amount of pain in return, so maybe that was only fair. Regardless, he didn't want to stay in bed thinking about his past mistakes any longer. 

Omori stood up, his feet silently hitting the floor. His body still ached, especially his ribs, and he felt unusually stiff as well. Regardless, he made his way to the door, looking back to ensure that Mari was still sleeping. Her chest was rising and falling slowly, no other signs of movement present. It was safe to do this now.

As he headed down the darkened stairs, his mind filled with a few questions. What would really happen when he died? Was there heaven and hell like the priest at church preached? Would he go to hell for all his sins? What if all that was a lie? What if there was nothing when you died? That sounded equally terrifying. Existing one second and the next you were gone. Absolutely gone with nothing left of the person you once were. As if you were never there at all.

Personally, Omori hoped it would be like falling asleep and living in an endless dream. Except in this dream the repressed thoughts could never reach him and there would be nothing but bliss. No matter what happened though, he still was going to die. He had no way of finding out what death was like except to die, after all.

Deep thinking aside, he reached the kitchen. Sunny had tried something similar to this after he messed up at Mari's recital. At that point Omori didn't really exist yet, at least not as more than a concept. Omori hadn't existed long at all, had he? Well maybe that was for the best. It made it easier to kill himself.

Omori opened the drawer with the knives. Although there were a couple knives in there, the sharp steak knife was nowhere to be seen. Had his father done something with it after Sunny tried to stab him? He closed the drawer and opened a different one. He looked under the sink, in the cabinets, everywhere he could think. Just as he was thinking he would have to find a different way to end his life he spotted it in the drying rack next to the sink.

His father was rather stupid, leaving the knife out in such an obvious place. Omori could easily take this knife and stab him while he slept. He almost had half a mind to do so. His father had caused untold suffering as well. 

His father hadn't killed anyone though. Omori was the true villain here. He was the only one who had to die. He picked up the knife, looking it over. It was so very sharp. It could easily slice into his own flesh.

Omori knew what to do. At least, he hoped this would be the fastest way. He knew from movies and the news that people commonly slashed their own wrists, cutting open the vein. That took time and if he was found before he bled out then he could be saved. That was the last thing he wanted. There was his stomach, but he wasn't sure about that either and it seemed incredibly painful. He had learned in school about the jugular vein in his neck. If he cut that he should bleed out quickly. It would still be painful, he was sure. 

Omori wasn't scared though. He knew it would hurt, but then nothing would hurt again. He could never hurt anyone else again. This was the best solution. With determination he placed the sharp edge against his throat. He could do this. He was going to do this.

Omori was going to die.

He hesitated for only a brief moment and-

The lights flashed on in the kitchen, temporarily blinding him. Still holding the knife to his neck, he turned to see Mari standing there with a shocked expression.

"S-sunny?" Mari stammered out. "What are you doing?"

Omori had to do it! He had to do it now! Before she stopped him, he had to do it quickly!

"Sunny? Hey, put down that knife, okay?" Mari was clearly panicking, as any person probably would if they discovered their sibling about to kill themselves. Omori couldn't put the knife down, not when he had already come this far.

He didn't want Mari to see him do this. "Mari, please leave."

"How can you ask me to leave?" Her voice was high and squeaky. "I don't understand what's going on here, I'm scared. Sunny, please just put the knife down and let's talk."

Omori felt his own panic kicking in. He had been so sure that he wanted to do this. That he had no other choice. Killing himself in front of his sister was a totally different story. His resentment towards her had faded over the past few days. He couldn't hurt her like this, could he? Leave her with so much trauma, wondering if she could've saved him... even dying was causing pain to everyone around him.

But if he didn't do this he would just keep getting hit by his dad. There was nothing that would bring Abbi back either. It was all too exhausting. Omori couldn't deal with it anymore. 

"I'm sorry, Mari."

Omori's hand shook as he moved the knife in closer. The cold steel was against his neck.

"Don't do it Dreamer!"

Another voice. Not a real one, but it might as well be. It was her, standing in front of him and holding tightly onto his hand. That girl, now looking just like she had in elementary school, no tentacles nor punctuation standing in for her face. She even had both her eyes this time. It was Abbi.

Omori thought he had locked her away for good. Perhaps when he woke up instead of Sunny, all the things that had been locked away were set loose. It didn't matter. She wasn't real. Abbi was a figment of his imagination and had no real power over him.

Except he couldn't move his arm. He couldn't make that cut and end his life. She was holding far too tightly. Her strength felt real against his struggling. He just needed to get the knife a little closer and it would all be over.

"Dreamer. Sunny. Omori. No matter what you call yourself you are still the same person. I know you want to divide yourself to protect yourself from the things that hurt, but you'll always be you." Abbi began to inch the knife away from his neck. "It's not your fault. Nothing that happened is your fault. I don't blame you in the slightest. I want a better life for you than I had." Abbi's eyes shined with tears. "I know you still want to live. I know that because I'm a part of you too."

"I'm scared to live." Sunny felt tears welling up in his eyes. "I can't do it anymore."

"You can do it." Abbi finally forced the knife down and Sunny dropped his hand to his side. "Tell Mari everything. Things can get better. I believe in you."

The Abbi in front of him started to fade away. Slowly dissipating into the light like tiny motes of dust. The hand that had forced his knife down was still there though. He could feel the pressure. He dropped the knife to the ground. Someone was now holding his hand. There was someone actually there. 

It wasn't Abbi holding his hand. It was Mari. She was the one standing in front of him. Sunny gasped as Mari pulled him in for a tight hug. "Sunny, I don't know why you are so scared to live, but please tell me. Let me help you. Please."

Could she really help?

Well Abbi said so. And Abbi was him. So he must believe it somewhere deep down that Mari could save him. Even if he wasn't worth saving. Sunny…

Sunny wanted to be saved.

That thin thread holding him to life was much stronger than he ever thought it could be. 

"Mari…" Sunny pressed his head into her shoulder, his tears now flowing without any end in sight. "Dad, he's, he's, he's been beating me."

"What!" Mari pulled back to look Sunny directly in the face. "So you didn't fall down the stairs?"

"No…" Sunny sniffled. "Dad said he was going to hurt you too so I…" Sunny took in a long shaking breath. "I tried to stab him."

"Oh god." Mari covered her mouth with a hand. "Sunny, I had no idea, I'm so sorry, oh my god."

"It hurts Mari. I can't keep doing this." Sunny wiped at his face with both his hands. "I feel like I deserve it all. I deserve everything."

"What are you talking about?" Mari's voice broke slightly as she asked.

"Because." Sunny could hardly breathe. It was so hard to talk. Thinking of admitting his greatest sin felt like too monumental of a task. He had to though. "Because it's my fault Abbi died! I knew what her dad was doing but I-"

Mari pulled him in for another hug so forcefully it stopped his words. "Sunny, Abbi isn't dead. She got taken away by child protective services and her dad went to jail. She's still alive though. I promise you."

"Huh?" Sunny gasped out.

He was wrong?

But he was so sure. 

Thinking about it, he never heard his mom say that Abbi had died. He had assumed that this whole time. But he was wrong?

Abbi was alive?

New tears started to spill, these ones were different. Sunny felt the weight he had carried all this time start to lift. 

Mari pulled back again, looking Sunny in the face. She gently wiped his tears away. "You've been through a lot, huh, little brother? I'm so sorry we never told you what happened to Abbi, but listen. You don't deserve this treatment. Nothing you could ever do would make it okay. I'm going to help you. Dad will never lay a finger on you again."

Was that really true? 

Sunny felt hope blossoming in his heart. It was going to be okay?

He wished so desperately for that to be true. 

"I need to make some phone calls. Okay? Let's go to the living room and we can make them together." 

Sunny nodded. He felt so exhausted now that everything was over. He was still alive. He was going to keep living. He had a tiny bit of hope that things could actually change for the better. 

He sat on the couch, dozing in and out as Mari tried to get in contact with their mother. She eventually settled for leaving a message at the hotel their mother was staying at. She then called Kel and Hero's mom. After a brief summary of what happened, she rushed over to their house, still in her pajamas.

"Is your father home?" Kel's mom asked.

"He's sleeping upstairs. I think he drank too much, he hasn't woken up even with all the commotion." Mari explained.

"Alright. Sunny, sweetie, can you show me where your father hit you?" Kel's mom crouched down in front of the couch where he was sitting.

Sunny hadn't shown anyone. He was scared to even look himself. It took him a moment to lift up his shirt. There were several large bruises, some older than others. The size of the bruises shocked Sunny. He didn't know it was that bad, it looked like something out of a horror movie.

"This looks really bad. We should get him to the hospital." Kel's mom stood up and bit her lip. "We'll have to inform the police too."

All that sounded so scary. Sunny sniffled again, trying to hold back his tears. He found Mari holding him again though, saying softly. "Just be brave for a little bit longer. Everything is going to be okay."

It took a long time for things to be okay again. At least it felt like that. His father was arrested after Sunny was checked out at the hospital. He had broken a rib and didn't even realize it. There were a lot of other injuries too. Sunny realized just how bad everything really was at that point.

His parents got a divorce soon after that. There were many court hearings. He could distinctly remember his mother crying at one of those hearings, once they brought up everything Sunny had been through. She promised him too that Sunny would be okay from now on. His mom really cared, didn't she? She even worked less while all this was going on. Getting to have a sit down family dinner with his mom and Mari became one of his favorite things.

His father was sent to jail but Sunny's life still went on. He occasionally felt bouts of guilt. He had torn his family apart. He made everyone go through so much. 

But they only went through all that because they loved him.

Sunny eventually found himself feeling okay. Everything was okay. Maybe not perfect, but Sunny was able to start looking forward towards the future again. This time without any reservations in his heart. 

And with that feeling, Sunny finally picked up his violin again. No one forced him to. It was nothing external. He wanted to play again. The music made him happy. He started to prepare for another recital with Mari, but this time it was his idea.

Sunny had a plan.

"Your tie is crooked, little brother." Mari gave Sunny a mischievous grin as she straightened his tie. They were backstage, waiting for the recital to start. 

Being here was familiar, but with that sense of nostalgia was also one of growth. Not that Sunny had grown much taller in the past year, but he had grown inside his heart. This recital was exciting for him, none of those negative feelings he had last time he was here resurfaced at all.

"He looks fine Mari." Hero put an arm around her shoulder and smiled at her. 

"I dunno." Basil scooted up closer to look at Sunny. "I think he needs this!"

Basil took something out from his pocket and placed it in Sunny's hair. Sunny blinked a few times, a bit surprised. He looked towards the nearest mirror. Basil had placed a some sort of orange flower in his hair.

"It's an orchid! Orchids symbolize good luck! Although orange ones mean pride! Cause I'm so proud of you!" Basil said.

Sunny couldn't help but to smile at that. "Thank you Basil!"

Kel took in a breath between his teeth. "Oooh Basil! It's bad luck to wish someone good luck before they go on stage."

Basil's hands shot up to his face. "Oh no!"

Aubrey came up and flicked Kel's forehead. "That's just a silly superstition. Besides, Sunny doesn't need luck, he practiced until his fingers nearly fell off."

"Heh." Sunny scratched the back of his head, feeling a little awkward. Maybe he had gone overboard with the practice, but it was important. It seemed that it wasn't just Mari who was a perfectionist.

"In any case, we are gonna take our seats." Hero rounded up the younger members of the group and ushered them towards the front. "I know you two will do great."

Mari looked towards Sunny, her eyes practically shining. "I can't believe we are finally going to play together. Let's do our best!"

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

They both headed on stage together. Even if Sunny was excited, it was still nerve-wracking to be in front of such a big crowd. The lights above were a bit too hot for his liking too. Regardless, Sunny got his bow ready, his violin poised in front of him.

With the first notes from the piano, Sunny drew his bow across the strings. All his nerves melted away nearly instantly. He had played these notes so often it felt like second nature. Together the sounds made a perfect melody. He looked over at Mari, her long hair swaying as she played out her notes. She looked like she was having fun.

Despite the bright lights, Sunny looked towards the audience. There was someone here tonight he really wanted to see. Tears nearly came to his eyes as he spotted her in the audience, watching with rapt attention and a huge smile on her face.

This was his first duet.

The Dreamer was finally awake.