Chapter Text
I stepped out of the car door, and closed it with a light click.
“Here we are honey, our new home.” Mom says to me.
I look up at her, and she looks back with a light smile.
I can’t find it in me to muster up a smile back… so I just turn to face our new apartment building instead.
It’s intimidating… Moving into a new place like this… Into the city….
No one will ever love me like they did…
No one will ever be as accepting, as warm…
No one will ever treat me like family like they did.
No one.
. . .
I wince at these thoughts, frowning and wanting to curl up into a tiny little ball of fear…
But instead…
I close my eyes, and take a deep breath in, and out… And again, but even slower…
I don’t know that for sure.
This is a brand new place, and a brand new start…
No one knows me yet.
No one needs to know what happened.
No one has the right to judge me before they get to know me.
No one.
I will be okay…
It’s all gonna be okay...
After all, we won’t even be interacting with anyone today.
We have a lot of things to unpack, so we’ll probably be spending the entire day doing that alone… There’s nothing to fear… nothing to worry about.
. . .
The city is quieter than I thought it would be.
I imagined it’d be much louder. I’ve always heard cities described as being loud, and busy…
I imagined a bustling metropolis, who’s streets were swarmed with honking cars, desperately trying to make their way to their destination in the most insufferable rush-hour traffic imaginable…
But…
It’s not like that.
At least not in the area we moved into…
This is a rather quiet neighborhood.
Not nearly as quiet or as serene as Faraway Town was… but the most noise I’ve heard so far is the noise of the occasional passing vehicle, honking its horn, or obnoxiously revving its engine…
I suppose it doesn’t seem too bad here.
My mother and I move the boxes inside as we need to… There’s not much left. She did most of the moving in while I was sorting things out with my friends… If they even are my friends anymore…
. . .
The confession… It wasn’t easy…
I hadn’t used my voice in so long that… it was hard to find, and even harder to use.
I hadn’t spoken in so long that the resulting words I forced out of myself were mumbled, and slightly jumbled together. I wasn’t incomprehensible, but it was enough for Aubrey to repeat myself, while in disbelief of the fact that the 2nd sentence I had spoken to them in four years was…
“I killed Mari.”
. . .
That sentence….
It was such a struggle to say it, but once I did, it felt like the weight of the universe itself was lifted off of me…
It was like I could finally breathe…
Of course… There’s still some weight I carry with me…
But not nearly as much as before, knowing that I’m not lying to my friends any longer…
Aubrey and Hero reacted just as I feared they would...
They didn’t know what to think.
They were angry .
Hero internalized it, and excused himself…
Aubrey, however, didn’t give me the luxury of holding her tongue…
I didn’t deserve it anyway…
She grabbed me by my gown and began screaming at me…
I just… stared at her.
I told her it was an accident.
I told her that I only meant to lightly shove her…
I told her that Mari’s knee gave out, and she flew down...
I told her I didn’t believe she was dead…
I told her I thought she was sleeping, but she didn’t wake up.
I told her I dragged her to bed, but she wasn’t breathing…
I told her about Basil’s plan…
I told her about how we looked back…
I told her that I loved her.
I told her that I still love her.
I told her that I miss her…
I told her that it h u r t s. . .
I told her everything...
And above all...
I told her that I was sorry…
I told her that...
I can’t fix what I’ve done, and I can’t make her accept my apology…
But I can tell her the truth.
And that’s what I’ve chosen to do.
She pulled me in, and reeled her fist back to punch me square in the face… I closed my eyes in anticipation, ready to let whatever was going to happen happen… but…
She didn’t do it.
She let her fist drop to her side as her breath wavered…
She flung me to the side, and walked out of the room, closing the door with a hearty slam…
My back hit the wall harshly, and I fell to the floor…
Aubrey is… strong… very strong.
But the physical pain I felt was nothing in comparison to the guilt I felt consuming me…
Aubrey is like this because of me…
Hero gave up on his dream to become a chef because of me…
Kel saw his brother suffer because of me…
Basil is in imaginable amounts of pain because of me...
Because Mari is dead….because of me...
But… Even still…
Kel took my hand, and helped me up…
...
He stood there, unsure of what to say at first…
I was ready for a barrage of insults to come flying my way… but…
“It’s okay…” is what he finally replied with… I looked up at him in slight shock…
. . .
“I forgive you, Sunny…” he said, before smiling and saying it once more with conviction “Yeah! I forgive you!” he exclaimed. “Because I know if Mari were here to say it… She’d say that she forgives you too…” he said. “And you too Basil!” he added.
. . .
Basil and I look at eachother, and smile with tear filled eyes, knowing... we haven’t lost everything.
I spent my last day in Faraway Town knowing that I hadn’t lost everything, as Kel, Basil, and I reminisced over photos, and talked about flowers, video games, and comics…
…
It wasn’t the perfect outcome… But I think….
I think this is the best one…
Even if, despite our promise... we are all separated now…
. . .
Oh…
That was my last box.
… I spent so much time reflecting on recent events, I haven’t even been really focusing on what I’m doing… My body just went into auto-pilot.
. . .
I walk up to Mom silently, looking up at her…
“What’s the matter sweetie?” she asks. “Waiting for something to happen?”
...I nod.
“You can always go out and explore the neighborhood a bit! Have some fun, get to know the area!” she says. “Oh! Or I could drive you around and show you what your new school looks like!” she exclaims.
Involuntarily, I pause for a moment, frozen by my anxiety.
I had almost forgot… I’ve been re-enrolled into public school...
I look down and mumble something.
“Oh come on sweetie, it’ll be okay. Let’s go see-”
“M-Mom…?” I cut her off a bit meekly “...I’d rather just… rest a while.” I say.
“Oh…” she replied “Well, alright, just relax then Sunny. But do note, your first day starts tomorrow.”
Already filled to the brim with anxiety, I return back to my room, lay down on my bed, and begin to rest…
Drifting away, I close my eyes, and fall asleep…
I wake up late in the night to my stomach growling… This is...more of a common occurrence than I’d like to admit.
I pick myself up, and sluggishly make my way towards the kitchen… I open the refrigerator to find some leftover pizza… My mom must’ve ordered it for dinner while I was asleep, and didn’t want to wake me up… that, or I slept through all her politer attempts to get me to regain consciousness…
I guess I am a bit of a heavy sleeper…
I took a few slices and threw them into the microwave, when suddenly, I hear a strange noise from in the hallway… If I can hear it that clearly, it must be somewhere near our apartment, right…?
Quietly, I approach the door with apprehension…
…
I know I’m letting my morbid curiosity get the better of me… but…
What if I just…
Did one…
Tiny…
Peek…?
I crack open the door as quietly as possible, and peer through it silently.
There, bent over, I see… a girl. She has brown hair, and 2 braids draped over her shoulders...She’s shuffling to pick some things up… But just as I contemplate asking if she needs help, she turns to glare at me, as I notice the familiar gleam of a knife in her hand.
My heart rate spikes as I quickly shut the door back.
I lean against the door, holding my breath as my heart pounds out of my chest, the sound resonating in my ears. But after a moment, I hear her footsteps proceeding past my door.
I let out a silent sigh of relief before hearing the microwave go off…
My appetite is gone, but I eat the pizza anyway and go back to sleep…
As I awake in the morning, I’m greeted with sunlight peering through my window… I sit up and rub my eyes a bit… I’m not entirely sure if I really saw that girl, or if it was some sort of dream or hallucination… either way, rationally or not, it’s only been about a day in this new apartment, and I already feel unsafe….
As I turn to get out of bed, I notice a bag on the floor beside my feet… I pick it up and look inside…
…
Clothes… Looks like it’s a school uniform…
It’s a white button down, navy blue shorts, and a navy blue sweater vest with gold stripes, and a golden emblem embroidered onto the chest…
I guess this isn’t too far off from what I would usually wear, but the emblem comes off as a bit obnoxious…
Either way, I get up, get showered and get dressed.
My mom already packed my backpack for me…
She didn’t need to do that…
Regardless, I throw it onto my back and take the bus to school…
Nothing special about the bus ride…
My mom made me memorize the bus route there beforehand…
. . .
I haven’t really seen it up close…
My new school…
Mom drove past it a couple of times to show me where it was, but…
Other than that, I-...
I dunno…
It’s okay to feel nervous right now, isn’t it…?
. . .
After getting off on my last stop, I look up at my new school…
It’s…
It’s huge.
It’s intimidating…
Why does it look so much fancier up close…?
A-...Am I at the right place…?
I double check the name, and…
Yeah…
This is the right place for sure…
Quietly, I enter the building and begin observing what the other students are doing. Most of them are lined up at the front desk, receiving their new schedules for the school year.
Naturally, I step in line and wait my turn…
Upon approaching the desk, the staff member behind it firmly asks for my name.
I mumble it meekly, to which the person behind the desk asserted that I needed to speak louder.
My heartrate peaks a bit, but I restate my name a bit louder this time.
The staff member shuffles through some papers before handing me my school schedule.
...It seems that.. For first period… I’m supposed to be in History class…
I look at my schedule and memorize the room numbers, before the bell signifying the start of the school bell rang.
I feel my anxiety begin to rise as I look back down at the paper, and do my best to navigate the school on my own… It takes a while. This place is huge, after all, but- perhaps out of sheer luck, I’m able to find the correct classroom on time… I feel stupid as I realize I’ve walked past this one a couple of times, but I continue forward and enter the classroom.
It must be my lucky day.
There's a window seat left in the back of the class.
I walk over to it, and try to be quick, but- not so quick it’s noticeable, but…. Quick enough.
I sit down and sigh quietly to myself.
Another bell rings to signify the start of class as the teacher walks in and begins talking. I try to pay attention to the introduction, but my mind begins to drift somewhere near the end of it. I stare out the window, and allow my imagination to wonder…
I think about Captain Spaceboy, and Sweetheart getting into painfully sad, yet entertaining scenarios… It prompts me to bring out a notebook, and begin doodling…
Captain Spaceboy… or- Space Ex-Husband now… and the mad dutchess, pretty in pink…
The only thing to pull me from my self indulgent doodles is the sound off of the end-of-class bell. This process repeats every class.
Go in.
Find a seat.
Doodle.
Leave.
Rinse and repeat.
The only thing to break this monotonous cycle, the saving grace of any school day…
L u n c h B r e a k.
At last .
I go through the lunch line, and absent-mindedly pick up a tray with some miscellaneous food I’m definitely not eating, before proceeding to the cafeteria… I look around…
Everyone already seems to know what they’re doing, and who they’re eating with, but…
I..
I have no idea where to go…
After scanning the room, I look down and head to an empty lunch table. I sit down, set down my bag, and take out my notebook to continue sketching. I’m silently consumed by my fantasies, when suddenly-
“Hey.” I hear someone call out to me softly.
I look up to see a girl. She’s pale, and her long black hair is pulled up into pigtails.
“I dunno if you recognize me, but I think we have 2nd period together.”
…
I try to force myself to speak, but-
No words come out…
Dammit...
“Can I sit here?” she asks politely.
I nod.
She smiles brightly and sits across from me with a smile.
“I uh… I like your eyepatch! It’s cool.” she says.
I sit there, frozen, and not sure what to say…
...Cool…? It-..
It’s not like I’m wearing it for fashion reasons…
“I messed up my eye too,” she says as she continues speaking “This left one here? It’s a prosthetic.” She admits cheerfully.
…
I take out another notebook and write down something before passing it to her.
“What happened to it?” She says, reading the note aloud. “Oh. I lost it in a car accident when I was little… it got pierced with a shard of glass…” she responds “I even still got the scar from it, see?” she said as she closed her left eye, revealing a faint scar vertically stretching from her eyelid to about the top of her cheek.
“That must’ve hurt.” I wrote.
“Oh yeah. Like hell. The crash wasn’t pretty… Me and my sister spent a lot of time in the hospital, but I was at least able to fully recover. That’s what matters, isn’t it?” she asked with a smile.
I nodded in response.
“So, what happened to yours?”
“I got into a fight.” I wrote.
“A fight?” she asked in astonishment “Woah… I couldn’t imagine getting into a fight so serious it costs me an eye! You must be some sort of delinquent!” she exclaims, but- not in an insulting way… she seems genuinely happy and excited to be meeting someone she thinks is a quote unquote delinquent.
...Should I be scared?
“Sorry- I didn’t mean to call you a delinquent. I meant more of like, uuuhhh… A bad boy!” She exclaimed.
“It’s okay. But I’m not really all that interesting a person to be honest.” I write in reply.
“Well, that’s perfectly okay too. There’s no shame in being boring!” she said with a smile.
. . .
Am I boring?
“Woah! Did you draw that?” the girl asks, seeing a glimpse of my sketching notebook.
I startle a bit and nod.
“Can I see it?” she asks.
I hesitate to think first, before nodding and gently sliding over the notebook.
She flips through the first few pages with intrigue.
“Space Boyfriend… Is this a character you made up?” she asks.
I shake my head before writing “He’s from a comic.” on the page.
“Oh, I see…” she says before pointing to a sketch of Sweetheart “How about her. Is she from a comic as well?”
I shake my head.
“You made her up?”
…
Well-
Kinda…?
I nod my head a bit.
“That’s so cool!” she exclaims “I like this character, she’s so pretty!”
I smile a bit and almost let out a chuckle.
“She’s not very pretty on the inside” I wrote.
“Oh really? Tell me about her then!”
I smile and tell her about it… We spend the whole lunch period talking, and before I knew it, it was time to go to the next class.
I look up at the sound of the bell and stand from my seat.
“Wait!” the girl exclaimed “We never properly introduced ourselves…what’s your name?” she asks.
…
I open my mouth, and somehow, I’ve manages to say three words…
“M-...My name’s Sunny…” I mutter.
“Cool! I’m Monoko,” she says before throwing her backpack over her shoulders “I’ll see you around, Sunny!” she says before running off.
Monoko…
…
Did I…
Just… make a friend…?