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It was the night of the recital; this was to be the moment both Mari and Sunny would shine on stage and blow away parents and students alike with their stunning duet!
At least, that is what Basil had thought in his mind as he skipped towards Sunny’s house with camera in tow. He was hoping that he would snap a photo of the siblings all dressed prim and proper for tonight’s performance.
Even though the sun had already set, the blond flower boy was not even the least bit deterred by the dark streets nor the looming chill in the night air. His excitement kept him calm throughout his walk.
As Basil finally made a turn towards another road, he snapped out of his thoughts as the scene before him made him slightly unsettled.
Well, that was a lie. It completely unnerved him as he could see the distant siren lights of an ambulance… parked right outside a home. Sunny’s home.
Instinctually, Basil sprinted towards the ambulance as panic began to settle in his mind. His eyes began to jitter, his breathing turned frantic, his movement becoming careless nearly stumbling over and falling face first on the asphalt. He caught himself in the last moment as he briefly stopped to gather his balance along with his breath.
As Basil lifted his head, he saw something that he wished he hadn’t…
A team of paramedics were moving a stretcher with something… or more precisely, someone underneath the white sheets. The worst part is that Basil could see a hand poking out of the sheets; a pale hand… limp, dangling over the stretcher.
He gripped his chest as his lungs tightened from this horrid sight. His thoughts raced from one frightening thought to the next, trying to make sense of the scene before him.
As the paramedics lifted the body into the back of the ambulance, Basil saw a black-haired teen from the corner of his eye. She was adorned in a beautiful white dress…yet her expression did match not her overall appearance.
Basil could see a mixture of emotions upon her face. Fear. Shock. Sorrow. That was Mari… Why was she so freaked out?
Tears streamed down her face as she caught up with the paramedics.
“Please! Let me come with him!”
Him?
The two partners turned to look at the distressed teen. One simply nodded while the other spoke, “Of course, we’ll allow you sit up front along the way to the ER, are you a friend or family member of this child?
“Yes! He’s, my brother!”
Brother?
A disgusting thought materialized in Basil’s head, one that caused bile to rise in his throat, and yet, he couldn’t shake off that thought.
“Why not in the back? I need to be by his side!” Mari was confused, why wouldn’t they let her be his dear’s brother side?
“Ma’am, please understand. It’s best not see him in his current state.”
“What do you mean by current state!?! Aren’t you going to help him?!?” She refused to believe that the worst has come to pass.
Noticing the psychotic state in Mari’s eyes, the paramedic nervously rubbed the back as he tried to calm down the distressed teen, “Um… my apologies, what I’m trying to say is that my partner and I will do the best we can for your brother, but we need space to do so, having too many people in the back will make it hard for us to do our job.”
“O…Oh…” Mari muttered; head lowered. She understood the man’s reasoning but still hated that she couldn’t be right by her brother’s side.
The man placed a gentle hand upon Mari’s shoulder as he guided her towards the front of the vehicle.
No one seemed to notice Basil’s presence as one of the EMTs finished fastening the stretcher in the back and close the back doors of the vehicle.
No longer able to gaze upon the thing on the stretcher, Basil’s quickly drifted towards Mari, his brows furrowed as something else caught his eyes. It was difficult to see at first due to the dimly lit night sky, but he managed to catch a small glimpse under the siren lights.
A dark wet splotch on the palm of Mari’s left hand.
Blood.
Nausea swept over Basil as he tried to make sense of this situation. Was Sunny underneath the sheet? What happened to him? Why is there a blood on Mari’s hand?
He was completely frozen in place desperately tried to remain grounded fearing that he would faint at any moment and fall headfirst against the pavement.
He wasn’t entirely sure how long he stood there, but it was clear that some time had passed, for the ambulance had already departed, out of sight and out of earshot.
“Basil?” a confused voice called out of to him, which brought the flower boy back to his senses. He quickly whipped his head towards the source of the voice. Despite it being dark, he immediately recognized the figure that was standing in front of the doorway.
“H-Hero, is… is that you?”
“Y-Yeah… it’s me, Basil….”
Why was Hero here? Does he know what happened? Did he see something as well?
Questions flooded Basil’s mind; his head began to hurt. He felt scared to ask about what transpired, however, he needed answers.
He needed to know.
While Basil was feeling uneasy, Hero looked rather dreadful himself. Despite being well dressed for the occasion; Hero wore a nervous look about him.
No. More than just nervous. He looked terrified, unwilling to gaze in Basil’s direction, arms crossed yet it was clear that he was shaking. There are not many things that can unnerve Hero to this degree… Well, except for spiders, but Basil doubted that was the case.
Basil took a deep breath, straightened up, and gathered enough encourage to ask a simple question.
“Hero… what happened?”
Hero did not respond, his head merely slumped forward.
“What happened?!?”
Still no response.
“Why won’t you answer me!?!?”
Silence.
“HERO! PLEASE! SAY SOMETHING!”
Why wont he answer? Why was Hero so silent? Basil couldn’t understand why he was acting this way.
Basil approached Hero, grabbed his arm, and tried to shake something out of him.
“Just. TALK TO ME!”
Basil hated this; he hated that Hero was acting this way, he hated that there were no answers to his pressing questions, but above all else, he hated this deafening silence in the night.
Finally, something snapped inside Basil.
SMACK.
…
Hero brought a hand up to his cheek, blinking rapidly, surprised by the weight behind the slap.
With teeth gritted and hand throbbing, Basil glared up at Hero.
“SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY!”
Hero moved his mouth trying to speak but then closed it. Mouth flattened still refusing to say anything.
Yet, Basil’s burning gaze wore down Hero’s will. It felt so unnatural seeing Basil, someone so sweet and so gentle, being so angry, so…furious.
“Basil….” Hero finally broke his silence “There was…” his face grimaced as he spoke, “There was an accident… and Sunny …. He… fell down the stairs.”
Basil’s fury swiftly faded as his worst fears were quickly proving true. His mind beginning to go blank.
“W-What?” A ringing sound filled Basil’s ears attempting to deafen any sound coming from Hero, as if his own body was trying to protect Basil from the worst truth possible. It didn’t work, however. Basil could still make out the words that Hero was saying from his lips.
"Sunny’s dead….”