Chapter Text
*Pling-Pling Plong*
Another wrong note. I stopped playing my piano and looked over to the source of the screeching sound. When he realized I stopped, my brother turned his head away from his violin and towards me.
“Ughhh… Come on Sunny, let's try again from the top. We’re running out of time. Mom and Dad are going to take us to meet everyone in a few hours.” I didn’t realize that the volume in my voice was rising. I turned back to my piano and started to count down from three. When I reached zero, I pressed my hands down on the keys and began to play our waltz from the beginning. Everything was going well until…
* Pling-Plong Pling*
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After every failed attempt, my anger grew. I scolded Sunny more and more, not thinking of how my words were affecting him.
“Alright… it’s alright. Let’s try that part again.” I took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm myself down. I put my fingers back on the piano keys, ready to start over. My fingers went from key to key and I listened to the soothing noises coming from the piano. I was taking in every single note.
Suddenly, that familiar screeching entered my ears once more. This time, however, the noise was so off-key and distracting that it made me lose concentration. I hit multiple wrong notes on my piano.
If I was angry before, now I became enraged.
I slammed both my hands on the keys, making a cacophony coming from the piano. This startled Sunny as he immediately stopped playing. I turned around once more to see him looking at me with a bit of shock on his face. I started to go off at him.
“Sunny, your mistakes are starting to make me mess up! The recital is in four hours! How can we play in front of everybody like this! It has to be perfect!” Then, I said something that I regret to this day. “You're useless!”
That must have been Sunny’s final straw. His face began to tear. He turned away from me and ran out of the room with his violin. The reality of the situation started to sink in and I realized what I had just said. Sunny already had low self-esteem. That comment surely didn’t help improve it. I needed to apologize.
“Sunny, wait. Come back.” I got up from my piano and followed him out. From the hallway, I heard the creaking of stairs. When I entered, I saw that Sunny already was at the top of the staircase. “Sunny, what are you doing-”
Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, I watched as Sunny raised his violin above his head and threw it down the staircase. When the violin hit the ground, it shattered into pieces.
The first emotion I felt was disbelief. Then, that same feeling from before when we were practicing came back with a vengeance.
If I was enraged before, now I became furious.
All the hard work my friends and I have poured into getting that violin for Sunny was now meaningless. All the time that we had practiced together for the recital was now meaningless. My body felt like it was going to explode with rage. I stomped my way past the destroyed violin, up the stairs, and towards Sunny, ready to unleash my fury. Sunny turned his head down,
“Sunny, what were you thinking! After everything Hero, Kel, Aubrey, and Basil have done for you! After everything I have done for you! You went and threw it all away! What are we going to do about the recital? What are we going to tell our friends? What are we going to tell Mom and Dad?” I needed to stop for a second to catch my breath. “Why, Sunny, why?” My anger started to morph into sadness. “Why?”
Sunny, still with his head down, turned away from me and approached the stairs. I still needed to find out why he did it. Why he threw it all away. With little hesitation, I got in front of his path, preventing him from descending the stairs.
“I’m not finished talking to you yet. Don’t run away.”
I heard the sound of a door opening and a familiar voice coming from downstairs.
“Mari, Sunny. I’m home early from work. Oh, hello Basil. Have you seen Mari and Sunny?” It was Dad. Sunny had finally turned to look at me. I saw his face. Not only was it covered in tears, but it was also a ghostly pale. I know that Sunny and Dad didn’t have the best relationship, but why did Sunny look so… afraid?
“Basil, is everything alright? What are you looking at?” I could hear footsteps approaching the hallway. “What is that?” Dad had fully entered the hallway and was looking back and forth between the violin, Sunny, and I. Dad’s expression changed from one of confusion to one of shock and then to one of rage. Sunny made a mad dash to our bedroom, locking the door behind him.
“Sunny Suzuki!” I never saw Dad so mad. It honestly scared me. “Come down here this instant!” There was no response on Sunny’s end. Dad stormed his way upstairs, past me, and stopped in front of our bedroom door. What did Dad want with Sunny? Why didn’t he ask me what had happened? My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Dad’s fists banging on our bedroom door. “Sunny, open the goddamn door now!”
I looked back down the staircase and saw Basil standing in the doorframe of the hallway. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. How long has he been there? Did he see Sunny throw the violin down the stairs? Did he see our fight? My brain was running a marathon. I would have to talk to him later since right now, I had bigger issues to deal with. I walked towards him.
“Dad, what are you doing?” He stopped hammering the door and looked at me.
“What am I doing? Sunny’s violin is in pieces! How are you two going to perform at your recital?” He turned back to the door. “Sunny, if you don’t open this door by the time I count down from three, I swear to God I am going to break it down and you’ll be in even more trouble.”
Why was Dad doing this?
“3…”
Why wasn’t I helping?
“2…”
Why Sunny, why?
“1…”
The sound of a door unlocking could be heard. Dad opened the door. Inside the bedroom, I saw Sunny backing away from us. Dad entered the bedroom and approached Sunny. Every step Dad took forward, Sunny took a step back. That was until Sunny was against the wall. Dad was the first one to speak.
“Sunny, what did you do?” Even though he was right, why did Dad assume that it was Sunny who broke the violin? Sunny remained silent. “Answer me, now!” Sunny still didn’t respond.
Then, something occurred that I thought would never happen.
Dad extended his arm out and with one swift motion, slapped Sunny across the face. With a yelp, Sunny fell to the floor.
What… the… fuck?
Did Dad just hit Sunny? Sunny, his own blood? Sunny, his own son? Sunny, my brother?
I couldn’t believe it. My thoughts and feelings were running rampant. I didn’t know how to react. How was I supposed to react? My father just hit my brother right in front of me. All I could do was stand there.
“Sunny, do you know how much it costs to rent the recital hall? You have ruined everybody’s plans! What are we going to tell them? Think of how you made Mari feel! This was her special day!” It was at this point I began to sob as well. My family was falling apart right before my eyes.
“Now, get up and apologize to your sister!” Sunny proceeded to get off the floor. However, instead of following Dad’s orders, Sunny ran out of the room. “Ughhh… I don’t have time for this. Mari, go after Sunny. I have to call your mother and tell her what Sunny did.” I did as Dad told me not because I wanted to follow his order. I just wanted to get away from him and comfort Sunny.
When I got downstairs, I saw Sunny nowhere to be found and Basil standing there looking even more upset. He likely heard the commotion from upstairs.
“Basil, where did Sunny go?”
“H-he went o-out through the back d-door.” I knew exactly where Sunny was doing.
“Okay, thank you. Follow me.” I wanted Basil to be there when I talked to Sunny. He was Sunny’s best friend and witnessed our fight, after all. Together, we went through my backyard and into the woods.
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After some time, we found a familiar glade, and atop one of the trees stood our treehouse. I told Basil to wait outside since I wanted to talk to Sunny alone first.
Inside the treehouse, everything seems to be in order; toys scattered across the floor, books in the corner, the yellow cat calendar, and that old TV Kel brought up here thinking there was electricity. Under the table in the center was Sunny laying down in the fetal position.
“Sunny?” I called out to him. He didn’t respond. I sat down next to the table. “Sunny, it’s me, Mari. I wanted to talk with you.” Still nothing. “Sunny, it’s okay. It’s just me. Dad is at home and Basil is outside.” He slowly turned and looked at me. His face was practically a mess. It broke my heart. His eyes were red from crying so much. That wasn’t the only thing red, though. Across the side of his face was a big red handmark that contrasted with his pale skin.
I needed to comfort him after everything that just went down. I extended my arms out and gestured for a hug. Sunny crawled out from under the table and into my arms. He put his head into my shoulder and began to cry again profusely. I closed my arms and patted him on the back.
After about a minute of sitting there, I finally spoke up.
“Sunny, why did you throw your violin?”
“I felt sick.” I didn’t expect him to respond right away. He usually thinks carefully about what he says. Unless he already knew what he wanted to say to me.
“Sick? What do you mean by sick?” Sunny looked up at me.
“Sick of everything. I was in pain.” I was still a bit confused. Sunny must have known this as he stopped embracing and put his palm in front of my face. They were covered in red marks and scratches. I was surprised that he had even more injuries than I knew of.
“How did this happen?” I needed answers.
“From playing the violin.” The pieces were starting to come together in my mind.
“Then why didn’t you say anything? Why let yourself suffer?”
“I just wanted to spend more time with you. You were always busy spending time playing the piano and preparing for college. I wanted something we could do together.” I never knew that he thought we were growing distant. It explains so much.
“Sunny, don’t worry. Even if I do seem busier, I will always be there for you. I’m sorry I pushed you too hard.” I thought that everything was going to get better. Then, Sunny went back to crying into my shoulder.
“What's wrong now?”
“Dad hit me.” Oh yeah. I was still in a bit of shock.
“I still don’t understand why. He didn’t even question what happened.” Dad usually wasn’t the violent type, or at least that I knew of.
“Dad has always been mean to me. One time he slipped up and said liked you more. Both Dad and Mom do. They see you as the perfect child.” Perfect? Me? I strive to be but am not.
“But I am not perfect.” This became more apparent to me today after I lashed out at Sunny earlier. “What kind of perfect sister lets their brother suffer?”
“You are more talented and more going for you than me.”
“That’s not true. You are the nicest and smartest person I know. You are very creative. I saw your drawing in your sketchbook and they were amazing. You are good at video games. I saw you beat Kel’s “unbeatable” record. You are great with animals. I think Mewo is more attached to you than me.” I knew the next thing I would say would change his mood. “You are also a great listener. You help people when they are feeling down and need to talk to someone, especially Aubrey.” Sunny perked his head up at the mention of Aubrey. I think now was the time to reveal to him what I knew. “I think that's why you have a crush on her.”
“H-how did you know?” Sunny’s face turned a bright red. Got him.
“It was pretty obvious. How you always have a starry look in your eyes when you are around her. How you gave her Mr. Plantegg as a gift. How you spent most of the time at the beach over the summer with her. How you two go on the swings and listen to her problems.”
“Alright, fine. I have a crush on her.” I could sense his mood was improving. “Just, don’t tell anyone, okay? Especially Kel. He would never let me live it down if he found out.”
“No promises.” I gave him one of the iconic grins that I usually saved for Hero.
“What do we do now?”
“Well, we should go outside and reassure Basil that everything is okay.” Basil must be worried sick about Sunny.
“Right.” Together, we got up and left the treehouse. I saw that Basil was staring at a nearby group of flowers. When he saw Sunny, he immediately ran up and hugged him.
“Sunny! Is everything okay?” Basil was holding onto Sunny tightly.
“Yeah, Basil. We’re good.” It sounded like Sunny was struggling to talk.
“Okay, Basil, don’t be too rough on Sunny.” I found it more amusing than anything.
“S-sorry.” Basil let go of Sunny. “It was just that I was w-worried that something bad happened… Why is there a handmark on your face.” Basil started to look upset again.
“It’s fine, Basil. Let’s go back to the house so we can clear up the confusion and I can give Dad a piece of my mind.” Little did I know what would happen later that day. I still wonder how things would have played out differently if Dad didn’t get home.