Chapter Text
Sunny stared at the body at the bottom of the stairs, his breath coming to a stuttering halt as his actions finally registered in his mind.
“M-Mari…?” he called to his sister. If she heard, she did not respond. Mari remained motionless at the bottom of the stairs, laid over the pieces of Sunny’s now shattered violin. Sunny began to descend the stairs, every step filling his stomach and chest with more and more dread. More terror at what he had done.
“Mari, th-this isn’t funny,” he whispered. “Get up…p-please…”
Basil watched as Sunny grew closer and closer to his sister, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and terror. How had this happened? Had Sunny pushed her? Surely not, right? Sunny loved Mari more than anyone, he would never hurt her. And yet, here Basil was, watching his best friend try to shake his sister awake. Tears were running down Sunny’s face and dripping from his chin. His cries for Mari to wake continued to grow louder until they were borderline screams.
“M-Mari, wake up! Please! I-I’m sorry! I’ll practice b-better! I-I’ll fix my violin, just p-please wake up!” Sunny cried desperately. When he received no response, he suddenly quieted. The realization sank its claws deep into the onyx-haired boy. He began to scream for his parents, for Hero, Aubrey, Kel, anyone.
Basil couldn’t even bring himself to move. Sunny’s father was the first to rush into the room. The sheer terror that crossed the man’s face would give both Basil and Sunny nightmares for years to come. Everything that happened after Sunny’s father arrived was a blur for the boys.
The next thing they knew, they were sitting outside a hospital room. Basil had started crying at some point and hadn’t stopped since then. Sunny sat blank faced, staring at the floor. He hadn’t made a sound since his father called the ambulance. Hero was pacing up and down the hospital hallway, biting his nails down to stubs. Kel was attempting to console Basil, while Aubrey was trying to get some kind of reaction out of Sunny.
“Sunny, everything is going to be okay, right? She just f-fell, so it’ll be fine, right?” Aubrey asked nervously, her voice shaky. Sunny kept his gaze on the tiles on the floor, the only indication that he heard Aubrey at all being the way he seemed to curl in on himself a little.
“What happened?” Hero asked, breathlessly. He was honestly asking himself more than he was Sunny. Regardless, he was not given a response. Thus, he continued his pacing, muttering and mumbling to himself. He eventually sat down between Sunny and Basil, putting his head in his hands.
“Basil, you really need to calm down. M-Mari will be fine. I mean, she’s Mari!” Kel tried to console, putting on his best smile. It wasn’t very convincing. Basil hardly seemed to notice Kel’s words, only sniffling and hiccuping into his hands. Kel’s smile faltered at that. The energetic child was out of his depth here. However, four words from Sunny caused everyone to stop in their tracks.
“It’s all my fault.”
Three Years Later
Welcome back to White Space! You’ve been visiting here for about three years now!
Omori slowly opened his eyes, admiring the little black dots that acted as White Space’s stars. Mewo cracked a single eye open to lazily look at her owner. The black cat stood from her resting spot and padded her way over to Omori, curling up beside the boy.
“Meow?” (Welcome back, Omori. How was your day?)
Omori shrugged and sat up to take in his surroundings. White Space was as empty as always, only filled by Mewo, the door outside and a few miscellaneous things, like Omori’s laptop, his sketchbook, and a nice carpet for Omori to lay on to ‘star-gaze’ when he decided to laze around. He absently ran a hand through Mewo’s fur while he considered what to do until Sunny woke up.
Mewo eventually got tired of Omori’s petting, making her way up to his shoulders where she then decided to rest. From a distance, the black cat almost looked like an unwrapped scarf from how she was draped over her owner’s shoulders. Omori managed a small smile at his cat’s antics. Perhaps he’d visit that singer he’d seen around. Their songs always managed to put the boy in a good mood.
With that in mind, Omori nodded to himself and stood from the carpet. Mewo let out a low noise of discontent at the sudden movement, but decided to stay draped over Omori’s shoulders as he made his way to the door.
He stared at the large white door for a few moments before gripping the handle and opening it. On the other side was a large forest full of pastel greens and blues. He stepped out into the forest and began his journey to the singer’s abode. Omori carefully wrapped the black cat scarf that had replaced Mewo around his neck. The forest was colder than usual today. Maybe winter was coming?
Omori eventually arrived outside the singer’s home, a giant stage with a giant curtain to match. He took a seat on the red and white checkered blanket that was laid in front of the stage and waited. Not too long later, the world around Omori seemed to darken as the curtain was pulled open. There, in the center of the stage, stood a featureless shadow, only vaguely the shape of a person. Two white dots rested where its eyes should have been, and though featureless, the individual seemed to be happy that someone had come to their show.
“Welcome one and all to my show! I hope you all enjoy my song! It doesn’t have a name yet, but I still think it’s one of my favorites!” the creature said happily. There were a few cheers that came from the darkness around Omori. Other inhabitants of Headspace must have arrived to listen to the singer’s songs as well. The shadow cleared their throat a bit and took a deep breath. An unseen piano began to play as the shadow began their song.
“Close your eyes, you’ll be here soon…”
X X X
Sunny awoke to someone banging on his door. He bolted upright in his bed, his eyes landing on the door. It was silent for a few moments, long enough for Sunny to think it may have been a part of his dream. That is until the banging returned even louder, followed by an irritated voice.
“Sunny, get up! You’re going to make us late!” his mother yelled through the door. Sunny couldn’t help but flinch a bit at her voice. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and slowly got out of bed. Another round of banging forced another flinch out of him.
“Sunny, if you don’t get up, I’m leaving without--”
“I’m awake,” Sunny said, just loud enough for his mother to stop. The onyx-haired boy made his way over to his dresser and pulled out the cleanest looking hoodie and jeans he could find. He caught a glimpse of his old (well, new.) vest and hummed to himself, contemplating. He ultimately decided against wearing it and went with the clothes he’d picked out for himself.
He gave himself a quick once-over in the mirror and decided that he was dressed good enough for the day. He left his room and headed to the bathroom to comb his hair and brush his teeth. He made quick work of both tasks and then made his way down the stairs and into the living room. His mother was waiting by the front door for him, a hand on her hip as she tapped her foot impatiently. A scowl crossed her face when she saw her son.
“Sunny,” she started with a disappointed sigh. “What’s the point of you having an alarm clock if you’re not going to use it?”
And…Sunny didn’t really have an answer for that. He did use it. He just always slept through it. Long enough for the alarm clock to eventually give up trying to wake him up and just go silent.
“Um…sorry, mom,” Sunny mumbled. He hated making her upset, especially with everything going on. It really wasn’t fair to her that he couldn’t just wake up on time.
His mother let out another sigh as her expression softened. She walked over to her son, licked her thumb and wiped away a bit of toothpaste the teen had managed to get on his cheek. Sunny’s cheeks reddened a bit in embarrassment.
“I know, honey. Just…try a bit harder for me, okay?” she relented.
Sunny managed a nod. His mother gave him a small smile and ruffled his hair, much to the teen’s chagrin.
“Let’s get a move on, shall we? I don’t want you to be late for work, and I don’t exactly want to be late for work myself,” she said, turning to open the door for Sunny. The teen in question mumbled a small thank you and headed out to the car.
Twenty Minutes Later
Sunny had been at work for a little while and already wanted to go home. While he was happy he’d been able to get a job at Gino’s, he was a lot less happy with his boss’s handwriting. He could barely read it at all and he would be the one that got yelled at if he didn’t make his delivery on time.
The teen inwardly groaned at the chicken scratch he’d been given. He could just barely make out “green-ish roof” and “flowers.” Luckily or unluckily for Sunny, he had a pretty good idea of whose house that was. With a sigh, he slid the pizza box into his bag, hopped on his bike and made his way downtown.