Chapter Text
Basil jolted awake, drenched in a cold sweat. His blankets were thrown off to the side in a crumpled heap, and his heart was pounding. He gasped for breath, overwhelmed with fear. Rubbing his eyes, his hands came away wet with tears. Most of the details of his dream had already faded from his mind, save for one image seared into his brain – a puddle of blood wet beneath his feet.
It took a few minutes of deep breaths to calm down, and even then, he was still shaken up. Tears kept welling up behind his closed eyelids. Basil slowly slid back out of bed and made his way over to the bathroom.
He splashed some water on his face and washed his hands thoroughly, trying to scrub the feeling of blood under his fingernails. After drying his hands, he felt less disoriented now that he wasn't as groggy with sleep. On his way out, he glanced at the clock in the hallway, 7:00 AM. He sighed, knowing that he didn’t need to be up this early in the morning, especially since it was the weekend. Unfortunately, he doubted he could fall back asleep now.
He went into his kitchen and noticed that his caretaker, Polly, was still asleep. Basil decided against waking her, thinking that she deserved to get more rest. He got a glass of water and took his medication. The hallucinations and nightmares hadn’t been as bad ever since he’d started therapy and taking medication. It was still hard to get through the day, but not nearly as bad as before.
Despite the nightmare, he felt more rested than he had in a while. He quickly dressed in comfortable clothes, a button-up shirt over a pullover. He brushed his hair but was on the fence to put one of his barrettes on today. He opened a small cabinet next to the mirror, which contained small flower-themed barrettes. One of them was a rose, allium, tulip, Chrysanthemum, gardenia...
His thoughts trailed off, as he picked up a barrette in the shape of a sunflower. The boy put the barrette into his blonde, curly hair, snapping it on.
He checked his phone, no new texts so far. It seemed Sunny was busy with his new school.
Breathing easier now, Basil went back into the kitchen, hearing footsteps approaching behind him.She stepped in from the hallway, dressed in yellow dress pants and a white button-down top and shoes. Polly faced him, folding her arms across her chest while trying to stifle a yawn with her hand as she spoke,
"How're you feeling?"
He stared at her blankly, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.
"Fine," he said, smiling faintly. He appreciated her concern, but he found it difficult to open up to her.
Polly gathered some items off the countertop, placing them in her satchel.
"Just to let you know, I'm taking you to a doctor tomorrow." She told him.
"Huh?" Basil blinked.
"It won't take much time. I finally got health insurance for you from your D-"
Polly hesitated. She pursed her lips as if she was going to say something, but was thinking of something else.
"health insurance provider. Your policy should cover the treatment cost." She said firmly.
"Oh, um, yeah, okay." Basil nodded. He knew that Polly avoided talking about his parents in his presence, knowing it upset him.
"I need to head to the grocery store, I will be right back."
Polly put her bag around her shoulder and walked towards the front door.
"Alright, I'm going to leave now, you’ll be alright now, will you?"
"Yeah…"
"Be sure to take your medicine. See you in a bit," She smiled before turning and leaving.
When she reached the front door, she looked back, giving Basil a meaningful glance. "I'll see you later!" She shouted. Basil waved back, watching her leave.
He leaned against the doorframe. Basil thought of things to do while she was gone. He felt a sudden sting in his chest. Fuck. He had neglected to take care of his garden in the past week due to the weather.
He walked out the door, looking at his flower garden. The flowers were slowly starting to wither away because of the October weather. There were pale purple salvia, violet alstroemeria, hyacinths, gardenias... It looked like most of the plants were dying off by this point, and it reminded him how much more he needed to do to keep the garden looking pretty in front of everyone else when they visited.
He needed to pull out all the weeds, which were also dying off in the cold, but still bothered him nonetheless. He should also transport some of the living plants indoors so they would survive the winter.
It had rained yesterday, making the garden a muddy mess. He put on his rainboots and walked over to his garden. He rolled his sleeves up and started to pull out the small weeds and plants from the moist dirt.
His fingers started to get pretty dry, and dirt started to get under his fingernails.
He winced and looked up at his hands. "What am I doing? I should’ve used gloves."
Basil pulled out another plant, scrubbing the little rootlets that clung to the earth and floated through the mud and dark brown dirt.
His hands were stained brown with dirt. He pulled out another plant, smearing dirt all over his skin and hair, and realized what an idiot he was. He forgot he also needed to organize his gardening supplies. Basil started to wince at the thought of doing all of these tasks. Dirt in his hair, dirt smeared across his clothing, ugh, what a mess. He wished Kel was there to make a joke about how awful he looked.
After an hour of weeding, his hands weren't really dirty anymore, but under his fingernails still were caked in it. A gust of wind blew his messy curls, sending bits of soil in every direction and into his eyes. This job was taking far longer than it normally would've taken to clean up. He grabbed a row of pots stacked on top of each other and started walking toward the other side of the yard.
Suddenly, his boot caught on the large root of a nearby tree. Panicking, he lost his balance, dropping the pots and landing on top of them, breaking them in the process. His legs slid underneath him, pain was shooting through his whole body. Some of the clay pots cracked, and some shattered completely. He shakily stood up again, staring at the wreckage before him.
God fucking dammit.
He bent over, putting both hands on his knees, and letting out a quiet sigh. Dirt spilled everywhere. Distracting himself with gardening seemed to be a total failure.
His knees were scraped severely when he landed, burning incessantly as he moved.. He examined his arm. A large jagged cut was down his elbow. Blood flowing steadily from the wound and down his arm.
"A-Ahhh.."
Basil felt sick. A panic was building inside of him, the injury felt so severe that it felt worse than before. If he were to try and pick everything up, he knew it would hurt his arms too much. Basil straightened his back and winced.
The smell or taste of blood gave him bad memories. When he got bullied by Aubrey and got beat up. When he accidentally fell into a rose bush when he was hanging out with Sunny and Kel. When..Mari..she.
Stop it.
He was spiraling.
He lowered his head and slammed his palms against the dirt. It hurt. Everything hurts.
Blood dripped down onto the muddy patch beneath him. The dullness disappeared as if someone turned off a light switch. His ears began ringing and a buzzing in his brain made him dizzy. He curled forward, making a loud whimper escape his mouth.
A puddle of blood, and a gleaming knife. A pair of garden shears. A piano playing the song he had heard over and over again still echoed in his ears… hauntingly familiar. A broken violin.
His vision started to get fuzzy, and fell unconscious.
The first day that Aubrey met Basil was during class in 2nd grade. Basil was always a loner, even though he always seemed to be enthusiastic about specific topics. Aubrey never really spoke to him other than the occasional exchange.
It was time for art class, Basil wasn't particularly excited about the class that day, since the class was focusing on a clay project, and he hated clay because of the texture, he mostly preferred drawing with crayons.
Basil took a piece of copy paper from the printer and started to scribble something on it with crayons he grabbed from the supply box.
He tried his best to remember what flower his grandmother was telling him about, but it left him.
"Hi, Basil."
A girl with fluffy brown hair and a pink bow was standing there. It was Aubrey. She was holding onto a blue stuffed toy."
Hi, I'm Aubrey. I, uh, like your drawing."
"Thanks!" Basil said back, pleased.
Aubrey pointed at the drawing and added, "you should put a dog and a rabbit on this side of the drawing and also put an apple here, or is that too much?"
"That's f-fine, I can add-"
"Ahem."
The art teacher glared at them from across the room.
They glanced back, noticing the teacher’s scowl.
Basil sighed, removing his drawing from the table and placing it aside.
Basil stuffed the crayons back into their container, letting his mind wander while the teacher explained the project.
Aubrey poked Basil's shoulder and gave him a cheery smile.
The teacher's voice rang out, calling the students back to their seats.
The bell rang for the lunch break, and Basil sat down with his bag lunch. Usually, he did not know where to sit at lunch at school, so he usually sat at the most empty table, or the allergy-free table, because it was usually empty.
He took out the sandwich that his grandma had made, munching on it hungrily. He saw someone approaching him by his left holding a tray. It was that girl from earlier, Aubrey.
"Do you want to sit with me?" Aubrey greeted.
Basil didn't know how to respond.
"Oh, um, yeah! Okay!"
Basil picked up his lunch, following behind her. They headed towards a table where Aubrey was sitting originally. The table had mostly girls that she, Aubrey, probably knew. They were talking with each other, and playing games. None of them looked at Basil once they sat down.
Aubrey started to eat her school food on her tray. She looked at Basil, who was still eating his sandwich.
"Who makes your food? It looks yummy."
Basil smiled.
"My grandma does, but sometimes my mom does if she has time."
Aubrey looked back at Basil's bag lunch, curiously.
"Ugh, I'm sick of school food, my mom never makes me lunch," Aubrey whined.
Basil gave her a sympathetic smile. Aubrey wrinkled her nose, looking at the other people in the cafeteria.
Basil shrugged and continued to eat his lunch.
When the bell rang for recess, Basil went back to doodling in his math notebook. Everyone filed out into the courtyard for recess. Kids began to play on the monkey bars and talked and played in their friend groups.
Basil sat alone on the swing and closed his eyes. He started to imagine the calm clouds in the sky as huge rain clouds, which shot lightning at the ground below. His legs dangling lazily on the chains and bobbing up and down. In his head, the images ran through several sequences until they settled in, perfectly relaxing him. But he was started when someone suddenly started talking in front of him.
"Hi, Basil."
Aubrey was standing next to him, holding some sticks she had picked up off the ground. A boy was standing idly by her, but he didn't seem much for conversation.
"Do you want to play with me?" Aubrey asked, while vigorously sticking sticks in the sand.
Basil considered this question for a moment, then nodded. He followed Aubrey and the other boy to the playground.
"Do you want to play on the tire swing? I can push you!" Aubrey said.
She pointed at a tire swing, currently unoccupied by the other kids.
"O-oh, sure." Basil hesitantly agreed.
“Oh shoot I forgot! This is Sunny, I'm not sure if you know him or not, since he is from a different homeroom."
Sunny gave Basil a slight wave.
Basil knew who Sunny was, but he never talked with him. He only knew Sunny as the mute boy down the road who went on the same bus as him and Aubrey.
"Let's get on this swing already." Aubrey chirped as she grabbed Basil’s hand.
Aubrey led him to the swing, helping him on.
His stomach turned and he felt light headed. His body began to feel uneasy. Wasn't it swinging a bit too high?
"Ugh, I feel sick," Basil muttered, clutching at his stomach. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, hoping he wouldn't throw up all over the grass.
Sunny grabbed onto the side of the tire, making the tire swing go to a stop. Basil let go of the ropes and fell backward onto the soft grass with a soft “oof.”
Sunny ran over to him and offered his hand to Basil. Aubrey came over as well.
"Are you okay?" Aubrey interjected.
Basil touched his knee where his pants were dirty, and covered in grass stains. He wasn't very hurt, but his jeans were very dirty and uncomfortable now. He shook his head, trying to brush off the grass clinging to his knees.
Basil smiled weakly at Sunny, and took his hand, holding on tight to it.
"Do you guys want to do something else?"
Aubrey suggested. "Maybe, we can take turns on the slides, or go on the swings? Or are you afraid to ride the slides too?"
Basil scratched at his knee, sluggishly.
"N-no, I just feel funny on rides that go high, that's all."
The sun shone brightly over their heads. The three kids remained silent. The quiet hanging between them.
Sunny looked at the ground, picking at the dirt and the grass.
Aubrey gazed around the playground as if considering what else to do. She waved her hand and said, "Come on!"
Both boys made their way to the slide connected to another part of the playground. Aubrey was already making her way through it. Basil paused in front of the slide, watching Aubrey inch down into it. She turned around to look at him.
"You want to go first?" She asked, holding out her hand.
"Okay," Basil replied, grabbing the bar as he looked at the ground below. He noticed Sunny was behind him, giving him a reassuring thumbs up. Basil clenched his jaw tightly, waiting for the last second before going. He squeezed his eyes shut and plunged forward, flying fast down the slide.The wind rushed past as he landed softly on the other section of the playground.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Aubrey at the top of the slide.
"You okay down there? I'm sliding down so watch out." She called down to him.
She leaned forward and lowered herself slowly, easing her feet forward and down the slide. Basil quickly jumped out of the way, letting Aubrey go by him.
Sunny quickly followed behind for his turn, lowering himself the same way Aubrey did and sliding down. As Sunny headed down the slide, Aubrey waited, smiling and laughing as Sunny sped right by her.
“LOOK OUT SUNNY!!" A panicked voice shouted, but it was too late.
Suddenly, a boy with wild brown hair went right behind Sunny down the slide, knocking into him.
Both Sunny and the boy both knocked off the bottom of the slide and fell onto concrete below.
Sunny grabbed his head in pain and started to stand up, while the other boy started to cry out in pain.
"Kel, what the heck! You should’ve waited for your turn!" Aubrey fretted, her hands going on her hips.
"Owww it-it h-hurts!!!" The boy presumably named Kel cried, ignoring what Aubrey had just said.
Sunny got up and walked over to Kel and helped him onto his feet. Kel stood up and brushed off his shorts, seemingly not noticing his knees were all bloody.
Sunny stood beside Kel, looking at the bad scrapes on his knees, and whispered a word to him.
"Nurse."
Kel looked at Sunny and looked confused for a second as Sunny pointed to his knees.
"Oh shoot!” Kel exclaimed.
Basil leaned over, helping to support Kel as he limped his way to the door to the school.
"I'll come too."
They walked away from the playground, Aubrey and Basil, following Sunny and Kel. They got back to the school building.
Inside the nurse's office, Aubrey gave her recounting of what happened. The nurse examined Kel's wounds and cleaned them with an antiseptic cream.
Kel winced.
Sunny didn't have anything detrimental happen to him, just a bump on the head, so he was given an ice pack.
"Hi im not sure I said hello to you, but my name is Kel..ow.."
Basil perked up.
"O-oh, hi Kel, I'm Basil. Nice to meet you."
Aubrey peeked her head into the office, smiling widely, introducing them.
"Kel, this is Basil, my new friend."
Basil and Kel looked at each other for a moment.
"Nice to meet you Kel."
Kel gave Basil a big smile, despite the pain he was in.
After the nurse had finished cleaning Kel's scrapes, they went back to their classrooms, Kel waving bye to Basil.
"See ya around!" Kel shouted as he entered the door.
Basil stood still for a second. Then a weird giddy feeling overcame him. It wasn't even like it should have affected him; he had just been presented with such a unique experience.
He felt like time just stopped. There was nothing else happening. Nothing could ever be more important than this. The world ended and he stood alone in a place that mattered. No matter what would happen next, it couldn't erase the fact that this had happened.
He caught himself, realizing he was in class, in line to use the bathroom. He ran to a toilet stall, slammed the door shut, and locked it. When he got inside, he dropped his backpack on the floor and pressed himself into a corner, sobbing loudly.
There was the sound of footsteps outside the stall.
"...is everything alright Bas...h..."
Basil's crying quietened, but he was still sniffling and wiping at his face.
"...are you ill?"
His teacher opened the door and peered inside.
"I-I-" Basil swallowed. "...have...a headache."
She came inside the stall and crouched down, resting her hand on his shoulder. She tapped his chin gently, tilting his head to look up at her.
"...Are you really sick? Do you need me to get you some medicine?"
Basil shook his head slightly and tried to wipe away tears, pulling his cheeks up.
"No.... no I am fine." His voice sounded small.
"Alright, I'll check on you again later then, try to stay hydrated, alright?"
He nodded.
His teacher picked up his bag and held out a hand to help him up, which he took gratefully. His teachers smiled warmly. He knew she'd taken care of him when something like this happened. She reached the door, unlocked it, and closed it behind her.
Basil stared at the door until he heard the latch click shut. He gripped the wall to pull himself up. He dragged his backpack up the stairs on shaky legs, using the handrail as best he could, heading to the classroom. The teacher looked back at Basil and walked over to him.
"It's alright Basil, everything will be okay, don't worry."
He nodded once and kept walking to the doorway. Kel stood frozen at the entrance, looking at Basil.
"Are you okay?" He said.
Basil exhaled, nodding.
"Y-Yeah."
Kel nodded.
"...Um...goodbye Basil."
"Goodbye, Kel."