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“Alright you all just wait in the treehouse for a while! Sunny and I have to do something real quick. Hero, can you make sure no one comes to the house? It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“Do I get anything?”
“I’ll reward you later~” Mari made her usual smug grin at Hero.
“Cookies?”
Her expression immediately changed to a scowl.
“Yeah. Sure.” she grumbled.
“Thanks Mari, you’re the best.”
Mari stomped away.
“40 minutes of my time that he’s never gonna pay back for flipping cookies!”
Hero chuckled, “I’ll give her 40 minutes back some day.”
Kel turned to Hero, “What does that mean?”
Hero’s face immediately became expressionless, “Alright I guess we should go up the treehouse now.”
“Hero, what does that mean?”
“...”
“Hero?! Hero?!”
…
“Alright, that’s the dough done. How’s the letter, Sunny?”
“I… haven’t started.” Sunny was sitting at the dining room table, head in his hands, pencil unheld.
“What?! It’s been 20 minutes!”
“I can’t… think of how to express it. Like, it’s there but it feels too cliche or too cringy or… It’s not good enough. For her.”
Mari leaned towards her little brother and put her hand on his shoulder, “That’s because you’re stupid.”
“WHAT.”
“Romance is the easiest thing in the world. Just say what your heart thinks.”
“You make it look so easy. Connecting with another human being. It’s like no one told you it’s the-”
She put her other hand on his other shoulder and smiled, “Stop reading Shadow the Hedgehog fanfiction.”
…
“Ughhhh, why are Mari and Sunny taking so long?!” Kel complained, eight cards in his hand, “There’s nothing to do here! Uno is so boring!”
Hero shrugged and placed down another plus four, “Blue. To answer your question, Kel, Sunny’s making something special for someone, it is Valentine’s Day after all. Plus Mari’s baking cookies for all of us!”
Kel picked up four more cards and placed down a blue eight, “Oh yeah. You still haven’t told me what 40 minutes means.”
“... Let’s not concentrate on that and concentrate on that getting 10 cards or more makes you lose the game. You have eleven. You’re out, Kel.”
“Aw man! No fair.”
“I wonder who Sunny is making the thing for…” Basil murmured, placing down a green eight.
“Maybe you Basil! You are his best friend after all!” Aubrey replied, overhearing him. She placed down a green two.
“Y-Yeah. Sure.”
“Hey! I’m Sunny’s best friend!”
Aubrey just stuck her tongue out at Kel.
“Anyways, isn’t Valentine’s supposed to be all lovey dovey? Hero gets cookies from Mari and I’m pretty sure they aren’t just friends.”
“Yeah but Hero and Mari are teenagers, Kel! Are you stupid?!” Aubrey argued, “We’re all kids, I’m sure that it won’t-”
“Be romantic!” Mari explained, “Like Spaceboy and Empress Lunari!”
Sunny just looked at Mari in horror. “Lunari died!”
“Yeah but, like… You get what I mean! Besides I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have killed her off if they didn’t want Amble to be his love interest. Stupid Amble! Why did they have to reveal her to be the next heir to the Mercemu throne?!”
“I’m pretty sure you just like Lunari because she was revealed to be Sweetheart’s multiversal equivalent in issue twelve of Sweet x Space. If Sweetheart got brought into the main universe, you’d be shipping SpaceHeart again.”
“I still think it’s stupid they said that people can’t survive in other universes.” Mari grumbled, “Anyways, speaking of Sweetheart, here!”
Mari slammed a pack of stickers on the table.
“These are my LIMITED-EDITION-” Mari made sure to enunciate each syllable, “Sweetheart stickers. Use them well. And sparingly, if you can.”
Sunny rolled his eyes, “Yeah I’m sure a blank piece of paper with stickers will go over really well with Aubrey.”
“Oh my god, maybe I do have to do everything for you. Just- Just write a poem with a reason she’s pretty, and a reason you like her that isn’t related to her looks.”
…
Kel was bored. Really really bored. Dying of boredom. Some other 3rd hyper… baloney? Some 3rd hyper-bolognese he can’t think of because THERE’S NOTHING TO DO.
Well, you know how the saying goes. When there’s nothing to do, go annoy your younger sister. Aubrey’s close enough. She was playing with that eggplant plush Mari gave to her.
Yank.
“Hey! Give that back.” Aubrey pouted.
“You gotta catch me first!”
And so began another game of tag as per usual, except that with the treehouse’s furniture, it proved to be much more interactive.
Kel ended up stepping on the discard pile and sending the cards flying.
“Hey! Stop horsing around in the treehouse!”
“Sorry Hero!”
…
After minutes of thinking, Sunny was done.
“Roses are red,
My face is too,
When I think of you.
You’re really cute,
The way your bow sways.
And you’re always brave,
Against those who are in your way.
I guess what I’m trying to say
Is that I like you and
Will you be my date for Valentine’s day?”
Sunny stared at the poem for a good minute.
“This is so bad.”
“Oh come on, it’s sweet! Just paste a few stickers!”
Sunny looked at her disgusted, “That’ll make it worse…”
“You’re not a girl. You wouldn’t know.” Mari pushed the sticker pack towards him.
“Yes, I’m not a girl. That’s why Aubrey will think I’m weird when I give this to her!” Sunny pushed it back.
“Then it’s a good conversation starter,” Mari pushed it back towards him.
“Fine!” Sunny opened the sticker pack and pasted some on the letter, not breaking eye contact.
“Fine!” Mari crossed her arms.
The two siblings just glared at each other.
“Are you going to help me eat the rest of the cookie dough or are you just going to stay here?”
“I’m going to help you eat the rest of the cookie dough but I am not going to wait for the cookies to finish baking.”
“Alright then, Sunny.”
“Okay, Mari. ”
…
The game of tag had now dissolved into a tug of war, Aubrey holding the head of the plush, nearer to the entrance of the treehouse, and Kel holding its body, nearer to the back wall.
“A-Aubrey, I think you should let go. Just let Kel have the plush. I'll hand it back to you later.” Hero advised.
“I agree with Hero, Aubrey. It’s a littl-”
“No way! And let Kel win?!”
“Yeah, and I won’t let Aubrey win either!”
“Kel, I’m telling you to knock it off. It’s not safe.”
Kel ignored him, pulling harder. A thread snapped off the plush.
“I’M TELLING YOU TWO IT’S NOT-”
The plush ripped in half, sending Kel and Aubrey stumbling back.
Aubrey stumbling out of the treehouse.
A shrill sound escaped before there was just a thud. Then, silence.
Kel lay on the floor of the treehouse..
Aubrey- Aubrey should be fine. The treehouse could only be that high. He’d jumped from it before, there’s no way she’s…
Hero looked down the door of the treehouse in horror.
“Kel… What have you done?”
It couldn’t have been that bad. Aubrey’s fine, Aubrey’s fine, Aubrey’s fine, Aubrey’s…
Lying on the ground. Mouth wide open. Blood oozing out the back of her head.
Eyes staring at him.
What… No…
Aubrey’s fine.
Aubrey’s FINE.
AUBREY’S FINE.
AAUBREY’S FINE.
A̵̧̤͎̬͓̮͆̀̀̂͒̎̑̊͌̋̎̉͠Ư̸̢̧̡̤̝̮̖̲̞̔̀́̈́́͗̆̽̋͛B̴̧̧̨̛͙̘̪̹͈̭͕̥̣̓́͐̐̈́̏̋̈́̍̂̓̀͂͜͝R̷͎͇̻̞̬̳̈́É̸͇͍̍͛̾̌͂Y̶̧̙̪͍̮͓̺̟͇̺̙̞̤̳̗̾͊̅͝
…
Sunny stepped out of the house. Breathed in the fresh air. The smell of the leaves around him.
He took out his letter, plastered with more stickers than he could tolerate and folded it up. Even if he was gonna see her now, he’d only give it to her after they’d headed to their hangout spot.
Hero ran past him, bumping into him but not saying a word.
Odd. Maybe he needed to go to the toilet.
He walked further into his backyard, through the vast “forest” of trees. He could see someone lying on the ground. Maybe Kel? Basil? If they saw the letter, they’d laugh at him. Better keep it in his jacket pocket.
As he got closer, he could see red leaking from the back of their head.
And a familiar pink bow.
No. No. No. No.
It was Aubrey, lying there. Kel crying next to her body.
Sunny’s knees felt weak. He couldn’t- Aubrey- She always-
“What… happened…”
“I- I’m sorry Sunny…” Kel sobbed, “W-We were fighting at the t-treehouse and the- the plush it… it…”
Kel.
He did this.
He was responsible for this.
Sunny found his hands moving without thinking. Squeezing something.
“You… You did this to her… You… killed… her…”
Kel could barely choke out a response.
“You’ll… pay for-”
“Sunny, stop!”
He let go. Kel was on the ground, wheezing.
Sunny looked down at Kel.
Then his eyes moved to Aubrey. Unmoving. Not breathing. Pale.
And that’s the point where his memory stops. Everything goes black.
It all has to be a bad dream.
It has to.