Chapter Text
[I apologize for the stiff writing, it’s a bit difficult for me to type out what I visualize in my head.]
Basil hovers below the intimidating yellow door. Its vibrancy had faded in the years; robbed by the sun's violent rays.
He'd known the vertical siding to be white under all of the layers of dirt, mold, and weather damage.
The cloudy afternoon promised rain in the evening. You could tell by the darkened trees and brightened sky.
August harbored autumn's stomach aches. Only one month left of warm beaches, longer days, and endless euphoria. Then it would be back to uniforms and homework.
Aubrey loves school.
He hadn't seen her since that morning, and with the storm brewing, his stomach was tying itself in knots.
"You'll need three strings, any color." Aubrey instructs.
It's 199X, four summers earlier. Mari's holding Sunny as he goes to sleep with the sunset. Hero's sending leaf boats into the lake with Kel.
Basil and Aubrey are making friendship bracelets.
"They each need to be about a foot long, like this." His friend unwinds a spool of pink thread until its taut, then slices it with ease.
She passes the scissors to Basil "Here, you can give it a go!"
The boy grips the scissors with shaky fingers. He can see his reflection in the steel of the blade.
His knuckles sting as they collide with the yellow door. Three polite knocks for good measure. Grandma taught him to make his presence known before entering someone else's space, but he preferred to not enter spaces at all.
There was no response.
"..." Basil's eyes widened. He waited, and kept on waiting. His mind dissolved into a reverie of every way Aubrey could've died within the past few hours.
A gust of wind shoves its way past his lithe frame, and invites itself into the home.
He hesitates, turning his gaze to Aubrey's blue bike leaning against the side of the house. He promised himself he wouldn't be like this: worming himself into the lives of others. But the soil was moist and cold and he remembered why he came here.
The yellow door squealed in pain as his palm firmly pushed on it.
kerr CRUNCHK
Basil jumped back in surprise. Goosebumps rose under the hair on his arms.
Focusing his gaze to the source of the bellowing roar, he realized a path had cleared out. Where hardwood floors weren't, trash was.
This...had to be some kind of mistake.
An ecosystem of bugs had made itself at home amongst the population of beer bottles and cans. That's what the sound was, the door crunched the cans.
If they weren't too crushed or dirty, the logos on each can were made visible by a convenient, artificial light.
Basil's head turned to see a glowing TV, and hair peeking above the couch cushion.
"Aubrey!" He called.
He ran through the dug out path to get to the couch, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Aubrey–"
Her skin is pale and withered, and her face is stretched and wrinkled by age. All that covers her body is a white dress stained by puke. Thin hair obscures her hollow eyes, yet one still pierces through Basil.
Mari.
─
Aubrey sinks into her broken mattress. Her legs would hang off of the end if she stretched them out. The bedframe was old, and made for a little girl. She hadn't been a little girl for a while.
She'd sensed rain hours prior. Her soul had become accustomed to it. She could sniff it out like a dog. She'd cower like one too.
Around her room, buckets, bowls, and cans had been placed with calculative precision.
Her and Bun-bun would have to survive another storm under a thin blanket.
That reminded her. She began gathering her most sentimental items(everything she had) to retire them under the bed where they had the best chance of surviving.
Captain Spaceboy poster, hand-me-down's from Mari, and the framed photo.
Aubrey caught her reflection in the glass. Kim...her best friend. Every dandelion, shooting star, eyelash, every wish was to gain the courage to let her in.
The Hooligans couldn't know, though. Their leader had to be dependable, strong, someone they could rely on. They couldn't know their leader was burning in Hell.
A blood curdling shriek rattled the walls and nearly collapsed the house.
Aubrey's hands snap to her ears, digging her nails into her scalp. The picture frame fell out of her hand, and shattered across the floor.
Her senses melt into a hot liquid, like the blood spewing from her tender arm after Sunny sliced through it.
She had the choice between cutting up her hands, cleaning up the mess, or investigating downstairs.
─
Teeth dive into his tender flesh.
All that exists are bulging, judging eyes. Tendrils of shadows saw into his neck like a noose.
He only wanted to protect...
Ear-piercing TV static stabs his brain relentlessly, and his stomach is trapped in the cage of his ribs.
The walls begin closing in on him. Everything is shrouded in darkness, and his limbs are restricted into place.
He's cocooned by an inescapable force that makes his senses tingle like an industrial machine.
It's hours before he completes his awful metamorphosis.
He didn't mean for...
"Basil!?" After a few seconds, a flat, feminine voice sets him free.
The boy freezes hearing his name. His pacific blue eyes land on fake teal contacts; like manmade lakes. Pink hair still caught light in the darkness. Her brows push into her confused eyes. In one hand is her nailed bat, the other a pail.
"Aubrey!" The shadows are scorched by her brightness. "I was worried about—about you..."
Her gaze softens, though not happily. She turns from the TV, to her friend, and finally to her mom's form sinking into the cushion.
The hairs on her neck spike up as her teeth grind like tectonic plates. One of her canines is sharp, piercing. The other is round, obscure.
A cool metal bucket presses into his stomach as Aubrey ushers him out the door. His shoe creaks against the floorboard, making her wince as if the sound registered as pain.
"You can't be here," she begs.
Basil allows himself to be pushed away, but a can slips under his foot, and the crunch sends a spark that ignites the bomb.
Their third companion grows like a willow tree. Her branches covered her eyes, but they wouldn't silence her bark, nor her bite.
Aubrey froze, her bucket dropped to her feet with a startling CLANG! The bright clouds outside suck up any light indoors, as if it was midnight in the afternoon. The only light illuminating her petrified teal gaze was glowing static.
In a flash, the bucket was in one hand, rhythmically slamming against his knee as he ran, and Aubrey's wrist in the other as he dragged her out of the door.
The wind held no resistance as he glided with it like a wish made on the seed of a dandelion. Black clouds loomed over the quaint little town, bringing with them ravaging winds and sticky humidity.
creeeek
SLAM.
The door had been sucked shut by the wind, locking the rain outside. Thunder rumbled the floor beneath them.
Basil supported her body as she tangled her feet with every step. Muddy footprints sank into the velvet carpet. Her legs still trembled as he gently lowered her onto a pew.
Aubrey pressed her cheek into her fingerless glove. She didn't even look up when her bucket was placed beside her.
"Can I look?" Basil asked softly.
His friend's brows furrowed, and she turned her head away.
Seeing she was unconvinced, Basil silently took a seat beside her, but not too close. Cedar wood and perfume snuck up his nose, accompanied by the scent of old books and butterscotch.
The pitter-patter of pouring rain was the choir serenading the church.
His eyes were drawn to blue-violet stained glass. Geometric patterns perfectly displayed every panel, except for one, which upon further inspection was a different hue than the others.
Basil closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling his helplessness. There was no sermon. The preacher was nowhere to be found. It was only the two teenagers.
His attention was brought back by a series of sucked in sniffles. Aubrey was red in the face as she held back sobs and covered her eyes. Like a bug that had fallen into a puddle, her soaked wings could not spread.
The boy reached out, but his hand fell as he decided against it. Unprompted contact was the last thing she needed.
Basil opens his mouth. "Aubrey–”
“You saw nothing.” She snapped.
For a split second, a silent bolt of lightning draped the interior of the church in a blinding white. The raging storm outside didn’t hold a torch to the one within his friend.
“No.” he rebuts.
Now Aubrey looks up, revealing dark steaks of mascara dripping down her cheeks like raindrops, and red ichor everywhere. Her claws, painted with glittery polish, grip at her plush stomach. Not with malice, but security as she holds herself.
“I know what I saw.” Basil asserts. “I’m not living other people’s lies anymore.”
The girl’s nose twitches. Her ears go flat and she freezes up with her paws tucked close.
“Aubrey.” His voice degrades from authoritative to honeyed and honest. “You didn’t have to keep this from us, from me. I’m your friend, and I want to help you.”
She sank back into her folded arms and grumbled something into her sleeve.
“Hm?” Basil inquired.
“I don’t deserve your help.” She repeats, louder this time. “Get lost.”
It didn’t take a genius to understand what she meant. With nothing to lose, he scooted closer. “I forgive you…” he reassured. “Even if you haven’t forgiven yourself.”
“I was a jerk!” she swore.
“You didn’t know!”
Their blue eyes locked.
She was even pretty when she cried.
Basil shook away his mindless thoughts and untwisted the knot in his stomach. A festering sense of need made itself apparent. He knew Aubrey felt it too.
He signs defeatedly. “I would’ve done something if I’d known.”
Aubrey’s shield springs up once more. “We were twelve.... We couldn’t have done anything.” A sudden pause breaks up her words. “That’s why I was going to tell Mari.”
A sword is driven through Basil’s heart.
Basil.
Basil.
Basil.
He who speared through Sunny’s eye, he who hid the truth, he who tied the rope, he who allowed Mari to die… at the bottom of that staircase.
Basil had burnt Aubrey’s life to the ground like lightning to an oak tree.
A groan of thunder punctured his ear, but no beacon of lightning came before or after. His gaze was locked on a panel of colored glass that blinked open like an eye, but the pupil looked elsewhere, as if he didn’t exist.
He followed its guidance to the shrinking form of Aubrey, who fell back against the stiff wood of the pew. Her most cherished white hoodie was scarlet with her own gore. Any last arguments she made came out slurred and fading.
“Um—uh!” Basil shoots up from where he stands. Bandages, she needs bandages! Medical attention! She’s bleeding out! Why here? MEDICAL ATTENTION! She needs a nurse–where? His caretaker! Polly is a nurse!
With a bucket hanging on one arm, Aubrey’s head supported by his palm, and her legs held up by the other, he makes a run for it. Years of dragging bags of soil from the front yard to the back have led up to this very moment.
The front door swings open as warm light spills onto the slippery wet driveway. “Basil!?” Polly is inches away as he crash lands himself and Aubrey into her arms.
─
“She’s fine, Basil,” his caretaker reassured with a smile.
A path of footprints were pressed into the carpet as the boy paced in circles. The staticky dissonance of the television and dim lights kept him on edge.
Polly dabbed a wet washcloth to the sleeping girl’s face, getting the last bit of blood that had made a smoothie with eyeshadow and foundation. She was tucked safely into a heated blanket plugged into the outlet closest to the couch, and she slept so peacefully amidst the storm brewing in her mind.
The rhythmic beeping of a thermometer made the hairs on his neck raise as Aubrey’s temperature read to be one hundred.
“Don’t worry!” Polly said, sensing his heightened worry. “She’s likely sick from being in the storm for too long. You brought her here just in time. Give yourself some credit, you’re a good friend.”
Basil’s hands hid in his pockets to prevent themselves from tying any more ropes. “That’s not true.”
The woman frowned. She held her breath as she stood up to face him.
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore.” She didn’t smile when she said it, but her hands held onto his tightly. She was there with him.
“Not that…” His fingers tensed up in Polly’s gentle grip. “If I hadn't been there, she wouldn’t have gotten hit…”
“What…?” Polly’s brow furrowed as a chill froze every bone in her body.
“She–she was going to tell Mari, but…” Basil could only finish his sentence as silence.
“What are you talking about?” His caretaker leaned in. Her concern grew, but not for him.
“It was me…It was me… my fault… I was the one…” he hopscotched over his words and tied himself in a knot. The moon must’ve been shining full, because there was a monster in the living room.
“I” “me” “my” the moon orbited around him, and his anxiety was the sun he revolved around.
“Basil!” Polly shook him from his own selfish guilt. “Can you tell me what happened to Aubrey!?”
His blue eyes locked with her hazel ones like gears clicking into place.
─
Her limbs were weighed down by a thick expanse of sea. Blooms of jellyfish refracted any light that snuck out from the surface into millions of rainbows. Backdrafts rocked her to sleep as she joined the rest of the whalefall.
Glowing ribbons of kelp swallowed up her driftwood body, growing taller and taller until nothing but tangled leaves devoured her version and clogged her throat. The further she sank the less creatures weaved through the forest.
No matter how hard she heaved her arms through the water, she was too tangled up to move. An entire sun of fire and death awaited her at the ocean’s bed. Bubbles and steam burned her skin and ripped tears from her eyes.
With one final exertion of her arm, she reached for the last bit of light between the endless expanse of green.
Thump.
“Shiiit.” Aubrey hissed as she rubbed her now bruised hip. The only cushion to her fall was a thick blanket.
The first scent to hit her nose was one of homemade dinner, though the darkness in the room alluded that it had long been eaten. Climbing vines hung above her, printed on the emerald green wallpaper. A string of photographs hung from the wall, displaying a young boy, his grandmother, and their luscious backyard garden.
“Oh, honey, let me help you up…” A woman who took her hands softly offered. Her chestnut hair and hazel eyes were only underlined by a single warm light coming from the kitchen. From their brief interactions, Aubrey recognized the woman as Polly, Basil’s caretaker.
Aubrey nearly hacked up a lung from how much she began coughing, and was surprised to see not an ounce of water come up.
“Aubrey!” Basil exclaimed, rushing to engulf her in a tight hug. “Are you okay!? Where does it hurt? Please rest, um! Actually you should probably eat something—but maybe lay back down!”
The girl sucked in a great puff of air as their heartbeats slammed against each other. Maybe the purple of her asphyxiation would cover up the red of her blush.
Basil separated the hug just in time. “cough… I’m okay…thank you.” Aubrey conveyed.
A fridge peeling open alerted them of Polly’s absence in the living room. She was likely preparing a meal of some kind. Knowing Basil’s Grandma’s old recipes, it was sure to be tasty.
Two gaunt hands gripped her shoulders. “I told her what happened.” Basil confessed in a whisper.
“You what!?” Aubrey softly shouted. Both teens looked over to ensure that their caretaker wasn’t listening in. “Basil, this is private—”
“Someone had to know! You’ve been suffering in that house for years, and–and none of us knew! We want to help you, I want to help you!” he pleaded. “I care about you, Aubrey, and I love–”
Her eyes widened inside the contacts concealing them.
“You…”
Basil finished his sentence with sheepish uncertainty. Not even a cricket dared disturb the silence. The stray cats of Faraway climbed into the bushes, and even the moon had hidden its face from the scene.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Dinner’s ready!” Polly called, “Albeit a little late…”
Aubrey hesitantly sat down at the dining table, with Basil following behind to drape a quilt over her shoulders. They both blushed at the action, but neither looked up to see.
“I hope you’re okay with reheated pizza, the rest of our food is either vegan or just some snacks. I should go grocery shopping again soon…” Polly made a mental reminder to herself.
The girl looked down at the microwaved pizza; greasy, cheesy, and thicker than a plank of wood. A Gino’s large, surely. She could tell by calculating two of its sides with the hypotenuse.
Grummbllle… Hunger crept up like the afternoon’s storm.
“It’s good,” she said after swallowing her first few bites. The crust was a tad squishy for her taste, but overall an eight-out-of-ten slice of pizza. She’d have to take her gang out to Gino’s again soon.
“Thank you,” she said after gulping down her last bite.
Polly wore a nervous smile as if she were weary of the girl, or weary of herself. “Can I get you anything else to eat?” she asks.
Basil still hasn’t looked up from his table mat.
Aubrey clutches the side of the chair. Its cold wood surface condensated over her sweaty palms. “No, thank you.” She declines with content.
“Well, if it’s okay with you,” the caretaker clears her throat. “Me and Basil would be more than happy to let you stay for the night, or as long as you need, really.”
There was an unfamiliar sincerity in her voice, a genuine want for Aubrey’s presence. Her heart was pierced as though from an angel’s sword.
“Our couch is always open, and of course me and Basil have space in our rooms if you’d rather not be alone. If it’s okay with you–” she gestures to Basil. “–Grandma’s room is waiting for someone to occupy it.”
“You… want me to stay?” Aubrey entreats. A chemical reaction of the element of surprise.
“We wouldn’t want anything less.”
[CALMAFTERTHESTORM: 3,202 words. August 2025.]