Aubrey sat in a chair just outside of Basil's hospital room, anxiously staring down at the floor as her leg bounced up and down restlessly. Even when she asked, the doctor (what was his name again? whatever, who cares) just shook his head and told her to wait outside. With everything that's happened, it didn't feel safe to let the frail boy out of her sight. What if he tried something while the doctor was distracted? Anything could go wrong.
"Come on, stupid geezer. Open the door already." Aubrey shot a quick glare to the locked door, as if pure frustration alone would open it. Alas, nothing came of it except a quick mix of anger to go with her feeling of helplessness. All she could do was sit there and hope Basil didn't try to off himself again.
Why did this type of stuff keep happening to her? Why were all of her closest friends so damned determined to kill themselves? One after another it went, it seemed. Well, she wasn't going to let the chain continue. As soon as Basil got out of that room, she was not going to let him out of her sight ever again. Not only that, but she was going to be prepared. She was caught off-guard by his blunt (and successful) attempt to stab himself, and she hated herself for it. Just minutes prior she had told him that she wanted to help him. So why did she just let him do that in front of her? Was she that dim-witted?
Still, that lingering shadow of doubt cast itself over her. It tainted the facade of bravado, of determination, and laid in front of it a singular fact that she couldn't bring herself to accept. That she couldn't keep watch forever. Not even close. There would be a moment where Basil would be alone again, and she couldn't help that. And if he seized the opportunity? And if she happened to walk into his room and find a body?
"Don't think about it. Stop. STOP."
Her mind wandered anyway, creating a sickeningly realistic scenario in which she found his corpse. How would Basil do it? Would he try to stab himself again? Slash away at himself until he struck a vital artery and every drop of blood drained from his body. Or maybe he would hang himself. Do as Mari did and find a spot away from the rest of the world, a spot where he was truly alone before ending it all.
"stopstopstopstopstopstop"
Basil knew how to tie knots; in fact, he was very good at it. She remembered watching in awe as he almost effortlessly tied together a flower crown with one hand when they were kids, as if a spectator to a particularly impressive magic trick. She almost found herself jealous at the ease he tied them together while she held a tangled mess in her hands. Wouldn't it make sense then? She couldn't stop him. If he really wanted to, he could just sneak away, or wait until she was forced to leave him alone. It would be so easy then. Just quickly find a spot in the woods, and… No more Basil. Just a limply hanging corpse waiting to be stumbled upon.
"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP"
The door clicked open.
She sprung from her seat and found herself face to face with the doctor, a middle aged and balding man who looked at her with mild surprise, eyes wide yet somehow blank through the lens of his horn-rimmed glasses. He blinked a few times before clearing his throat and speaking. "Ah. Miss, I know you're very concerned about your friend, so-"
"Let me see him. Is he okay? Will he recover? He didn't lose too much blood, did he?"
"Settle down. Your friend… Basil, was it? Basil will recover, but… There are other pressing concerns that I must speak to you about." He adjusted his glasses and looked down on a brown clipboard, which seemed old and battered enough to have come from prehistoric times. "Basil, is, ah… Incredibly underweight. Signs of malnourishment as well. He weighs only forty-one kilograms… about ninety pounds."
"W-What?" Aubrey blinked once, unsure if she heard that right. Ninety pounds? She knew Basil hadn't been eating as much as he should be; that much, she could guess. The way his cheeks seemed to be slightly sunken, how almost all of his clothing had begun to get baggy… She supposed the signs were there, as far back as before Sunny started going outside again. It was just that for some reason, she never thought about it too much. Perhaps it was the fact that even when they were kids, he had a tendency to skip meals. Or maybe it was that certain other things needed to be addressed first.
"Yes. Even for a person of small stature such as himself, he is worryingly underweight." The doctor said, glancing back into the room. "There is a very strong possibility that he has some sort of eating disorder, though we would have to perform a more nuanced checkup. Your friend has declined that however, expressing the sentiment of wanting to leave as soon as possible… As he is eighteen and an adult, he has the right to refuse medical treatment. However, I strongly, strongly suggest that he stay for a while longer. Perhaps you can convince him? It's for his own good."
"Eighteen?" Aubrey thought as she stared at him uncomprehendingly, mouth open in a slight gape. "That's not right… Basil's sixteen. His birthday isn't even coming up. Did Basil lie about his age? Why? And this guy seriously fell for it?"
"R-Right!" She stammered, just before the silence was beginning to get awkward. She walked past the inquisitive stare of the doctor, trying her best to not seem suspicious. "Convince him to stay. Yeah. I'll get to that."
As she entered the room and closed the door behind her, she found Basil laying in a hospital bed, looking as small and fragile as a puppy out in the rain. A wave of deja vu hit her as she did a double take. Was this the exact same room that Basil had been taken to? On that day that Sunny… She shook her head. No, all of the rooms were probably alike. Carbon copies of one another, built for the sake of consistency and with that unimpressive blandness that encompassed each room, not out of lazy design, but rather a serene calmness that was both comforting and worrying at the same time. A sanitized chamber that did it's best to invoke a sense of NEUTRAL in its patients.
"Basil." She sighed in relief and held a hand to her chest. Finally, the crashing waves of anxiety had begun to recede. She wouldn't be drowning today, no thanks. With much less urgency now, she walked up to his bedside and pulled up a small wooden chair, sitting down next to him. Everything suddenly felt okay again, like they would actually make it through this. What was she worried about again? It seemed so unimportant now. Basil was okay, and that's all that mattered, right? "Thank fuck that you're okay. Did that quack out there treat you alright?"
Basil sat up and gave her a fully-fledged smile. "Hey Aubrey! Yeah, everything went alright. He said that my condition was stable, and that it wasn't 'life-threatening'. To be honest, I was just kinda bored. I mean, all I could do was sit here and stare at the walls. Most of the stuff just blended together, really. Anyway, we can leave now, right? I really just want to get back home."
"O-Oh." Aubrey frowned. Again, Basil was back to being all happy and carefree. She found herself hating this side of him more and more as time passed. Why? Why did he have to pretend? He should know by now that she would accept him, accept his negative emotions. She just wanted to help. Being shut out like this by a friendly facade, it was disheartening. As if they hadn't really made any progress at all. As if they were just doing the same things over and over again, and expecting things to get better.
"What if he really is happy? What if he's not pretending?" A cynical voice whispered in Aubrey's mind. "It could be you, you know. Who do you think you are, barging into his life and forcing yourself on him like this? You're a bully, a ruthless psycho who tortured him for years. Nothing but a bottomless well of negative energy. You're the one making him so miserable."
"Shut up, me."
"What?"
She shook her head. "Nevermind. Basil, did you… tell him that you were eighteen?"
"Hah, busted." He scratched the back of his head, grinning cheekily. White bandages were wrapped tightly around his arm, looking brand new next to the old, dirty gauze still hugging his palms. Small tears in the worn fabric were visible, and she couldn't help but wonder if they were from his nails. "Yeah… If I told him that I was a minor, he would have wanted to call Polly, or maybe even my parents. He was a bit skeptical at first but I convinced him, and even then he wanted me to stay longer. To monitor my health or whatever. Anyway, thankfully no one who treated me last time saw me, so I'm safe."
"He also told me that you were super underweight and, like, malnourished." Before he could respond, Aubrey reached over and pinched the hem of his shirt, lifting it up to be greeted with a prominent set of ribs poking out from tightly stretched and incredibly pale skin. Wincing, she let go. "Yikes. I guess that part's definitely true."
"Aw, it's nothing… I'm fine." Basil looked away. "I just don't get hungry that often."
"Still though, you should eat something so that you don't look like a literal skeleton. When was the last time you ate anyway?"
"..."
"Basil?" She prodded, only to be met with harrowing silence. Realization dawned upon her as she took in the frail boy laying in front of her. "God damn it. Basil, when was the last time you ate? "
"Can we talk about this later?"
"But-"
"Later. Not here. At home." Basil spun to face her, this time with a deadly calm in his eyes. "Come on, I've rested enough so that I'm not gonna die or anything. Let's just check out."
"... Fine."
"Red."
"red red red red red red red red red red red red red red…"
All that he could see was red.
Basil was walking, though he wasn't entirely sure where he was going, or why. Something walked in front of him, a slick tendril grasping his wrist tightly enough for it to be uncomfortable, but only just. On its head, a bloody bow sat. Somehow, he was sure that it was his own blood. Of course, that was what all of this red was about, wasn't it? He was bleeding. Dying.
"red red red red red red red red red red…"
He was getting sick of the color red.
Behind him, he heard the sound of faint laughter. Turning around, he found himself facing Sunny. Or was it the stranger? The two looked alike, and neither one talked very much, so they might as well be the same person at this point. Either way, the one-eyed boy trailed behind them at a distance, smiling as he twirled a knife around in his hands.
It wasn't in a menacing way or anything, rather just fidgeting he was doing to give his hands something to do. It was entrancing, in a way. Basil found himself staring at those quick and agile fingers, moving to spin the blade of the knife around in the palm of his hand. The silver gleam of the knife was shiny enough that Basil could see himself through the reflection, and even Something still leading him forwards. And of course, the red. Who could forget the red? Everything around him was red. The sky, the ground beneath him, the walls, all of it was red.
Sunny stabbed himself in the stomach. Thankfully, nothing red appeared. Not a single drop of blood appeared as the raven-haired boy fell to his knees with his hands still gripping the knife, now embedded in himself. Basil blinked, and then he was gone. As if he was never there to begin with. Maybe he was never there to begin with.
"Please, just stop already. Let it all out, let everything come to a stop. I've had enough."
To wish was to cry upon deaf ears. Basil knew that, and yet he still decided to wish. For what? For a world where Sunny never jumped off that hospital roof? For a world where Sunny never came out in the first place, and just moved away quietly? For a world where Basil never came up with that terrible plan to hang Mari? Or maybe, maybe, a world where Basil woke up before Sunny. A world where he ran to find Sunny laying in his hospital bed.
What a joy that would have been! Stop the plasma, stop the red, it corrupts from the inside out. A dozen nooses to hang you and your friends with, walls of blood and walls of red. Walls that shift upon themselves and fold to contain the memories you suppress, to allow the veil of normalcy to save you from yourself. Basil nodded. One night, he would drift. Then, he wouldn't wake. Would not let himself wake. He would let the blood of his wounds water the flowers around him, and then maybe they would finally start to grow. Was that what it took?
Basil tried to avert his gaze as Sunny stared at him from his one singular eye. He had done that. He had stabbed his eye out, had crippled his best friend for the rest of his life. And yet, he found himself unable to break away. Something was coming. He could feel it.
Sunny smiled. There, the most important person in Basil's life, so weak and exhausted and hurt and wrapped in bandages and lying in a hospital bed, Sunny smiled.
He was beautiful.
Basil couldn't breathe.
All at once, he understood. He didn't want to, but he did. Sunny forgave him, didn't he? Despite everything he's done, Sunny's forgiving him. A part of him wanted to reject it; he wasn't good enough for forgiveness, an irredeemable psychopath who turned his best friend's life into a living hell. But another, much stronger part of him wanted to accept it. To finally crumple and let Sunny hug him and to hug him back and to cry into his shirt and to feel so happy but so sad at the same time at the fact that he knew that once and for all, everything is going to be okay.
Everything is going to be okay.
He turned around and saw the concerned looks on his friend's faces. They had questions, but remained respectful of their space. He was glad.
He turned back around and saw Sunny sitting up, yawning and scratching his head as if he'd gotten up from a nap rather than a spell of unconsciousness following a disastrous fight. Blinking groggily a few times, Sunny looked at Basil, then to his friends standing behind. A pang of anxiety struck his previously peaceful countenance and Basil found himself scared again. No, this nightmare wasn't quite over, was it? Something was wrong.
Something was wrong.
So wrong.
Sunny looked at him and shook his head.
Basil felt his heart stop.
He was going to tell them, wasn't he?
The secret. Something. Mari. The stairs.
No.
Basil stopped walking. Around him, the red began to dissipate. He wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing.
In front of him, Something…
In front of him, Aubrey stopped and turned around with a look of concern on her face. She wasn't wearing her bow, of course. It was probably still covered in dried blood after all. "Basil? Why'd you stop? Come on, we're almost home."
"H-Huh?" Basil looked around. They were at the park, as lively and noisy as usual. He could see some kids talking to each other near the slide; it looked like they were arguing about something. Probably the deflated dodgeball that lay next to their feet, which looked about as pathetic as he felt right now. "Home? Oh… Sorry. Y-Yeah, let's go."
Again, she gave him that look. The look that he couldn't find any meaning in, a look that was so blankly curious and worried that it made his anxiety palpable. It made him feel like he'd done something wrong again. Terrible.
She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden and very loud scream.
"HEEEEEY! AUBREY! BASIL!"
Out of literally nowhere, Kel materialized next to him, gracing him with a smack on the back that had about enough force to break his spine. Aubrey cursed and jumped back, flinching as Kel's obnoxiously bright face suddenly barged into their vicinity. "You two! I haven't seen you guys in ages! What's up? How're things?"
"Wh- Kel! Jeez, where the hell did you come from?" Aubrey scowled. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Heh, sorry! I was just playing at the basketball court when I saw you guys! And at first I wasn't even sure if it was you cuz like yeah, you have that pink hair and everything but you guys were kind of far away and with the sunset, it kinda looked like maybe it could have just been blonde hair? And also you don't have that bow you always have on and I was like, 'Oh Aubrey always wears that so no way it's her' but then I was like, 'But doesn't that guy next to him look like Basil?'"
"Kel-"
"But you're wearing that weird pajama outfit and like I've literally never seen you wearing anything like that before plus your hair was kinda long so like maybe you weren't even a guy at all so I still wasn't sure but I was still kinda suspicious so I stopped playing for a bit to take a closer look and then I saw that it really was you guys so-"
"KEL!" Aubrey snapped. "What do you want?"
"Eh? Sheesh, calm down, Aubs." Kel frowned.
"Don't call me that."
"I was just checking up on you guys! It's been like a week since we've talked. I don't want all of us to drift away again like last time, so… I just wanted to say hi, you know?" Kel looked away and in an instant, all traces of bravado vanished, leaving behind apprehension, strangely enough. "Like, are you two doing okay with everything? I'm worried, y'know?"
Aubrey seemed to calm down a little, exhaling. "I'm… doing okay, I guess. But Basil-"
"Fine! I'm doing f-fine, haha…" Basil smiled nervously and put his hands behind his back, hiding his bandages from Kel. The last thing he wanted was to have even more people start worrying about him and his stupid mistakes. "H-How about you? Have you been… erm, I mean… A-Anything going on?"
"Eh, I've been better, I guess." Kel shrugged. "Hero's being rude and not answering any of my calls. I guess he's still working through some stuff. Literally! Last time we talked, I heard that he picked up two part-time jobs. He's gonna drop dead from exhaustion if he keeps this up."
"Hero..." Aubrey sighed. "I hope he's doing alright. Being a workaholic can't be a very healthy coping mechanism."
"Oh! Waitwaitwait, there is something cool coming up!" Kel piped up excitedly, eyes sparkling. "One of the guys from my basketball team is hosting a party and he said that I can invite other people! You two should totally come! It'll be fun, plus we haven't hung out in a while! Isn't this the perfect opportunity?"
"Party?" Aubrey paused hesitantly. Would it even be right to party so soon? It almost seemed disrespectful to hang out together and have fun at this point. "I don't know if I'd be up for something like that…"
"Aw, come on. Basil? Come on, you know you want to." Kel spun to face him, puppy-dog eyes already set in place. "It'll be soooooo much better with you guys over there, I know it. Pleaseeeeeeee? Just this once?"
"Okay." Basil said simply. He couldn't find it in himself to refuse him, especially not when it seemed so important. Hadn't he had enough of disappointing his friends? He had to do something right for once.
"Aw… Well, it was worth a shot." Kel blinked. "Wait, what? Did you…"
"Um… Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'll go."
"Seriously? Awesome!" Kel cheered happily and held up a hand for Basil to high-five. For a second, Basil could only stare at the open palm, completely unsure of what he should do. A moment passed before Kel rolled his eyes and grabbed Basil's arm and high-fived himself with it.
Yelping, Basil quickly withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back again. Thankfully, Kel didn't even seem to notice that anything was wrong, only giving them a wide grin as he walked back to the basketball court. "I'll text you guys the details! The guys are probably getting tired of waiting for me, so I'm gonna dip for now. See you two at the party!"
"W-Wait, I didn't even agree to go!" Aubrey shouted. "Ugh. That bone-head. Basil, why'd you even agree to go? Now you've got me roped into this."
"H-Huh? Oh, I'm so sorry! I-I wasn't even thinking, really." Basil stammered.
"Ugh. It's whatever, let's just go to his stupid party. I wouldn't have let you go alone anyway. I doubt that I can trust Kel to keep you safe." Aubrey pulled out her phone, which was buzzing incessantly. "Great. He's already spamming me with messages. Does he seriously have to send walls of text one word at a time?"
Basil laughed nervously. Already, he was beginning to regret agreeing to go. But what could he do?
There was no other choice.
"Eat this."
Aubrey handed Basil a small apple, still dripping with water from being rinsed at the sink. He could only stare at it with a mixture of fear and apprehension, as if she were giving him a live grenade instead of a harmless fruit. With shaky hands, he grabbed it from her, but made no motion to take a bite, instead opting to continue tightly grasping it between his clammy hands.
"Red…" He muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing… Um, Aubrey? I-I'm not really hungry."
She shook her head and shot him an unsympathetic look. "Nuh uh. I don't care. You said it yourself, didn't you? You don't even remember the last time you've eaten. You must be crazy if you think I'm just gonna sit here and let you starve yourself to death."
Aubrey was careful not to show it, but she was terrified. Basil had nearly collapsed twice on the walk back home from the hospital; she had offered to carry him back herself, but he had vehemently declined. It physically hurt to see him forcing himself to go on like that, a sickly pale skeleton with all of the looks of a nervous wreck. She found herself fostering a growing resentment for the doctor that had treated him. What kind of gullible idiot would believe Basil was eighteen? Even ignoring that, he should have known something was up, considering Basil's terrible state. He should have done something. He should have been more responsible.
Gulping nervously, Basil finally moved the apple closer to his mouth. He took a small bite from it before immediately setting it down, face scrunching up as he chewed slowly. When he finally swallowed, he looked at her with what could only be described as abject misery. "A-Am I done now? I… think I'm going to be sick."
"No, you're not. And…" She glared at the apple in front of her, sitting on the tabletop innocently. "No, you're not."
Blinking rapidly, Basil took up the apple once more and took another bite. Once again, he chewed at it slowly, taking time to grind the fruit between his molars until he could bear it no longer. Then, he took another bite and repeated the process. Over and over again, he bit into the apple, chipping away at it at a sluggishly slow yet consistent rate. With each…
"Oh."
Basil smiled and began to eat it with renewed vigor, chomping away at the apple at blazing speed, savoring the sweet taste. Within seconds, there was nothing left but the core. He turned to look at Aubrey, a smile still plastered onto his face. "Well, there we go. I guess all it took was some food to give me an appetite again, huh?"
She looked at him with a hint of suspicion in her eyes, but nodded anyway. "Well, see? That wasn't so hard, was it? There's gonna be a bunch of food at that party, so I better see you eating more."
Basil laughed. "Ah, don't worry so much! I'll eat as much as I can, I pro-"
Promise.
With each bite he took, more and more nausea piled onto him, the bleeding head in his hands staring back up at him lifelessly through a half-lidded eye. Its right cheek had been gored, pale skin torn by his teeth. Basil licked his lips and found the taste of blood ever-present in his mouth. It burned.
"What? What's the matter with you?" Aubrey asked. She peered at him through her bloodshot eyes, her form obscured by static and uncertainty. Something, now solid and unwavering, stood before him and enveloped her. It made her look almost human, with long, burning hair. "Eat. Eat it, god damn you. Quit acting like a child, you're too old for that."
"I-I'm trying." Basil took another bite at the exposed flesh and grimaced as his stomach cried in protest. It was an incredible mixture of sour and salty, an overwhelmingly bold taste that coated his tongue and spread through his body like a coat of fire. It was Sunny's head. Of course it was. "P-Please. I'm trying… I'm trying."
"You're disgusting. Why did you kill Sunny? He was your best friend. Keep eating." Aubrey's hand shot forwards and struck him on the right side of his face. Basil cried out, dropping the head to the floor and brought his blood-covered hands up to the stinging wound. His ear was ringing horribly, an echoing high pitched scream that made everything worse. Pain, dull and uniform, cradled his weak body, scratching at his skin and opening blisters as it went. "You killed Sunny. You hung his sister. You loved him. You loved Sunny, and you killed him. Keep eating."
Basil sobbed and closed his eyes, hundreds of thoughts crowding his exhausted mind as he shivered horribly amidst the cloudy sea of agony he found himself drowning in. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He could only wish that everything would end. Just a minute of rest, a minute of nothingness so that he could pull himself together, so that he would stop hurting so badly.
Aubrey stood from the table and shoved him. Basil fell limply from the chair and onto the solid red floor, cringing at the new layer of pain. An object was forced into his hands; immediately, he recognized it as the half-eaten head.
"Eat. You killed him, so eat. You loved him. Why? Why did you kill him? You loved him."
"I don't know! " Basil screamed. "Because I'm horrible? Because I'm a failure? Because I don't deserve to live anymore? I don't know! So stop! Please!"
"I'll tell you why." Aubrey said. She kicked him in the stomach and Basil coughed roughly as all of the air was forced out of his lungs. He managed to choke out a few sobs before vomiting onto the floor, an acidic stream of bile and blood ejecting itself from his mouth. He shuddered a few times, the sharp scent of stomach acid and copper mixing together to burn his nostrils. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on Sunny's head, causing more blood to ooze out of it. "It's because you never loved him at all. It wasn't love. It was obsession. You sick bastard."
Aubrey grabbed him by his hair and pulled his head up from the floor. "Hey. Hey, look at me. Look at me."
Basil looked at her. Something stood with her.
"I loved him. And Kel. And Hero. And Mari. Not you. You never loved him."
She smashed his head back onto the floor. He tried to scream but no noise came. What were those bright spots? And darkness? Dancing shades of white and black, mixing with the red to create a disgusting amalgamation of angry colors. Groaning, he brought the head to his mouth and took another bite. He was eating. See? Look, he's being good. He's being good, he's trying his best. Just ignore the static. Ignore the clumps of dark hair littering the floor, ignore how Sunny's eye rolled in its socket, ignore how Basil was crying without tears.
"Useless. You're useless. Why are you even here?" Aubrey kicked him again, this time at the back of his head. He felt like he might throw up again. "You're so fucking pathetic. Look at yourself. Tell me, why do you keep yourself alive when all you do is hurt everyone around you? Look at this mess. You haven't done anything good in your entire life, and you still think that you should keep living?"
"No." Basil whispered. It stung, the thin puddle of blood and vomit that spread itself across the floor. It was sickeningly warm and just sticky enough for the bright red liquid to cling to his skin whenever he tried to move. "Nononononono."
"Then what? Why are you still alive?"
"I-I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know …"
"Such a simple question and you can't even answer it?" Aubrey retorted. "If you don't know, then just die already. You should have just drowned at the lake instead of letting me save you."
"I'm trying, please, I want to but-"
"Oh, so you're lying now? You're lying to me?" Aubrey kicked him again. He could barely feel it. "You're not trying. You want to be saved, don't you? You're scared of meeting your victims again, scared of facing them. Coward."
"N-No, I-"
"Stop lying!" She screamed.
"What do you want?" Basil cried hoarsely, throat raw and aching. "P-Please… No more. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It hurts. It hurts."
"What do I want? Oh, come on. Isn't it obvious?" Aubrey grinned horribly and picked Basil up from the floor, grabbing the collar of his shirt with one hand.
"I just want what's best for you."
Kel winked and opened the cooler, a smug look of satisfaction messily painted onto his face. Aubrey had half the mind to wipe it off herself, but curiosity won over her need for senseless violence. Moving as one, she and Basil moved to take a peek inside of the stark white container. She soon found herself staring at various bottles and cans tossed haphazardly on top of each other with what looked like a thin layer of ice at the bottom. Taking a bottle out, she noted that it was only slightly below room temperature. As she read the label, her nose wrinkled in disgust as the words on it affirmed her suspicions; alcohol.
"Kel… Why do you have this stuff? And how?"
He laughed and slammed the cooler down on the table, causing Basil to flinch as the bottles clanked noisily with each other. "Oh, I have my ways. Now come on, Hero isn't here! We can go wild!"
They had arrived at the address Kel texted them to find an incredibly noisy house that was entirely too small for any sort of social gathering. As soon as they appeared, Kel found them and forced them to take a thirty minute tour, taking the time to introduce them to each and every other person present. Thankfully, most of the other partygoers didn't have much to say, otherwise it would have taken hours.
"Kel, we're all underage. This is illegal."
He pouted at her. "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Aubergine. Since when were you such a stickler for the rules, Ms. Troublemaker? Come on, it's not like we're chugging down hard vodka, or doing drugs. Relax a bit, huh? Besides, aren't you curious about the hype? Like, what's the big deal with this stuff, am I right?"
She frowned distastefully. Of course she was curious. But it was more of a horribly morbid curiosity than anything else. How else should she feel about it, when she had grown up watching her mother become slowly corrupted from the inside out? Her mother, who would become synonymous with alcohol? What was it about that stuff that corrupted people to their very core? The damned drink tore her family apart and left her to fend for herself.
Kel grabbed a beer can from the cooler and opened it. "Oh man, Hero would totally flip if he knew I was doing this! I kind of want to call him and tell him about all this, maybe even send him a few pictures. He'd get mad, don't you think? Probably start shouting a whole bunch." He took a sip out of the can and made a sour expression. "Eugh. Man, adults actually drink this stuff for fun? It's like drinking the sweat from old gym socks. You guys should try it!"
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Gee, after such a glowing review? I'll pass."
Basil, on the other hand, looked into the cooler for a few seconds before grabbing another can, one that was identical to the one Kel was holding. With one swift motion, he opened it and tossed his head back before proceeding to chug the entire thing. For a moment, the rowdy noise of the party seemed to die as Kel and Aubrey stared at Basil, loud gulps drowning out any background noise.
He finished and placed the empty can on the table. "Yeah, it's pretty bitter." He said nonchalantly, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
"What the hell." Aubrey snatched the can and turned it upside down. Not a single drop was left. "Basil, seriously. What the hell."
"Um… S-Should I not have done that? I'm sorry… I-I guess it was pretty rude of me to-"
"Oh my god Basil, that was awesome!" Kel shouted. "Dude, have you done this before? Dang, I never thought that Basil out of all people would be a drinker. How long have you been doing this for? Oooh, you wanna take a photo with the both of us drinking and send it to Hero? He would get even angrier if he knew that you were drinking too, oh man this is going to be great! Here, take another one. We have plenty!"
"I… Um… N-No, I haven't before… Erm…" Basil could only stammer helplessly as Kel shoved a tall glass bottle in his hands and brought out his phone.
"Nuh uh, hold on. I'm borrowing him for a sec. Come here, Basil." Aubrey grabbed his arm, pulling him away while ignoring Kel's protests. Maneuvering around several jocks that she could vaguely recognize as belonging to Kel's basketball squad, she finally found the exit to the house's porch. She found a pair of rocking chairs left out, one of them filled with fast food wrappers. She brushed them off and forced Basil to sit down. She noticed with disbelief that the bottle in his hands was open and already half empty.
"Basil, what's gotten into you? Trust me, you really don't want to be drinking that stuff. It's horrible." Aubrey took the bottle from his hands with no resistance. "I don't want you to get hungover or something."
'Rocking chairs… Do you think that there are elderly people who live here? I-I feel kind of bad for them…" He said mildly. "I mean, w-what if they come home to just a giant mess? It won't be easy to clean up all of this."
"What?"
"O-Oh, sorry!" Basil stammered. He had begun rocking back and forth in the chair with manic energy. Not knowing why, Aubrey backed up from him. "I-It's just… My mind wanders sometimes, you know? Haha, I must have picked that up from Sunny… Um… Kel said that he wanted us to try it, so, I-I… I just did. Was that the wrong thing to do? I messed up again, didn't I? A-Are you mad? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He stopped rocking suddenly, retracting his legs from the ground to tuck his knees to his chest. Wrapping his arms around them, he suddenly looked about ten times smaller. "Sorry… I-I'm sorry."
"H-Hey, I'm not mad at you or anything!" Aubrey said. "Calm down. Look, why don't we just get out of here? It's too crowded anyway. Here, I'll just text Polly to pick us up."
"You're leaving?"
They both turned in unison to find Kel standing there in the open. He was still holding his beer can. With the porchlight illuminating him, he gave off a somewhat ominous vibe, something that Aubrey didn't even think was possible with him. "You guys just got here not even an hour ago. Why are you leaving me already?"
"L-Leaving… you?" Basil muttered.
"It's not like that. Basil is just… feeling sick. I need to get him home." Aubrey said.
"What's with you two lately? Since when did you become best buds?" Kel advanced, a bit of foam spilled over from the top of the can. It splashed down onto the floor, darkening the wooden boards under him. "You know, I ran into your gang the other day and they told me that you've been hanging out with him, like, twenty-four seven. Is there something going on that you're not telling me?"
"What the fuck, Kel? Stop snooping around, nothing's going on."
"Oh really? Because it seems like you're trying to exclude me, for some reason." Kel's face started to redden. "You didn't even want to come here! Come on, I'm putting up an effort here to stay friends, like what they would have wanted! And you're just pushing me away, just like Hero!"
"Don't be an idiot!" Aubrey snapped. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Basil get up from the chair, though the brewing clouds of rage were beginning to fog her vision. It seemed like an unimportant detail, a silhouette that flickered on the wall. "I told you, Basil's not feeling well. That's it. We're not trying to push you away or anything like that. And what's the big deal about that anyway? You've got your other friends here, you'll live."
"He's sick? Don't give me that! He downed an entire drink in like five seconds and seemed fine! Besides, why do you both have to leave? You're not his caretaker, you know."
"It's more complicated than that. We… Basil… I need to watch him."
"Watch him? What's that supposed to mean? Come on, stop keeping secrets from me. I'm a part of this too, you don't have to act like I'm some stupid outsider. We're supposed to be friends, and you're just treating me like a stranger!"
"Well, maybe you are an outsider to all of this!" She shouted. What was Kel's deal? He was trying to pry into Basil's private life. If he knew, he would just make things worse. Kel always made things worse. How could she get it through that thick skull of his that it wasn't any of his business? "Basil's obviously uncomfortable about all of this! You know, the only reason why he went, and the only reason why he drank that stupid beer was because you told him to. He didn't even want any part of this. You must not be a very good friend if you can't understand that."
"Hey! Speak for yourself, you're just talking for him at this point! Basil has his own voice, you know." Kel said. "Why are you being so protective of him anyway? Did he tell you something about what happened? About their fight? He did, didn't he? And you're trying to keep it from me."
"What? Where's the fuck is this coming from now?" Aubrey asked. "He didn't tell me anything about that, and I never asked. It's because I have tact Kel. He's still trying to deal with everything that's happened, I'm not gonna force him to drag that stuff up! See, this is your problem. You're so dumb and oblivious that you just say and do whatever shit you want. You don't even care about what we've gone through."
"Don't pretend like you're the only one suffering! You think I'm having a good time trying to keep everyone happy?" Kel shouts, jutting a thumb to his chest aggressively. "You think I'm just being oblivious when I'm the only one putting in effort to keep our friendship alive? We've barely even said anything to each other for a week, so duh I'm gonna be worried about what you guys are up to. Did all of that stuff we said to each other when Sunny was gonna move mean nothing? It was supposed to get better. We were supposed to get better."
"God, you're just being so impatient! Like always, you're just trying to rush into things. Kel, normal people need time when someone close to them dies. Especially when that someone jumps off a fucking building. Don't you get that? Not everyone can just get right back to their schedule like nothing's happened. We're not all like you."
"Stop doing that. Stop doing that!" Kel was shouting now, the can in his hand forgotten and crushed underneath an iron-clad grip. A slightly crazed look appeared on his face, one that Aubrey didn't like at all. Bright, flickering lights danced in his eyes, dangerous and bound to explode. "Stop treating me like I'm a moron! You're saying all of this stuff about me but you're doing the same thing! I'm telling you straight up that I care about you two, and you're just taking the high ground! What's your deal? Do you just hate me or something? Maybe you just got tired of bullying Basil and need a new punching bag."
"What did you just say?" Aubrey asked quietly. She felt an eye twitch as she took a single step towards him. That's it. At this point, Kel was just asking for a fight and honestly, she felt happy to oblige. He couldn't ever understand. No one could.
"Fine, come on. Beat me up. Whatever. You know I'm right." Kel crossed his arms. "I knew you changed Aubrey, but dang. This is just messed up. Why do you and Basil have to be alone together? Why can't you let me help?"
"Because Basil doesn't want your help! And neither do I! This… This is too sensitive for you."
"Ugh, you're just talking for him again! I want to know what Basil thinks, not what you think." He leaned over to take a peek behind Basil. "... Um, where is he anyway? Wasn't he just like, right there?"
"What?" Aubrey spun around to find an empty rocking chair, and an even emptier porch with Basil nowhere to be found. She groaned and slapped her forehead. "Fuck. He's gone. Great, look at what you've done!"
"Me? I didn't do anything! You're the one trying to babysit him, don't blame it on me."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck. This can't be happening. This can't be happening." She ran her fingers through her hair and began pacing around. Where the hell did he go? Did something happen? Why did he leave? He wasn't planning anything, was he? Damn it, she should have searched him. Maybe he brought a knife with him, or a rope. What if she was too late?
"You got distracted so easily, and now he's dead. He killed himself and you're responsible. Weren't you trying to keep him safe? Kel's right, you're just acting crazy. You can't do anything right."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" She screamed, pounding her fists against her head roughly. The sudden force of it was dizzying, and she stumbled on her feet. Falling backwards into the chair, she groaned and pressed her palms against her temples, trying to ease the painfully loud pounding that had begun to echo in her ears.
"W-Woah, Aubrey… Um, take it easy. L-Look, why don't we just search for him together?" Kel suggested hesitantly. Remnants of their argument still lingered in his expression, but he seemed to have pushed them aside for now. That was Kel for you. "I'll ask around inside."
"Ugh. Okay. Whatever. I just need to find him…" Aubrey trailed off as she looked to her left. The house the party was being hosted in was right next to a large, expansive patch of woods. Bare trees, dark and lanky, were packed together tightly enough that she could barely see anything beyond the first few layers of trees. "There. I'm going to look in that forest. If you find him, call me. Bye."
Ignoring Kel's confused protests, as well as the sense of foreboding welling up inside of her, she stood from the chair and jumped off the porch, grunting as she landed a few feet onto the ground. Without looking back, she walked into the forest, ducking under the sharp branches and wading through the thick layer of dead leaves littering the ground.