Halloween at Faraway
It was the first Halloween after his sister Mari's suicide, and Sunny did not want to participate. He'd much rather sleep and play computer games like he'd done almost every day in the past few months. Sadly, Sunny's mom wanted the opposite of that.
Mom came in the room for the third time that day, this time holding a box. "I know you don't want to go trick-or-treating," she said, putting the box on Sunny's bed, "but maybe you could help me give candy to the kids that stop by."
Sunny just stared at her. She took it as an invitation to explain herself further.
"Y'know, it would be good for the other kids to see that you're okay. We lost Mari, but since you've never left your room, it feels like we've lost you too. Everyone has been asking about you, especially Basil."
Basil…. For some reason thinking about him made Sunny's feelings conflicted. They were best friends, the closest confidents, yet Sunny felt almost afraid to see Basil. Something wasn't right.
Sunny wasn't paying attention to his mom anymore, but shrugged at whatever she was saying. It was meant to communicate, "fine. I'll help a bit; if you leave me alone for the rest of the night."
Mom lit up. "Oh thanks Sunny! Your friends will be so happy to see you!" She turned to the box that she brought in the room, taking some costume peices out of it. "Now I know you don't want want to do too much, but I think just some animal ears or face paint would be great to get you in the halloween spirit!"
Sunny mentally checked out, not wanting to deal with his mom or the costume peices she was putting on his head. He didn't want to deal with her stray comments about his need for a shower. He just wanted to give candy to a few kids and be done for the night.
Maybe Basil would come and Sunny would get some hint about his fear-trust conflict.
He grabbed Mari's cat-ear headband from laat year and walked out of his room.
…
Unsurprisingly, Kel was the first trick-or-treater to knock. Sunny should've expected that, Kel did live right next door.
Sunny opened the door to his friend, who was dressed up as some kind of space-adventurer character. He held out a plastic candy bag in the shape of Darth Vader's helmet.
"Trick-or-Treat!" Kel said in sing-song. When he noticed it was Sunny at the door, he gave a huge grin. "Sunny! Hi! Woah! It's been so long since I've seen you! Are you coming trick-or-treating with us? Maybe we could talk and catch up! Or go to the-"
Sunny dropped a few mini chocolate bars into Kel's bag, making echoing thud that interrupted Kel's long-winded talk.
Kel became a bit more awkward. "Oh, thanks. I'll take that as a 'no'"
Hero finally walked up to the door. He smiled tiredly. "Hey Sunny? How're you holding up?" Sunny could see pain in his eyes. Visitting his dead girlfriend's home must've been hard.
When Sunny didn't respond, Kel joined in. "Hey! You both are wearing cat ears today! Look at you costume buddies."
Hero deflated a bit. "Yeah, they reminded me of Mari."
Sunny couldn't look at Hero anymore, so his eyes dropped to the sides. There were pumpkins in his yard. On Kel and Hero's lawn was a wild collage of toys, knomes, and decorations from both Halloween and Christmas. How dare they mix the holidays.
In the corner of his eye, Sunny saw a blond wearing a flower crown and horns. Basil was wearing a devil costume. He was an angel last year, which really fit his softspoken personality. But something felt so startlingly right about the costume choice, and that made Sunny silently lose it.
Sunny hastily gave Hero some candy and shut the door, walking back towards the stairs.
"Done so soon?" Sunny's mom asked, concern and surprise in her voice.
Sunny gave one decisive nod and went up the stairs. His mom was stunned to silence as he slammed the door behind him.
Sunny flopped on his bed and covered his head with his pillow. After a few moments,he felt safe again. He could vaguely hear his mom and Basil talking, but that didn't really bother him. It wasn't Basil himself that scared Sunny, but some truth around him.
He noticed something similar happening with the closet downstairs. Some days he could see it clear as day; others, he forgot it was there, even when he was looking right at it. Either way, there was a constant aversion to it. Sunny hated that room and wanted to be nowhere near it. And now something similar was happening with Basil.
After a few minutes, Sunny heard his mother coming up the steps. She opened the door and came in, holding a beauquet of flowers. "Basil got you these" she said, sitting down on Sunny's bed. "I never did get what his obsession was with flowers, but hey, this is a start. Soon you guys will be talking and hanging out again!"
Sunny took them. Basil liked flowers because they held meaning to them, among other reasons. Maybe there was a message to these.
Sunny's mom continued "I'm kinda sad that you didn't want to talk to him, but… baby steps… baby steps." She sighed. "I'm happy you talked to Kel and Hero though. It's been hard for them too and I'm sure seeing you has made things a bit better."
Sunny shrugged, unsure how seeing him for a single minute in his disheveled, unshowered state could make them feel better about anything.
"Well, anyway, I'll come get you if Aubrey comes around." Sunny's mom said, standing up. "I'm sure she'd want to see you too."
Sunny glanced down and nodded a bit. It had been a while since he'd seen Aubrey outside of his dreams. He couldn't deny that he wanted to see her again.
His mom left and Sunny was alone with his thoughts and Basil's flowers. There were purple hyacynths, white windflowers, and two black dahlias. Sunny knew what the hyacynths meant: Basil was looking for forgiveness. The black dahlias meant pain, if Sunny remembered correctly. Was Basil greived and very sorry for the loss of Mari, and sent these to sympathize? Or was he trying to confess some kind of guilt?
Sunny pushed away the thought. He knew Basil. He'd never do anything to hurt someone. If anything, he apologized for things other people did wrong. He was probably just sorry that he couldn't keep Mari from committing suicide. That was it.
Feeling satisfied with that answer, Sunny put the flowers on his desk and flopped on his bed once more. His thoughts quickly quieted into sleep, and his dreams welcomed him with open arms.