The next day, Kel and Hero picked her up to take her to the hospital with them. They stopped by Sunny's room first, setting down flowers from other Faraway residents. His breathing was steady, but he wasn't awake yet. They decided to check on Basil. Basil was also fast asleep. As they stood over him, Kel wondered aloud, "What do you guys think happened?"
"It looks like they got in a fight…" Aubrey said. Basil's black eye looked just like the kind of leftovers she'd get after a scrimmage with her friends.
"I know, but why? We were just starting to finally get everyone back together. And Sunny is so gentle too… I don't think he'd ever hurt anyone."
"Um, he was carrying a knife." Aubrey winced as she recalled that incident.
"Oh." Kel was stunned then slowly nodded, "I took that away from him right after it happened, but you're right."
Hero was staring at Basil's vitals blipping across the screen.
Kel continued, "You know, Aubrey, that's actually really good of you to bring up."
Her eyes widened, where was he going with this?
"What I mean is, I think it's actually incredible. Sunny wielded a knife against you, but you were still able to forgive him and be friends with us again. It takes a lot of…" he was clearly searching for the word. "It takes a lot of… character? Character, sure. And a really strong ability to forgive."
He started to wander off into his own mind, "I don't know if I could forgive someone for that… But then again, maybe I could if it's Sunny?"
Hero overheard this all, and simply sighed. This conversation was too heavy. Even with Kel seemingly hopeful, this conversation was doomed to weigh down on them all from the start.
Then the door opened, and Sunny was standing right there. The three of them faced him. It was a miracle that he was alive and still standing there. Aubrey thought again about that reassurance Hero gave her. Everything is going to be ok. Sunny standing up in front of them across the room was proof of that. She really felt that everything was going to be okay.
He opened his mouth to speak. His voice really was deeper now. He was so quiet in general, she never really noticed the past few days just how much deeper it was now until they were all here together, in this starkly silent room aside from the sound of Basil's vitals running across the screen.
"There's something I have to tell you."
They were all ready to listen. Burning questions built up inside them, pounding out from their hearts. All of their wonders centering around one thing, What happened yesterday night? Why were you two fighting? How did this happen? What did we miss? Or misunderstand?
But that wasn't the question Sunny answered. As he stepped closer and closer to the edge of Basil's bed, the whole group naturally hunched over, leaning towards each other, like when they were kids talking in a circle. Everyone gazed down over Basil, not meaning to, but not knowing where else to look, subconsciously following Sunny's lead. The world shook around them, as they felt the weight of Sunny's words falling onto them.
"Basil and I, we were only children. We didn't know but we should have known." He breathed in, then out. His audience of three shifted slowly to face him once again. He steadied his gaze to Basil's face only. With calm, steady breath, he went on to say, "When Mari died all those years ago, it was because of us. It was because of me. Mari never committed suicide. But also we…" his eyes became watery, "we never committed murder."
The pin pricks of tears trickled down Aubrey's face. A drop or two fell onto Basil's blanket before she moved away. Hero stumbled back into a chair, and collapsed into it. Kel stood still, being the only one who kept his place, the only one who was able to still face Sunny after hanging his head for a moment to process everything. But as Sunny adjusted his gaze away from Basil and over to Kel's eyes, even Kel couldn't hold back his emotions any longer. Kel was sobbing.
Any of the questions they had before didn't matter. They still didn't know all the details about how Mari's passing had anything to do with the fight yesterday. But Sunny was surprised to notice that Kel was moving towards him. Hero stayed in his chair. Aubrey still stood a short distance away with her head down, her hands furiously wiping away endless tears. He didn't know what to expect when he admitted all of this, but least of all did he expect that Kel would still hug him. Sunny knew that he still had one friend, because he saw Basil smile at him for just a second when he finished talking and felt all his guilt disappear now that it was finally out. Now he knew he still had at least two friends, even if only for a little bit, as he took in Kel's embrace.