Chapter Text
Part of Basil died with Sunny that day.
For a long time, he’d known surely what the worst day of his life had been. October 12th, 1996; the day of the incident.
But now, a new date had been etched into his memory. A stain, a brand burned into his brain forever. And like last time, it had all been his fault.
He had always been a burden to Sunny, hadn’t he?
——————
A persistent beeping flooded Basil's ears. He squinted at the glaring hospital lights.
For one brief, blissful moment, Basil couldn’t quite recall why he was in the hospital in the first place. His mind was fuzzy from all the painkillers.
Clearly, he hadn't been given enough.
The harsh reality crashed into him, sending pins of panic through his body. He inhaled sharply as it set in, only to feel instantly the pain of bruised ribs. Picking at the raw skin on his bitten nails he tried to tame his erratic breaths.
Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
You deserve this.
Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Basil wished he could forget, but his mind insisted on tormenting him. Images of Sunny with one eye gouged out, writhing on his bedroom floor, flooded his mind. His best friend's blood on his own hands.
And, of course, what had caused their fight in the first place. That fateful October day.
Basil felt an ancient, sinking dread stir within him, and nausea along with it. Unlike the sharp, fresh guilt of hurting his best friend, this wound ran deeper. The knowledge of what he had done to Mari that day had been decaying, festering in his mind like bad fruit.
That grief, combined with the recent loss of his grandma, made Basil’s life excruciating. There wasn’t a day where something wasn’t looming over him, where he wasn’t swallowed in guilt.
There wasn’t a single day where he didn’t wish it were over.
Because it would’ve been so easy. One strike with his gardening shears, and the torture would end. In truth, he had intended on using his gardening shears not on his friend, not even on his once beloved plants, but on himself. A morbid desire, maybe, but one he'd been harbouring since he was twelve years old.
Most sickening of all—the fight, his monstrous actions, had given him hope. For the first time in those four dark, isolated years he’d seen a fleeting flicker of light .
——————
Three friends sat nervously in a hospital waiting room. Cool lights buzzed overhead, casting an uneasy blue tint over the room. The windows offered no light—it was near five in the morning and pitch black outside. Unspoken anticipation hung in the air, thick and heavy.
The sound of an orange sneaker rapidly squeaking cut through the silence. Kel was furiously bouncing his leg, a habit which Aubrey hated. Under any other circumstance, she’d swat at his leg and tell him to ‘quit doing that, before I smash your skull open.’
Right now, she was in no mood to berate Kel, or to smash his skull open. She was busy with the arduous task of trying not to think about what had happened at Basil’s house mere hours ago—
a task that proved to be challenging.
——————
The three woke with a jolt. A loud crash, followed by a guttural yell. A voice none of them had heard in over four years. Sunny .
Hero was first to react, climbing over a still drowsy Kel before bolting down the hallway. Polly emerged from the room that had belonged to Basil’s grandma, her watery brown eyes deep with concern. Soon, Aubrey and Kel stood behind Hero.
The eldest placed a steady hand on the door handle, which was thankfully unlocked, barging it open as he strained:
‘Basil, Sunny? I’m coming in!’
What waited for them in Basil’s bedroom was so grotesque that Hero—who had stayed calm and level-headed even as he plunged into the lake to save two of his childhood friends from drowning—faltered, standing frozen in the doorway. He threw a protective arm over Kel and Aubrey, an attempt at shielding them from the bloody scene, but he knew it was too late. The expressions of pure, unadulterated horror on each of their faces told him as much.
Sunny and Basil lay motionless on the ground. Evidence of a fight was plastered on their skin in the form of bruises that were barely starting to form. Sunny’s knuckles were split. But more concerning than that— where his right eye should've been was a bloody gash.
Hero rushed to Sunny’s side, the pale boy being closest to the door. Polly knelt beside an unconscious Basil, who was barely grasping a pair of bloodied gardening shears.
His mind went into overdrive, assessing the two boys’ injuries as he began yelling orders.
‘Kel, call 911! Aubrey, can you find a first aid kit?’
‘There’s one beside my bed! Second drawer from top to bottom.’ Polly chimed.
Kel and Aubrey frantically set off in search of a phone and a first aid kit.
As Hero and Polly performed first aid, The pair fidgeted anxiously in the living room. Hero had refused to let them watch any longer.
They eyed the door and silently waited for the ambulance to arrive. Minutes felt like eons.
Kel spoke up, looking at Aubrey with an uneasy grin. His voice was small.
‘Why do these things keep happening to us?’
‘I wish I knew. Those idiots—what were they thinking, fighting like that?? Could’ve killed each other…’ Aubrey grumbled.
‘Weren’t you trying to pulverise us with your big spiky bat, like, yesterday?’
‘Pulverise… pretty big word for you Kel,’ Aubrey jeered, tone laced with sarcasm. ‘And you started that.’
‘Only ‘cuz you were acting like a mega jerk! You stole Basil’s photo album and—’ Kel stopped himself mid sentence as he watched Aubrey’s face turn sad.
She turned her head away in shame. He recalled what she’d said earlier that day, about pushing them away, what she’d said at Basil’s door. He decided not to push it—she regretted her actions more than she let on.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean that.’
‘Ugh, whatever,’ Aubrey paused. She looked up at Kel, expression softening as she added,
‘...You think they’ll be alright?’
‘I…don’t know. Basil seemed pretty beaten up. And Sunny…’
The pair went quiet. They could almost hear the blood-curdling shriek.
——————
The sun crept slowly above the horizon, bringing light to the eerie waiting room. It was completely empty aside from Hero, Aubrey and Kel, who sat huddled together in the cold of the air conditioned hospital. Three heads snapped up at the sound of the door creaking open.
‘Basil Moore?’ The tired nurse at the door asked.
‘Ah—Yes, that’s us,’ Hero almost leapt out of his seat.
‘Mr. Moore is awake now. You’re free to visit him in room 3004. Is there a parent or guardian present?’
Hero paused. Aubrey and Kel exchanged pitying looks. They all knew that Basil’s parents had left him at a young age, never having enough time for him and choosing instead to place the responsibility of a child on his elderly grandmother—not that she minded. In fact, she adored the boy. But now…
‘No,’ Hero gave a smile, polite but ingenuine. ‘Oh, that reminds me—I should let Polly know. You guys go and see him, I’ll be with you in a minute.’
Kel and Aubrey bounded towards Basil’s room, throwing themselves at the door.
Basil was sitting upright and staring blankly at the wall. He was wrapped in bandages. One of his eyes was obscured by a large, purplish bruise. The pair exchanged a look that seemed to say: Damn, Sunny punches hard, but both had just enough social awareness to realise this would’ve been insensitive to say aloud.
The boy slowly tilted his head up to look at them. His face—which was puffy and pink, as if he’d been crying— brightened at the sight of his friends. Hero now joined them, towering behind the two teenagers.
Basil seemed ready to cry again, his watery blue eyes watching them unsteadily.
‘Basil!’ Aubrey sighed out, clearly relieved.
Kel lunged toward the blonde, pulling him into a tight hug. Hero followed. Aubrey reluctantly piled on—the three were now crushing Basil.
‘Um…Ow,’ Basil squeaked.
‘Oh, right!! Heh… Sorry Basil,’ Kel backed up, pushing Aubrey and Hero off.
‘It’s okay. Just a few…broken ribs…,’ he winced.
They bombarded him with concerned questions. Despite the sun having risen, warm and streaming in through a window beside Basil’s bed, the atmosphere was off.
Something was looming over them. The group accredited this nervous energy to the adrenaline from the events of the night, or lack of sleep.
But a sharp tug at Basil’s chest told him something was gravely wrong.
His stomach tied into knots, heart lodged in his throat. All the blood in his body rushed to his head as doubled over.
He felt a sheer drop, as though he were falling fifty feet.
No. It couldn’t be.
Sunny.
——————
Basil had never quite been sure of how to explain his relationship with Sunny. They were, of course, bound together by the accident. By the mess they’d created together.
They were friends, best friends. Accomplices. Partners in crime.
But it had always been more.
Since the day they’d first met, the day Aubrey introduced the shy blonde to their friend group, Sunny and Basil had been inseparable.
Joined at the hip, they seemed to speak a language no one in the entire world understood, except them. The boys knew each other's hopes and dreams, their deepest fears. They understood each other.
It was as though they were intertwined by fate itself—a concept Basil had always been enamoured with as a kid. Fate, soulmates, happy endings. He loved love.
Despite having stopped believing in those things somewhere along the line, he never stopped loving Sunny. He would have done (and ended up doing) anything for him. To Basil, it was like second nature.
——————
Basil felt a light somewhere within him flicker out and die. He tried hard to vocalise his worries, what he hoped was all in his head, but in his dazed state only managed to choke out three words.
‘..The roof. Sunny .’
He wasn’t entirely sure what, but something had happened to Sunny. He just knew .
‘Oh. Sunny’s still asleep Basil. you might have to wait a while before you get to see him—‘ Hero replied, puzzled at the mention of a roof.
Basil began to climb out of his bed. Though laboured, his movements were erratic. As his frail frame began to knock against the various hospital-machinery he was connected to, Kel grabbed him by the shoulders. Basil’s eyes couldn’t quite meet his. They were wide with horror.
‘We could go check out… the roof instead. You should try to get some rest, Basil!’ Kel continued, ‘Hero, tell Basil to get some rest—doctors orders!’
‘I’m not a doctor yet, Kel…’ Hero sighed uncomfortably.
The brothers' banter did not amuse Basil, who was now hyperventilating. Aubrey opted to stay with him as Kel and Hero strode across the hospital to the rooftop, wondering what could've caused their friend so much distress.
‘I don’t see him,’ Kel frowned, still puzzled.
‘Neither do I.’
The pair edged ever closer to the short barrier placed around the ledge of the balcony. The ample glass only reached Kel’s hip. Not too safe , he thought as he peered over the edge. Unlike Sunny, he’d never been afraid of heights. He’d adored rollercoasters—the thrill of towering above everyone in the entire world, the adrenaline. He couldn’t say the same for his quiet friend, who’d prefered to stay close to the ground and wait for the ride to end.
What Kel saw as he looked down made his blood run cold.
A tangled mess of black hair and blue hospital-gown lay sprawled on the ground. Kel’s senses were flooded by a tidal wave of nausea. It was a person. It had been a person.
Sunny.
Hero joined his brother, who looked ready to jump off the precarious ledge himself if it meant reaching Sunny faster. It couldn't be Sunny, it just couldn’t be.
‘What’s going on—‘ Hero stopped abruptly as he looked down. An aborted noise escaped his throat as he tried to remain calm in the face of this.
Oh no. Not again.
Afraid of his recklessness, he went to hold Kel back. But Kel had already bolted in the opposite direction towards the staircase. A storm raged in his mind as he sped down 15 flights of stairs. He tried not to wonder how Sunny could have possibly survived the fall.
The smell of chemicals and harsh lights overpowered him as he stumbled into the reception. He barged past the slow trickle of people entering through the doors; they were invisible to him. Manners aren’t really a priority when your best friend’s just jumped off of a roof.
Maybe it wasn’t him .
Kel sprinted 50 metres down the pavement towards the pale mass. As he bounded ever closer, the nagging in the back of his mind affirming his worst fears grew louder.
The figure was drenched in blood, soaking in litres of it still gushing onto the concrete floor. The black hair was matted with the dried, rusty brown substance. It’s limbs were bent at unnatural angles; the neck was craned in a way that made Kel shudder.
Kel stepped closer as every bone in his body told not to. He clasped a hand to his mouth as his eyes fixed on the pale face, cratered where the impact had occurred. The cheekbone was exposed beneath a bloody gash. Kel felt bile claw its way up his throat when he noticed the most unsettling feature.
The cold, hard gaze of a dead eye. Pitch black and empty. And so, unmistakably his.
‘Sunny.’ Kel’s voice broke.
Despite the discomfort, he found himself scouring the lifeless void for a flicker of light or life or anything. Sunny’s dull eyes only gazed through him.
Kel fell to his knees over the body, clutching Sunny’s bloodied hand. Reality crashed into him like a tidal wave, breaking the numbing trance he had been under mere seconds ago.
A visceral wail clawed its way out of his throat. His entire body shook as he howled and cursed. Grief swallowed him whole as tears mixed with blood.
He struggled to pick the stiff body up.
‘You’re okay, It’s okay. The doctors can—they can help you. You’ll be okay…’ He whispered reassurances. But the words were shaky and uncertain, muttered through sobs.
Kel stumbled as fast as he could back to the reception, despite tears obscuring his vision. He locked eyes with his brother who, now joined by a mortified Aubrey, was standing at the foot of the stairs.
‘Oh God. Kel…’ he strained to keep his voice steady.
When Hero saw the hideous scene, then the helpless expression on his brother's face, his legs sprung to action by their own volition. It was an expression he’d never seen on Kel’s face before, but recognised from his own reflection during that dark stretch of time after Mari’s death.
‘Hero! Someone… please…help. Fuck!’ Kel cursed loudly, desperate.
Aubrey made her way over with a hand pressed to her mouth, stifling sobs or vomit she did not know.
‘What the fuck…’ she swore under her breath.
A commotion began to arise around the group, who were now in a heap on the floor. The eldest wrapped his steady arms around Kel and Aubrey as they sobbed.