Chapter Text
(Art by meggo)
It was an early Sunday morning in the town of Faraway. While most were either going to church or sleeping in, two children were awake and preparing for their upcoming recital. Today was the big day, and they wanted to be absolutely sure that they would have the best performance they could muster. Four hours into practicing, however, the younger of the two, a black-haired boy named Sunny, was starting to get agitated.
“Mari, can’t we take a break? We’ve already gone through the duet dozens of times this morning. My fingers are starting to hurt,” Sunny said, shaking his left hand.
Mari, the older sister to Sunny, had a sweet smile and a loving aura around her. “Sure Sunny. Do whatever you think is best.” she replied. However, Mari’s smile waned a little, and Sunny didn’t want to disappoint her.
“Um…actually, it’s not that bad. I think I can practice a little more.”
“Great!”
They continued practicing, and after a while, Mari started noticing something off in Sunny’s playing.
“Um…Sunny, that C note was too sharp,” she said. Mari tried to have a soft tone, but her frustration started seeping through.
“Oh. Sorry Mari.”
“It’s…okay. Let’s just go again.”
They started again, but almost immediately after, Mari commented again. “No Sunny, you held that note out for too long. C’mon, we’ve practiced this so many times. How are you failing now? Let’s try this again…”
Sunny knew that Mari was getting angry at him, but he didn’t want to take a break either, to not disappoint her. He shook out his hands, and got into position.
“No, Sunny! You don’t get into position until my opening, and your posture is bad! Da-” Mari just stopped herself from swearing. “Darn you! Are you trying to disappoint me!? This is our big day, and I don’t need you messing it up!”
Sunny opened his mouth in protest, but Mari held up her hand, stopping him.
“You know what? Fine, you can take your little break. Maybe then you won’t be so bad.”
Sunny obeyed, his head looking down as he did so, and went upstairs to the bathroom. As he went, he felt his fingers hurting more than normal. He looked at his hand, and noticed his fingers were bleeding. Even worse, his violin had blood printed on the neck! He quickly rushed to the bathroom and washed off the blood on both the violin and his fingers.
As he was doing so, he was thinking about what Mari said. Despite what she said, he didn’t want to disappoint her, and wanted to be closer to her, as she was constantly busy. However, he couldn’t hang out with his friends as much, and he bottled up all of his frustration to make Mari as happy as possible.
After washing everything off, Sunny went to the top of the stairs, and tried to play. However, when he pressed down on the strings, he winced from the pain. No matter how much Sunny would shake off his hand, the result was the same. Sunny clenched his teeth. After all this time practicing, and NOW he was having problems? How was he supposed to play the duet now?
Sunny just wanted a break. He clenched the violin, and without thinking, without giving himself time to calm down, he threw the instrument. He expected the violin to just bounce off and not be damaged. What he didn’t expect was the violin to be turned into nothing but splinters and loose strings.
“What was that?”
Immediately Sunny realized what happened. Before he knew it, Mari was up the stairs as well, and berating him.
“You absolute idiot! Do you know how much our friends and I paid for that violin!?!?! Only for you to just throw it on the ground!?!?!?! How dare you!?!?!?!”
Sunny only looked down in shame. What was there for him to do? He wanted to just leave, and try to figure something else out.
“You’re an absolute failure!!! We work so fu-freaking hard for this duet, and you just ruined everything! You are the worst brother ever!!!”
Sunny felt the rage boiling inside him. He didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to argue, but Mari wouldn’t stop talking bad about him. Why can’t she just leave him alone?
“You’re such a jealous little freak! You think that just because mom and dad like me over you, that gives you the right to act however you want!?!?!”
“...leave me alone.”
“I will not leave you alone! You ruined everything!”
Sunny turned to go down the stairs, desperate to avoid Mari’s onslaught of verbal attacks. However, she stepped in front of him.
“Don’t you try to run away! I’m talking to you-”
“Leave me ALONE!”
Sunny pushed Mari, hoping to get her out of the way. It wasn’t too hard though, right? All of a sudden, there was a large cracking sound, and then a ferocious thud. The next thing Sunny knew, his sister, his only sister was lying on the ground, not moving. Sunny went down the steps, not knowing what just happened. He checked on Mari, hoping that she was okay.
…
She…wasn't breathing.
She…wasn't…breathing…
Sunny's heart began beating faster. It…couldn’t be. No. No, she…just needed some rest. Maybe if she had some rest, she would be okay. Sunny hoisted Mari up the stairs, surprised at how light she was. Then, he put Mari in her bed.
Sunny shook her, trying to wake her up, but she…started feeling cold. Sunny was starting to panic. Was she…no. Only people in movies do that when it wants to make the audience sad. It doesn’t happen to young people in real life, right?
Tears started flowing down Sunny’s cheeks. Why…wasn’t…Mari…waking…up?
“Sunny…”
Sunny put his hands over his eyes, trying to cover the tears. It…couldn’t be. It…COULDN’T BE.
“What…happened…?”
Sunny ignored the voice. All he wanted was for Mari to stop pretending, and wake up. He was sorry for messing up the recital. He was sorry for not practicing enough. He was sorry for everything. This wasn’t funny anymore.
The next thing Sunny knew, he was pushed to the side by a blond person. He could barely see through the tears, but it seemed like his friend, Basil. However, it wasn’t like him to just push him like that.
“SUNNY! WHAT HAPPENED?”
Basil went up to Mari, and pressed his fingers up against her neck. His eyes widened with shock. He turned to Sunny, and wore an expression more angry than Sunny had ever seen.
“MURDERER!”
That one word stabbed into Sunny’s heart like a cold dagger. No, he couldn’t be. Mari couldn’t have died. She couldn’t have!
Basil sprinted down the stairs, leaving Sunny to perform CPR on her heart. When he came back up, he told Sunny to switch out.
“The ambulance will be here shortly. Now, tell me what happened,” Basil sternly told Sunny, whilst pressing down on Mari’s chest.
Sunny was barely able to speak, because he was so choked up.
“P-prac-practicing…th-threw violin…sh-she yelled…p-pushed her down stairs…so sorry Basil…”
Basil was concentrating on having Mari’s heartbeat come back up. Sunny went up to him to see if there was anything he could do, and then-
SMACK
“Back off! You’ve done enough, Sunny! Leave me alone!”
Sunny clenched the side of his face, surprised that Basil punched him. Sunny then started bawling. He ran into the bathroom and cried.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…” was the only thing he could say. It didn’t matter though. Who was ever going to believe him?
The ambulance arrived, and took Mari to the emergency room. Sunny’s parents came home, and took him with them to the hospital. There, after a few hours, a physician came in.
“What happened to my daughter, and will she be okay?” Sunny’s dad asked, almost violently.
“It appears your daughter went into a sudden cardiac arrest. Her heart has been under a high amount of stress, but it seemed as though shock was what triggered her heart to stop. Which leads me to my next point. Her right leg seemed to have hyperextended, which caused a large amount of pain. In addition to that, her throat seemed to have been bruised by an edged object, as well as minor lacerations.”
Sunny looked away in shame. He had no idea that he caused all of this. Mr. Suzuki cleared his throat, and continued the conversation.
“Okay, but will she live? That’s the important thing.”
At that, the doctor frowned a little. “I’m very sorry sir, but if she came here even 10 minutes earlier, she would have been guaranteed to live. But now, I’m not too sure. We will do everything we can to-”
“Damn right you will do everything to save my daughter! Otherwise, you’re not getting a damn penny out of me!”
“Sir-”
“NO! You’re supposed to be a doctor! Save my daughter you bastards, or else-”
Mr. Suzuki continued to argue with the doctor, while Mrs. Suzuki tried to stop him. However, Sunny continued to look down at his hands. Why…why did this have to happen? When will the nightmare be over?
Three days had passed. Sunny and his family pretty much camped out at the hospital. All of Sunny’s friends showed up as well, and Sunny couldn’t even be in the same room as them, his guilt preventing him from interacting with them. However, he could see their reactions: confusion, sadness, anger. It filled him with even more guilt.
Then, just when everyone was finally in one room, the doctor from before came in. She was wearing a sullen expression, and Sunny knew what she was going to say even before she said it. She had the younger people exit the room.
“Don’t…don’t worry guys…” Hero said, trying to be optimistic, but even he didn’t have much more to say, as they could hear Mr. Suzuki’s dad yelling, and Mrs. Suzuki wailing with sadness. After about 20 minutes, Mr. Rodriguez, Kel and Hero’s father, exited the room to talk to the kids. He wore a very sad expression, and the pit in Sunny’s stomach felt even heavier.
“I…have some bad news, kids. You have every right to be upset. About an hour ago, the doctors attempted to save Mari. However, they couldn’t get her heart to pump oxygen into her brain, and…she is no longer with us. Kids, Sunny, I am so sorry. We…will have a funeral next week.”
It was so obvious, Mr. Rodriguez didn’t even need to say anything, and yet, the news hit like a truck. Hero was the first one to start crying. Sunny’s heart sank; he knew that Hero loved Mari not as a friend, but as a soulmate. Maybe even a lover. Then, Aubrey joined in the sobbing, and then Kel. Sunny looked at his hands. It was all his fault. His sister was dead, and…
“It was all HIS fault!”
Sunny jumped, and looked up to see Basil pointing at him, and holding back tears himself.
“It was you who pushed her down the stairs! We’re all suffering now because of you!”
“Now Basil, let’s not-” Mr. Rodriguez started to say.
“It’s true! We’re all suffering, and you don’t even cry about your own sister’s death! That you caused!”
“Basil-”
“I thought you were my friend! I thought you cared about us! Now, I know, you don’t care about ANYONE but yourself-”
“SHUT UP!”
Sunny couldn’t take it anymore. He clenched his fists, and bared his teeth at his friend. The rest of their friends stood in confusion and fear of what was about to happen.
“See? It’s THIS that made you push Mari! You’re pathetic! You’re sick! How dare you get angry at me when you’re the one who pushed Mari?”
“I’m sorry, Basil! I’M SORRY!!!”
Sunny fell on his knees, and ripped the sleeves off his shirt, screaming as loud as he could. Tears streamed down his face, and he was hugging himself. Basil turned to the door, and walked out, but not before saying “I’m not friends with you anymore, Sunny.”
A week had passed, and since the day of Mari’s passing, Sunny didn’t talk to any of his friends. However, they were there at the funeral, along with Basil and his grandmother, and practically everyone who resided in Faraway. Not one person had even the slightest bit of happiness on their faces. After the priest’s monologue, people were invited to say goodbye to Mari one last time before she was taken to her grave and laid to rest. Sunny stood up, ready to say goodbye, and sorry, and everything that he wanted to say to her. He noticed that some of the people there were giving him stern looks. He started getting nervous. Did they know what he did?
However, from seemingly out of nowhere, Sunny’s dad held his hand out to stop him. “Son, it’s okay. I think you’ll be better off not talking to Mari right now. Just wait until she’s laid to rest, okay?”
“But Seiji…” Mrs. Suzuki piped up. “...this will be the last time the boy gets to see his sister. Let him say goodbye.”
“Kokoa…no. Not right now. ”
“Well, how about we let Sunny decide.”
Mr. Suzuki sighed. “Fine then.”
Sunny looked forward, and went up to the casket. Each step that Sunny took felt heavier and heavier, and when he finally got to the casket, there she was, a wonderful person, with so much potential, gone forever. Sunny tried to clear his throat to speak, but he couldn’t quite get it cleared out to his liking.
“M-M-Mari…I…I…”
“I’m sorry” is what he wanted to say. All he wanted was to let her know that he was sorry for everything. For not playing the way she wanted, for throwing the violin, for…pushing her down the stairs…for…ruining everyone’s lives. However, there was something inside him that prevented him from saying anything.
“Back away…” said a voice. Sunny turned, but didn’t see anyone trying to talk to him.
“You’re not ready to say goodbye. Do what your father told you.”
Sunny didn’t know who, or what, was talking to him, but he couldn’t help but obey. He backed away from Mari’s casket. He walked back to his seat and sat down.
“I…just couldn’t…” was the only thing he could say.
Sunny couldn’t sleep that night. So many thoughts were stirring in his mind. Unfortunately, school was that day, and Sunny felt very groggy as he went from class to class. He spotted someone…familiar.
“...Kel? Is that you?”
The brown-haired boy spun around, indicating that it was Kel. However, he didn’t look like his usual happy self. He looked…irritated.
“Hey, um…do you want to hang out later today?”
Kel looked down, seeming to not want to look at Sunny. “Can’t, sorry. I…have basketball practice today.”
Sunny was a little surprised. Usually basketball practice doesn’t start until next week.
“Oh. Um, what about the next day?”
“Nope. I…have something else going on that day too. Um…Hero isn’t doing too well, and I want to get home to make sure he’s doing well.”
“Oh. When do you want to hang out then?”
Kel then looked at him with the saddest face Sunny had ever seen on him. Kel cleared his throat, and took a deep breath.
“Sunny…I don’t think we should hang out anymore…Hero…is very sad…because of you…”
Sunny’s heart sank with every word Kel spoke from that sentence. It didn’t surprise him much. How could it? After all, he was responsible for his own sister’s death. It just…hurts.
“Okay…I…understand.”
Sunny was fighting back tears when he turned and walked to his next class. When he got there, and the teacher began the lesson, Sunny couldn’t focus. He felt as though the world was crumbling around him, and there was no escape. He looked around, and noticed that everyone in the class, including the teacher, was glaring at him. Sunny’s heart began racing. Has everyone been glaring at him before, in the other classes?
After class, Sunny was walking through the halls, when suddenly, a group of kids cornered him. The next thing Sunny knew, he was thrown to the ground, and was pelted by a barrage of punches and kicks. Sunny’s backpack was ripped open, and all of Sunny’s school supplies were scattered. However, to Sunny, the worst thing was what the bullies said to him.
“How does that feel, sister-killer?”
“Get up, sister-killer! Show us how mean you really are.”
“You truly are pathetic, sister-killer.”
The bullies were done tormenting Sunny after a while, and left as if nothing happened. However, Sunny was hurt. He had cuts, a black eye among other bruises, and overall, his whole body ached. Still, he managed to gather what he could of his belongings, and started walking home.
Sunny went through Faraway Park, carrying his belongings in his arms, when he noticed someone on the swings. It was none other than Aubrey, and Sunny noticed that she looked very sad. He set his things down, and went on the swing next to her. However, almost immediately, Aubrey got off the swings, not even acknowledging Sunny.
“Aubrey, wait!”
Sunny got off the swings, and when he called out to Aubrey, she stopped.
“Please. I just want you to talk to me, like how it was before. Please…”
Aubrey turned around and faced Sunny, revealing streams of tears down her face. Sunny’s heart sank even lower as she fell to the ground and wailed with sorrow.
“Sunny…y-you took away Mari. Sh-she w-was the s-sister I…I never had. Why? Why did y-you do it? Wh-what did she d-do to you?”
“It w-was an accident, Aubrey. Please, I di-didn’t mean to…”
“I DON’T CARE!”
Sunny was startled, and took a step back. Aubrey was so hysterical, her entire body was shaking.
“Aubrey…please…I’m so sorry…” was the only thing Sunny could think of saying.
“I don’t care th-that it was an accident, Sunny. You…you hurt me. You hurt everyone. I…don’t want to be friends with you anymore. G-goodbye.”
“Aubrey…”
“LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” Aubrey screamed so loud that she almost sounded like a banshee.
So many emotions flooded Sunny’s mind. Anger. Sadness. Shame. He ran away, not even thinking about getting his things, and didn’t stop until he made it home. He went inside, went to his room, and cried. It had been a truly awful day, and unfortunately, it would only get worse from here.