Chapter Text
Sunny fell. The wind blew through his hair with increasing velocity as he fell for what seemed like an eternity.
It really shouldn't have taken this long. His brain is trying to stretch out the end, make his heart beat one more time.
They'll never know the truth, he realises. He failed Mari again.
Then he hits the ground with a sickening crunch as everything cuts to black.
--
He opened his eyes. Wait, what? Wasn't he dead? Ah yes, this must be the afterlife.
People who commit suicide go to Hell. People who commit murder go to Hell. He's heard lots of things about Hell, including the various possible methods of torture. One thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that Hell was hot - a flaming inferno kind of hot. Yet Sunny felt... kind of cold, actually. He tucked himself further into his covers.
Wait, covers? Why would Hell provide him with comfort? And come to think of it, he was on... a bed?
Wait, no. Sunny had had plenty of experience rating and comparing beds, and this one was too familiar, too comfortable, too... too much like his own.
He looked up at the ceiling. It was a familiar white, unlike the hospital white that he remembered last time he woke up.
Ah right, of course. Hell wanted to remind him of the life he lost, the life he took away from everyone. He would get a few fleeting seconds of comfort before he was dropped into the burning pits to suffer his punishment. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sensation of searing heat to reach him.
Nothing happened.
A black cat snuck in through the door and jumped onto Sunny's bed. The cat purred as they snuggled themselves up against Sunny's body. Sunny knew it was the black cat without even opening his eyes, because only one cat could make that grating noise that could barely be construed as a cat purring. The vet at the animal shelter said that Mewo had gotten some sort of injury - he was nine, he didn't remember any of the big words - that caused their vocal cords to malfunction.
Sunny let out an audible groan. Why Mewo, out of everything Hell could potentially use to psychologically torture him before the physical torture? He missed the cat so, so much. It symbolised everything that his life would've been if he just hadn't made one simple mistake.
"Meow?" The cat asked inquisitively.
The only thing that could be worse than Mewo showing up is if-
"Rise and shine, Sunny, no groaning! Today's a special day, you remember?" A bright, crispy voice sounded from the hallway. A voice that he hadn't heard in four years. A voice he had last heard shouting at him, telling him how utterly useless he was. (She was right, of course. She was always right.)
Sunny was utterly torn between a desire to scream and cry. It turns out Hell was doing a very good job of torturing him without the use of any flames or pitchforks.
The door creaked as it was opened by a familiar figure. "Sunny, Mom's making breakfast!"
It was at this point that Sunny broke down bawling. "Sunny! What's wrong? Aww, you had nightmares again, didn't you?" Mari pulled out a box of tissues. "Here, here." She sat down next to Sunny and unsuccessfully tried to wipe the tears from Sunny's face as more kept streaming down. "Don't worry, big sister's here. Everything's fine. The spiders are gone."
Sunny lunged out and grabbed hold of Mari. Mari recoiled, slightly surprised, but let him hold onto her arm regardless. She wondered what kind of nightmare could reduce Sunny to that state. Sunny did have recurring nightmares about drowning, spiders, or drowning in spiders, but she'd never seen him this inconsolable.
Mari pulled Sunny into a hug. "Big sister's here, don't you worry. You're safe now." Sunny shoke violently in her arms.
It was a full minute before Sunny managed to choke out two barely audible words between sobs. "Mari-" More sobbing. Deep breath. Why did Hell let it work? "real?"
Mari blinked. "Uh, of course I'm real, Sunny. God, that nightmare must've been real bad huh? D'you want to talk about it?"
Nightmare?
No, no, it was real, was it? He was in hell. He killed himself. He killed Mari. He almost killed Basil. He-
What if it was a nightmare?
Sunny violently coughed. "D-date?" he asked.
Mari blinked again. "Uh, 20th of October."
"Year?"
Mari was blinking faster and faster. "Um, you do know what the current year is?"
Sunny stayed silent, apart from the intermittent sobs.
Suddenly, a loud voice came from downstairs. "SUNNY SUZUKI! TODAY'S YOUR SISTER'S RECITAL! GET OUT OF BED NOW! YOU CAN'T BE LATE!"
"HE'S COMING, MOM!" Mari shouted back downstairs.
The-
No, it can't be. It's the day of the recital?
Was it really all a nightmare?
"Sunny, do you want to talk about the nightmare or do you want to get up?" Mari said as gently as possible, but Sunny could detect the tiniest strain of annoyance in her voice.
Sunny took a deep breath. "K-killed.. you." he sobbed. "In... in nightmare. I'm sorry-"
"Hey there, Sunny." Mari hugged her little brother more tightly. "I'm still here, yeah? I know you'd never do something like that in real life. Nightmares can be weird or scary, but remember they're not real, alright? You haven't done anything wrong. I love you, alright?"
Sunny slowly gathered himself. If Hell wanted him to pretend, or if it was genuinely a nightmare, so be it. A vivid one, he supposed, but he'd always had a vivid imagination. It didn't happen. Mari is alive. He didn't do anything wrong. Everything is fine. Everything will be alright.
"I- I love you too."
Mari gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. "I know you do. Now, why don't you get up and wash yourself? You know how impatient Mom is." Sunny nodded. He pulled away, put on his slippers, and trudged towards the bathroom. As he did so, he heard Mari going down the stairs, explaining to his mom that he had a nightmare. Everything is fine. He's twelve.
He still, however, couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't remember a single thing about what he did yesterday.
==
Basil closed the private browsing tab on his laptop. He took a piece of string and began tying, his hands moving in a familar and well practiced motion. He finished the knot and pulled on the loop in the string as hard as he could. Nothing budged. Good, he was ready.
He just wanted to see Sunny one last time tonight.