Chapter Text
I woke up.
Great. That dream again.
I had it already multiple times. But today, it felt more real than ever before. Seems like I finally should start with the preparation of the actual ritual.
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The light of the sun seeped through my window and filled the room a little bit with brightness. It was a simple autumn morning. Nothing much happened and only some cars could be heard from the street passing by. My room was decently far away from the street, yet my window was open, resulting in it being a bit cool in the room itself.
I positioned myself to sit on the edge of my bed, I was freezing a bit, before I decided to close the window. I let it open the whole night since I heard that fresh air might help with anxiety. But it resulted in having a not so nice, but yet so important memory to appear in my dreams.
My gaze wandered to the polaroid camera I got gifted many years ago. The wish of everything going back to how it was before the incident was still existing in me—a dream currently hard to reach.
“Basil, breakfast is ready!” Polly yelled from the living room.
“Okay, coming!” I answered from my bedroom.
I stood up and went straight to the closet, examining the clothes I had. Not much, but some variety was there. And after some seconds of thinking what to wear I decided on a simple blouse with a green sweater and a dungarees. I picked at last a red bow. Aubrey gifted it to me on my 14th birthday. It was a sign of our friendship. If only she knew how important it was to me.
I heard the sound of a door opening. It was Polly. Seemed like I took a bit too long on getting myself changed.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked me, worried.
“Uh- Yeah… I was drifting a bit in my memories” I responded.
She didn’t say much afterwards, just nodded and went back to the living room. I went to the bathroom for the last activities. I brushed my hair and teeth, attached some hair clips to my hair and tied up my two sidelocks. I took a look at the mirror.
It wasn’t worth the look. I still saw in me the monster from 4 years ago that couldn’t help Sunny and destroyed both his mind and Mari’s life. I am kinda surprised that one of these things wasn’t haunting me yet. Maybe the family I come from is just blessed for not getting these things, after all-
Nope, not now, Basil! I hurried myself to the living room and sat down. The table had some pancakes on it and juice. It smelled so good. Polly was sitting already at the table, reading a book about gangs. What an interesting choice to read. She was reading a lot of different books from all kinds of genres, from drama to friendship to romance to mystery and eventually horror. These books featured all kinds of premises and themes.
“The food really looks delicious, thank you Polly!” I thanked her. Since my parents left me and my grandma couldn’t take care of me single-handedly, Polly came into my life. She doesn’t live here, but takes care of both me and my grandma. Which reminded me of-
“Thank you Basil.” she smiled “what are your plans for today though?”
I thought for a second. Should I try to knock on Sunny’s door again? Maybe not today.
“I was thinking of hanging out with Aubrey and buying some flowers for my grandma.” I responded to Polly.
“Why would you buy flowers for her? After all, you grow a lot of plants, including flowers.” she looked at me confused again.
“Uhm, I thought of getting her flowers I don’t grow…” I felt shame for myself.
Polly took a sip of her coffee. “So you wanted to gift her something special?”
I looked at my plate and took a bite. “She did help me a lot.”
“I know.” Polly looked at me in a slightly annoyed way.
I was drowning in shame. “Uh yea-“
We both continued eating in an awkward silence.
“What will you do today?” I asked her after a few minutes.
“I thought of doing some housework and continuing to read the book I am currently at” she hinted at the book she laid beside her plate.
“So it is going to be a more calm day for you?” I finished eating and laid down the fork on my plate.
“Seems like it” Polly finished her breakfast as well.
Both of us took our plates and washed the dishes together. Polly did something else while I grabbed my jacket and bag.
“Bye, I am now going to hang out with Aubrey!” I said Goodbye, opened the door and stepped outside after Polly answered me.
A cool breeze approached me. Few cars passed the streets and the leaves rustled. Typical autumn morning. I moved my legs towards Aubrey’s house, which wasn’t that far away. I didn’t really approach anyone on the way. Only some stray were walking around as well. After some minutes I saw her house. It was in bad shape. The facade was dirty and the rooftop seemed to be partly broken.
I stepped forward to the door and knocked. No answer.
I knocked again. Still no answer. Was she asleep?
I knocked again. Someone opened the door.
“Oh sorry Basil, I didn’t hear your knocking before, was busy playing a bit with Bun-Bun.” Aubrey stood at the door. She stepped outside and closed the door quickly. “You ready to go?” She went to her scooter that stood behind the house.
“Yes.” I answered her.
Without any words afterwards we both started to go to Faraway Park. We chatted a bit about this and that. Nothing really interesting besides Angel’s birthday, but that's it. It didn't take too long and we already arrived at the Faraway Park and saw the others. The Maverick was talking about something very proudly as if he won a trophy worth billions of dollars, but in reality it was a love letter he found in his locker which with very high possibility wasn't even real. And it wouldn't be the first time people would troll him into thinking he had a secret admirer. What a poor soul he was.
Yet Angel believed him as always. Nonetheless how many times we would get to know that it was just a prank. I admit, the first few times that happened I also believed that it was real. It only took seconds till the Maverick scanned the whole area after a potential writer of the letter. Then he stormed to a girl that was busy sitting around and relaxing. Her fate was already damned. A collective sigh could be heard from all of us. The worst thing that could happen is that someone would now come here and think we are harassing people, where in fact just the Maverick is the one harassing citizens of this small town-
“Hey Aubrey! Seems like you are harassing innocent people with your gang again!”
It was Kel—and his friends.
In his eyes we were the absolute evil. Harassing everyone and everything and just being a bunch of troublemakers. He was right at a certain point, but this time it wasn't all of us.
Aubrey stepped forward.
“Maverick, stop!” she yelled at him. “The letter is probably a prank again, it's not worth it asking girls if they wrote it”
Kel and Aubrey glared at each other. Oh no this wouldn't turn out good. Both hated each other for completely different reasons, but both also never tried to make out. Hero was also gone after Mari’s death. But instead of Sunny it was immediately. He did return though, but just didn't do anything anymore to keep the friend group together. Due to stress I assume.
I returned from thinking, the two were fighting over Mavericks try to get to know the author of the letter. They yelled and screamed over the whole park. But now also some of us and Kel’s friend joined the fight and threw arguments at each other.
I looked at Charlie. She was observing the whole thing like me.
…
…
…
Ugh I can't take that anymore, why do they need to fight every day?
I went to Aubrey, nudged her sleeve and she looked at me. Just then I realized that I also was standing in front of Kel now. That didn't make things easier. I stared at Aubrey uneasily. It really didn't make anything easier. Now I was just standing there staring at her while shaking a bit. Shame on me. But Kel was there. One wrong word and the situation would be made worse. Kel was like a ticking bomb, every wrong word or sentence would let him explode. He was much more aggressive. I was afraid of him.
The way he glared at me with hate. There is no way that I could loosen the fight. No way at all. How should I even solve this? There would be nothing that could-
“Basil, what is it?” Aubrey asked me.
Oh. I forgot that I'm not alone. I believe Aubrey would understand my reasons for trying to stop this. Right? I mean it is Aubrey and I am sure she would agree with me that this fight wouldn't have an outcome that would please both sides. I need to tell her.
“Uh, I don't think this fight will have any positive outcome for both sides and it's also scaring the others…” I almost whispered.
Aubrey didn't answer immediately.
“And also, that is more the problem of Maverick than our–”
“Basil. He is our friend.” Aubrey said.
Oh, right. He was our friend. I dared to look at Kel again. I shouldn't. It was like I dared to look at the devil. He was furious. I really didn't wanna be here. Why did I even try to loosen the mood? Didn't I know that it would fail? Why did I still believe I could make it? I knew that it was hopeless, yet I tried it. But why? The two were fighting again. It was still about Maverick’s harassing thing, but also something else. I noticed how Aubrey stood in front of me. She was so caring for all her friends.
Wait. I think I remembered why. I needed to do something in order to save Sunny, which was bringing back the friend group. That was what my grandma told me in one of our lessons about the Something exorcism thing. But I didn’t believe that I would ever make it. I realized once again why it took me so long. It was Kel. I was always afraid of him and I stuck more and more to Aubrey. But it also was something different.
It was a day in spring. I went to Kel to ask him if he knew if Sunny left the house sometimes. But his answer surprised me so much. Kel asked me who Sunny was as if he completely forgot who he was. If I think about it, this might also be another reason for me not having the bravery to talk to Kel anymore.
The mood in the Park was pretty tight by now. Two groups argued over a small trivial thing. And the victim was even gone by then. People watched from afar and time just passed. It was already lunch and it seemed like this fight would start soon to go into a more physical direction. But then Aubrey stopped everyone and took her scooter. “I don’t have time for this anymore. C’mon guys, let's go somewhere else.” We all got our scooters. I didn’t have one though which always bothered the others. Since they only could walk with it.
Kel looked at us furious: “You can’t just run away, goddamn trouble-makers!”
Most of us just ignored it.
“Man, why does he always step in our way?!” Kim raged and kicked a stone.
“Maverick was annoying some girls, that’s why.” Vance answered her question.
Angel stepped in front of the group. “He accused Master of harassing, but he only tried to find his secret admirer!”
“Yes, he interrupted my quest for love!” Maverick agreed.
“Maybe you should stop believing that someone wrote this ‘love letter’ in all seriousness.” Kim commented.
“Kim-“ Aubrey tried to step into the argument.
“One should never stop dreaming they say!” The maverick yelled at her.
“Maverick-“ Aubrey was annoyed.
“Every love letter you got was always a prank!” Kim yelled now as well.
Aubrey clenched her teeth.
“Kim maybe you should stop-“ Vance interrupted.
“Why? Can’t you see that I am trying to tell him the truth?” She raised her voice once more.
“You are telling him to throw away all his hopes!” Angel pointed at Kim.
After some minutes Aubrey lost all nerves and raised her voice. “Now shut up! All of you! We seriously don’t need a fight right now!”
Everyone looked at her. Vance quickly apologized. Kim looked away embarrassed. So did Maverick. Angel gazed at the two and then turned back towards Aubrey. "Sorry." He whispered. “Yeah..sorry.” Kim joined. Maverick still didn’t apologize. Everyone stared at him. Aubrey sighed “You too, Maverick.” He crossed his arms and stared Aubrey into the eyes. He acted like a child. “I apologize! Enough?” She smiled, “So how about we go eat some pizza at Gino’s?” Angel immediately agreed to Aubrey’s offer. I and Charlie simply nodded. Kim and Vance also agreed and the Maverick was still pouting like a kid that wasn't allowed to play with its toys.
We readied ourselves and left the park. It was kind of a surprise that Kel didn’t interrupt the little fight we had. He was always hunting for a reason to cancel every single one of us. He was so different from the Kel I knew. The Kel I knew was an energetic friend that always beamed like a star positivity around him. He did get into a lot of smaller arguments with Aubrey, but the two didn’t hate each other. It was the thing that made the two friends I assume. I knew that Aubrey always felt betrayed by him after the incident happened. He quickly found new friends and forgot his old ones. If I could be honest Aubrey and I weren’t that close after the incident. I was spending my time with Sunny and he always distanced himself from the others, but after he never left the house again Aubrey was there luckily.
She was a lot different than Sunny and had already a new friend, Kim. But still she decided to be friends with me once more.
Besides the fight with Kel, everything was like always. We arrived at Gino's after a short walk. Everyone was already talking about something else as if the argument from some minutes ago was already forgotten. With joy we entered Gino’s. It probably looked like a bunch of villains would enter a location and declare it as they own base or something like that.
“Hey Aubrey. Did you already read the new chapter of Capt. Spaceboy?”
Angel’s eyes were shining in excitement. I totally forgot that Capt. Spaceboy released a new chapter.
“No I didn’t. I needed to studying and go working”
Aubrey was actually very busy. Though she seems like she is just wasting her time causing trouble in town, she actually has almost no time. The day Aubrey told us that she got a part-time job was some months ago. She stepped towards us very proudly and announced her new job as a waitress in a rock café which opened last year. It was near the school as to why she sometimes came home later. I was so proud that she could find a job as it would be the perfect opportunity to get some money for college.
“If you have time I can lend you my copy of it.” Kim moved towards Aubrey. “Or we could just read it together one day.” she smiled.
Vance laughed. Kim pouted at him “What’s so funny about that?”
He pointed towards Aubrey and winked at Kim. Her face turned red faster than I could have imagined. Aubrey noticed it and blushed slightly and then went straight to the counter. She asked for a table for 7. In the meantime Kim was denying anything earlier that Vance hinted at. It didn’t help at all. She was very obviously annoyed. But in a different way. Every word she yelled felt like a lie to hide her true feelings. It was amusing to watch her arguing about her feelings for Aubrey over and over while being very red in the face.
“Guys, c’mon we got a table assigned to”
Aubrey waved us to the table. It was a very big one. Everyone sat down and grabbed the menu. Angel was messing with Kim a bit till Maverick started to talk about love and some philosophy behind it. I looked at Charlie. She was a good friend. Most of the time when the others argued or did something that would cause a fight Charlie and I just observed or did something else. Sometimes we played cards, or talked about our interests or just how absurd some of the arguments were. She was a good friend. Not as good as Aubrey, but a good one.
Oh. A waiter came. I quickly took a look at the menu. I decided on a margherita. The waiter gazed at me. Was it already my turn to order? I nervously looked at the others. Charlie laid her hand on my shoulder. “What do you want?” She whispered almost. I looked at the menu again. I am sure everyone was staring at me.
No one was looking at you.
I am sure they would make fun of me not being able to order at a restaurant.
No one would make fun of you for that reason.
I am sure they would- Why am I even overreacting? It was just ordering food, right? I took a deep breath. Just calm down.
“I like to have a margherita”
See it isn’t that hard, Basil. Just as grandmother told me. I must stay stable. I must stay stable otherwise…
“Everything alright?” Aubrey asked me.
I nodded a bit uneasy. It wasn’t really true. I knew that, but I didn’t need to worry her even more.
“I see.” She still seemed worried. Thankfully she doesn’t dig further when the others are here as well.
It didn’t take long until our pizza arrived. It was a medium sized one for me. Everyone started eating. Vance was telling stories from the time he and Kim stole candy from the candy store. Maverick was awfully quiet, probably thinking who might have written the love letter. Angel just ate the pizza very fast. Aubrey observed and listened to Vance’s story. Kim added other information to the stories as well.
On days like these nothing much seemed to happen besides some fights. I appreciated this, but deeply I knew I always couldn't run away from my actual goal. I just seem like a horrible person to me. I made a promise, but I can't keep it. The only promise I did keep was the one from that day. I am sure no one would forgive us if I told them. But it seems like I really tried this time.
I took a bite of my pizza slice. For once I tried to do something.
Something…
Why can't I just be brave enough to bring back together this splitted friend group? Why did I even try? Grandma, am I really capable of bringing back Sunny?