Catch a Glimmer of Your Star

A glowing star

"So I guess we'll be living together for a while," Sunny said, scratching his head nervously.

Basil didn't know what to say. His head threatened a storm of emotions. Did he even hear Sunny correctly? They were going to be living together? Why now? Filled with a gnawing, irrepressible anxiety, his thoughts became all muddled. What had happened to him and his already shattered life? What would happen to Sunny...?

Sunny smiled.

The light that glimmered in Sunny's eye was precious.

Seeing that smile, the storm in Basil's head calmed. That smile reassured Basil that Sunny wasn't mad at him. With this relief that only Sunny could provide, his terrifying emotions faded away.

Basil smiled back.

As long as Sunny was smiling and happy, Basil could let himself rest. He could momentarily let go of his need to control his overwhelming emotions.

I was afraid you would be angry to live with me, Sunny.

"I'll try to make everything up to you," Sunny spoke in a more reassuring voice. "'Cause of that fight we had."

"I—It's okay, Sunny," Basil said. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I can tell my mom if you aren't okay with moving in with me."

"I'm okay with it..."

Covered in bruises and aching all over, Basil should have been the portrait of misery. But Sunny could always make him feel better with a smile.

With Sunny by his side, Basil could endure the worst of his tumultuous feelings.

Even after our fight, I still feel this way towards you, Sunny.

I'm such a joke, aren't I?

Sunny suddenly winced. He brought his hand up to his bandaged right eye, fingers shaking with pain.

Only now did Basil remember what had happened that night.

The garden shears in his hands represented his last resort. Unable to cope with the death of his grandma and with Sunny moving away, he felt like he was being swallowed by Something, and only those shears could drive it away.

It wouldn't hurt, not even a little bit compared to the storm inside his head—fear and doubt and anxiety gnawing away at his being until he was nothing but a dismantled mess. Those shears were his weapon. They'd tear through those biting thoughts, those fanged feelings that threatened to swallow him whole. He would finally destroy that monstrous shadow filled with eyes and mouths.

But when Sunny came into his room, he saw that one-eyed shadow floating behind him, tormenting his best friend. He aimed his last resort at that Something instead. To save Sunny.

These bruises on my arms, the pain I feel when I touch my face...

We had a fight that night.

Basil's breath caught in his throat.

He'd stuck those shears inside Sunny's right eye.

"Sunny, your eye—"

"Don't worry about it, Basil. It doesn't hurt that bad," Sunny responded.

"But I took away your eye..."

The reality of what he'd done sank in. Its effect was immediate and brutal. He wanted to scream.

I maimed my best friend's eye.

Why hadn't he realized it sooner?

Since the moment he'd woken up inside this hospital, Sunny had only been looking at him with his left eye—