Mari's return

Lake

“Basil! Where are you?” The group was searching the park to find their friend. A few minutes earlier, Polly had arrived at Kel’s house and explained to them that the boy had been missing for some time. “Man, where could he have gone? Wait, aren't his parents kinda rich? You don’t think that he’s been taken for random!”

“Kel you mean ransom. And no, I cast a defensive barrier around the town to prevent something like that from happening,” Mari smugly replied despite the fact that she didn’t actually set up a barrier to specifically stop kidnappers.

“For real? Wow, Mari, you’re so awesome!”

While Mari graciously accepted her undeserved praise, a sharp cry could be heard in the direction of their secret hang-out spot, or rather the town’s abandoned lake. “SOMEBODY! HELP!”

“That voice! It’s Basil, he’s in danger!” Kel dashed towards the scene of the cry, ready to confront whoever or whatever put the flower boy in danger.

“Sunny! This way, we think we found Basil! Um, what do you have there?” Mari examined the boy, his hands holding a filthy trash bag, and a series of empty cans. “Trash, huh? Well, it’s good that you want to clean up, but now’s not the time for that… Here I’ll take care of it. I think I saw a booth that will buy this stuff, so go catch up with Kel, okay? And remember to wash your hands later!”

After selling the junk and being held up by the booth owner’s long spiel about protecting the environment, Mari arrived in the clearing that lay past the bushes of the park. There she found the six delinquents from earlier surrounding a beaten Kel and a slightly less beaten Sunny laying on the floor, while a frightened Basil coward behind the crowd.

“Haha take that, you nerds! Without that masked demon, you’re nothing but a bunch of babies!” exclaimed Kim, proud that she was able to reclaim her honor after being humiliated yesterday. But her trauma began to resurface as she saw Mari arrive through the clearing. “Oh, shi- I mean shoot, it’s the demon! Every woman for herself!” Unlike at the pizzeria, the rest of the gang quickly dissolved into a panic and fled from Mari’s wrath, all except their ferocious leader. “Aubrey, you coming?”

Aubrey stood where she was while clutching a large branch in place of her nail-bat. “Go on ahead, Kim. This one is personal.”

“Alright then, just don’t die okay?” said Kim as she rode off into the distance on her scooter, following after her fellow gang members.

“Listen here, faker! You come into my turf, beat my guys, and walk around pretending to be the one person who actually cared about me? You’ve got guts alright, but right now, I’m putting you in your place!” Aubrey waved the branch in Mari’s direction, ready to challenge her masked friend.

“Aubrey, can you just listen for once! It really is Mari!” said Kel as he tried to lift himself off the ground. But his efforts were soon dashed as a foot struck his chin.

“Shut up, Kel! Why do you keep acting like everything’s fine? Mari died, and you just went and made some new friends! Sunny, you just holed up in your nice clean house ignoring everything! You all abandoned me! And now you’re both just going around acting like Mari’s back?”

“Aubrey please just calm down,” Mari began to lift her mask from her face, but Aubrey swung her weapon in her direction, halting her from delivering the truth. “Stop it, Aubrey! I don’t want to fight you.”

“I wouldn’t want to fight me either.” The two continued to fight, or rather Aubrey continued to swing the branch, while Mari effortlessly evaded the attacks. “Why. Won’t. You. Stop. Dodging!”

Before either of them knew it, they were near where Basil stood at the dock of the lake. Mari watched as the boy muttered something to himself, it looked like he was psyching himself up for something.

“Please… Please, Aubrey! Stop it! It… It really is Mari,” cried Basil.

The boy’s words seemed to get through to the violent delinquent, as she stopped and turned her attention to the meek flower boy. “Really? You too? That’s just...” The girl dropped the branch to the floor and began to clutch the sides of her head.

“Aubrey...” said Mari as she reached out to the girl with her hand. Suddenly, a loud scream echoed from the pink-haired girl.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL!” Swatting away Mari’s hand, Aubrey continued her tantrum. “You’re all more messed up than I thought! You treat me like a bully, but you psychos are acting like Mari’s back? She’s dead! And when she died you all left! Where were any of you when I needed you?!” Aubrey began to make her way towards Basil, who still stood on the dock. “And you, Basil. You’re the absolute worst. First, there’s what you did to the photos, but now you’re even going on with Kel’s delusions? That’s sick, you damn creep.”

“Aubrey, please… I’m-” Basil tried to approach the girl, but he was swiftly interrupted as she extended her arms at him.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Aubrey yelled as she pushed him into the lake.

Mari felt her body freeze. Those four words. The last words she heard before she died. Watching Aubrey explode in anger. Watching the fear in Basil’s eyes as he fell. The regret of her actions overtaking Aubrey. It was almost too identical to that night. She could hear Kel say something to her, but she couldn’t understand what. She could see something dark rush past her, but her vision was getting far too blurry to see. Suddenly, another loud splash could be heard from the lake.

As her senses began to come back to her, Mari could make out one sentence from Kel and Aubrey as they argued. “Wait, Sunny can’t swim either!” Her mind began to come back into focus. She remembered her first vision about her brother’s suicide. But even if he was destined for death in the future, she had to act to do whatever it took to save him now and change his fate. At lightning-fast speeds, Mari dove headfirst into the lake.

Another memory coursed through her mind. This wasn’t the first time she’d done this. Years ago when Sunny and her friends were diving off of that odd statue in the middle of the lake. She remembered Hero and Kel egging her brother on to join them in the water. He always was a bit anxious when it came to these sorts of things, and what happened afterward was no help either. She remembered watching him stumble off of the statue falling into the abyss of the lake’s depths. The fear overtook her mind as he didn’t resurface, and as the two boys struggled to find him. But just like now, she wouldn’t give up on him. She would search on and on for him no matter how deep he fell. And just like before she found his still body floating among the fields of seaweed.

Pulling her brother along with her, Mari soon realized that it was not only Sunny that had fallen into the water. She would have to come straight back into the lake to get Basil before it was too late. But in the corner of her eye, she could make out another figure rising to the surface, carrying a boy with a head of blonde hair.

Arriving back to the surface, Mari saw a tall man hovering over Basil’s unconscious body. “Looks like he’s still breathing, but he needs to get somewhere warm, quickly.”

“All right let’s go!” Kel placed the flower boy’s body upon his back “C’mon, Mari, let’s get out of here!”

She watched as the man turned to face her, an expression of confusion and shock adorning his face. “Wait… Kel what did you just say?”