Mari's return

Basil

Sunny and his sister were standing outside of Basil’s house. They were both curious about why Basil had requested to see them, especially in such a formal manner as a letter. After all, he could’ve simply dropped by their house if all he wanted was to chat. But neither sibling had a clue as to why they were called, since all that was written on the message was that same phrase Sunny used before his confession. “I have to tell you something.”

After knocking on the front door, the siblings were swiftly met with the blonde flower boy who smiled at them as if he was eagerly awaiting their arrival. Mari also noticed how he looked much healthier than before. Sure some bags could be seen under eyes still and there were the small faded bruises decorating his face from that horrid night, yet his expression seemed relaxed and joyous.

“H-hey guys!” greeted Basil. “I’m glad you could visit me. Come on in, Polly made some tea before she left.” Following the boy inside, Mari and Sunny each took a seat at the dining table. Meanwhile, Basil placed three cups in front of them and poured the mentioned tea. “Here’s some sugar if you want,” he said as he placed a bowl of sugar cubes and tea spoons in front of them.

Taking a sip from the warm cup, Mari stared at the blonde. He seemed so much like he had before she died. So kind and carefree as if the years of torment and guilt that he’d been subjected to seemed to be nonexistent. But if he was perfectly fine, then why did he write that letter? Surely there had to be more to it.

“This is good tea, Basil, but I don’t think you invited us here just for this,” Mari inquired.

He let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah… This isn’t going to be easy, but I… Well, it’s… I… It might be difficult to explain, but there’s…” Basil continued to stammer and struggle to get his point across to them.

“Something?” asked Sunny. “Are you seeing it again?”

“Seeing what, Sunny?” asked Mari, puzzled as to what he was referring to.

Basil sat down across from the siblings. “That’s why it’s difficult to explain. I don’t know what else to call it… But for so long, I kept telling myself that it wasn’t Sunny that pushed you, but Something else. So we just call it Something.”

“Okay…” Mari confusedly replied. “But what is Something?”

“It’s you,” her brother promptly answered. “After we… we hung you… We saw your body staring back at us. I think you saw them too… when you found us…”

“I see…” said Mari as things started making sense to her. At first, she thought that the shadows she saw that night were stragglers from the Demon Empire sent to exact revenge on her. But if what she actually saw were Sunny and Basil’s inner demons rather than actual ones, then that would explain why they could interfere with her healing magic due to the boys’ fractured psyches. Yet she didn’t understand how they could’ve been based on her.

“But how come your Somethings looked the way they did?” she asked.

Sunny stood up from his seat and began playing with his sister’s hair. During which Mari felt concerned as she heard Basil say “Thank goodness your hair is purple now. I might’ve had a relapse if it weren’t.”