Forward: After Omori [DISCONTINUED]

It Was Never Supposed To Be Easy

After making sure Basil would be fine by himself, Sunny left Basil's hospital room and headed towards his own. Telling the truth had been a long, stressful process, and now Sunny wanted nothing more than to crash on the bed and sleep. Maybe his brain will decide to work better in the morning.

Just as he was about to turn the corner, he heard Hero and Kel's voices. They were arguing, and it wouldn't have taken Sherlock Holmes to figure out what they were arguing about.

"How could you forgive him so quickly, Kel? Does what he did mean nothing to you?" Hero was saying, and Sunny carefully peeked around the corner. Hero and Kel were standing in front of Sunny's hospital room, which was just a little problematic on Sunny's end.

"Of course it means something," Kel replied, shaking his head. "It means everything. It means Mari wasn't depressed, that she didn't kill herself, and we weren't bad friends for not being able to stop her."

"It also means Sunny's a killer, and we were bad friends for not being there to rescue her."

"Sunny's not a killer."

Hero leaned down, putting his eyes level to Kel's. "Oh yeah? Then why is Mari dead, hm? Because he killed her! He's a killer!"

"Hero," Kel whispered, and there were tears of frustration in his eyes. "Why can't you just let go of your anger and try to see it from his point of view? Put yourself in his shoes. Think about what Mari's death did to him."

"What her death did to him? What about what it did to all of us? You! Me! Aubrey!"

"Hero, you're not listening to me-"

"Excuse me, young man. Are you lost?" asked a voice behind Sunny, and he turned around to a doctor watching him with slight concern. Hero and Kel stopped talking, and suddenly it seemed extremely quiet.

"Well?" the doctor asked.

Sunny snapped back to life. "Oh, um, no. My room's right here ..." He turned away from the doctor and walked towards his room, keeping his head down as he passed Hero and Kel. Even without looking at him, he could feel Hero's gaze burning a hole in the back of his head.

Entering the room, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it, sighing. Now that he told everyone the truth, a weight has been lifted off his chest. It was supposed to be freeing, but wasn't. It just felt empty. Like there was something he still needed to do.

Kel's voice wafted in through the closed door. "...if you would just give him a chance."

"I don't need to give him a chance. I don't need to, or even want to hear his name again. This conversation is over."

"But-"

"It's over, Kel! I don't want to talk about it anymore." There was the sound of quickly retreating footsteps as apparently Hero left. Sunny heard Kel sigh through the door.

"You can't stay mad at him forever, Hero," Kel whispered. Then his footsteps followed his brother's, until all was quiet.

Sunny slid down to the floor, staring at his hands. The hands that killed Mari. The hands that made every horrible thing that came after happen. He balled them into fists and pressed them against his eyes, and was surprised to find the patch over his right eye. He was even more surprised to realize he didn't care much about it.

He had already lost so much. What was an eye among everything else?

What was he among everything else?

.

.

.

Rain was coming. The clouds were slowly but surely beginning to cover the sky, casting everything in shadows. Aubrey shivered against the wind and checked her phone again. They said they'll be here in five minutes. It's been twenty. Where the flip were they?