Forward: After Omori [DISCONTINUED]

You Don't Have to Smile to Say Cheese

"Well, here goes nothing," Kel said to himself. He went to the door and knocked three times. A full sixty seconds passed, and he was about to knock again, when the door opened and Polly appeared. She smiled weakly.

"Oh, hey Kel! It's good to see you."

"You too," Kel said. "How are you?"

"Not the best," Polly answered, running her hand through her hair. "I can't believe how quickly all this happened. Just a week ago Basil was showing me and his grandmother some new flowers he planted, and now ..." She gestured towards the wilting flowers.

"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?" Kel asked.

"No, but thank you. Basil should be out of the hospital in a couple days. His injuries aren't that serious." Polly stepped aside, clearing the doorway. "Don't just stand there. Come on in."

Kel obeyed, walking through the doorway and into the living room. After seeing the plants outside, he was surprised to find the house itself was extremely clean. Kel turned around slowly, taking in the glossy countertops and shiny windows. There wasn't a speck of dust anywhere.

"Wow. Do you think you could clean my house, too?" Kel said, only half-joking.

"Stress cleaning," Polly said with a shrug, answering Kel's half-asked question. "Can't do anything about the plants, though. I've been watering them, but it doesn't seem to help. It's funny how many plant lectures I've heard from Basil and I still don't know anything about them."

"Believe me, I know exactly how you feel," Kel said, and that stretched out to more than just plants. 

Polly chuckled, looking a little better than she had a minute ago. "So, how's Basil? You've visited him, right? I haven't been able to."

"He's fine. That's why I'm here, actually. He asked me to bring his photographs," Kel said, before realizing his mistake. 

"I thought Basil gave the photo album to Sunny."

"He did, but ..." Kel searched for a believable excuse. "These are landscape photos. Basil wants them to brighten up the hospital room. You know how boring they can be. All that white." He realized he was jabbering, and forced himself to shut up.

"I didn't know he took those kinds of photos. I don't know barely anything about him." Polly shook her head sadly.

"I'm sure he'll open up soon. He's just been through a lot," Kel said, making a mental note to talk to Basil about it tomorrow. "I'll be right back," he added, smiling. He continued smiling as he went through the living room, down the hall, and into Basil's room. But as soon as he closed the door, the nervousness and anticipation he felt rose to the surface.

A white envelope under Basil's bed, with photos that can help prove Sunny and Basil's innocence. Kel looked underneath the bed. There were enough bags of seeds to plant an entire farm, and Kel felt his nervousness grow as he dug through them all, searching for the envelope. After about a minute, he found it, pulling it out and inspecting it against the faded light of the window.

It was just a regular old envelope, the kind people been using to send letters for years, stark-white and slightly brittle. It was a little heavy, and held closed with a piece of tape that was starting to unstick from being opened multiple times.

Kel's fingers itched to open the envelope right then and there, but he knew he should be getting home. He walked into the kitchen to find Polly scrubbing the table so hard it moved with each scrub, leaving small scratches on the floor. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched and turned around quickly. 

"Oh, it's just you," Polly said, sighing with relief.

"Who else would it be?" Kel asked, slightly confused. "Are you okay?"