ꜰᴏʀɢɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ, ᴍʏ ᴅᴇᴀʀ - ᴀɴ ᴏᴍᴀʀɪ ᴀᴜ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ

one: your recital

        A calming melody played throughout the room. You and your little brother, Sunny, were practicing a duet together. After all, your recital is tomorrow, and it must be perfect. How embarrassing would it be if you messed up something so simple? You seemed to be locked in your own world when you practiced on your piano, even when Hero walked in. Mom and Sunny hated it, but you took breaks! Wasn't that good enough?

         "Gah!" You gasped, suddenly startled by the loud scratching noise behind you. Sunny winced at the sound as well, and it turned out his hand slipped on the violin. " Sorry.." He mumbled. You felt like you wanted to rip your hair out in frustration, but was startled to see Hero standing awkwardly at the door, holding a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Brushing off your beige pleated skirt and making an effort to calm yourself down, you smiled half-heartedly up at him.

        "Oh, hi Hero!" You enjoyed his company, though he was just the 15-year-old boy who lived next door. He was your closest friend, not closer than your brother, but you two were still very close, hehe!

        "Did I come at the wrong time? I'm sorry--" He cut off his sentence as you jumped out of the leather seat and ran to him. Taking the plate of cookies and setting them on the stool beside the door, you laughed and shook your head.

        "No, no, not at all!," turning to your brother, who was fumbling around with the tuning of his violin, you asked, "What do you say about a break? It's only noon, we have plenty of time to practice for the recital!" Sunny frowned but didn't say anything. He knew it was unusual of his sister to say that.

        Hero's face lit up at the idea. "Sure! Maybe we could head over to Faraway Park and have a picnic? Kel, Aubrey, and Basil are busy, but I don't mind if it's just us." He suggested. You nodded eagerly, and Sunny seemed to follow along with a smile.
        The breeze ran through you and your friend's hair. Faraway Park seemed strangely quiet, considering that it was the evening. The only other people there were a teenager and his supposed younger sister playing over by the swings. "Mari, over here! I think this is a perfect spot for a picnic!" Sunny waved from a patch of grass near the entrance of the Hangout Spot.
        "Okay, we're coming!" You let out a laugh as you playfully dragged Hero by the ear towards the spot. The hero seemed irritated, and you could practically read his face that said "I could have walked 5 steps myself.." That made you giggle more. You spread out the blue-and-white checkered blanket over the soft green grass, and Hero placed down your picnic basket. It was full of fruit that smelled lovely.

        "So, are you two excited for the recital tomorrow?" Hero asked you. You fiddled with the brim of your skirt uncomfortably for a moment.

        "Uhm, decently, I think? We just have one note that we keep messing up, but I think we have time" You replied nervously as you reached for an apple.

        "That's good! I bet you two will be able to ace it in no time!" Hero encouraged. You couldn't help but crack a smile at his effort. Hero had always been a pleasant kid to be around, no matter what the circumstances were. "Maybe that's why you liked him so much" You teased yourself. As if by instinct, you felt your ears turning red, and quickly shook away those thoughts. You never knew yourself as someone to be charmed so easily. You considered it now.

        "So, how is Kel? I haven't seen him in a bit." You asked Hero in an attempt to change the subject. The bright basketball-loving little boy always had a way of making the most of things, and you admired his positivity, even if he was a little messy and wild.
        "He's doing pretty well actually! He went with my parents to Othermart, so he won't be home until an hour later." He responded casually, giving a small shrug as he spoke. As you nodded, you glanced up at the sky, which glowed a soft pink. It looked lovely, but something in the back of your head made you uneasy. "Wait.. we still have to practice!"

        "Ah! How long have we been out here?!" You asked frantically, your eyes darting between Sunny and Hero, who both seemed startled by your sudden outburst.

        "It's... 8:05? Why?" Hero said with a quick glance at his watch. You shook your head and scooped up your picnic basket as you took your leave.

        "I'm so sorry, I need to go do something back at home!" You yelled over your shoulder. The soles of your Mary Jane shoes pounded against the sidewalk as you ran hastily down the street. You turned the corner and ran q Q up the driveway to your door. While trying to catch your breath, you fumbled your keys through the silver lock, eventually getting them to unlock. Swinging open the door, you laid down your picnic basket, slid off your shoes, and dashed to the piano room. You took a deep breath as you laid your fingers on the piano keys, getting ready to play something.

        "Mari? Is everything okay?" Sunny called nervously from the doorway. You could see the discomfort and fear towards his sister on his face. You glared at your brother, giving a futile attempt to contain your frustration. "The recital is in one day, and we're still having trouble." You hissed.

        "I know, and I'm sorry... But I don't think I can get perfect by tomorrow." Sunny muttered, stumbling over his words, making a beeline for his violin which lay next to you. "We still have a little time?" He said, scooping up the violin and its bow with a suggesting smile. You shook your head, trying to muster up some apologeticness towards your younger brother. You felt bad that he always had to deal with your perfectionism, but come on, can't this one recital be perfect?

        "That isn't enough time! Oh, we'll never get anything done in that time!" You said, putting a hand over your forehead, growing even more irritated. Sunny frowned at your negative thinking and dashed up to his room with his violin. Sighing, you looked wistfully out the window. The cold colors seemed to calm you down quickly. "I should go to bed." You noted to yourself as you stood up. You walked up the stairs quietly, trying not to disturb your mom, dad, and brother. Brushing past the flower arrangement on the ground, you slid open the door to the room you and Sunny shared, being careful not to make a noise. Sunny was sleeping peacefully in his bed, tossing a little when you walked in. You slipped on your nightgown and hopped into the bed next to your brothers, and went to sleep. The room was left quiet, except for the cicadas outside of your window.

        You jolted awake to the sound of a crash outside of the bedroom. Glancing over to see Sunny's bed, empty and messed up, you jumped up out of bed and ran out of the bedroom. Sunny was standing at the top of the stairs, shaking and in tears. Dashing over to him, you gave him a short hug before pulling away and asking, "What happened?!"
He shoved you away, leaving you on the floor in confusion. You stared down at the bottom of the stairs, trying to figure out why he was so upset. Then, you saw it. Your brother's precious violin lay shattered at the bottom of the stairs. You felt your face becoming hot as you stared down at your brother.

        "Why would you throw your violin down the stairs?! Do you have any idea how much time we all spent saving up for that, and plus, how will we play at the recital now?!" You hollered, towering over your little brother. You couldn't hear yourself think through rage, and your face felt burning hot as you yelled. You felt dumbfounded to see that neither of your parents came out of their room, even through all of the yelling.

        "Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have been pressuring me about it being perfect all the time! Do you have any idea how much stress that caused me?" Sunny yelled back, causing you to fixate your attention back on him.

        Grabbing him by the shoulders, you continued, refusing to back down "Yeah, well I wouldn't have to pressure you if you'd listen to me! Every time I tried to help you, you refused being your dumb, catatonic self!" You screamed, shoving your brother forward, losing sense of where forward was.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
open?

☞ YES
   NO

finally finished this, yay! this is probably the first fanfic i actually plan to finish, unlike my others. whoopsies! also i'd expect to see these little author's notes at the end of each chapter. but what did you guys think? feel free to leave reviews in the comments! :D

both mari's health and mental health will never be okay in any au.
except for the au where mari lives