Phytoremediation

Prologue

Sunny returned home, a house that felt a bit smaller than his old one in Faraway, despite having more rooms. Maybe it was just because of it's closed floor plan, but it didn't matter. It felt smaller in a comforting way. He especially enjoyed the absence of a balcony over the stairs, keeping away the constant reminder of his mistakes.

He may complain about some things about his old house, but he did miss some things about it too. He missed the city it was in. He missed his old backyard, even though his dad cut down the tree his treehouse was in, it was still pretty with the flowers that he and Basil planted along the house.

Basil...

Allowing his thoughts to drift from his house to the boy, he remembered what he left Basil to. Aubrey probably going back to hating him, and most people in school probably being rough on him like they usually were.

People in his school made fun of a 9th Grader who reminded him of a younger Basil, due to the bright yellow flower pin in his hair. Of course, he never joined in, and sometimes defended him, but he would end up being called the same horrible things he called. He especially pitied him when he heard the 9th Graders yelling slurs at him as though they just discovered them days ago.

Sunny sometimes was made fun of for his name, but usually they were creative enough insults to make him laugh too. The millions of "no it's raining" jokes got old on the last two rainy days. He dreaded winter.

Sunny was never that religious, recently changing his position from agnostic to atheist. Though he did begin to "pray" to and for Mari. He usually would seek her for help when he was younger, and thinking of what she would tell him to do.

He would silently close his eyes. He didnt clasp his hands together, but would usually hold them on his lap. "Mari," he would think something like... "people keep bullying me at school, calling me an emotionless freak... what do I do?"

Sometimes, Mari didn't answer, and he came up with his own solution, but sometimes, Mari's voice would come to him, and tell him something like, "Sunny, they don't understand the way you express emotion sometimes, but don't ever let anybody judge you for it! They don't deserve your smile anyway!" and he'd feel himself smiling again, Mari made him feel better whenever that happened.

He remembered a day before Mari had died, before he even got his amazing violin. He adored the violin before he had gotten it, and always remembered fondly telling Basil how much he loved how they looked, and how they sounded. Basil was always there with him. He had gotten home right after hanging out with Basil, spending the day listening to him read, picking flowers, and talking to each other, when he heard his parents speaking to Mari.

He listened quietly, as his father scolded Mari for her selfish thoughts.

"Killing yourself is the most cowardly thing you can do Mari, if you ever embarrass my family name even THINKING about it, I promise you I will make your life a living hell." He heard Mari begin sobbing.

"I-I just... Why do you always do this? I only tried cutting myself because of the way you always act!" She sobbed loudly, then ran up the stairs, her eyes too filled with tears to notice Sunny.

Sunny closed the door quietly, then reopened it, with a loud "I'm home now, Mom!" pretending he had just arrived.

He heard something clang into the sink and the water turn on, and saw his mom washing the dishes in the kitchen, specifically scrubbing a knife.

"Oh, hi Sunny! Welcome home, I just started the dishes!" His mother claimed. An obvious cover for what he heard had happened. "How was Basil?" She asked. His father glared at him. He never liked Basil, called him too girly. Sunny didn't care, Basil was nice, and pretty too.