CoMari Au (Omori)

Pt 1

MARI has been in a coma for four years. She's not dead, but it's like she is. She can't talk to me, and I can't talk to her.

DAD divorced MOMMY. Now she's on her own, barely making enough money to feed us and pay to keep MARI alive. I haven't said a word to MOMMY since the incident. She hasn't talked to me either, for the past one and a half years. It was MARI's 18th birthday when she stopped trying to help me. And that was better. She could stop wasting her time on me, the boy who wouldn't speak. 

KEL still knocks on my door everyday. I don't know how the rest of them are.

In my head, I pretend everything is ok.

I don't eat much anymore. It's fine. I don't deserve food. MARI used to make me breakfast in bed on my birthdays. Now MARI isn't here.

I pick my lips when I'm nervous. I'm always nervous these days. Basil used to gently grab my wrist if I started ripping the skin from my lips, and tell me to stop. My lips always bleed nowadays.

Whenever I would start to be hard on myself for whatever reason, KEL would make me be more positive. 

Aubrey used to talk for hours, her loud voice filling the air. And now I am surrounded by silence.

Whenever I would get hurt, Hero would rinse off my cut and put a band-aid on it. I'm to lazy to practice proper medical care, so now any cut I have is left to bleed.

Around this time everyday, KEL starts knocking on my door.

Today I hear a loud thud. I rush downstairs to see what happened. KEL is there.

I put my hands over my eyes. I don't want to see him.

"SUNNY, I'm so sorry." KEL says.

KEL's voice is deep and honey like. It was pleasant to listen to, and I could practically see the embarrassed smile on his face. 

"Go away." I whisper.

KEL ran through the empty doorframe.

I felt him gently place his hands on my shoulders. HIs hands were warm and slightly rough, like he had worked in a garage. His touch was unusually comforting.

"SUNNY, I'm so sorry about everything." He said, and pulled me into a hug.

I decided to open my eyes. 

And I saw nothing. My face was right up against his chest. He was tall and gave really tight hugs.

When he released me from his hug, I finally got a good look at him. He had the same tan skin, and the same wide brown eyes and slightly too long brown hair. 

KEL was also super tall. If I looked straight ahead, I'd be looking at his chest. I had to slightly tilt my head up to look him in the eyes. 

"Sorry your door broke." He said.

It was hard to reply, since I hadn't talked for four years.

I tried to say 'it's ok' but it didn't really come out.

KEL laughed warmly. "Take your time."

"It's ok." I said.

"I can fix it!" KEL informed me, "For free of course. I work in construction part time now."

"Thanks." I replied.

"HERO is coming back from college tomorrow!" KEL informed me.

I smiled.

"He's visited MARI everyday since... that day." KEL told me, "I sometimes visit her too... I've visited her everyday since HERO left for college. He asked me to do that for him. Do you visit her a lot?"